Solar charging advice please

[violet]

I am looking for a stand alone solar charger system, not attached to the campervan. I ideally want to be able to efficiently charge mobiles, USB lights, external powerbanks, and other things.
It should be able to hold the power so it can be used after charging. It would need to be able to charge on cloudy days as well as sunny ones.
Quality is important but as it may not be used much I don't want to spend too much. I did look at the solarpod system, that was about £800 for the solar panel and the separate battery box, I would really prefer to spend less than that.
Can any of you amazingly well-informed and wonderfully helpful FUN members out there give me any advice please?

 

[Stealaway]

There are some simple 100watt kits on eBay at a reasonable price if you can fit it yourself. Ideally I would buy a dual battery charge controller and also charge the starter battery

 

[violet]

Thanks Stealaway but I actually don't understand.
I doubt I could fit a kit myself. I'm looking for a system that has nothing to do with the camper but that could be used when we were camping whether with or without the van. So a good way to use solar to charge a battery that could then be used to charge powerbanks,etc.

 

[pappajohn]

Folding portable solar panel and a basic controller.

Panel maybe £100.....controller £10 and upwards......battery (essential) around £100.
You'll struggle to find a panel which will produce useful electric under cloud..... In fact I'll go as far as say you won't find one.

 

[Richard n Ann]

You need something like...

40w monocrystalline panel
20ah Gel(in case it tips over) battery
MPPT(for cloudy days) controller.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[violet]

You need something like...

40w monocrystalline panel
20ah Gel(in case it tips over) battery
MPPT(for cloudy days) controller.

Just to show my ignorance .... what is an MPPT controller?

 

[rosalan]

Sometimes I fail to see the point. Why not fit the whole lot to the van? Fitted with all bells and whistles should be well under the £800 and you would not need to buy an extra battery, all your batteries and mobile phones etc should be charged automatically. Batteries outside of the van are very heavy to say nothing of the cables linking it all together. Yes! I must have missed the point.

 

[Driventemple]

Here's one on Ebay:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-...0001&campid=5338547443&icep_item=123974846602

 

[Jev88]

I think you need to clarify what you really need?
Camping without the MH?

 

[pappajohn]

Just to show my ignorance .... what is an MPPT controller?

It's a type of efficient solar controller.
It takes what little power is available, cleans it up, makes it more efficient and slightly increases power.
Far superior than a basic PWM controller but more expensive.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[autorouter]

I'd suggest you look at the all-in-one power packs that are used for camping, fishing etc. A power pack is a box with a battery, a built-in car charger, built-in solar controller and a mains charger brick. It has solar panel sockets (MC4) so you can plug in a solar panel.

The outputs are 12V cigarette-lighter-type sockets and USB sockets. It has a small built-in inverter (a device that converts 12V battery power to 240V mains power). The inverter is low power, suitable for laptop chargers, small lamps etc.

You can get different sizes, from big car battery size to handbag size, with obviously different energy storage capacity. The capacity is rated in watt-hours (Wh), from 150Wh for a small one to 1200Wh (1.2kWh) or more for a big heavy car-battery-size one.

The small one is OK for charging phone, toothbrush and rechargeable batteries for torches. A bigger one might be necessary for working all day on a laptop then watching TV all evening.

The solar panel often has the correct MC4 connectors already, but they are available if you need to fit them yourself. When choosing a panel, be sure to respect the maximum voltage of the inbuilt controller, which is probably fairly low, maybe 22 volts.

Solar panels work best in direct sunlight, ideally angled to face the sun. They produce some output when the sky is bright but cloudy, and very little on a dull grey day. There are two types of solar controller, both equally efficient in bright sunlight. The MPPT type gives a bit more output in cloudy conditions than a PWM type.

This is a mid-size one:
Amazon product ASIN B07DVGYDL5

 

[ManTheVan]

Look at an Anker folding solar charger. Very efficient and light, charges phones/iGadgets, etc nice and quickly, but you wouldn’t want it out in wet conditions. Link here.

 

[violet]

I think you need to clarify what you really need?
Camping without the MH?

In a word, yes. We can charge things quite easily when we are in the campervan, though an extra method could be useful, but when tent or bothy camping it would be good to have something that was effective but not too heavy. That's why I'm looking for a standalone system.

 

[violet]

It's a type of efficient solar controller.
It takes what little power is available, cleans it up, makes it more efficient and slightly increases power.
Far superior than a basic PWM controller but more expensive.

Thank you Pappajohn, very cogent explanation.

 

[violet]

I'd suggest you look at the all-in-one power packs that are used for camping, fishing etc. A power pack is a box with a battery, a built-in car charger, built-in solar controller and a mains charger brick. It has solar panel sockets (MC4) so you can plug in a solar panel.

The outputs are 12V cigarette-lighter-type sockets and USB sockets. It has a small built-in inverter (a device that converts 12V battery power to 240V mains power). The inverter is low power, suitable for laptop chargers, small lamps etc.

You can get different sizes, from big car battery size to handbag size, with obviously different energy storage capacity. The capacity is rated in watt-hours (Wh), from 150Wh for a small one to 1200Wh (1.2kWh) or more for a big heavy car-battery-size one.

The small one is OK for charging phone, toothbrush and rechargeable batteries for torches. A bigger one might be necessary for working all day on a laptop then watching TV all evening.

The solar panel often has the correct MC4 connectors already, but they are available if you need to fit them yourself. When choosing a panel, be sure to respect the maximum voltage of the inbuilt controller, which is probably fairly low, maybe 22 volts.

Solar panels work best in direct sunlight, ideally angled to face the sun. They produce some output when the sky is bright but cloudy, and very little on a dull grey day. There are two types of solar controller, both equally efficient in bright sunlight. The MPPT type gives a bit more output in cloudy conditions than a PWM type.

This is a mid-size one:
Amazon product ASIN B07DVGYDL5

Many thanks for this. That is exactly what I want. One question, I have some power banks e.g Belkin. Could I charge up a power bank from the all-in-one power pack after that has been charged by the solar panel?
Really appreciate everyone's advice.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[autorouter]

The USB outputs are standard just like any other USB sockets. If your power banks normally charge from USB then, yes, they will also charge from these.

There are different grades of USB socket, from the ancient 500mA ones to the latest high-power 'QC3' ones. If the devices you have require the latest types, like USB-C for example, you may need to buy cigarette-lighter plug adaptors that go in the socket on the all-in-one power pack.

 

[violet]

The USB outputs are standard just like any other USB sockets. If your power banks normally charge from USB then, yes, they will also charge from these.

There are different grades of USB socket, from the ancient 500mA ones to the latest high-power 'QC3' ones. If the devices you have require the latest types, like USB-C for example, you may need to buy cigarette-lighter plug adaptors that go in the socket on the all-in-one power pack.

Thank you Autorouter, I would think I have some old and some new so I'll check this out.

 

[scotzsue]

Folding portable solar panel and a basic controller.

Panel maybe £100.....controller £10 and upwards......battery (essential) around £100.
You'll struggle to find a panel which will produce useful electric under cloud..... In fact I'll go as far as say you won't find one.

wish i knew what panel we had on the escape, kept us going in the winter, in fog, for 5 days, couldn't see the field next to the fence.

 

[pappajohn]

wish i knew what panel we had on the escape, kept us going in the winter, in fog, for 5 days, couldn't see the field next to the fence.

You must have had a lunar panel and very low use of power.
200/300watts will give next to nothing in heavy fog.

 

[scotzsue]

W

You must have had a lunar panel and very low use of power.
200/300watts will give next to nothing in heavy fog.

Well it ran John's cpap every night but we did have a gas fire so need for blown air and cooking, fridge was on gas. 2 batteries I think they were 100ah. watched a bit of TV but not much and all lights had been changed to LEDs.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Sid52]

Amazon product ASIN B01E8PCB8QPerhaps this will help.
You mention bothies so I assume you are a hillwalker or backpacker. It can be strapped to a rucksac, charge while you walk, or tent poles, and because it is several connected panels it's quite versatile in positioning. Two usb sockets to directly charge power banks or any other gadget eg gps or phone.
I used this while backpacking in the Pyrenees and it easily provided enough power for a handheld gps, gps watch phone and powerbank. Bright sunlight though.