Hello everyone. I have had my Swift Escape 622 for 3 years and we wild park a lot. The battery lasts 2/3 days. After each use we take off the battery and put it on a trickle charger. I am interested in solar panels but am totally confused by the choice and costs involved. Do the small briefcase ones work or do you suggest going the whole hog and having a roof panel fitted ? We run lights & TV from the leisure battery, heating/water off the gas when it's cold. Thanks
Solar Panels
- Thread starter Kazvar22
- Start date
Hi Kazvar, welcome!
What kind of panel you get really depends on how much use you make of it. On our little Cavarno (SWB Transit van conversion), the leisure battery has been known to last us a week without starting the engine, but because we use the blown-air heating when the weather is cold, we got one of those little panels normally used to keep a car battery topped up when it isn't used enough. We pop that on the roof through a skylight when we expect to stay in one place for a few days in cold weather, and it seems to be enough for us.
But from what I can gather, the fixed, roof-mounted ones give you much more independence (but cost a lot more too). Our daughter and s-i-l had one fitted to their VW, because they like to do festivals, where there's no hook-up and you don't move the van for several days. Their top priority then is keeping the drinks cool in their 12v-only fridge!
What kind of panel you get really depends on how much use you make of it. On our little Cavarno (SWB Transit van conversion), the leisure battery has been known to last us a week without starting the engine, but because we use the blown-air heating when the weather is cold, we got one of those little panels normally used to keep a car battery topped up when it isn't used enough. We pop that on the roof through a skylight when we expect to stay in one place for a few days in cold weather, and it seems to be enough for us.
But from what I can gather, the fixed, roof-mounted ones give you much more independence (but cost a lot more too). Our daughter and s-i-l had one fitted to their VW, because they like to do festivals, where there's no hook-up and you don't move the van for several days. Their top priority then is keeping the drinks cool in their 12v-only fridge!
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