Calling the Solar power Guru's.

[robbotd5]

G'day all.
I am currently toying with the idea of going Solar on my Caravan. We would like the option of free camping if desired. Our van is a Retreat Daydream 23ft. All lights are LED except for the shower light. Two DVD monitors, with 3 head units, 19" LCD TV, water pump all use 12v. My current electrical set up consists of an AC Delco deep cycle 97ah battery, and a smart charger. I am envisaging a 120W panel mounted on the roof and hard wired in and an extra battery. How does this sound?? Let it rip fellas!!! What do you think??? Ideas, suppliers ect.
Thanks
Regards
Robbo

[TerryO]

For what its worth our set up for our 18'6" Jayco Outback Pop Top consists of;

2 x 135w Kyocera panels
30m Moringstar regulator
2 x 100 AGM batterys

We only do free camping and never stay in caravan parks and to date have never run out of power and we use lots of power.

On a good day a 120w panel may do the job, but if you have a partially cloudy day then you could really struggle

There are various schools of opinion on what is the best way to set up solar for free camping, personally I believe your better to have more solar and less battery, not the other way round.

Most days the regulator is flashing green by about 9:00amish. So once that happens and the sun is still out then I'll charge any appliance battery's in phones/ipads etc. and we run plenty of additional appliances in the day light hours including a 60 litre EvaKool fridge, in summer fans, stereo etc.
Often when we go camping many of our friends end up running out of power and end up in trouble with their chest fridges, so its not uncommon to end up having two fridges plugged in while they try and recharge their batterys. And in 90% of cases by sunset the green light is still flashing with plenty of spare charging power.

I would rather have a to much then just enough, but again that is how I look at it and others may see it differently.

cheers,
Terry

[robbotd5]

Terry. Thanks very much for your feedback. Can you give me a ball park figure as to the cost of such a set up. Are both your panels roof mounted?
Regards
Robbo

[TerryO]

Hi Robbo,

Yes they are fitted to the roof. One other thing, when the panels were fitted I had 2" stand off brackets fitted which keeps the panels cooler in summer so they stay much more efficient as once they get to a certain temperature they no longer charge properly.

The other bonus is having two large panels with a decent air gap between them and the roof has meant the temperature in the van is much cooler in summer, which is a double bonus.

Good solar gear is coming down in price dramatically and there is no need to buy unknown quality chinese knock offs, a good forum to join to find out more is rvtravelau, it is a closed Yahoo forum and you have to apply to join. Its very old school and there are some interesting characters on there but many of the members know absolute mountains of usefull information and are happy to help out.

http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/rvtravelau/

Hope this helps ...:)

cheers,
Terry

[TerryO]

Terry. Thanks very much for your feedback. Can you give me a ball park figure as to the cost of such a set up.
Regards
Robbo


So Robbo, forgot to answer all of your questions, been a couple of years now since I bought my solar set up and prices have come down quite a lot.

Anyway here is a rough estimate;

135w Kyocera panels ....high $400's each but shop around.
2 x sets Stand off brackets around ...$100 for both.
Moringstar regulator around ...$300 and worth every cent.
100 amp AGM battery's around ...$350 each depending on brand.
Plus decent sized wiring, silicone, screws, etc ...$100

Next time I'd buy 120 amp AGM's not 100's.

That forum I recommended has lots of good advice on where to best buy solar gear and what's cheap at the time your looking.

cheers,
Terry

[redoutback]

Hi Robbo,

There is a new solar product available in Australia called PowerFilm.
It's the next generation flexible thin film solar product - can be folded, rolled and stick on the roof of camper or caravan.
Due to the flexible thin film construction, it is very light and easy to handle/carry around compare to normal crystalline panels.

Also the real world performance is exceptional - the power generation in Aussie outback condition.
most of the normal crystalline panels suffer from high temperature and partial shade but this flexible thin film solar panels work far better in these condition.

For your application, the peel and stick-on type PowerFilm RV kit (Total Solar Solutions | PowerFilmSolar.com (http://powerfilm.com.au/total-solar-solutions/rv-solar-module.php)) would be the ideal solution (if the budget allows)

Nowadays, normal solar panel prices are rock bottom and most of them are coming from China. but the quality variations are extreme. When I did test on a cheap mono crystalline panel rated 120W along with 60W panel with German made cells, the power output of 120W was far less than the 60W panel(yes the 60W panel was dearer than 120W panel). so when you are looking for a crystalline panel(mono or poly), stick with good brand name like BP solar even if you have to pay extra. bottom line is that you are getting what you paid for!

The downside of the flexible solar product is the price(far much more expensive compare to crystalline panels). the retail prices are at the same level of good crystalline panels 3-4 year ago.

If you are interested in this new technology, please let me know then I can provide more detailed information.

Ed

[TerryO]

Having just read more of the blurb on the Powerfilm panels the one main problem I see is they look like they are very big for the output.

My van is 18' long and Looking at it I'd guess there isn't enough clear roof space to mount enough of these panels to provide a similar output to my two 135w Kyocera's and even on the roof of our small van you could still fit two more 135w panels if need be.

If I had a compressor fridge, which I'm considering, instead of a three way I would need approx 400 to 500w of panels to make sure there was always enough spare charging capacity to stay out of trouble even when the weather is bad and there is just no way that the Powerfilm panels could provide that on a normal caravan roof from what I can see.

I'd be happy to be proven wrong as the idea of very little weight on the roof is very appealing.

cheers,
Terry

[Pedro_The_Swift]

You will need at least two panels bigger than 130W, and 3 batteries around 100cca,
any proper 12v upright fridge (Engel Website (http://www.engelaustralia.com.au/products_details.asp?pid=24&productid=21415))
will take 1 panel and battery out of the equation straight up.
But be oh so much better to live with,;)

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Are the figures in red inches?



Technical Specifications

RV Solar Panel Self Install Kits (42W and 60W)


26.14 x 60.81 (42W) or 26.14 x 86.05 (60W) flexible solar panel with peel and stick adhesive backer
Charge controller
15' of wire with connectors
3' "Pigtail" wire with connectors
Wire Placement Kit (8 cable tie mounting bases and zip ties)