Thread: Solar panels?

on a 80ah deep cycle battery my single 80w panel used to stay in front of my engle on about mid setting for about 2 weeks along with about 2 hours of use of a fluro and a small am/fm radio on about 14 hours a day.

Id park the trailer in the sun and run an extention cord to the car with the 12v on it running the accesories. This was in townsville. When we went away from the site the fridge would run off of the car battery but that was usually only for about 2 maybe 3 hours a week during the day to get more supplies.

its just a horizontal mount on top of the trailer and since Im building up the trailer for a trip this weekend if you like I'll take pics of the setup.

that solar panel and regulator is now 5 years old since Ive had it and I have no idea how much older than that the solar panel is, we got it in a garage sale for $5 as it wasnt working and a $30ish reg was all it needed.

my reg is bonded straight to the panel as it also doubles as a battery charger if i take it off of the trailer (4 bolts)

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

its just a horizontal mount on top of the trailer and since Im building up the trailer for a trip this weekend if you like I'll take pics of the setup.

Yeah, that would be very useful, thanks.

Seems I wasn't too far off with my 80w estimation then...though I'm told Engels are a little better on current draw than my Waeco.

I'll take the genny in case, but the idea is to be self-sufficient on solar where possible using just an 80Ah battery in the trailer for the fridge and lights. Anything else can run off the second battery in the Landy when needed,as that'll get recharged if we go anywhere.

Some of the panels I've looked seem to have a reg pre-fitted to the back, others (Such as the ones form Jaycar) don't mention this, so I assume it's an extra. Hence why I'm after a shop with a decent range so I can go look at different types and price a few options.

I would advise on getting the panels with the reg seperate so that you can take advantage of being able to use the reg that best suits your needs, Given that most panels put out in the range of 18+v you also get marginal advantage in voltage drop by running the run from the panel to the battery at 18v as opposed to the 13 odd volts the regulator puts out.

the only reason I can see to put the regulator on the panel itself is forprotection or if like me you also use the panel as a charger

Ah ha!
Here is a thread that I have first-hand experience with :-)
I have a 73 litre "Autofridge" which uses the same compressor as the larger waeco's and I live (and use the solar) in Victoria.
I decoded that perhaps 80w would not be enough so I ended up with a Kyocera 130w panel, and I bought a MPPT regulator from the US (ebay user jamrat2000).
When we go camping I run the fridge, lighting in our tent (led strip light), lighting in our marquee (15w 12v compact florescent - probably for 5 hours per night) and a large Altec lansing set of Ipod speakers. I also run a 12v electric blanket for 1/2hour before bed (Yeah I know, we're supposed to be camping!)
I have the panel on a pole bolted to the bullbar so it gets sun most of the day.
While camping down at Wilson's Prom, and at Lorne I found the batteries were back at "float" charging by around 11am-midday, one overcast day it took untill 2pm.
my observations are:

a MMPT regulator is an awesome device, and makes a huge difference in the usable output.

If you have the space and funds, get a bigger panel, you can't really have too much power, it just means you can use more!!

Be aware that a "crystaline" panel will put out almost zero power if there is the slightest bit of shade on it, but for size they have double the output as compared to "amorphous" panels (unisolar etc)

I hope this helps,
Fraser

Talk to a crowd called SolarSales in Welshpool on 92588244.

I had to get quotes for a solar powered setup I designed for a badge swipe muster point up here on the LNG5 project and the quote they supplied for the quality of the equipment was the best that I received (Aus wide).

One of the brands that they sell is SunPower. Sunpower use Premiun grade silicon cells and have one of the best "power to size ratio" available. The panels start at 90Watts with max current of 5.1 amps & 17 volts output. They also sell quality regulators and heavy duty inverters as well.

Real quality will cost you real money. A 90 watt sunpower panel is about $1,100 but may have gone up in a year.

Alternately I used to run two cheapo 12 watt panels purchased on special at Repco on top of my old van to trickle charge the battery during the day at 2 amps and then run the 800w cheapo 2 stroke scorpion genny at night for the lights, battery charger (3.5 amp), etc. It was very cost effective and did the job well.

BradM

Yep 80 watt BP panel on top of the fender does the trick. 60l waeco as fridge .. no probs. As freezer you put back about 8 for every 10 you take out.
I've a little voltmeter hooked up and the panel regularly puts out about 13.5v at the battery ... in good sun.

Cheers

on the panel size issue...

its more efficient (electriallcy and sometimes financially) to run one big solar panel...

but its easier and more flexable in locating to use more smaller panels with a smaller dedicated regulator for each panel.


for instance you can easily hood mount a 45 w panel and put 2 50w panels on the forward sloping part of the defenders roof without changing the overall hieght of the roof or having the panel come out of the sunken bit of a td5 deefer.

Ive only dummy fitted my panels in that configuration before being told by swmbo... "no it looks ugly enough as is"

Originally Posted by fraser130

While camping down at Wilson's Prom, and at Lorne

Slightly off topic I know but I have fond memories of camping at wilsons prom about 10 years ago, saw my first wombat there.
Real nice place. Lost of birds too if I remember right.