Solar Hook Ups

[Parksy]

I have read that portable solar power panels are now being used by many people and it seems that all of them have to be connected directly to the caravans battery.

I am thinking of fitting permanent solar panels to the roof of a nearby building and then connecting them to hock ups which use the same connectors as used to connect to the towing vehicle. As caravans batteries are recharged by the towing vehicle when on the move, i can see now reason why this would not work. same connectors..

The solar Power supply will be 12 volt and fully protected with regulators etc.
Does anyone out there know if this can be done ???. It seems to me to be a very simple but.......
thank you all for any comments good or bad ))

 

[Parksy]

I'm guessing that the system would be installed on a caravan site with no ehu to charge caravan batteries?
I'd say that the idea of fitting high capacity solar panels to a nearby building and then reducing the current to just over 12 volts would work in theory but there are one or two snags which would render such a system unworkable in practice, and there is a better system which already exists.
The biggest drawback would be the length of cable from the roof of a building, through some sort of regulator to ensure that caravan systems would not be overloaded, and then via the 12s socket to the caravan leisure battery. Such a length of cable would cause significant voltage drop. The greater the distance, the more voltage will be lost and don't forget that the actual distance is doubled because of the use of +tive and -tive cables.
Any load used while the caravan is connected would reduce the charging capacity and bear in mind that most solar panels only deliver at best around 20% of the available capacity anyway.
Surely a better system would be to buy and install solar panels to supplement an existing 240v suppy? Surplus electricity would be sold back to the generating board via the feed in tarriff and at least during daylight hours the 240v electricity used wouldn't cost anything. The solar panels could be supplemented by small wind turbines to increase generating capacity.

 

[larkins12]

Hi, not exactly what i was thinking. There would be EHU's ( BUT using the same connector fitting as the vehicle) The ECUs would ONLY supply 12v and would connect to the caravan via the car electric connector fitted to the caravan.

I see many solar panels for sale BUT they have to be wired directly to the caravan battery, Not very easy do do for everybody and always a possibility of damage and shad issues.
I am just thinking of making the connection a little bit easier and being a bit greener . My idea is that this soalr system could be 100% OFF Grid.
I agree with you on the voltage drop issue but this can be greatly resolved by using thicker wire. The solar panels will generate at 12 v so no power conversion issues

 

[Parksy]

..................I see many solar panels for sale BUT they have to be wired directly to the caravan battery, Not very easy do do for everybody and always a possibility of damage and shad issues.................

I understood exactly what you meant, you hope to provide 12v hook ups which connect to the caravan 12s socket. Are these hook up points all going to be on the wall of the building which has the solar panels on the roof or in different places around the camping ground?
I installed my own solar panel on the roof of my caravan and hard wired it to the charging circuit, but for those not confident to undertake this task any approved mobile caravan service engineer would do the job in less than half a day.
Portable solar panels for caravans are readily available and connection is as simple as clipping the correct crocodile clip to each battery terminal, but don't let me discourage you, go ahead and do it if you think your idea will work.
It's just that fwiw I don't think it would work very efficiently because of the length of cable needed.

 

[Brum1]

Hi Larkins 12
Not sure that your intended connection would work because as you say the towing vehicle does supply a charge to the leisure battery when in motion but only when the habitation relay is activated. Your method of connecting a solar panel via the 'towing plug' would not give a connection to the leisure battery.
Back to the drawing board.

 

[larkins12]

Hi all, I think ?? I may have solved it ? I will use Solar panels, and inverter which will create 220 volts, this will be connected to standard ECUs fitted with a 5amp fuse.
To produce enough power I will use 2.5Kw of solar panels. This would produce more than 9600Wh from mid April - mid September.or 4000Ah at 12V.

To those with far more knowledge about usage in caravans, do you think that this will be enough power for 32 pitches in summer, I have based this calculation that a caravan uses about 250 watts per day (or so I have read) )

many thanks for any comments

 

[Surfer]

And if we have a summer like last year, will you still be able to produce? I would be very wary of plugging my caravan into that system as we would be stuck if anything blows as the connection will be flexible and open to abuse. many people use 240v TVs and Sky receivers which are also 240v. Please advise the name of the site so that we can avoid.

 

[graham_somersham]

Hi all, I think ?? I may have solved it ? I will use Solar panels, and inverter which will create 220 volts, this will be connected to standard ECUs fitted with a 5amp fuse.
To produce enough power I will use 2.5Kw of solar panels. This would produce more than 9600Wh from mid April - mid September.or 4000Ah at 12V.

To those with far more knowledge about usage in caravans, do you think that this will be enough power for 32 pitches in summer, I have based this calculation that a caravan uses about 250 watts per day (or so I have read) )

many thanks for any comments

I can't think of anyone that would only use 250W a day when on ehu. In the winter I can pull as much as 50kW in a day in cold weather. 250W would not keep my fridge going for much more than an hour.

I think you should try to get a better grip on the requirments and practical implemantion and avoid playing with electicity if you don't understand it. I don't want to appear rude but you could end up spending a lot of money for no benifit. It is going to work out cheaper to get it right now rather than later.

The old way was to provide battery charging facilities in a shed or similar well ventilated outbuilding and anyone needing their batteries recharging could utiliswe the facility. It is simple and it works and keeping it simple would make your life a lot easier.