Solar battery charger

[CovKid]

"In the interests of togetherness" lol

[dave friday]

Afternoon all I've got a"4 watt" open up solar panel...I just checked the charging current; 3 milliamps ( out of the sun!) 7 milliamps ( in very hazy sun!!)
I'll be checking the output again when the sun comes out properly!
Ps,the short circuit current is/was 125 milliamps ( in hazy sun )

[Da dan]

"Togetherness". Hum? Ok love the thought. Dear could you charge the batteries and I'll have a cuppa tea too! That would never work here.


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[porthyt]

What do you guys think of the fold up 100 or 120w solar panels with charge controller on eBay. I have a Devon so fixing a panel to the roof won't work but this seems ideal.

They range from £130 to almost £300 - any idea why? Is there anything wrong with the lower end ones? From what I can tell - as long as it has the charge controller to not overcharge batteries then it should be a-ok!

Cheers
Josh

[Da dan]

Why can't you fix it to the roof? I have a Devon too and the panel is stuck to the roof. Only a few mm thick. I now don't forget to leave it out to charge. Generally but not always, the more expensive ones tend to be more economical. Just look at the output.


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[kevtherev]

What do you guys think of the fold up 100 or 120w solar panels with charge controller on eBay. I have a Devon so fixing a panel to the roof won't work but this seems ideal.

They range from £130 to almost £300 - any idea why? Is there anything wrong with the lower end ones? From what I can tell - as long as it has the charge controller to not overcharge batteries then it should be a-ok!

Cheers
Josh

Haven't seen a Devon yet that can't have a panel on the roof
Or any van for that matter.
Rethink.

Even hightops have a choice!

[nordberg]

Some may say its overkill, but I think where solar is concerned there is no such thing

[CovKid]

Agree. Go for more than you think you'll need and winter flat batteries will be a thing of the past. You just never think about it again. Last Summer I drove to work and back for a week as a test, with ONLY the solar panels charging the batteries. Had no probs at all. It wouldn't work over hundreds of miles but maximising the wattage certainly helps if you want consistently charged batteries during the darker months. I was plagued with that problem in previous years and was really fed up with having to charge and carry a spare battery as the journey to and from work (4 miles each way) was insufficient to give a proper charge.

The smaller panels are ok, they just take considerably longer to pull up a battery compared to the redundancy/overkill approach. The test Ghost123UK and I did while camped in Derbyshire confirmed that those small 'trickle' panels put out so little milliamps even on a bright day, they're basically useless. We calculated it would take TWO weeks of full sun to even charge a mobile phone once, which gives you some idea of how little they produce.

At Stanford Hall last year, I ran my Propex all night (it was very chilly) but the batteries were fully charged by 8.30am! The hour of early sunlight was more than enough. When I had one 100 watt panel, it took a couple more hours. When I first had the two-panel setup, I hooked up a decent meter to see how it ran but I've not looked at it in an entire year. No point. It does the job. The last thing I need is something I have to keep watching or faffing with. Smaller panels need turning to get the best output. Go overkill and you don't have to do anything.

[sternal]

e: Solar battery charger
Post by Ralf85 » Yesterday, 14:16

Sorry to hear about your back - I know the problem. Anyway in the absence of a solar panel and in the interest of togetherness, get the missus to lug the battery indoors and charge it up occasionally.

I'll ask her !

Yes back has been a royal pain in the a*** once I'm pain free for 2 months (chance would be a fine thing) I will be taken off the operation list...

...so to resolve my problem I'm going to fit an out door plug and stick it on trickle charge ! (just have to remember to unplug it )


Thanks for all help

[porthyt]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your replies. I am apprehensive about screwing/sticking a panel to my roof and also as a side opener I am not sure how the cabling would go through without it needing extra wire when the roof is open and the roof is ribbed.

Just thought that the fold out solars would be easier, require no instillation and can point at the sun.

Would be ace to have the solar power for a big European trip later in the year where wild camping is the plan.

Cheers
Josh

[MGP]

This is my 100w setup on a side opening Devon roof, the cables go through the top of the fibreglass roof outside of the canvas and into the van through the fibreglass plinth for the bed boards on the hinged side.

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[porthyt]

Hi,

Ok. So it seems that perhaps that is the best option. Is it best to stick the flexi straight to the fibreglass, or should I attach batons to the roof and then attach a panel to that. The Devon roof has ribs in it so it's not flat like a Westie one. There's such a huge range in price on eBay - would a sub £100 panel be pap?

Cheers
Josh

[MGP]

When I fitted my panel I stuck it straight to the fibreglass, it overlapped the rib of the roof by slightly more than it was possible to trim off the panel, I came to the conclusion that I might as well take advantage of the fact that the panel is flexible and stick it down where is sat best.
To stick the panel down I layed it on the roof dry and marked round it, then took the shine off the area the panel will sit on with a bit of 240 grit sand paper, clean it up with a bit of pre paint wipe and lay down a bed of tigerseal or similar, a tile adhesive spreader is useful for this, then stick the panel down.
This is the panel I went with,
All I can say is it charges my batteries fine, I'm using a ctek 250 dual to take care of the split charge and solar controller, it doesn't give any information on how much power it's putting into the batteries so I never actually know what going on beyond wether it's charging or not and what power source the charge is coming from.

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[nordberg]

Hi,

Ok. So it seems that perhaps that is the best option. Is it best to stick the flexi straight to the fibreglass, or should I attach batons to the roof and then attach a panel to that. The Devon roof has ribs in it so it's not flat like a Westie one. There's such a huge range in price on eBay - would a sub £100 panel be pap?

Cheers
Josh

Not the same roof as yours, but here is a complete guide i created when I did my solar install (just to give you an idea).
http://www.daswolfgang.com/solar-install/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[porthyt]

Evening,

Would you silkaflex a flexi panel straight onto your roof? I'm concerned that if it stopped working then it would be permanent on my roof? Annoyingly the space between the ribs on a Devon pop top is about 5cm thinner than the width of a 100w solar panel - is it possible to trim the white part of the panel? Otherwise I will be getting two 50w panels but costs a decent whack more.

Thanks
Josh