Solar power benefits?

[Novamundial]

We are new to the motorhome scene, so i'm looking for advice please. We have a newish Compass Avantgarde. Having been away for a couple of weekends were we have uses hooked EHU and was wondering what is the benefits of having a solar panel fitted, is it worth the cost?, We are looking at going to France in early September and i thought it may aid us if we used the aires overnight as a way of powering the leisure battery.

 

[PP Bear]

Basically it’s the way to keep all the vehicle batteries with a trickle charge. There are alternatives, but solar is the way to go and well worth the layout, especially if you plan on being off site and hence EHU.

Welcome and ask all the questions you need. Lots will be along to give advice and share details. You could also look at the many many videos about this sub on YouTube.

 

[Jim]

The cheapest way to double your power is to fit a second battery. Then see how you go. For most people this is all they need. If you need more power, then solar is the way to go

 

[autorouter]

Solar power will harvest a certain amount of energy each day. If you generally use more than that, the battery will run out eventually, but solar will make it last longer. If you have enough solar to cover your daily energy usage, you can last indefinitely.

Trouble is, daily energy usage is a personal lifestyle thing, and also depends a lot on the season. In summer with light nights and warm weather you're sitting outside, not using lights and heating, but as the nights draw in you're sitting inside with lights and heating on, and probably the TV too. Also the daily energy from solar will be decreasing, just as you want it to increase.

But overall, solar is great when it works, and in good weather can give you independence from mains hookup for days.

 

[Lenny HB]

Depends on your use, we couldn't survive without our 300 watts of solar and our 3 batteries but we rarely use sites or EHU.

As Jim said the first thing to do is to fit a second battery and see how you get on.
It's worth fitting at least 100 watts of solar just to keep the batteries topped up when the van is sitting on your drive saves having to mess about plugging into the mains.

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[Bessy765]

If you are going to fit a second leisure battery it is best really to fit2 new ones of the same type. If you current battery is more than a few months old it will bring the new one down to its level. You could try to balance solar verses batteries.if you have more solar than batteries you will charge quicker but have less supply, if you have more battery then solar it will take longer to charge up but give you more supply. Depending on you budget and what your use may be if you put a 100 w solar panel on get a controller that will handle 200 w then if you decide one is not enough you won’t have to buy a bigger controller.

 

[Richard n Ann]

We are new to the motorhome scene, so i'm looking for advice please. We have a newish Compass Avantgarde. Having been away for a couple of weekends were we have uses hooked EHU and was wondering what is the benefits of having a solar panel fitted, is it worth the cost?, We are looking at going to France in early September and i thought it may aid us if we used the aires overnight as a way of powering the leisure battery.

Solar will also power the fridge if it is a compressor type, so a big saving on buying LPG. I'm expecting my 2 x 6kg LPGs to last years now.
Solar is great for refrigeration because in the summer when it's warmer, the days are longer

There's a thread somewhere of me converting our absorption fridge to compressor

PS:
150w solar
1 x 80ah battery

 

[The Wino]

We are new to the motorhome scene, so i'm looking for advice please. We have a newish Compass Avantgarde. Having been away for a couple of weekends were we have uses hooked EHU and was wondering what is the benefits of having a solar panel fitted, is it worth the cost?, We are looking at going to France in early September and i thought it may aid us if we used the aires overnight as a way of powering the leisure battery.

If it's newish and has a gas fridge it's likely that all the light will be led so they won't use much electric. It really depends how much battery your using. If you're going away again before the France trip why not try without the hookup and see how it lasts. It would be a good idea to monitor the battery as if it gets too low it won't do it any good but if you have a gas fridge don't need heating don't watch the TV etc and like to move every day or two I suspect you're going to be fine with what you have. The first 5 years we had our mh we had a single 90ah battery no solar and were fine two weeks off grid in France. I fitted a 100 w panel in lockdown as I was bored! and thought it would give us more reassurance.

 

[Hawkstone]

Our solar panel will keep us off grid indefinitely But we have no tv which helps. We charge iPads and phones regularly with no problems. We use hook up if it comes with the booking but rarely for 3 or 4 nights. Best extra on the van.

 

[IRHP]

I was on a site in Cornwall recently, they wanted £13 a night for ehu. We declined and took a non ehu pitch, we managed 4 days and 3 nights. Our fridge ran on gas but we have refillable lpg so it hardly cost anything. Not all sites are that expensive and I wouldn’t say it’s a reason to fit solar but when you have it you definitely have more options. Also sometimes site might be full for ehu pitches but mays still have availability for a non ehu pitch. We find this quite a lot.

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[Reallyretired]

Also if your motorhome is in storage without access to ehu it will keep your batteries topped up, usually even all winter. They don't work if covered in snow.

 

[autorouter]

Depending on you budget and what your use may be if you put a 100 w solar panel on get a controller that will handle 200 w then if you decide one is not enough you won’t have to buy a bigger controller.

While you're at it, make sure you fit thicker wires than necessary, so you don't have to rewire if/when you add more solar