Solar panel or second leisure battery, which first? (1 Viewer)

[Brendan Stone]

Being new to MH life, we are starting to get a feel for what we like and want to do in the future.

We like 3 or 4 nights wilding then a campsite stop for a proper shower and crucially to get EHU. In the future we would likd to do longer 'wild' trips

But for now, thinking of ways to extend the leisure battery, i seem to have 2 options;

100w solar panel - been quoted about £500 fitted.

second leisure battery, about £100 to buy but not sure what is involved in fitting?

So it would seem i can double my wild camping time between EHU sites with 2 batteries for much less than the cost of solar power fitted. Apart from the 'free' and potentially limitless supply of solar power what else should i be considering before deciding which to do?

Thanks

P.s. the answer "do both" won't help

 

[TheBig1]

second leisure battery could be £50 plus about £15 in connectors and wires easy to do DIY. only takes 1/2 hour on most vans

solar panel about £200 in parts, can be done DIY but slightly harder and many people dont like drilling through the roof. But £500 to supply and fit a 100w solar panel is way ott. 1 1/2 hours labour

second battery first then see if you need solar alter

 

[Gromett]

Battery 1st would be my suggestion if you just want to extend how long between EHU in a consistent manner. This will extend your off EHU time no matter what the weather.

Both would be the ideal option.

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[EuroTrotters]

Battery first.

You will not get much from a solar panel in the uk even in summer.

I do all my own work, even if I say so myself, better than many installers.

I have just purchased a replacement 100w panel for £105. But I had purchased a regulator specifically for a Hymer system. As mentioned, with other parts and associated materials, cost is around £200 for a basic system.

But it depends what you are getting for your £500!. Does that involve integrating into your existing habitation system with expensive controls ? .

I can understand why installers charge so much for what they do. It can be s lot of work and easy to damage expensive And delicate Motorhomes.

 

[Don Quixote]

Battery first the most cost effective way to add power and DIY simple enough. There are loads of guides here to help.
if your paying 100 quid you can nearly buy 2 x 110amp batteries for that price. Shop around for best price.

 

[Terry]

Hi as others have said Battery first then see how you get on You can get 100 w solar kits off ebay for around £130 complete with panel,cables fitting brackets and charge controller -easy DIY fit
terry

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[Lenny HB]

second leisure battery could be £50 plus about £15 in connectors and wires easy to do DIY. only takes 1/2 hour on most vans

solar panel about £200 in parts, can be done DIY but slightly harder and many people dont like drilling through the roof. But £500 to supply and fit a 100w solar panel is way ott. 1 1/2 hours labour

second battery first then see if you need solar alter

1 1/2 hours very optomistic, to do the job properly can take several hours just to route the cables through the van if you do the job properly. Having seen some of the jobs so called professionals do i wouldn't let them near my van.

 

[deleted-member02]

Where is your leisure battery located, will a bigger battery easily fit in the same location?
It could be as straight forward as swapping batteries.
I changed an 80ah for 180ah, wasn't that expensive from memory.
Hardest part was lifting the 50kg battery into position...

 

[PhilandMena]

Agree with others. Some considerations for you. Make sure your on board charger is capable of charging your total battery bank. When you fit your solar panel's (you can never have enough solar power) consider having your cab battery connected to the system so that this too is maintained.

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[pappajohn]

Second battery first.
Even if you decide later to buy solar it's still worth having more than one battery.
BUT.... You have to consider how you will charge the batteries if on extended off grid camping.
with your present 12v usage you may still need a regular campsite every week or so for recharging if nothing else.

 

[pappajohn]

Depending how old your present battery is you may need to buy a pair of new ones.
Size/capacity doesn't matter, you could have a 110ah and a 70ah, the charger only sees them as one 180ah battery.
Age does matter, an old battery won't take or provide it's stated capacity so overall the total capacity will be less than expected.

 

[Brendan Stone]

thanks everyone for your helpful comments.

The £500 quote did include a battery management system for the Veh/Aux battery.

I don't know if i can get a 'bigger' battery in the box, but i'll measure it up, i didn't think of that!

I've been doing some sums!

there is a useful article attached (i thought so anyway), not least because it gave me a table to calculate my likely power usage.

We are pretty light power users (no TV or fancy gadgets); couple of reading lights (not fitted LED yet!), and over sink light for a few hours a night plus infrequent water pump.

from the table in the article that looks like about 49Ah for 4 days. bearing in mind all the warning about not going below 50% of battery (mine is 115Ah) that looks like I can easily go 4 nights on one charge, with maybe 5th night in an emergency.

In that case a second 115Ah battery would extend that to about a week (i'm sure there is a sum somewhere about diminishing returns!).

So now i'm wondering if I actually need to 'panic' into buying an extra battery or folding solar panel for my 2 week trips to Scotland next week? IF we can get EHU every 3 or 4 nights and are driving 100 miles every few days.

perhaps i'd be better off doing some more sensible shopping around for 2 good quality batteries (or one whopper) and a fancy battery management box to give me accurate readings.

Over to you

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[DBK]

A decent battery will cost you close to £100 not £50. For example the Varta LFD90 which has a good reputation is around £95.
But I agree with the concept of fitting a second battery first - or replacing the one you have now with something newer.

 

[Happy1]

Just swapping a 95amp for two 120amp, already have solar 150watt, but no point in generating power if there is no where to store it,
As already posted battery first them solar or both of you can

 

[kitetraveller]

We had an 85 ah battery, and swapped it for a 225ah battery; 50 kgs, so only lift it into its final resting place.

That was sufficient for us with our 12 volt Waeco fridge and led lights, ipads and phone charging.

We are looking at solar if we want to be offgrid for more than 3 days, but we don't stay put for more than 3 days, so the driving recharges the leisure battery.

This made a big difference for us.

Good luck.
Andy & Christine

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