Solar power for our caravan

This thread may be of interest to you Caroline.

Solar vs Generator

Cheers Mick

Hi Caroline

Solar wins every time for me. Silent, always there. Can use in National Parks and when you have neighbours in campgrounds. No fumes, noise or carrying petrol.

Motherhen

We have a a 1k Yamaha gennie which we used in the Humvee to top up the batteries on extended camps and when the small solar panel couldn't keep up with the fridge and lights.
Now with the Oka and plenty of roof space we've gone fully solar and the gennie stays at home in the shed. The house battery/solar system in the Oka is totally separate from the vehicle with NO input from the alternator.
We've just got home from our first longish trip through Vic and SA and even after weeks of intermittent, mostly cloudy weather the battery voltage has never fallen below 12.5v. We have a 130l compressor fridge, all LED lighting, an 1800w inverter which is on most of the time when stopped, providing power for the electric jug, toaster, breadmaker and the plethora of 240v plugpacks charging camera, laptop etc batteries. In 2 1/2 months we've never used the inbuilt 240v smartcharger or any other power source except the solar panels.
There are four 125W panels on the roof charging 480ah of AGM batteries through a Plasmatronics PL40 MPPT regulator.
On a nice sunny day the batteries are usually pretty full by mid morning and even full cloudy days with rain will nearly have replaced what we have used.
We don't spare the jug or toaster even if there is no sun.
With your van you may have to juggle panel sizes to fit around roof hatches and vents etc but a similar setup should be achievable.

Solar is the way to go.

Cheers

We have five solar panels and five batteries. That's fantastic and keeps us in power. We wouldn't be without them. There is no ongoing charge for the fuel, and they are quiet.
We have a generator that we use to run the washing machine, or if we are in the one place for a little while, to run the bread maker.
We also use an anderson plug to top up the batteries while driving.

hi caroline h
i have been using it in various forms for over 15 years starting with electric fences then battery trickle charging on my 4wd then dual 4wd batteries and engel fridge use while travelling and camping
to charging batteries in the shed
and now my current campertrailer which relies totally on solar power when free camping but with 240v stand by if needed--- so far not required

solar power is great but dont ever believe the add that says its free

it is free to collect the suns rays so far no charge to do that from the powers to be
by that i mean their is no meter between the sun and your collection equipment ( but dont hold your breath on that just wait for it
just like carbon tax it will happen ) lol

but depending how you set up your sunray collecting equipment
can be ---very expensive--- or moderately costly ---but either way
its a real winner if set up properly
silent and very efficient providing excellent power with the right combination of solar panels and storage batteries to suit --- your---- power consumption requirements

knowing what your actuall power consumption will be prior to setting up is the crux to a successful system

as i dont consider myself an expert i will leave the advice to those who are more skilled in that field
there is plenty of imfo availuble just google the topic and you will be able to read for many days and learnt heaps from that source alone
there is a lot of very knowledgeable users on here as well
cheers and happy solar days ahead
barry

Hi Caroline H,
I have been thru the same decision making recently. Am convinced with "normal" 12v usage (no inverter usage) that you can survive for many days without charging. However, solar is definitely the best recharging option imho. A minimum of two van batteries is best.
You can get a reasonable priced set of portable solar panels from Mandrakes (160w = $800) which is much cheaper than a good quality gennie.
Don't forget that if you regularly move, then the tow vehicle will recharge the batteries (the experts say not as efficiently as the solar though).
I have been carting a gennie..but haven't used it yet. We leave our washing till we get on to 240v again.
Cheers,
Ian

Firstly you have to have a battery and a 100Ah AGM would be a good start. Now if you are careful with your power use LED lights etc an 80 W panel would be enough. If you have a 40L fridge a second 80 W panel. That is a minimal setup and but a Honda Generator it you have an AC a 2 kva one and a large multi charger Ctec 25A so the duty cycle of your generator is decreased.

If you wan to go all solar it is pretty costly as you would be looking at $1000 worth of batteries and $2000 worth of panels plus the necessary charging regulators and cable. Then there is the extra weight.

I have one 80W panel on my vehicle with 100AH aux battery for the fridge and one 80W panel for the van with 100AH battery and old smokey as a standby

Hi Caroline,
I have recently put solar into a Jayco 21ft van. Cost so far is around $3000.
Batteries purchased of Ebay 2x 165amp AGM($315ea). 2x 12v-200w panels ($400ea). Redarc battery management sys ($1250) expensive but manages all incoming power. Add the bits and pieces to fit in place. Overall weight added is only about 80kg.
From what I have observed with this system is hat it may have been expensive but I can camp anywhere and for unlimited time.

Regards
Rodney