Camping - solar panels and hot water systems
Submitted by Ben Derecki on Thu, 2012-09-06 15:29
All being well next year I'm hooking up the camper and heading over east for three months long service leave with the family. I'm starting to look at getting a bit more self-sustaining so I can skip forking out $50pn for a powered site in a caravan park. Two of the things I'm currently looking at are getting some solar panels to charge the deep cell battery in my camper (Jayco Eagle) and getting one of those Coleman hot water heaters so we can have half decent showers.
Has anyone had any experiences with these and can provide some thoughts / direction on these? Also be happy to hear from anyone who has some and would like to flog them off...
Cheers
southcity104
Posts: 1659
Date Joined: 27/01/09
sorted ben
give us a call
"Its a life style job"
Ben Derecki
Posts: 1926
Date Joined: 10/10/07
Sounds good Tony, will do
Sounds good Tony, will do over the w/e.
andym
Posts: 80
Date Joined: 28/09/06
panels
I have a 120 watt folding solar panel kit which I use with camper trailer , works a dream will keep us charged , 2 x batts , running 60l engel and all required lighting fine for as long as you want and a hell of alot nicer than a generator ruining the serenity !!1
Cost about $500-600 about 3 years ago , you can get cheaper ones now but it pays to do your homework as some panels are inferior in build and output ..
Cheers Andy
Dan
Posts: 168
Date Joined: 23/02/06
I'm in the process of doing
I'm in the process of doing the same
- from what I've learnt - well worth getting a quality DC-DC charger (with solar regulator) to mount with your battery - can then run a charge line from your cars alternator for when you're driving, and well as hook up solar panels when you're camped. charger has the ability to boost voltage that is lost in running long cables, and has conditioning management built in to keep your battery tip top
redarc have one - not cheap - but good peace of mind when relying on power
http://redarc.com.au/products/product/in-vehicle-battery-chargermppt-regulator-25a/