Solar Charging

John i don't know if it will work or not ,why not try it. If you have not already built the roof you could try putting one sheet over the panels & seeif it does.In reality i cnnot seewhy not even at a slower rate.But that would not be an issue between trips as you would not be using any of the charge anyway.Mine don't.
Cheers Bob.

Hi John

Depends on the panels.

BP units will. When I test our Bi-folds before dispatch they will even get the regulator functioning under the workshop lights.

Lazerlite is a polycarbonate product and blocks UV rays but the panels should still work.

Regards

Derek.

A lot of the energy that solar cells use come from the ultraviolet spectrum. Even good window glass cuts out most of the UV, there are very few glass manufacturers in the world that manufacture glass suitable for use over cells. I think any plastics would degrade the radiation more. As ROBLIA says, get a sheet and put it over your panels -suck it and see- before you roof your van over.

If you put your van away with the batteries fully charged, probably a better and cheaper way to go may be to use steel for the roof and mount a 5 W panel on top. Figure 8 cable or heavier would be suitable to feed the output to your van. I maintained a deep cycle battery in my van for 4 years with a 5 W panel ($100 from DSE.) These panels only have a voltage of around 15 V at their peak power point instead as the 17V for the larger panels do. Because of this and their lower current output, they thus do not need a regulator and so can be fed straight to the battery. The output from my panel was fed into the 12V output on the side of the van.I made my panel portable and shifted it on to the carport to keep the cooks car battery alive over the 4-6 months we were away.

PeterD

Thanks for the replies re Solar charging.
Gives me something to do.
John