Hi, i have just bought a solar kit. I am on a seasonal pitch with hookup. If i plug in, will i use solar or plug in electric or will it be regulated?
Solar panel
- Thread starter tonymac1963
- Start date
As no-one has answered I'll jump in with my 'best guess'. The EHU will power the battery charger to keep the battery fully topped up so the solar panel will be redundant most of the time (if the battery goes low during daylight both the battery charger and solar controller will charge the battery at the same time). Depending on your usage it may be beneficial to turn the battery charger off (if you can) so the battery is topped up from the solar panel.
There's little or no benefit in a solar panel WHILE you're on a hookup - if it's a metered hookup then there would be a slight reduction in energy consumption.
I turn my charger off, and leave the solar panel on taking care of the charging, only switching the charger on if the battery gets down to less than 20%.
Tonight it's a 74% it may still be above 20% on Monday when we leave.
Only things on EHU are the Fridge, microwave and heating all the rest on 12v.
Tonight it's a 74% it may still be above 20% on Monday when we leave.
Only things on EHU are the Fridge, microwave and heating all the rest on 12v.
Who said it was a lead acid battery 🤔
Whilst what you say is true for LA batteries I prefer LiPh.
I could take it down to 5% and so long as I didn't do it every day it will still outlast me😉
I prefer 10 to 20% as it gives the battery an easier life.
Lithium Leisure Battery - Fogstar Drift 12v 105Ah
105ah 12v Fogstar Drift Lithium Leisure Battery | Grade A LiFePO4 cells, JBD BMS, Bluetooth, Heating | Lowest Prices in the UK. 10 Year Warranty.
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If lead acid technology, but if a Lithium technology battery, it may be the best way to treat it.
Edit: I clearly was slow typing!
Returning to the original question.
The mains charger will be operating in the night[dark] so when the sun comes up and "excites" the solar charger there will be no "room" in the battery, nor voltage state to allow it to do anything much more than decide it might as well go to sleep again.
I suspect the most use you could make of your solar system is during times you are not there and there would be little need for remaining on the EHU other than keep the battery "fit" and power any alarm or similar system?
You could then switch off the EHU whilst not there and allow the solar, if of adequate rating, to keep things going till you return to use the van.
In the overall picture, its not going to yield any great reduction of what you take from the EHU service. Unless there is some deal where you only pay some charge the days you are connected to the EHU.
The mains charger will be operating in the night[dark] so when the sun comes up and "excites" the solar charger there will be no "room" in the battery, nor voltage state to allow it to do anything much more than decide it might as well go to sleep again.
I suspect the most use you could make of your solar system is during times you are not there and there would be little need for remaining on the EHU other than keep the battery "fit" and power any alarm or similar system?
You could then switch off the EHU whilst not there and allow the solar, if of adequate rating, to keep things going till you return to use the van.
In the overall picture, its not going to yield any great reduction of what you take from the EHU service. Unless there is some deal where you only pay some charge the days you are connected to the EHU.
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Who said it was a lead acid battery 🤔
Whilst what you say is true for LA batteries I prefer LiPh.
I could take it down to 5% and so long as I didn't do it every day it will still outlast me😉
I prefer 10 to 20% as it gives the battery an easier life.
Lithium Leisure Battery - Fogstar Drift 12v 105Ah
105ah 12v Fogstar Drift Lithium Leisure Battery | Grade A LiFePO4 cells, JBD BMS, Bluetooth, Heating | Lowest Prices in the UK. 10 Year Warranty.
Fair comment, but without any information as to the battery technology how is anyone else supposed to know??
Like JTQ I think the solar panel will only work when you are away and presumably not hooked up. If you are charged per unit for your electricity it might pay to switch off the electricity when you are not in the caravan even for a day out and use the free power from the solar panel.
You will need a regulator for the panel if it did not come with one.
You will need a regulator for the panel if it did not come with one.
Hi Roger, we are charged per kw unit, like a pre-paid meter. Just thought a solar panel would cut costs. Thanks for your answer
Thank you beardy, we are charged on the site with a pre-paid card for the hookup. I think I'll just use solar panels and disconnect hookup until solar power stops. Thank for your advice
TMc
Can I throw a bit of perspective into thinking about cost savings.
I will assume it might be a 100Watt rated solar system, where in summer, given there is somewhere to stuff its output [adequate battery capacity] you could average a 50% yield for 8 hours, on an average summers day. Falling pretty rapidly into the shoulder seasons.
That 50% would be 50 Watts and the time 8 hours so a simple 400Watt hours. ie 0.4kWh.
Say you pay 40 pence a "unit" 1kWh, then the solar system will save you about 16pence a day, assuming as said you could take it.
Given that would today pay for one cup of high street coffee every 18 days, is it really worth the hassle, other than possibly psychologically?
I am a big fan of solar camping, but that comes from it facilitating using places where there is no EHU, where I accept the bulk of the energy we use is replaced by burning LPG, not gleaned from the sun.
The solar panel is charging the battery and the battery supplies the 12v to various systems, but it cannot heat the water or power the fridge. If you have any 240v appliances maybe some depending on wattage could work if using an inverter i.e. TV. Using it to power the fridge or a microwave will not work.
The point is that in energy terms, so it tends to reflect in cost of energy, what we can glean from solar with realistic sized panels for caravans, is very modest.
It with yields in the low 100s Watts, when available, can't replicate what we could pull from 3680 Watts 24 X 7 of 16Amps at 230 Volts.
It simply facilitates doing what some of us want where there is no available EHU, be that camp in a field or store the van, "facilitating" because some kit requires its energy to be electricity.
It with yields in the low 100s Watts, when available, can't replicate what we could pull from 3680 Watts 24 X 7 of 16Amps at 230 Volts.
It simply facilitates doing what some of us want where there is no available EHU, be that camp in a field or store the van, "facilitating" because some kit requires its energy to be electricity.
The solar regulator (whether PWM or MPPT) monitors the state of charge of the battery, and will dump power (by heat) if the battery is near the top of the charge cycle...
Just be careful not to run the battery down too far. I have some decent monitoring equipment on my system so know exactly how discharged the battery is at any moment in time, so I can sail close to the wind with it all.
At present:
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