Just been to look at a Coachman Caravan with a factory fitted roof solar panel 80 watts is that big enough to charge a leisure battery? Or should I up grade to 100 / 120 ?
I've got a factory fitted 40W and it handles my battery fine, so an 80W should be twice as good. Battery is always fully charged when we pick van up from storage.
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Quote: Originally posted by madasaman on 08/8/2017
I've got a factory fitted 40W and it handles my battery fine, so an 80W should be twice as good. Battery is always fully charged when we pick van up from storage.
There will be big differences between what works on various vans dictated by the parasitic drains of the equipment fitted. Some will have trackers,alarms and control systems from varying makers or not at all.
If the panel is original equipment I would hope Coachman have selected suitable kit for their own products.
What I know will be important is the cleanliness of the panel and the location the van spends its winters, as grime and shadows can greatly reduce the solar yield.
I would monitor very closely what the system achieves and make any changes based on those results.
I've got a new Bailey with a 100W panel. That certainly keeps the battery completely charged. During an overcast day in winter I switched a few lights on for a while and the battery recharged very quickly afterwards.
If you want to go non EHU it de[ends on how much power you want to draw from the battery and to some extent when in the year you go. April to September should be pretty good. Worst will be if you want a telly on a lot or want to use blown air heating
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Topic: Solar panel
