Cheap solar panels .. worth it?

that won't charge it mate but we need more info on your setup there

K, setup will be 2 x 96 amp hour batts.

Drain will be a small inverter, 2 x 12 V portable fluoros (c. 1 amp each) and a 37 l Waeco fridge (c. 0.8 amp).

I'm told this setup should be good for 4 - 5 days with batts fully charged.

Appreciate that a 15 W solar panel could never be the prime charge source, esp down south.

It's just top-up value for money that I'm looking at.

Apologies if the above makes no sense ... I'm an ignoramus when it comes to electricity.

Sigmund,

Here is what to do.

Take the $165 and put $15 aside. Then throw the remainder down the toilet. That way you will only waste $150 :-)

Seriously, unless you are only using a 11W flouro light for a couple of hours a day then 15 Watts of solar panel will do almost exactly nothing to help. And if that light is all you have then your batteries will probably last a few weeks anyway. A 15 W panel will deliver about 10W for 3 - 4 hours only I am afraid or enbough to run a standard fridge for a bit more than an hour. Barely enough to keep an unused battery charged.

If you have a few lights, and a fridge and want to be self sufficient for 3 days with say an 80AH battery then you will need a minimum of about 80Watt and probably more than 120W depending on your location, load etc.

As per above more info on your batteries and loads would help but I would be amaized if you can get away with less than 100Watts.

Don't buy it until you understand the issue a lot more. There are lots of people here that can give you ( a range of ) opinions.

Cool.

Fair 'nuff.

Waste of money then.

An 80 w panel and one 100 a/h battery keeps us in power with Engel car fridge and a couple of fluro lights. We tried to run a second Engel as a freezer but had wet or cloudy weather and was struggling.

We have replaced the caravan batteries, and will try using two from the caravan (still good) in the F250 and see how the panel handles them.

Motherhen

Sigmund,

You might care to check out our blog on electricity for camping. It discusses the various loads and sources of electricity. FWIW our daily load is about 36 amphours, your 15W panel might supply up to 6 amphours!

Cheers,

John

Thanks all for taking the time to educate a newbie.

G'Day,
as youve gathered by now, 15w is not going to touch the sides.

Your lights are minimal but once you bring a fridge into it it gets more serious.

Buy best you can afford both in panel and battery,

I have a 120a/hr battery with a 60w panel, which runs my 40ltr engel fine even in cloud it keeps up and has never gone flat on me.

I also have an 18ltr waeco, and can run it as a small freezer too, panel copes just, but needs full sun all day or I need to top up with my genny and 25a charger for couple hours.

I dont often do this as its pushing things a bit, but just to give you an idea.

Rgds

Ron

Thanks.

Yeah, will be lobbing in to a site with 2 x 96 amp hour batts fully charged. I understand now that a 15 W rated panel is pretty useless.

Had just been wondering about the cost effectiveness of one for a bit of top-up.

That said, in the future I will want to be fully independent of the alternator, so it will either be decent panels or a gennie. (And I hate the noise of gennie's in the bush!).