solar charger

50 amp petrol charger.

Take the minister of finance to the shop and have her listen to the noise that the 50amp produces , then sweet talk her into relaxing the purse strings a fraction more and buy a Yamaha 1kva and a good batt charger ,, CTEK ect ,,, you will then have the peace and quiet of solar and the backup generator that is also "quiet"

I have a 50 amp petrol charger and so far so good a little noisier than a Honda/Yahama genset but then again don't have to have it running all day to charge the battery.
That is a lot of batteries to charge so I would try talking her into another solar and the 50 amp BC.
Cheers Bruce

Geez...4/100 AH batterys...wot are you running- a small town??

Hi Ron

Do you expect to spend much of your camping time in wet or very overcast conditions? Do you need power for lots of appliances?

We generally holiday in fine weather, but are prepared for occasional wet days.

Even in good conditions, 4 batteries may be too much for a single 80 w panel. There electronics experts can comment on this one; i can only speak from experience.

Our caravan has 4 X 80 w panels and 3 AGM batteries, which keeps our power going even with a couple of consecutive dull days. Should we need it, we have a battery charger than can be run from mains power or the genny.

We have used the single 80 watt panel we had with the previous camper on the roof of the ute canopy, to charge one deep cycle battery to run the Engel and lights. We tried it out last September and with a couple of consecutive dull days and some showers, that battery charge level was always on full charge or near.

I have no experience of petrol chargers. We have the back up of the genny, which we can use for the caravan air conditioner or powers tools. We run small power tools and recharge the batteries on rechargeable tools with the inverter off the 12 v solar system. Hence the genny has only been used half a dozen times for the air con and twice for power tools (once was to help someone else out).

I love the 'always there' and silent solar power so lean towards solar at all times.

Motherhen

Easy decision, get another 80 Watt Solar panel !!!

With 4 x 100 ah Fullriver batteries you will only draw a small amount of power off the top of individual batteries in the 12v supply, and not drain one battery as would happen with only 1 x 100ah battery.

Two 80 Watt panels should replace what is removed from the Aux battery system, whether (example only) it's 30 amps from 1 x 100ah battery or 30 Amps from 4 x 100ah batteries, it still only has to replace the amps used (30 Amps) by the fridge and accessories etc on a daily basis.

The Solar panels charge the Aux battery system during the day and maintains the Aux battery system fully charged :-> if it replaces more than is removed, and the 12v Aux battery system only has to power the 12v accessories at night.

Next day it fully recharges the Aux 12v battery system again.
(for more detailed explanation click on "my profile")

Mainey . . .