Solar Panel
Solar Panel
A solar panel on the roof of your campervan can dramatically increase your independence. In the summer months, the right size and quality of panel will produce sufficient amps to run your fridge, lights and water pump without the need to plug into 230v mains power or to have to drive the vehicle in order to recharge the leisure batteries.A solar panel on the roof of your campervan can dramatically increase your independence. In the summer months, the right size and quality of panel will produce sufficient amps to run your fridge, lights and water pump without the need to plug into 230v mains power or to have to drive the vehicle in order to recharge the leisure batteries.
To maximise the solar output we always fit a 100 watt solar panel. The panel can be mounted on the roof of all our T6.1 & T6 conversion layouts, either elevating roof or fixed high top, is robust and very low profile at only 4mm thick. The cabling from the panel is connected from the underside so there is no need for a connector box on the panel’s topside – removing the risk of water ingress into the connections or damaging connections on low hanging branches.
On the best sunny days with the correct angle of sunlight to the panel, this 100 watt panel can produce up to 5 amps of charge per hour, so on an average summer’s day you can expect around 25 amp hours of charge – roughly equal to what your fridge will draw. The output produced by the solar panel is directed 90% to the leisure battery system and 10% to the vehicle battery – meaning that if you leave your vehicle parked up and not used for a period then both batteries are constantly being topped up.
Please note that on winter days the panel will never produce enough amps to recharge your leisure battery if you are frequently running a Wallas or Webasto diesel heater – the days just aren’t long and sunny enough, the angle of the sun is too low and the heaters will draw too many amps for the solar panel to keep up.
