Solar panels

[Tony&Kika]

Hello Folks, We are fairly new to the group although we've been demountable owners for about 4yrs. We are planning a 2month break in France this summer and will have a few electronic devices for music, Internet etc and as we may be static for periods I'd like to add a solar panel to the roof to keep the aux battery topped up. Does anyone know which is the best type and maybe suggest a size/output. Also I have an inverter and will wire a mains socket to that. I'm completely useless at computer stuff apart from doing this sort of stuff and need to know if I can power up the laptop from 12v rather than go to 240v and then back to the 19v output of my laptop's charger.
THanks folks and it's good to be part of the group. Tony and Kika Hodgson

[zildjian]

Hello again,
I have a couple of panels up on the roof supplying around 100W to keep a couple of Leisure batteries topped up,
nice sunny day it will: top up both batteries/run the (LED) lighting and few hours TV,

Not convinced I'd risk a fridge full of food to it as well though, so that typically runs on gas as does hob,

[rubberrat]

Most tablets & phones can be charged directly from the 12v outlet using a USB converter. Most laptops have a 240v charger that effectively reduces (transforms) power to 12v.
A trip into Maplins should find you a direct 12v supply like this kind of thing:-



A solar panel of around 100w should keep your battery (or preferable a pair of 110ah batteries) charged.

Change all of your lighting to LED and run the fridge off gas as 12v will barely hold temperature and will rise every time you open the door and not recover.

[Tony&Kika]

Hi Folks, Thanks for the very informative hints on the solar panels and the charging suggestions. Yes we always have the fridge on gas when parked up. I'm told it's not safe to have it on gas when travelling. Is that true?
We will receive a cover from Specialised covers for the Northstar tomorrow. We'll report on how it performs soon. Does anyone else have a cover? Any favourite manufacturer?
WE are off to France soon for two months, and have insurance separately for the truck and the Northstar. The camper is under a touring caravan policy with Crusader as they didn't have a section for demountables, and includes repatriation cover for the camper only. Can't see how they would move it without the pickup though if that say had a bad front end shunt. Does anyone have any suggestions on insuring? Thanks, Tony

[Tony&Kika]

PS I'm told by a friend who is in electronics that it's not a good idea to use a cheap inverter to power a laptop as it is a square wave voltage pattern and not a sine wave. Only use a quality sine wave type. Tony

[zildjian]

I've been told the same actually, so I always 'try' and use it on EHU only and/or recharge off a borrowed mains supply

[richc]

PS I'm told by a friend who is in electronics that it's not a good idea to use a cheap inverter to power a laptop as it is a square wave voltage pattern and not a sine wave. Only use a quality sine wave type. Tony

Your friend is right.

The only use i've found for an invertor is to charge our electric assist bikes , everything else should be from 12v (ie if you use your normal usb phone charger you will go from 12v-240-12v-5v, now thats a lot of lost power

I use a netbook in the truck as it draws alot less than my i5 laptop and the aforementioned convertor from maplins

For panels, use mono crystaline as these are the most efficent

Also look at the charge controller - use an mppt controller as you will get better outputs from it

and before anyone else says it - make sure the panel is stuck down well to the roof

rich

[zildjian]

"make sure the panel is stuck down well to the roof"

[rubberrat]

Yes we always have the fridge on gas when parked up. I'm told it's not safe to have it on gas when travelling. Is that true?

Run fridge on gas when parked, switch to 12v when moving. 12v is not particularly efficient, and will only just about maintain the start temp at best, so make sure your fridge is really cold (mains or gas) before setting off and avoid unnecessary door opening.
The 'safety' issue of running a gas fridge on the move is really the likelihood of the gas blowing out (turbulent air from the external vents) The thermal cutout should shut the gas off if that happens, but best not to test it.

If you want to leave the gas switched on at the bottle on the move - well I do sometimes, but there may just be an issue in case of serious accident where the pigtail may fracture and cause a leak, but I guess in that kind of accident there won't be much camper left to bother about.
The Channel tunnel will insist on gas off, as will ferries.

If you need something to help you sleep and want to learn a little about whether to travel with gas on or off, then plod through this:-

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums ... -on/37348/

[Tony&Kika]

Hey Rubberat Rich and all. Thanks for the very useful advice. It's great to have you out there. TONY