Portable Solar Panel

[Antony bleasdale]

i am considering buying a Bosch portable panel, as they seem to be a well thought out piece of kit. The main reason is the cost but is it better to save for a roof mounted option?

 

[andy63]

Got a portable to use when I have the sat dome on the roof instead of a 100w panel. I can choose which I want but not room for both...
The portable is great but on balance I prefer to have the panel on roof... I'm always worried about the security of the portable if I want to leave the van .. that's the main concern for me with the portable..
Ta Andy.

 

[tonka]

Depends how many watts and what the price is..
An 80w fixed panel with all the bits can be bought quiet cheap and with DIY fitting your sorted..

Portable have some advantages and for some may be their only option, ie roof space but for me they seem to much of a pain..
You see people moving them about all day to get the best sun BUT then they go out for hours and come back to a panel facing the wrong way after the sun has moved round..
Plus seeing them chained up to avoid theft, having to store them etc..

Our 80w panel suits our needs, fixed on roof 3 years ago and not touched since..

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

We had one years ago with one of the caravans. Ralph said it was neither use nor ornament.
He fixed a solar on the roof. We used to rally without hookup with 3 little kids and all the paraphanalia that goes with them.
Never looked back and used roof mounted ones since. With proper batteries you can go for days on end.

 

[Antony bleasdale]

Thanks for your thoughts, what I was expecting. I may win the lottery and install a satellite and solar combined unit

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[laurieash]

An old thred I know but whats your thoughts on this.
I have a 100watt sola pannel fitted to the roof also 2 100amp Battery's
last year when in Portugal in January was running out of power long nights short days, yet only had one battery then also.
so I was thinking of portable suitcase type one so I can move it around to follow the sun.
had to turn the motor home around last year as the dome satellite put the flat roof panel in partal shade.
Whats your thorts guys/girls.
Laurie.

 

[DBK]

You might be better trying to reduce power consumption. Are all the lights LED, if not change them. Is the TV 12 volt? If you are running a 240 volt one through an inverter this will use more current. Also, are the leisure batteries up to scratch or is time to change them?

I suspect a small portable solar panel, say 30W or thereabouts would be of little use but every little helps as they say but I would look at reducing consumption as much as possible first.

 

[Derbyshire wanderer]

The portable units are usually low output due to keeping them a sensible size. Yes they can be turned to follow the sun and therefore provide power closer to their design but a roof mount is usually a bigger capacity so even though the output may not be the maximum due to not facing the sun directly it will be putting something into the batteries long before you get up to put the portable out ( assuming summer and that you don't leave the portable out in case it walks).
The other advantage with roof mount is that is is never in your way.

 

[laurieash]

Ok will stick with the roof mounted panel.
Thanks all.