Solar Panels, Is It Worth Having Them Installed? (1 Viewer)

[Babyell]

Hi we are new to all this so please excuse my maybe obvious questions!

We have just bought our first MH and don't want to have to rely on camp sites for power. We have the 2 gas tanks etc but we were wondering if it is worth getting solar panels fitted? we have a button for them on our control panel thingy to show power available. how easy and cost effective are they to install? thanks in advance

 

[funflair]

Ok.. I will put an alternative view..

If you use more electricity than you generate by driving then solar is something worth having.

Let me explain.

We use our van for exploring. We drive, stop and look around, drive, stop and eat, drive, sleep. It doesn't matter how long we go for, that is the habit we have.

So in effect, we never use enough electricity that the batteries we have run low and the engine with a standard split charge relay is enough to meet our needs

Our new van has a big inverter that runs a TV and also a diesel space heater so it may be different in the winter with this one however solar isn't all that useful in the winter anyway so we may need an alternative solution.

So for lots of people, solar is essential for the way they use their vans. For us, it would just be more weight and more drag.

Fair comment, the first step is to identify your usage of power and if you are going to run out then you need to take steps and solar is then a good option.

Martin

 

[Carol]

For us it's a no brainer Solar Panel =. Freedom.

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[dabhand]

If you park up for more than 2 or 3 days without mains hookup it's probably a good idea to have solar panels, if you go off grid like Morocco, Scotland Sweden etc, and have a decent solar system you can quite happily exist for many weeks without mains power (assuming you can get water and dump your cassette etc)

 

[Babyell]

How/who would I approach for quotes in Lancashire area? What would top end (*worst case scenario )quote be as I don't want to approach someone and not have enough funds and waste their time!

 

[Techno]

Start with a sheet of graph paper and draw a plan if your roof with all measurements between obstacles
A photograph helps too and a clean roof
This will give yourself and anyone else the information to establish what if anything will fit.

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[Babyell]

This is the roof and it's about 22ft long. What could I fit on it ?

 

[Shrimp]

We have two 110 batteries and a Solar panel on roof, the panel and one battery was already there when we got the van, we added the second batt a few years back.
We have managed 6 weeks, in summer in UK, without electric, probably could manage longer!
YES fit at least one panel and some decent sized batts.

 

[Chockswahay]

It really does depend upon how you travel and what you use (TV, invertor etc)

We considered having solar panels on our first (current) van and decided to 'suck it and see'

We have never ran out of power in over two years now. This is because we rarely stop more that two nights before we drive on

So for us? they would be a complete waste of time and money

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[trekkin]

Yes definitely fit them, As many as possible, but also consider that they need cleaning regularly, so make sure you have access
As they lie horizontally on the roof they do tend to get dirty and do need to be clean to give anywhere near the rated performance.

 

[GJH]

The battery capacity and size of solar panel (if any) required really depend on how much power one uses.

We "only" have a 85Ah battery and a 80W solar panel but don't use appliances which demand a lot of power. That means we can happily manage off grid for as long as we like for most of the year.

 

[scotjimland]

So for us? they would be a complete waste of time and money

and payload in that dinky van..

Our Hymer came with 2 x 80 watt already fitted.. didn't know that until we got home and Jan asked what was that on the roof.. I hadn't noticed them..

To get maximum benefit I have renewed the two ageing 80ah gel batteries, so looking forward to not requiring an EHU ..

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[Sue]

You can't have too much BUT do consider the weight!

some kit.....are you splitting the atom with a hadron collider?

 

[Techno]

This is the roof and it's about 22ft long. What could I fit on it ?

You might get a single panel (100watt) in the centre of the flat area but any fitter will need dimensions not a guess. So you can measure it or ultimately pay for someone elses time. Even the type of mounting brackets may make all the difference to whether there is room.

 

[Chockswahay]

and payload in that dinky van..

Oi ! We've got 450 kg payload

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[Sue]

You can't have too much BUT do consider the weight!

and ..has this been photoshopped? I cant see one illegal immigrant

 

[isitfriday]

I feel things change with time, 20 years ago many of us managed without and still do. A bit like a dishwasher/ Mobil phone etc, once you have one you think you can't manage without. I don't have any solar and my battery has never run down. I easily go for a week on site without hookup.
I don't have TV nor electric kettle the only electrics are the lights and pump.

Go away in your new van and enjoy the challenge of going without and getting away from life's mod cons. It'll be fun

 

[Techno]

A motorHOME is just that and there is no reason to do without with some compromises. You could just buy a tent, everyone puts their own line in the sand.

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[Babyell]

We have just bought a 12v tv and other than that there are no appliances apart from standard fittings and a 12v hairdryer occasionally not sure on leisure batt size. How long would you generally get just on a battery with tv

 

[Don Quixote]

We have just bought a 12v tv and other than that there are no appliances apart from standard fittings and a 12v hairdryer occasionally not sure on leisure batt size. How long would you generally get just on a battery with tv

The average 12volt TV draws 2.5amps per hour so 110 amp battery will give you 55amps before you start "killing" the battery. Therefore 5 hours per night = 12.5amps for TV ONLY, however there are other things that also draw amps in the MH so good round number is total amps per hour in average MH is 4amps per hour= 20amps per day drawn from battery.

 

[peterc10]

It does depend upon what other items you use and how often you use them. What type of lights do you have and how often do you leave them on? LED lights take very little current but 20W halogen lights can each take over 1.5 amps per hour. And then you have your electric water pump and toilet flush to think about, as well your TV's aerial amplifier if you have one. Another high user of electricity is your heating system if you have it on, air fain with Truma or water pump with Alde.

What you need to do is find your battery capacity which will be in Ah (amp hours) and should be written on the side of the battery. Divide that by 2 to get your effective usable power because the battery should not be regularly used below 50% capacity. Then add up all the amps hours used each day and night to see what your likely use is and compare it with that capacity.

Edit - the 12V hairdryer will be next to useless but will still take a lot of current and will drain your batteries very quickly.

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[MattR]

Sorry to disagree with most of you but I really don't think that they are "essential" unless you are off-grid for weeks on end or use loads of power. Nice to have, useful, reassuring, yes. But I wouldn't bother unless the price and weight was low or we were going to use our MH for much longer periods off grid.

We have one 90amh battery which lasts 4 of us approx 4 days with some TV use, LED lights, water pumps etc. Driving approx 1 hr seems to give it enough juice to last another couple of days. We had 2 weeks wildcamping in Scotland over Easter and stayed in the same places for a few days at a time and drove for around an hour or two between them, and didn't run out of power.

 

[peterc10]

Well I decided we needed solar after 4 nights at our first MHF rally at Peterborough in April 2014. Not heavy use (lights occasionally, TV for a couple of hours per day, 2 phones & 2 tablets being charged) but did have the heating on quite a bit, as is usual for April in the UK. By the end we were close to the 50% of capacity of our 2 x 110Ah Banner batteries which were less than a year old.

And by the end of the 4 nights my wife was complaining because she could not wash and dry her hair and I spent the last day looking at the meter every couple of hours to make sure were were not too low.

So I thought I do not want this hassle again when we are supposed to be enjoying ourselves and so I bought 2 x 100W solar panels, controller etc and fitted it all myself (thanks to advice from Andy @Techno100). Total cost less than £370. Then I bought a 2000W inverter for less than £100. So now no worries about usage (never been below 90%) and my wife can wash and dry her hair anywhere. Well worth it, and enabled us to go weeks without EHU on our spring visit to Portugal.

 

[GJH]

Another high user of electricity is your heating system if you have it on, air fain with Truma or water pump with Alde.

I think that power consumption does vary between systems so well worth checking out.

We were a bit concerned, when we got our current van, about how much power the blown air heating would take (our previous van just had a wall heater). We've been very pleasantly surprised at how little the Truma c3402 takes in reality.

We were away for 11 days in April, three places starting with Peterborough Show, and used the heating quite a bit because of chilly evenings. The solar panel had no problems keeping the battery fully charged.

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[Mags52]

My experience is that the blower from the heating can use a lot of power. It seems counter intuitive but if you want to use it in all weathers a solar panel will give you more options. If you only want to use it in summer you might not need one.

 

[Cliffy38]

Personally I would try your luck with one of the numerous companies who keep quoting the government incentive for generating electricity and free solar panels. Wait until they turn up then tell them you want them on the motorhome. Either they will do it (very unlikely ) or after you have a couple of companies round you will be blacklisted for them and no more phone calls ( happy Days )

 

[Andi968]

Hi we are new to all this so please excuse my maybe obvious questions!

We have just bought our first MH and don't want to have to rely on camp sites for power. We have the 2 gas tanks etc but we were wondering if it is worth getting solar panels fitted? we have a button for them on our control panel thingy to show power available. how easy and cost effective are they to install? thanks in advance

Without a doubt ! For the last two years we have only had to hook up twice. We camp all year round and as you can see on the roof we have 1 x 250w (21kg)and 2 x 150w lightweight flexible panels (2.2kg each) each with their own 20a mppt charger which go onto charge 4 x 110ah battery's .
We worked out we paid for the panels in the first year ! The same with the two lightweight gas low refillable gas bottles.

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[Wizbangs]

Regarding having solar panels fitted to your van. I our opinion it should be the very first thing that you have fitted because it will keep your van and engine batteries fully charged. Before we had ours fitted we went to use the van the engine battery was flat so we could not start the van up. This meant putting the mains connection on the van and wiat all day for things to get back to normal. Note that your van uses the battery power even when you are parked up to run the alarm and other things. Solar panels do help but in the winter when the days are shorter you would do well to carry a generater or use hook up. Go for the biggest panel that you can. John.

 

[David j Paley]

This will no doubt sound really foolish. I'm a little confused if you have decent solar panel/s and two decent leisure batteries and you fit a inverter what appliances would be able to use, for example TV not 12 Volt, microwave hair dryer.

 

[mjltigger]

This will no doubt sound really foolish. I'm a little confused if you have decent solar panel/s and two decent leisure batteries and you fit a inverter what appliances would be able to use, for example TV not 12 Volt, microwave hair dryer.

You can run anything you like, you just have to do the maths.. which I'm no good at.. the more you run the more batteries you need and the more batteries you have the more you need in order to keep them charged.. if you search around the maths is on here and you just need some numbers from the label on the device.. and a calculator

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[funflair]

This will no doubt sound really foolish. I'm a little confused if you have decent solar panel/s and two decent leisure batteries and you fit a inverter what appliances would be able to use, for example TV not 12 Volt, microwave hair dryer.

Not really worth running a 240 volt TV unless it's something special that you can't get with 12 volt option as you would need to run the inverter all the time the TV is on and it's not as efficient.

Yes you can run all your other appliances like microwave and hair dryer but you need an understanding of what you are taking out of your batteries and how you are going to put it back in it's OK having solar panels but you a re limited by the size of your panel and the available sunshine, for example 5 minutes of microwave or hair dryer would take a couple of hours to put back in on a sunny day with around 200 watts of solar.

Martin