60 watt solar panel from Maplins £199

solitaire woman · 22-06-2008, 10:26 AM

Have just seen a 60watt solar panel from maplins for £199 which seems quite cheap to me. Have to say the whole solar thing is quite confusing to me, there seem so many different types to choose from. Would this one be suitable for a motorhome? Could I link 2 together, and what size inverter would I need? What about the leisure battery/s?

Any advice on any other panel would be gratefully accepted! Great site for help and information!
Thanks.

Road Runner · 22-06-2008, 10:35 AM

Thanks for that SW

Heres a link Maplin > 60W Solar Power Kit

Gonewiththewind · 22-06-2008, 10:36 AM

Hi Solitair, sounds good. I got 130 Watt and cost £500 so £190 for 60 Watt sounds a bargain.
Yes you can link them together much the same as you do with a Battery, although the panel should have a connecter box on the back, mine has two connecter blocks, one is to control panel and one is incoming from another panel.
At that price I would go for it.
I was advised that it should be a min of 50 Watt solar to 100 Watt battery per adult person. I went for the 130 sollar and 200 Watt Battery, even though I am a single camper.

Good luck

Wildman · 22-06-2008, 11:06 AM

solar panels connect in parallel via a charge controller to your leisure batteries. The inverter runs off of the batteries. Work out how many amp hours a day you use. Then make sure you have double that amount of battery storage x the max number of days you will be relient on power without a hookup. 60Watt solar panel will produce an average og 30W per hour to put back in the batteries. So make sure any heavy inverter use is during daylight hours to give batteries a chance to recover for the evening. Remember they produce no charge at night. A pair of 60W PLUS a charge controller!!!!!! and a pair of 120 amp/hr batteries should be plenty depending on how often you move and add charge via the engine. I go for a week or more wild camping and only had 10W solar but moved every day, never run out of power. However I don't use an inverter/hairdryer/microwave etc. TV an old BW job (soon to be obsolete) The panels are a good buy (if there are any left). As to the size of the inverter it depends on what you wish to run I now have a 300W to power a 45W tV or a 45W laptop. Again wok out what you are likely to use, does it have to be 240V are 12v versions available, if so use them. Don't forget to change bulbs for led bulbs as well and you should be all set. Finally only use what power you can replace.
Simple really, as a last resort run the engine or a generator. Good luck.

Don Madge · 22-06-2008, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solitaire woman

Have just seen a 60watt solar panel from maplins for £199 which seems quite cheap to me. Have to say the whole solar thing is quite confusing to me, there seem so many different types to choose from. Would this one be suitable for a motorhome? Could I link 2 together, and what size inverter would I need? What about the leisure battery/s?

Any advice on any other panel would be gratefully accepted! Great site for help and information!
Thanks.

Hi,

We have a Timberland LWB panel van conversion with a 60 watt solar panel which we have had for the last ten years. I've got two 100amp leisure batteries which are linked to the engine battery by a battery master. The panel keeps all three batteries topped up throughout the year.

We don't have a TV, we have a 150 watt inverter for charging camera/phone/razor. We run the laptop with a 120watt DC power adapter.

Don

Digger Driver · 22-06-2008, 03:05 PM

Last time i looked that was a web only offer!

solitaire woman · 22-06-2008, 06:27 PM

It was indeed a web offer! Delivery is free though, and if you sign up for their news letter they send you discount vouchers, so I think if I bought 2 the vouchers would come to £25 off. Have phoned them to ask the size and weight of them, but they say to email their technical department, so am now waiting for a reply.

Frankia · 01-07-2008, 11:10 PM

It would appear that you get a charge regulator with each panel. If you are buying 2 I would suggest as it is a 10 amp regulator (more than sufficient for 120 w panel which at best will probably not deliver more than 7 amps for a short period around mid day) that you wire the 2 panels via one regulator to your batteries. - Less weight to carry and store and you don't get the regulators "fighting each other" (one regulator switching off when a certain voltage has been reached even if the batteries are not yet fully charged).

I think that their usage table is maybe a bit ambitious - You could only run all those items for those lengths of time in perfect conditions i.e. sitting on the equator on a perfect cloudless day and getting 18hrs of daylight. We didn't get that in Lincolnshire on mid summers day!

pappajohn · 01-07-2008, 11:43 PM

just about to order one but i cant find the dimensions. might not have enough roof space

bugger it...........ordered and awaiting delivery. i'll take the frizbee off the roof.

would appear no-one has any in stock at hull, leeds, middlesborough or anywhere near me.
derrrr. could this be because its a web only offer.

£185 with discount code.

Wildman · 02-07-2008, 10:19 AM

never mind John you will wake up eventually.