I have just bought a fairly low power solar panel (13watt) that I want to connect to my caravan battery in order to top it up while it is in storage. There seems to be nowhere to connect it to inside the Caravan. I have noticed on various sites that solar panels for topping up a battery can be plugged into the cigar lighter socket of a car. My question is this:
Is it possible to plug this solar panel into the 12v socket inside the Caravan. I have all of the wiring and adapters to connect it up to this 12 socket but I am reluctant to do it without the benefit of some advice from someone who knows a little more about the 12v supply inside a caravan than I do.
I have tried to get advice from my caravan's manufacturer but they claim to never have heard from a customer who had wanted to use a solar panel in this way, did not know the answer, and were unable to help!
Yes you can plug it into the 12 v socket; I do exactly that.
If its an old van you could also feed it back into the white plug, however on later vans this cant be done successfully.
How difficult is it to install and use?This depends on what you buy! We provide kits to take the guesswork out of what components are required in a system, and with these, we provide easy, tried and tested instructions. Simple kits, particularly the mobile power kit and the small boat or caravan kits require little or no installation as they can be connected to a battery via a cigarette-lighter cable. Other kits require very simple wiring. The lighting kit is perhaps the most complex, but remains simple enough to be suitable for school projects. Individual flexible panels have built-in blocking diodes and fuses, but in the framed panels you will need to wire these yourself. If you are not familiar with electrical equipment you may need the services of an electrician - or consider one of our kits. Once installed correctly, PV is very simple to use - simply plug in your appliance. Some customers use their panels for multiple applications, and in some of these cases they need to unplug one connector and replace it with another.
The white [or grey ] plug that connects to the socket on your tow vehicle. Before 19?? these had connections directly to the caravans battery, more recently the caravan has its own relay that isolates feeding back to the plug when its disconnected. You can check if your plug is "live" or not with a meter but I need to find which pins you would need to check. I will do that and come back.
Acknowledging the data is gleaned from the Caravan Clubs Technical info for members web pages: That might be your best starting point if you are a member, if not I will explain.
If your competent to check for 12 volts using a meter or a bulb on wires here is where to look. If your not competent get somebody who is to check, please!
The date of manufacture when things changed was 31st August 1998.
Now looking into the end of the white or grey 12S plug attached to your caravan, with the little phasing slot at the bottom, i.e. 6 o-clock. You will notice you see 5 pins and 2 tubes.
I will use the term “socket” here for the hollow tubes and “Pin” for the pins with a cross slots in them.
Pre 31st August 1998:
12v+ positive of the battery is on “socket” 2, which is at the 10 o-clock position.
12v – negative of the battery is on “pin” 3, which is at the 8 o-clock position.
Post 31st August 1998:
12v+ positive of the battery is on “pin” 4, which is at the bottom, 6 o-clock position.
12v – negative of the battery is on “pin” 7, which is the very centre of the plug.
As said earlier, with post 1998 vans you could well find some have an isolating relay or diode within the caravans controller will stop you finding 12 volts fed back onto the plug.
That is the case with my van.
Only downside to connecting it into the van's wiring is that you will need to keep the battery connected. I always use the crocodile clips to connect my solar panel and always disconnect the battery now after having left the fridge on on one occasion and the water heater on on another draining the battery completely. Amazingly, the battery survived both of these attempted murders and came back up after a good charge and holds a charge!
But if you ever touch the two crocodile clips together before you even reach the battery is there not every chance of wrecking your panel or regulator? ie shorting the panel.
I fed the solar panel wires through the grommet used by the main ingoing cable and connect the solar panel directly. The panel lives in the south facing side window when the car's not connected.
Quote: Originally posted by JTQU on 20/11/2007
But if you ever touch the two crocodile clips together before you even reach the battery is there not every chance of wrecking your panel or regulator? ie shorting the panel.
Mine says on the specification that it is short circuit protected.
Quote: Originally posted by LegsDownKettleOn on 20/11/2007
Only downside to connecting it into the van's wiring is that you will need to keep the battery connected. I always use the crocodile clips to connect my solar panel and always disconnect the battery now after having left the fridge on on one occasion and the water heater on on another draining the battery completely. Amazingly, the battery survived both of these attempted murders and came back up after a good charge and holds a charge!
Hi, Your fridge shouldn't be working direct from the battery only from the car whilst the engine is running, Are you sure your water heater runs from 12v? these ae normally 240v or gas
------------- Doing as little as possible for as much as possible...
Quote: Originally posted by LegsDownKettleOn on 20/11/2007Only downside to connecting it into the van's wiring is that you will need to keep the battery connected. I always use the crocodile clips to connect my solar panel and always disconnect the battery now after having left the fridge on on one occasion and the water heater on on another draining the battery completely. Amazingly, the battery survived both of these attempted murders and came back up after a good charge and holds a charge!
Hi, Your fridge shouldn't be working direct from the battery only from the car whilst the engine is running, Are you sure your water heater runs from 12v? these ae normally 240v or gas
My van is not as new as yours. The water heater is gas, but has 12 volt for the igniter. The fridge is wired straight to the battery. It's a 92 model, so I think that is normal for the year. I have a mover coming later this week, so I'll take the opportunity to rewire the fridge (and water heater as there is a fault on that too) while I am fitting the mover.
Hi legsdown, Mines not that new '93 but even older vans weren't wired to the battery, Maybe a previous owner has done this as the battery wouldn't last more than a couple of hours at best,
------------- Doing as little as possible for as much as possible...
I think you might be right. The charger does not look original, It is a Gunsons one and is hanging on the wires rather than screwed down. There are only two fuses fitted as well and these are just inline fuses, so I think someone has had a bit of a botch with the wiring. I am fitting a motor mover at the weekend and have ordered some switches and a fuse box so I intend rewiring a good amount of it. I am hoping to pick out the lighting, charger, 12 volt sockets, water pump and water heater wires, run each through a separate fuse. I also want to wire an inverter in. I was thinking of wiring it up to my 240 ring, with a relay to turn it off when the EHU is connected. Alternatively, I hight just fit a separate socket for it.
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Topic: Connecting solar panel to 12v socket
