Solar Battery Charging

Submitted: Sunday, Aug 03, 2003 at 23:24
ThreadID: 6352 Views:1791 Replies:2 FollowUps:2
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I am after tips to set up a solar charged 12v battery system in a JAYCO OUTBACK CAMPER. I only really want to be able to run lights from the battery. Any tips from people who have systems set up would be appreciated.
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Reply By: joc45 - Monday, Aug 04, 2003 at 18:30

Monday, Aug 04, 2003 at 18:30
Dwayne,
If you are only using lights in your Jayco, and no fridge from the 12v, then solar might be overkill, unless you are staying in the one spot for a week or more.
It might be easier and a lot cheaper to run a charge lead from your car to charge the battery while driving.
Don't use incandescent 12v lights, rather use the high-eff flouros (see Jaycar catalogue, a great one is ST3006, currently about $29 on special, but they have several others there as well, like the SL2850 for about $19). These hi-eff lights put out great gobs of light for less than 1A consumption. If you are running a 70AH aux battery in the Jayco, then you could theoretically run the light for 10 hrs a day for a week! (yeh, ok, someone will pick a flaw in this argument, but you get the idea). If you are on the move every few days, then the battery should keep a reasonable state of charge all the time.
The only qualification I give here, is to keep the battery size reasonable - don't go too small, coz they take many hours to recharge if you drain the thing right down, so a bigger battery given a shallow discharge will recover quicker than a small battery given a deep discharge.

If you feel you must go solar, then there are lots of threads on this site.
Rgds
Gerry
AnswerID: 26774

Follow Up By: Dwayne - Monday, Aug 04, 2003 at 21:22

Monday, Aug 04, 2003 at 21:22
Thanks Gerry,
I already have a charge lead set up to run the fridge etc while on the move, and yes, I do want the ability to stay put for lengthy periods occasionally. Hence the idea of Solar charging.
Thanks for the tips on lights mate.
regards Dwayne
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FollowupID: 18331

Reply By: bigboy - Tuesday, Aug 05, 2003 at 19:43

Tuesday, Aug 05, 2003 at 19:43
call L.C 4X4 PARTS they set up heap sola pannels for long time use
i have a l/cruiser that runs a engel fridge 24/7 and i can leave the car unstarted
for 30 day with the fridge running and the batterys will still be full
give L.C. 4X4 PARTS are ring on 07 46696639
AnswerID: 26863

Follow Up By: Dwayne - Tuesday, Aug 05, 2003 at 21:21

Tuesday, Aug 05, 2003 at 21:21
You r a legend bigboy,
thanks 4 the advice, i will ring them
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FollowupID: 18412

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