solar panel size.

[fitz the viking]

Am looking at rigging up a solar panel to charge my laptop and a phone. i havent got a camper but i am going to the isle of man for the manx gp and an sleeping in the van at the site so want something to charge a laptop over the day.

Alright with engines and nuts and bolts but electrickery is one of those things i cant ever get my head around.

I have seen a 20w solar panel for 40 quid, a charge regulator from maplin, a 12v socket and a 12v laptop charger. not pretty but does the job. question is will a 20w panel do?

cheers.

[loot]

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/40-Watt-12-V-12 ... nav=SEARCH

I haven't looked too much into solar personally but i believe you need to find out the quality of the panel and what it's nominal output is, i would think that the stated output will be based on maximum working conditions?

Does your van have 1 or 2 batteries?
What voltage does your laptop need? Many are 19.5 which means inverted voltage and can use more power, i use a dell mini which is 12v so 1:1

If it was me I'd have the panel connected to my front battery via the regulator and I'd charge the laptop and phone with my van.

I've left my laptop plugged in for the weekend and not used the van and with no solar added and the van was done but i have 2 good batteries.
You could add a leisure battery separate or with split charge if you don't have twin batteries and it'll charge up while driving and also charge your laptop without impacting the van battery.

Lots of choice i guess.
You could just get a leisure battery, charge it up before you go and use that for the laptop.

I'm sure others will have better advice tho.

[whitevanwoman]

20 w won't do much, in mid summer on a sunny day continually facing sun, you may get all gadgets charged by sun down.

If not fitting a leisure battery, I'd get a suitcase solar panel with croc clips to starter battery, use it on dashboard but make sure to keep turning it to face sun. Charge gadgets whilst sun is shining from staeter battery. Have a look at Maplins at their suitcase panels then get better price on eBay.

My advice is to fit the highest wattage solar panel you can afford on roof, with regulator and leisure battery. Mine is 100 watt, gives enough power to recharge all my gadgets ( mobile, mifi, tablet, laptop) plus power a 10 w TV/ media player for 4-6 hours, plus LED lights at night with power to spare in summer. In December, I have to be quite frugal with elec and help boost solar recharge by driving / running engine for 20 mins, but 100w with 85ma battery is sufficient for me, but I think my consumption is fairly low, ie no fridge, heater, water pump etc.

I have a secondhand solar regulator donated by friend, I think it was originally around £20. It cuts out at 16.5 watts solar input to stop frying the battery.

The more expensive ones are allegedly better, but my cheap secondhand one does the job perfectly.

To charge the laptop, get a 12v cig socket charger with adjustable output voltage, ie 19 v for most laptops.

I had split charger (smartcom) before the solar panel but had problems with wires not staying in as used big thick fat doubled wires from starter battery to smart com (my mate wired it so can't remember details), and then fuses blew, and then it was fiddly to find the correct cut out voltage, so I ditched it. I now have a manual switch plus the solar and its been life changing.

And I didn't panic when I plugged in my cool box fridge (47w) and forgot to switch it to run off leisure battery instead of starter battery, thereby draining my starter battery within about an hour. I just stayed put overnight, and by 10am next morning, both batteries were fully recharged. So no more flat battery problems ever again ( except due to stupid user error).

Check your insurance regarding sleeping in it, most van insurance will not cover if used as a campervan, especially if commercial insurance.

My van isn't reregistered as a motorcaravan with DVLA so I've had to get Modified Van Insurance, personal use, and then get business use added as an extra. Not the cheapest option but only way to use it as campervan and have business use and be fully covered at all times.

[whitevanwoman]

Also, some campsites will not let you on as a campervan unless it looks like a campervan or has been reregistered as motorcaravan, so check beforehand.

The way round this is to book on as a tent camper and stick up a pop up tent. Don't need to use the tent of course... although it's useful extra storage especially in bad weather, for dirty wet kit etc.

It's probably cheaper as a tent camper too...

[whitevanwoman]

And another thing...

Check out www.wildcamping.co.uk
Www. Freemotorhominguk.com

Loads and loads of info on these forums about solar...

[fitz the viking]

thanks for all the advice.

will have a chat with the maplins guys, they are expensive but they are very helpful, like you sai just find the stuff on ebay. the panels i dont minds buying from ebay but the charge regulator i dont mind spending a little extra on as i dont want it frying the battery. am still a little doubtfull of silly cheap on ebay.

well it looks like i have a few options to research,

thanks again all.