Camper Van & Solar Panel?

pugheaven

pugheaven

pugheaven

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Joined
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Bryn Celyn Wales
Anyone running a solar panel, whether flexi or rigid etc on their camper van? Was it worth it?

I'm caught between flexi (circa £120) ones and rigid (circa £130) on a frame... both at around 100W... is 100W enough for charging leisure batteries (dependant on weather). Sooo many things to think about...
I'm vearing towards the frame type 60/40 right now... see so many different variations. My problem would be the "bolting" of a alluminium frame and do I wanna drill holes in the pop top? Assuming this would also let the panel "breath" and cool in hot weather... but also does this cause any noises when driving? Then again with a flexi option I'd need to Sikiflex it so either way... possibly damage to the roof... so... what have you guys done? Pro's/Con's etc? Any opinions welcome from people who've actually done it? Has anyone even thought what a waste of time? Doesn't work very well etc?
I was going to do the work myself, can't be difficult.. and looking at some kits etc... Anyway, post some pictures if you have any so I can see!
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Flexi panels don't last as long apparently, and just sticking them on can cause issues with them flying off. Personally I'd be bolting a rigid panel on properly. The other option:
Have you thought about a Jackery or similar?
 
Uther said:
Flexi panels don't last as long apparently, and just sticking them on can cause issues with them flying off. Personally I'd be bolting a rigid panel on properly. The other option:
Have you thought about a Jackery or similar?
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Yeah, it's kinda what I'm thinking, anything flapping etc. As for a jackery, just googled, no, but going to read up on them now :-)
 
pugheaven said:
Yeah, it's kinda what I'm thinking, anything flapping etc. As for a jackery, just googled, no, but going to read up on them now :)
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I watch a lot of camping stuff on youtube and they seem to be pretty popular. Obviously a lot of them are probably getting the stuff free but worth a look if you're going to be off grid.
 
A jackery is basically a nicely packaged leisure battery + electronics. It's got the inverter, charge controller, battery monitor, 12v outlets and stuff built into it. I guess your van has most of that stuff already?
You still need a means of charging it - that could be with your solar panels, 12v feed from your engine battery or just fully charge it at home before you go out.

Do you know what your power usage is like in your van?
All I have in mine is a few LED lights, a car radio (separate from the one in the dashboard which runs off the engine battery) and some usb chargers for our phones, cameras and torches. I think my leisure battery is 100AH and it would probably last for weeks with the small amount of power we use.
 
touch said:
A jackery is basically a nicely packaged leisure battery + electronics. It's got the inverter, charge controller, battery monitor, 12v outlets and stuff built into it. I guess your van has most of that stuff already?
You still need a means of charging it - that could be with your solar panels, 12v feed from your engine battery or just fully charge it at home before you go out.

Do you know what your power usage is like in your van?
All I have in mine is a few LED lights, a car radio (separate from the one in the dashboard which runs off the engine battery) and some usb chargers for our phones, cameras and torches. I think my leisure battery is 100AH and it would probably last for weeks with the small amount of power we use.
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Yeah so, my camper has the relay that when the engine starts it's also charging the leisure battery as well so all good. And if we go to a campsite that has a hookup then once again all good. However, next Spring I'm thinking going over to spain for 10 days and going "off the grid" a bit i.e. just not having to worry about power... and within my camper I have a TV and a fridge and the fridge would be nice to have running 24/7 but to do that I think I'd need solar. I reckon 15 hours without running engine or charging and it would eat the battery... not sure as never tested it as I don't like running batteries to empty as it's not good even on leisure batteries.

So was thinking especially when in Europe... having a couple of solar panels on the top could give me what 5A of charging possibly more if in absolute sunshine which when not moving in the camper would enable me to no even worry about leaving things like fridge on 24/7 then...

I don't know, maybe I don't need one, but I'd rather have one I think I don't know lol
 
There is quite a difference in real world output of various solar panels especially in low light conditions - I've currently got a setup with 2x Renogy 100 watt panels, 100Ah Photonic Universe gel battery (in the future I'd probably go LifePO4 but they are currently 4x the price for the same capacity), Renogy Voyager charge controller and a 1000 watt pure sine wave Renogy inverter which has automatic switching between battery and "shore" power that I can use with my pickup.

I've never used it for more than 2-3 days though (and more for powering a laptop and low wattage kettle kind of thing than fridge or a TV for longer periods, etc.) so dunno how well it would stand up to a longer period off the beaten track - any day with reasonable sunshine it can charge the battery surprisingly fast - 2 batteries would have been better though as it is a bit borderline for the specs of the inverter but at 33Kg that is a fair weight.

EDIT: I originally had 2x flexi panels instead - no problems with reliability/lifespan in more than 2 years of use but I bought some of the Renogy panels for a larger scale fixed setup and they were overwhelmingly better for output at off-peak times of day (which is a large part of the time in the UK).
 
Just throwing this out there for possibility.
Why don't you get a single "proper" panel (circa 400w), make up a ground based frame (that is easy to take apart with bolts& wing nuts), small inverter, plug to your battery

Then travel with it in the van and pop it out when your there.
You can stake it to the ground with pegs if its going to be windy, plus you will then be able to angle it towards the sun throughout the day getting max benefit.
 
You need to size solar for your load, this guy is good with solar, check his website out too. He recommends rigid over flexi.

www.youtube.com

How to Size your Solar Power System

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*Does off-grid solar confuse you?* Save time and money with my DIY friendly off-grid solar kits, my latest product recomme...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
pugheaven said:
I don't know, maybe I don't need one, but I'd rather have one I think I don't know lol
Click to expand...

Yes, sorry my post wasn't very clear. I didn't mean that you shouldn't get one, just that you should match up the panel against your usage and time spent off-grid. For my use, I probably don't need one.

Having said that, I do actually have 2x 100W flexible panels to go onto my van. They've been sitting in my office for well over a year now but i'll get them fitted one day. I went for a flexible panel because I want it mounted flat to the roof. I've got a roof rack and often use it for kayaks so need to keep that space. I was planning sticking them down with some strips of heavy duty mounting tape. It's thick enough to give a small amount of airflow under the panels (side-to-side, don't want air flowing under the front when i'm driving and lifting them up. Then I'll add a tether with some thin steel cable and bolt it to the roof rack mounts so that if the tape does fail the panel won't go flying down the road and hit any other cars.
It looks really easy to wire up. The charge controller (I've got a PWM controller but MPPT is more efficient) has 4 screw terminals on it: battery +, battery -, solar +, solar -. That's basically it - but most guides recommend putting in some fuses and isolator switches too.
 
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