Solar charging

[Dudleian]

We mostly only use Billy for short local runs and have no adjacent parking to allow use of a charger and it can sometimes stand for three or four days without being started - consequently the battery probably needs a bit of help to keep it ready to fire up the motor. When we start using the van for camping our use of electrics will be pretty minimal so I want ti fit a solar panel that will keep the main battery topped up while the van is parked up and then feed any excess through the split charger to the leisure battery. I don't believe the claims made for those small 'bung it on the dashboard' jobbies - does anyone have any suggestions for a reasonably priced solar system?

[janie]

http://www.solarcampersolutions.co.uk/i ... /bongo-kit

Lots of us have them from here - not the cheapest, but excellent value and made to fit the vehicle - great instructions on fitting and fast delivery. Never had a single problem with mine.

Jane

[Bob]

Roger will also fit these if required, I've a feeling he's Taunton way.

The small panels,which sit on the dash do work, we have 3 in the family, but if you're parked on the road you don't want it visible.

Someone on here had a window smashed only to have the panel thrown on the ground once the scum found it wasn't a tablet.

Note the lighter socket is only live when the key is turned to the 'Accessory' position so a little wiring mod would be required.

Roger's units are top class.

[g8dhe]

Do consider how well the van will be illuminated by the sun when parked at home.
We used to park ours in a drive way at the back of our house, which had excellent conditions and it would run the fridge 24/365 during the first year. Then we had a front drive installed and moved the van to the front, with out thinking about illumination, it rapidly became apparent that 11:00-14:00 during winter wasn't sufficient to maintain even the LB - ok with a bit higher drain than most - during the worst of the winter weather.

Another aspect to consider is that the SB should be able to last a several weeks on its own, so if yours is only lasting a few days maybe you have some drain on it that is not accounted for ? Either that or the battery is past its use by date! Stick an a meter on to measure the current when the ignition is off, anything in excess of 50mA needs to be investigated as its a load that might be better switched to the LB or at least understood as to why the current is being drawn.

[Dudleian]

Thanks Geoff - it's not losing charge, just not always having enough put back in after starting the engine - short runs with lights on and not enough long runs during winter time etc.

[redrocket]

I was in the same boat, only doing short runs this time of year so not getting enough charge into the leisure battery, so i decided to buy a solar panel and fit it just last weekend funnily enough, i bought a flexible black Lensun 80w panel from amazon £149.99 and has prime delivery (im all over that)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lensun-Fibergl ... lensun+80w
Admittedly you can get a cheaper 100w flexible panel for around £100 but i wanted a black one so i had to pay the premium, plus its made out of better materials.

Then bought a reel of 2.5mm2 cable £15 quid, sure this was ebay

and then this MPPT solar charge controller which is a must if you want to bother with making the most out of the energy you produce from the solar panel
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Photonic-Unive ... c+universe
also on prime £59.99

The benefits of mppt are that it converts any voltage above your battery level into extra Amps, so for instance
80w panel at 18v has a maximum amperage of 4.44 volts (80w / 18v)able to be fed into the battery. a Cheap PWM charge controller will modulate the voltage to match your batterys current voltage and throw away all the extra energy.
An MPPT controller like the one above will output the same voltage as your current battery level and then convert the remaining volts into extra amps.
So lets imagine we have a 50% battery life left at around 12v.
the controller will convert the difference so lets work that out - 18v / 12v =1.5
get the maximum amperage from a PWM controller 4.44amps and multiply by 1.5 = 6.66 amps.
So theoretically a pwm out of an 80w panel will only ever utilise at maxmimum efficiency

12v battery x 4.44 amps = 52.8w out of 80w!!

a MPPT

18 /12 = 1.5
4.44 * 1.5 = 6.66
12v x 6.6amps = 79.2w out of a possible 80w


Much more impressive

Heres my images

[Bob]

Really neat.

[petejleonard]

Neat looking install there.

What did you use to bond it to the roof?

[mikeonb4c]

We mostly only use Billy for short local runs and have no adjacent parking to allow use of a charger and it can sometimes stand for three or four days without being started - consequently the battery probably needs a bit of help to keep it ready to fire up the motor. When we start using the van for camping our use of electrics will be pretty minimal so I want ti fit a solar panel that will keep the main battery topped up while the van is parked up and then feed any excess through the split charger to the leisure battery. I don't believe the claims made for those small 'bung it on the dashboard' jobbies - does anyone have any suggestions for a reasonably priced solar system?

Given that security is an issue, i wonder what could be rigged up to use the (AFT) sunroof panel. I know efficiency will be affected by the extra glass but its a reasonable area, but if the charging requirement isn't too great.......

[redrocket]

Neat looking install there.

What did you use to bond it to the roof?

I just used weather resistant black silicon sealant, got it from toolstation really thick and sticky stuff done the job good

[g8dhe]

Humm, you may have a greater area covered, but this guy used white silicon sealant.

[redrocket]

You trying to instill fear into me here as its working!
It says it's for automotive industrial applications like that stuff you use to bond and seal spoilers.so i hope I'm alright

[Bongolia]

Check if it is silicon and it specifies it can be used as an adhesive. If not then what you need is a polyurethane like Tiger seal or Sikkaflex.

[redrocket]

heres the link to the sealant adhesive
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Adhesiv ... 0ml/p67949

[Bongolia]

Yup, thats a PU adhesive.