Campervan Solar Installation Explained. Which panels & controller for van, motorhome, RV.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ส.ค. 2024
- Product Links explorevan.uk/solar
In this video we explain the basics of a solar set up and look at the different types of panel and controllers and how to work out the best set up for your needs.
If you're not sure of the difference between Polycrystalline, Monocrystalline, MPPT and PWM then this video should help you out.
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Disclaimer - The contents of this video have safety implications for you and your van, whilst I am experienced in Solar power, I am not a solar power professional. Any advice in this video is purely my opinion, what you chose and how you install it is your own responsibility.
Music - www.bensound.com/royalty-free...
I will always try my best to link to products of the best value for money, in my opinion. Some of these may include affiliate links where a commission may be received, the price to you remains the same.
Any information provided on this channel is intended for general guidance only and must never be considered a substitute for advice provided by a qualified professional.
Topics in my videos may have potential safety implications for you and your van.
Any information I share in this video is purely my opinion. What you chose to install or how you install it, is entirely your choice and responsibility. .
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Thanks simple and easy to understand! 👍🇬🇧
excellent presentation & very informative.
Really interesting regarding mono & poly, I think now I'm tempted to get poly, and cram every inch of my van roof that my mppt will support. Thanks great video.
I feel like these are some of the most helpful videos I've ever seen, thank you!
Thank you, glad they are helpful!
brillant thank you best one yet on this subject
Very helpful, thanks.
Brilliant video, thank you
This is an excellent video, I like it that you don't talk too fast and very good pictures to help understanding, thankyou so much
Thanks! Glad it’s useful 😀
That was really helpful and to the point. Thank you.
Glad you found it useful 👍
Brilliant video - thanks man! Just getting started here, taking notes, hopefully instal over the Winter ;-)
Great information, thanks 🙏
Very informative video. 👍👍
Glad it was helpful!
Great, thanks
Thanks 👍
good video
At 2.28 I gave you a 👍 up.and watched the rest.flexable degrading fast I true.
Great presentation thankyou
Hi wating your videos , . All good but can you simply tell me ...
My setup is small
2x 150w panels
2 x 110 amp hour batteries
30 amp mppt charge controller . As im getting mixed up by what is the best way to set these all up as 12 volt set up .please help thankyou
Hi, that is really useful, especially the calculator to see what panel size. One question, would this vary depending on what amp solar charger, I.e. 30 or 50 amp ?
You’d need to size the charger based on the panels your connecting. They will have a maximum wattage that they are capable of. A higher Amp charger will only be worth it with enough Wattage from the panels to make it worth while.
excellent video, I replaced my 20 amp controller with a 30 amp, will that be OK?
Yeah no problem. Means you can add more panels later if you want.
good quality kabels is also important
Great video! I have a 12v battery. Can I use a mppt controller with higher voltage solar panels?
Yes you can. The MPPT will control the voltage to the battery to make sure it is charged correctly. Just be sure to set the controller for the correct type of battery.
@@ExploreVanUK Thanks this will help a lot!
I wonder if it will be possible to use solar panels to (slowly) feed the battery of the new upcoming Ford E-Transit electric van when you're parked up?
Like wire up the panels to the inside back of the van along with the Ford charging device and from there have the charger cable go outside to plug into the front of the van. Then you can have everything in the van powered by the "Pro Power Onboard" system's 2.4kW possibly even an optional 7.2kW for an electric oven/shower.
That would be great - To retro fit something, I imagine it would depend on what demand and what intelligence the Ford charging system has, if it is expecting to be plugged into the mains it will probably not like a trickle charge, but it would be great if Ford thought of this and allowed a direct solar connection, considering the amount of roof estate available it would be a great option.
@@ExploreVanUK Yea, exactly what I was thinking as well. I've read somewhere that the Ford system allows for varying amounts of charging load, but like you say - will it allow for a trickle charge compared to the smallest mains power charge amount. After all its well known faster charging worsens the life of the battery, but what about a very slow charge.
My van, (2024 Sven Hedin), has 2 leisure batteries (92aH & 70aH), and I want to connect a portable solar panel to supplement summer usage. The 92aH battery is most accessible in the engine compartment. Can I connect an MPPT controller to the battery with a 'fly lead' for connection to the panel? That way I can park my van in the shade and position the panel in sunlight.
As long as the lead is suitably sized, fused and protected from damage I don't see why not.
Thanks for the great info. can I ask you a couple of questions ? seems the 12 volt group on face book is stopped, so i cant ask there. On my 30 amp Epever there is a earth connection on the body, is this for a shore line connection as I have not seen it being connected on any of the "how to connect" vids. Also what fuse or breaker would you suggest for the 30 amp charge controller Thanks..
Hi, without knowing the exact model of your controller and full details of your installation its a bit difficult to be sure of giving the correct advice with regard to the earth connection, I don;t recollect there being one on my ePever tracer - but I may be wrong.
When it comes to the fuse / breaker (I've assumed you mean in the battery positive connection rather than the load output or solar input) ePever recommend a fuse whose current is 1.25 to 2 times the controller's rated current, with a distance from the battery no longer than 150 mm.
@@ExploreVanUK Oh, i have ordered a 30 amp breaker, will this "break" too soon?
Hi do you lose ampage through using longer solar panel wire from longer distance from panel to controller than if only short distance .. im talking 3 metre to maybe 20 metres ? Thanks
In short, yes. For best performance short high quality “thick” cables are the norm.
You can compensate for longer runs with a high grade cable but always best keep it as short as practical.
Are you aware of a suitable and small wind turbine that can be used on a solar set up either static and/or mobile?
Hi, my only experience of Wind Turbines is on boats and to be honest its not been great.
As they have moving parts even the expensives ones are prone to failure over time, the cheap ones even more so.
They need to be pretty big and pretty heavy to get a reasonable amount of power out of them.
No matter how well they are balanced the vibration and sound of them is pretty annoying.
Personally I wouldn't consider one for a van, add more solar, a high power B2B will give you more power for your £s.
But if you really want one the only ones I would consider would be a Rutland - www.marlec.co.uk/wind-power/
PWM so the control panel but I’m not too sure what solar panel to go on top of the roof. Ideally I don’t want it to stay there all the time because I want to use the roof bars for my kayaks but I’m not too sure go flexible or son to zip tie it’s easy to come off the roof, any help please
Hi funily enough we're just working on a video comparing the Pros / Cons and performance of a Fixed Rigid panel, Vs a Portable Folding panel. It should be out in the next couple of weeks and may help you decide.
This might be a stupid question but do you need to keep the panels in direct sunlight, it gets to 40°c in Australia most summer days, I'm asking because of efficiency
They will still work to some degree in the shade but it would dramatically decrease the power generated.
The decrease in efficiency due to the heat would be far less than than the gain from being in direct sunlight.
Great video thanks can i ask ..
I have 2 100amh batteries wired in parallel , i want to add another panel the same type .. do i wire it also in parallel..12 volt setup thanks
Hi, could you clarify what you are looking to add? You talk about Batteries but then you say add another panel. If you can give a bit more information about your current set up Batteries / Solar Control / Panels / other charging etc models and types, and how you are planning to use it, we might be able to give some advice.
@@ExploreVanUK i thought i did ...at moment 1 x 150 watt panel ..2 x100 amh batteries And 30 amp mppt controller i want to add 1 more 150watt panel same as last one
Ok - as you have an MPPT controller it is probably capable of taking the input voltage of the panels either in parallel or in series - but do check the specs.
Series is probably the easiest to wire up as you can probably do this without making any changes to the connectors.
However a down side of running the panels in series is that if one gets shaded it adversely impacts the performance of the other panel even if it is still in full sunshine. For that reason personally I would put them in Parallel.
@@ExploreVanUK hi so to confirm my batteries are parallel connected so i can put panels in parallel.
Or what’s best Thank-you for your advice also .
It doesn’t matter how you have your batteries other than you would need to set your controller to match (parallel 12v, series 24v)
Your controller will match your panels to your batteries whether your panels are in series or in parallel. (As long as it is suitably rated.)
There are pros and cons to each but parallel would be my choice as explained above.
Hi I’ve got a 120w panel on motorhome can I fit a dual mppt controller and what material would I need
Hi, could you just clarify what you want to do. By dual do mean for dual batteries? What do you mean by material?
@@ExploreVanUK hi yes I want to charge leisure and engine battery’s material is size wire cut out etc what the best way .
Assuming you’re comfortable that a 120w panel will give you enough power I would go for a quality MPPT from the likes of ePever or Victron. Because your Engine battery will mainly be charged by the alternator there should be no need for a dual battery controller. Just fit a dual direction Voltage sensitive relay between your leisure battery and starter battery. That way once your leisure battery is charged it will top up your engine battery and will also mean your Leisure battery can be topped up once the from the starter battery is charged when driving. (If your van has a Smart alternator you will need a battery to battery charger rather than a VSR)
When it comes to cables etc it’s very individual as to how much power you are putting through and how long the cables are. There are lots calculators on line to help pick the right ones for battery connections etc.
For the panel I would buy dedicated solar cables these would be fine for 120w panel.
amzn.to/3cOeCQi
I was wondering which inverter your using? Especially to run the microwave.
We tried a 1500w (2000w peak) inverter and though it happily runs the microwave we found it totally kicked the batteries and meant we needed a lot of sun to add the deficit back.
We now don’t bother, it’s therefor an emergency but we only cook on gas now unless on hook up. Especially since we went to refillable LPG which costs pennies.
@@ExploreVanUK Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate it.
I’ve read that using an isolator switch between the panel and controller isn’t necessary and also reduces efficiency. Comments?
Hi - from my perspective a fuse or suitable DC breaker correctly installed has its advantages and does no harm for a panel installation
- It will protect the controller if it is undersized
- If cables are undersized it could prevent fire
- Some Controllers require that the battery is connected first to initialise the controller before connecting the panel a breaker or a fuse is an easy way to ensure the panels can be disconnected while this is carried out.
-Being able to remove the panel load when disconnecting the cables saves having to cover the panel to avoid potential arcing.
I chose to use a suitably sized DC breaker like this amzn.to/45dZy6c to provide both a protection and a means of isolation.
Hope that helps
When you say biggest panel you can get I assume that you are talking about the wattage and no the dimensions.
So kind of both, - highest wattage with the dimensions that will fit in the space you have.
You could save some money by going with a Polycrystalline panel which has slightly less watts for the same dimensions. But that's obviously at the sacrifice of some performance.
Will this permormance 18% vs 21% really matter in 250-400W range? I can't decide between 500W poly(way cheaper) and 420W mono. For couple of %more efficiency more than double price? And more Watts with poly. Worth?
The 500w will out perform the 420w irrelevant of whether Poly or Mono.
Mono just means the panel can be physically smaller for the same power output.
If you have the room to accommodate it I would be going with the 500w Poly.
@@ExploreVanUK perfect. Thanks so much for quick reply and massive advise. Even better option with 2-3 panels not to loose efficiency % when shaded. One of the easiest subscriptions done for me. Keep it up