Whats the best leisure battery for running off solar panel, we are looking at getting a 110ah or higher to to go with our 100w folding panel?
We are also looking at possibly adding a 150w panel on the roof of the van, and possibly an inverter too , but not sure how big to go.
Regards
Chris
------------- February - Blakemere Touring Cheshire
April - Lakeland Haven
May - Sandimouth. Bude
August - Ninham Holidays. I.O.W
August - Windy Harbour. Blackpool
October - Callow tops. Ashbourne
Not sure on size of battery compartment as waiting on new van to arrive at dealers.
We are looking at using the battery to power the lights, water pump, motor mover, 12v TV/DVD player, the stereo and to charger 3x mobile phones.
Also looking at getting an inverter to enable wife and daughter to use straighteners and hair drier.
Hoping to start running off battery power instead of EHU on weekend breaks as well as on main summer holiday which is normally for 2 weeks.
------------- February - Blakemere Touring Cheshire
April - Lakeland Haven
May - Sandimouth. Bude
August - Ninham Holidays. I.O.W
August - Windy Harbour. Blackpool
October - Callow tops. Ashbourne
Once you start looking at running a tv hair, straighteners and hair drier, then a battery won't last long! Hair driers use a lot of power, 2000w often, that's over 150 amps at 12v, and allowing for 80% efficiency on an inverter you're going to use over 200 amps.
The solution is to leave the TV, straighteners and hair drier at home, and recognise caravan holidays are something different.
The alternative is to get hold of low power hair drier and straighteners, but no doubt then they will not be happy with that.
As suggested forget high power kit like hair dryer and straighteners and the electric kettle.
You need to estimate how much power you will get each day from the solar and deduct what you will use during the time it is generating. The surplus will go into the battery. That will give you an idea how big a battery you will need.
Then make sure there is enough gone into the battery to power everything you will use when it is not generating.
Trouble is each day and month will generate a different amount. In summer you have high power output and long daylight hours with short hours of darkness, so very little battery needed. In winter it is the complete opposite with low power, short days, long nights needing a bigger battery but less opportunity to recharge it by day.
If you use a lot during the day you can make use of a bigger panel. If you don't use much by day you need to balance the power output of the solar with the size of battery.
This is the predicted monthly output of a 245kW system we have just had installed. That is 245,000 watts.
The %year is the percentage of the total annual output generated in that month and will be the same for a smaller system.
The kWh is the kilowatt hours produced. (1000 watts for 1 hour). Pro rata it for a smaller system.
A 110 Ah battery holds 110 amps x 12 volts = 1320 Wh or 1.23 kWh nominal. Allowing for efficiency this will be nearer 0.7kWh. You can see why a battery is peanuts in terms of energy storage compared with what we use.
Month %year kWh
Jan 2.79% 6,446
Feb 4.43% 10,235
Mar 8.28% 19,130
Apr 10.93% 25,252
May 13.15% 30,381
Jun 13.25% 30,612
Jul 12.96% 29,942
Aug 12.09% 27,932
Sep 9.72% 22,457
Oct 6.52% 15,063
Nov 3.81% 8,802
Dec 2.07% 4,782
Total 100.00% 231,034
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Topic: recommend a leisure battery
