Caravan Solar Panels & Batteries & Power Systems
The use of Solar Panels for Caravans
There are multiple reasons as to why you should Install Solar Panels onto Caravans. They are essentially an economical, sustainable and convenient energy supplier to your Caravan. Here is a list of the advantages to solar panel instillation Eltham.
Advantages of Solar Panels
Economical – Though the initial cost of buying and installing solar panels can have a fair price, there are no ongoing costs after that. The long term savings that solar panels will give you will make up for the original costs as you will never have to shell out for power.
Sustainable – If Sustainability is a priority of yours, considering solar panels is a great step to reducing your carbon emissions. This is because solar panels use sustainable energy from the sun a renewable source.
Convenient – As solar panels require nothing but the sun, they are an incredibly convenient purchase for caravanners. They don’t require fuel or oil like Generators do, therefore, as long as you have a good quality battery to store the energy when you have no access to the sun, you will constantly be in access to power.
What will Need Powering
When deciding on the type of Solar panel and how many you require, you have to consider how many appliances you will need to power within your Caravan.
Most likely if you plan to be travelling and living out of your caravan, these are the things you will have to consider powering :
- Stove (if not a gas stove)
- Phone and electrics charging
- Air conditioning
- Fridge
- Any extra lamps or lighting
What power do Appliances Need?
In order to understand the size and type of solar panel you need you need to know what appliances you will be having in your caravan and which need powering. Here is a list of the average power each appliance needs.
How much Electricity can you expect per kW of Solar Panels?
It strongly depends on your location and how much energy your solar panels will provide you with, as well as the weather, the time of year and the time of day. It all relies on the sun.
Solar Power systems are rated in watts of kilowatts. Roughly about 1kW of solar panels equals to 4kW of electricity produced each day. For each kW of solar panels you can expect about 4kW of power per day of electricity generation. A 6.6kW solar system will generate about 26.4kW on a generally sunny day.
What kind of Solar Panels are there?
Glass solar panels – Which are the oldest kind of solar panels, have a rigid frame, get attached to the roof with mounting brackets and are a good solution in household instillations.
Mobile Applications – Are semi flexible which offers advantages, and can be directly applied to the roof of a caravan, yet can be more expensive.
Folding Panels – Can be both glass and flexible and are especially popular with campers and caravans due to how you can adjust the angle of the panel depending on the angle of the sun for optimum light absorption.
Basic Caravan Solar System
The solar system is broken down into four major components. The solar panel, regulator, battery and inverter. Firstly the solar panel converts sunlight into DC electricity which charges the battery. The regulator makes sure is charged properly and doesn’t get damaged from over-charging or over discharging. Then the battery stores the energy and can directly charge DC appliances, however AC appliances need an inverter to convert the energy.
What size Battery do you need?
The most common Caravan battery set up that will be sold to you will include 2 x 180amp batteries, with with 2x 150watt solar panels on the roof, and a 40AC caravan battery charger. This will give you the basic convenience of running your 12 volt appliances off your battery system, and have the ability to re-charge your caravan batteries through mains 240 volt power connected to your caravan or 12volt solar panels mounted on your roof.
Depending on how many people are living in the caravan, as well as the size, you may need a larger system. This system works for about two people .
Why you shouldn’t use your car battery to power caravan supplies
In theory it is possible to power your caravan appliances on your car battery, however it is designed to be fully charged and deliver a power pack charge of energy in short bursts to crank over your engine before being quickly fully charged again. This means the car battery is designed to operate at close to 100% capacity levels for optimum longevity. Caravan batteries however, work better and last longer when they are getting a deep cycle when you are drawing a lower and more consistent supply of energy. You will be replacing the car battery far more often which is not economical when there are solutions like solar power.