What to check about solar installation when buying a new motorhome?

[chenderson1965]

Hi,

I’ve agreed a price on a 2012 N+B Arto 79R for my first motorhome and am about to commission an inspection to satisfy myself that it’s all ok.

It has a solar panel fitted as well as two leisure batteries.

I read a thread somewhere that there are lots of things that can be done wrong on the electrics of such an installation, from the way to wire batteries on parallel, to regulator choice to wiring thickness. I can’t, however, now find the thread which detailed all of this.

I want to give the inspection engineer a list of things to check on the solar and battery install (the inspection list only gives high level descriptions). What should I ask them to make sure they check?

Thanks

Chris

 

[funflair]

Well I suppose at a very basic level you want to know that the panel is still securely fastened to the roof and that it all works OK, you might want to know if it's a rigid panel or flexible then getting deeper into it there are subtle differences like a decent MPPT regulator can be £100 or more and an E-bay special could be yours for £10, then of course the wiring may be done correctly with appropriate fuses and going through any current monitoring if the van panel supports such a display, or it may be a "rats nest". I really don't know what level of detail to expect from an inspection and it may depend to some degree what you are paying.

Martin

 

[chenderson1965]

 

[chenderson1965]

The regulator is top left. It’s not a great photo as it was really hard to get to. Any idea whether it’s a decent one or not?

 

[Lenny HB]

To me it looks like a cheapish PWM regulator but I wouldn't worry about. If you only want it to top up your batteries it will be OK. If you are going to be off grid a lot easy enough to change for a decent one.

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[DBK]

Everything in the solar setup can be changed relatively inexpensively compared to the price of the MH so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I can't identify the controller but a replacement will be about £100 if for some reason you want to change it. I suspect, given the age of the vehicle, it was probably professionally fitted so it should work satisfactorily.

Just concentrate on the expensive things like mechanical condition of the vehicle, tyre damage, damp and any signs of major damage covered up. Plus of course, does everything work? Fans, windows open, heater etc. As was mentioned earlier, if it's a private sale you need to be more careful as your rights are less.

 

[funflair]

Solar technology international STS01204 and not very expensive I imagine, Broken Link Removed

Have to agree with the comments above that suggest that in the grand scheme these add on bits are fairly trivial, when we bought or Flair it had one panel and a cheap controller, we wanted more capacity so just stuck three more panels on and added a better controller to the original, the van also had an inverter but it was only when we started to use it that we realised that it was totally useless as for starters it was not pure sine wave and secondly it was on that much cable that nothing would run because of the voltage drop, would an inspection have shown this up? most likely not and if it had stopped us from buying the van we would have been the losers.

Martin

 

[Revolvor]

The regulator is top left. It’s not a great photo as it was really hard to get to. Any idea whether it’s a decent one or not?

It looks very like the first solar regulator I fitted to my boat - cost me about £5 from eBay. I wasn't impressed, and replaced it with one for £20, which is much better. I have a CTEK MPPT regulator in my M/H.