Solar Powered Battery Charger?

[litespeed]

Does anyone know how to... ... Or know where I can find some good info. on rigging up a solar panel and battery switches so I can trickle charge my batteries in the camper?



Something like a marine setup for sailboats would be cool.



Thanks,



AJ

 

[TowPro]

My AC has one built into it that keeps the battery topped off while the rig is not in use.



Basic requirements are you need a solar Cell (or as many as you can afford to match your power requirements) and a regulator that can handle the amount of output power produced by your cells.



If you don't use a requlator you can over charge your battery causing water loss.



I hear a company in Canada just invented a cell that uses UV rays, and is a new electonic design that should lower the cost 5X. But who knows how long it will take before we see them in the market.

 

[John - K5AWO]

Camper World has a lot of options you might look into.

 

[surfbeetle]

Go here:

http://www.solarelectricinc.com/



I bought a panel that is about 1 foot by 3 feet. I have a power regulator that plugs into the batteries. This place sells "2nd grade" panels in addition to brand new ones. They are in San Diego, Ca. With this setup, I do just fine in my fifth wheel dry camping for a week with the two young kids and wife. My brother in law had the same system as I but he upgraded to a 4x4 foot panel on his because he's got two teenagers and they consumed more power. Now, his batteries never go dead even on overcast days.



When we were at that shop asking questions before our first purchases, they told me it was between one to two thousand for a system that will run everything in your rig, both 12v dc and 120 AC except the Air Conditioner. My stuff was only $250.

 

[azpete]

just saw this one at Costco yesterday. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11138292&whse=&topnav=&browse=&s=1

 

[proflow]

Is this actually in the store ? thats a good deal

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

just saw this one at Costco yesterday. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11138292&whse=&topnav=&browse=&s=1

That's absolutely the BEST deal on a complete RV solar setup I've seen!



We use just a single solar panel in that class, and it will keep us going for several weeks at our usual rate of power consumption - as long as we have good exposure to sunlight. With 4 panels, we could be far less dependant upon constantly re-aiming the single panel we have...

 

[TowPro]

For some reason I think this only comes with one pannel, but they show 4. The other site shows panels in the 60w range, and they are the size of one of the pannels shown at Costco, but I don't know for sure.

just saw this one at Costco yesterday. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11138292&whse=&topnav=&browse=&s=1

 

[T Peterson]

I think it says 4 15 watt panels. And yes, thats one heck of deal!

 

[Jaysyl]

I ordered 2 15 watt panels from Northern for 66 dollars each and free shipping.

 

[BDeMartile]

Camping world sells the panels controllers and has a wealth of info in store if you're close to one of their locations.

 

[YFZBOB]

Does anyone know how to... ... Or know where I can find some good info. on rigging up a solar panel and battery switches so I can trickle charge my batteries in the camper?



Something like a marine setup for sailboats would be cool.



Thanks,



AJ

Good Reading here...



http://bart.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volta.htm