Solar panels
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With restoration of BSU***D at an advanced stage thoughts have turned to fitting out for practical use. Any thoughts or experience with use of roll-up solar panels to charge dual battery system whilst parked up. Having considered cost of diesel consumed to recharge vs solar panel it looks like the way to go, but am I missing something?
You don’t get much power out of them, I have a 25 watt panel on my Deauville, it will help to maintain a charge when the vehicle is not being used for an extended time, but it won’t add a lot of power for day to day use unless you get a BIG panel (75+ watts)
Basically you have to consider watt hours a 25w panel adding a charge for 10 hours (assume bight sunshine) will add 250w. Turn on a 14 inch tv at say 50w and you burn that energy in 5 hours.
Reality is you rarely get 10 hours of sunshine in this country.
John
Luckily, TV is not on my list of must haves. Some of the SA guys on another forum are all pushing a combination of a fixed solid panel and demountable wind turbine package with 100W output and somehow find the space for three optima deep cycle batteries on a split charge.
It may be a case of going back to the drawing board as I do not particularly like the idea of adding another 70kgs to the overall weight.I’ve two batteries, both in my landrover and the Deauville, the Deauville has a 110amp leisure battery, connected to the 25 amp solar panel, and can be manually connected to the vehicle battery via a switch under the dash.
The landrover has a split charger, but I’ve found that this burns out the second battery, so I don’t recommend this. Basically if your second battery is already fully charged when you start the vehicle, the split charger allows the amperage from the alternator into the circut, this is at a time when it’s pushing out high amps to replenish the car battery, as it’s just been used to start the engine. This overcharging burns the battery out.
The switchable ‘link’ between the two batteries on the Deauville is slower to replenish the battery charge, but allows it’s draw in the amps needed to bring it back up to charge is and when you need it.
I also use a low 1.5amp trickle charger over the winter to ensure the battery does not get flat due to lack of use.
John
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