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Equipping the Overland Vehicle Vehicle accessories - Making your home away from home comfortable, safe and reliable.
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  #1  
Old 1 Aug 2008
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Solar Panels
Does anyone have any advice on what type / power solar panel would do for keeping the leisure battery topped up in West Africa?

I've seen some cheep (£45) ones on e-bay-gum. They're only 13w, but include controller and fold away neatly in a "briefcase" for protection.
Portable Multi-use 13W Solar Briefcase Generator on eBay, also, Solar Panels, Gadgets, Consumer Electronics (end time 12-Aug-08 16:33:43 BST)

Or should I spend a little more? It's only for when we're parked up for a couple of days as I've just fitted a split charging system. It will be running an engel fridge and occasional shower / water pump.
Cheers,
Jonnie
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  #2  
Old 1 Aug 2008
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It really depends how long you are going to stop for, and how many AHrs you have stored when you stop.
I have a Siemens 50W panel, and this is able to run my Fridge/Freezer and lights for 5 - 6 days. I have 2 x 105AHr batteries.

So the short answer is - get as many Watts as you can afford...
HTH

Graham
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  #3  
Old 1 Aug 2008
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13 Watts is probably the ideal output - thats about 1Amp @ 12V assuming "best" conditions. Most Engel fridges draw current at between 0.5 to 4.5Amps, say 2Amps average, hot humid days and the fridge could be pulling maximum Amps all the time.

In the tropics you'd get about 8 to 10 hours of useful sunlight, say 10 hours to make the maths easy.

Draw from your battery; 24 hours at 2Amps = 48Amp Hours.
Input from solar panel; 10 hours at 1Amps = 10Amp Hours.
Daily draw down on your battery will be 38Amp Hours just for the fridge.

Whereas a 50W panel would input 40Amp Hours (50W @ 12V = 4Amps (approx)), just an 8Amp Hour draw down on the battery each day.

Personally I'd say a 13W panel would be a waste of space, you'd be better off starting the vehicle and giving the leisure batteries a boost that way.
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  #4  
Old 2 Aug 2008
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To be Solar paneled or not to be solar paneled? That is the qu....
I ran a minus 40 in West Africa on a 130 AH deep cycle battery. I found that it ran flat within 36 hours of use when stationary. Interestingly I found that even when driving for 6 hours or so every day thereafter for the following few days, the deep cycle never really got fully charged and therefore it lasted for only a few hours when we next parked up for a day or so. This (it has been explained to me) is that a deep cycle battery, although it will tolerate being run flat, needs a long time to recharge fully. Driving for 8 hours or so doesn’t recharge it.

Therefore for me the deep cycle battery was not the 'perfect answer.

I know run a 50l National Lunar Weekender and have 50 W solar panels (two 25s). My fridge battery is bog standard.

Now I can park up for several days (only tried 3 days at a time), keep the fridge on and find that subsequent driving days fully recharge the aux battery. This is partly because it is not a deep cycle and (most importantly) the bog standard battery never discharges too much.

You do need a battery protector of some kind with and ordinary battery because (obviously) it will not tolerate being run flat.

My opinion is that less than 50w is probably not going to be much good.

You might get away with a single 25 W panel and run the engine in the mornings, but with 12w or 18w I suspect you might as well not bother.

Only my opinion - I'm not an electrical engineer.

The most useful calculations are the current/amp-hour figures supplied by a previous contributor

cheers

John
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  #5  
Old 2 Aug 2008
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Solar Panels
Thanks all for your comments and calcs.
I suspect 2x25w panels would be cheaper and easier to stash than one large 50w. John, do you remember how much / where you bought them?

Also, Just another thought.....Should I hang on 'till I get to Spain / Morocco? I think I've heard they're much cheaper there. Anyone any knowledge of this?

Cheers,
Jon
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  #6  
Old 2 Aug 2008
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Cost
Ah!

Can't help you with the price - I bought my car with solar panels attached.

I guess you get what you pay for, and one lesson I have had to learn the hard way is:

Don't overload your car with gadgets, but those you do buy – first buy quality, then quality, and finally quality!!

By cheap and it WILL let you down on the road.

One supplier (but by no means the only one) that produces good kit is

http://www.toms-fahrzeugtechnik.com

Just been translated into English

The Germans do make (and supply) rather good stuff, but you need pockets several fathoms deep

cheers

John

PS Someone once said to me – ‘’my boy you remember the quality far longer than you do the price’’
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  #7  
Old 2 Aug 2008
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Solar Panels for Overlanding
All good advise here, one thing to remember though is once in the desert the compressor on the fridge will run more often, sometimes the whole day so what will work at home might not work on the road.

My setup is probably overkill but we are running 2 x 85w panels driving 2 x 105 Ah Deep Cycles, this is enough to run our 80L National Luna indefinitely as long as the sun shines.

I do believe on a trip your main aim should be enjoying yourself, having to constantly start the vehicle to charge batteries when stationed in one place takes up time that could be spent exploring. I don't think there is just one solution, you have to decide what will work best for you.
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  #8  
Old 4 Aug 2008
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If you can wait till you get to maroc there much cheaper than in europe also theres a lot of second hand ones about as a lot of villages are having mains electrictry connected.As with everything barter.
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  #9  
Old 5 Aug 2008
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Smile Sun Power
Hi Jonnie
I got a 50w panel and controller from Wind and Sun Ltd: Design, supply and installation of wind turbines and solar PV systems in Leominster, I think it cost about £150 and has good diagrams. It runs a small engle no problem.
I am also in Bristol if you need any advice about West Africa.
Bruce
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  #10  
Old 31 Aug 2008
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We have an 85W panel mounted on telescopic rails under the roof rack. That way the panels are protected when we are driving and when we stop, we simply pull the panel out over the bonnet. Got the rails from ROLLCO and they can support 85kg.

Under normal conditions the panel is enough to keep our aux battery (Optima Yellow Top) full while powering our Engel fridge and water pump. Except in Sudan where the temp was 45 - 48 C... which made our fridge run non stop.

Everywhere else the panel has performed A+. Just make sure to keep it clean as a layer of dust seriously dampens the effect.

There are some pics on www.offthemap.se.

Currently in Nakuru, Kenya, trying to find a Old Man Emu retailer (a mission doomed to fail) after blowing both rear shocks. The roads in northern Kenya are the worst.

Gus
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  #11  
Old 1 Sep 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roken View Post
Currently in Nakuru, Kenya, trying to find a Old Man Emu retailer (a mission doomed to fail) after blowing both rear shocks. The roads in northern Kenya are the worst.

Gus
If you are having no joy, try RSA shocks.
In my case they outlasted the OME's...
I know RSA are available in Arusha, Tanzania so I would expect them to be in Kenya too

HTH and Good Luck

Graham
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