Campsites and "petrol generator etiquette"...

[T'Onion]

Mines on top of the LT , so can be seen from space
permanently mounted up there
can't remember if mine 100w or 80w , either way its more than up to the job , and now it charges both my leisure and starter batteries

[Ian Hulley]

Any chance we could get some pics of your solar panels?

Look on the photo I posted ... it's the flat thing on top of the back of the roof.

[ronsrecord]

[Ian Hulley]

It's bolted through the roof and the regulator is in the front of the hightop. (Sorry I forgot to add that )

[ed_crouch]

So it looks like I can get a mono PV 100w panel for 80 quid and a mppt charger for another sixty. It won't quite power us, but it'll make a 180ah battery last ages.

Only bugger is the weight of the panel, but I don't fancy the semi flexible ones, expensive and fragile? The silicon wafers are soooooooo brittle.

[Ian Hulley]

Our 100w panel weighs perhaps 5 kg if that, it has it's own rigid self-spacing frame and the reg cost around £17 from Maplins.

Ian

[ghost123uk]

It must be my panel then

It is a 40 watt on (iirc) and was from a reputable UK manufacturer (or so the advert said )

I am using it right now at the "Valentines meet" at Shirebrook. When the sun is clear, though low in the sky it is right now producing ~2 amps, but as soon as a cloud moves over the sun it drops to less than 1 amp. I know from experience that on a "normal" cloudy day it is often down to 1/10 of an amp.

Funnily enough, the other 80-90 folks here have been talking about this just an hour ago whilst watching the amps go up and down with the clouds.

So if every one elses work well on a dull day, it must be just the make of mine is not as good

So, what makes of panel do you folks have that you find provide useful amps even on a dull day (and what Wattage are they and can anyone quote currents for, say a sunny summers day compared to a dull spring day) ?)

Yours, jealously,
John

[Ian Hulley]

100w generic panel as sold by most on Ebay



our regulator ...



just has a feed to each battery and automatically switches off when batteries are fully charged I have a volt meter separately but no ampmeter in line. I believe Emm has though ..

Ian

[Palomino]

Are these solar panels wired through your Zig or via a separate charging circuit?

Phil

[Ian Hulley]

Are these solar panels wired through your Zig or via a separate charging circuit?

Phil

I don't have a Zig, the regulator (shown above) regulates the solar power which charges the batteries

[aahyoo]

Just been doing some digging as I plan to invest in a 100W setup, and found these...

http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/170w- ... 1002729026

I'm considering getting one delivered as am in the North East..

[daz1973]

I purchased a kit for my friend from ebay 40watt with control box for around £90 and fitted it for him , took about half a day .
He's say's its a god send , we worked out his needs with this solar calculator .
http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/so ... lator.html