I am after a solar panel to keep the battery charged up over the winter/summer period as i keep my van in storage, so i need the alarm on. Question is what size panel would i need,wattage wise, also have a mover fitted. Only go on ehu site so dont need it for non ehu sites/ just to keep the battery top up.
I fitted a 40 watt panel to support similar equipment and circumstances. Possibly overkill, but the van window is north facing so not ideal for collecting the sunlight.
There are loads of suppliers on the net and Maplin do a good range too.
Many of the suppliers give specific guidance for caravans.
You can place it in a window as long as it's not north facing ( the best position is south , sun shines from the south at midday ) . I would recommend you fit a charge controller ( this one is good because it uses very little current Click_here ). You should also fit a fuse to the + side of the battery .
While the panel can be mounted inside in the window, because the caravan windows are tinted, the amount of light hitting the panel will be seriously reduced. It is like giving it a pair of sunglasses. In order to get any where near the true output of the panel, it needs to be mounted on the roof where is has sunlight on it from dawn till dusk.
Mine is held on by bolting it to alumininum angle brackets stuck down with sikaflex. I do have a hole for the wires through the roof but you can get proper covers for these plus covering the cable entry with sikaflex and positioning it beneath the panel all helps improve protection.
If you wanted to you could mount the regulator in the battery box and run the cables around the awning rail.
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Topic: Solar panel for winter storage
