Wildcamping mostly

Redmask09

Me again :)

as you all know, wild camping going to be using 12v on the battery,

whats the best way to keep the batteries topped up ? So always got the lights etc..

If i was to fit a solar panel whats the minimum watt i would need ?

I will be running a split charge relay with a 110ah battery - am i best buying 2 leisure batteries ?

Can i link the 2 leisure batteries, then link from 1 leisure to main battery via the split charge relay ?
 

izwozral

bumping up the page.

I will leave the technical stuff to those that know but for what it's worth, we have an 80 watt panel & never depleted the battery yet even tho' we have made good use of it. Most on here will have bigger or more panels.
 

Obanboy666

No expert but have newish motorhome with full led lights. Best thing I did was fit another 110amp battery. So I now have 220 amps total and can comfortably manage 2/3 days without moving. I have a folding solar panel that I use when the sun shines.
To be honest if you are moving everyday to a new location I reckon get an extra battery and just see how it goes. You can always fit a solar panel later if you find you cannot manage.
 

Debs

Forum Member
Split relay charging is not the best way of charging leisure batteries. Battery to battery chargers work much better, but they are quite expensive. I use the C-Tek charger, and my 100 watt panel is wired straight into the charger as it is also is an MPPT controller. When my leisure batteries are full it then charges the starter battery.:goodluck:
 

Tbear

All depends on much you use. I have an 80Ah and no solar but tend to move regularly. We use a split charger.

Richard
 

pughed2

secondary cheap lighting

redmask.........I have trialed the 50pence push on 3led lights from poundshop........the little batteries never seem to run out, you can obviously buy and fit as many as you need around the van, and use the van lights on the leisure battery as back up........I also keep a water butt on the drainer, again so the pump is not eating up the leisure amps, as it is essential for me to keep the leisure topped up to run my tablet for hours daily in wi fi web and tv........I got no other means of top up, just the alternator, which is ample to keep everything charged. the new wi fi tablets use very little power......this is a trigano tribute 03.......cheers steve bristol
 

rosebubble

Hi, it all depends on what your power draw is really.For example my van has 3-4 led strip lights and 1 led square. 12v water pump, car radio and speakers in the back. Thats it.

I use a 80quid 110ah battery,heavy duty split charge relay,and s all the lights arnt on all the time, its only really the laptop that pulls much power.

I highly recommend you run your laptop through a 12v socket cigarette type instead of using an inverter much more efficient. Get a universal cigarette adapter 12v power supply and your away.

You can charge whiledriving and use your battery 1st before plugging in to be uber efficient. Good luck!

Most wild camps for me are one night and move on somewhere new. Depending on your loads I rekon you could get away with one battery.

RB
 

Redmask09

Many thanks to everyone's reply :)

i so love this site, the people and group is just top notch :)

thanks people
 

gbl666

Batteries

TV is what will eat the power if you do not watch TV you will use very little. Never ran out of power until I became a corrie saddo:(
 

Obanboy666

TV is what will eat the power if you do not watch TV you will use very little. Never ran out of power until I became a corrie saddo:(

Agree with the above statement. I keep a good eye on my batteries and when wilding the tv and the inverter to run my sky box are by far the biggest draw on the batteries. Saying that, I usually move to a new location everyday and that usually more than recovers what power I have used.
 

rosebubble

I say no tv in the house or campervan. :) Less adverts,less mind control and loads interesting stuff online really these days to get your teeth into .:rabbit:
 

Redmask09

i couldn't live without a tv especially the soaps on a evening, and what about a good movie on a night :)

I could maybe use my laptop to watch movies on ? would this be lower than than tv or about as equal ? - pretty good battery on laptop so could charge it whilst driving then use the laptop battery when stationary ?

Danny :)
 

rosebubble

thats what we do danny, download a few classic movies or have a usb HD with a good selection on for the laptop.I imagine the 12v tv will pull more power than the lappy but not sure.

If you had two decent laptop batteries I imagine you'd never have to plug in for a couple of nights!
 

Brian the snail

Hi,

Laptops use anything from 50 watts to 120 watts and 12 volt Led TV typical use 20 to 30 watts so TV is easier on your battery. If you have plenty of load carrying capacity and the ability to locate it then adding 2nd battery is a good way forward but a 1 panel solar installation is roughly 9 kgs against a battery at 22+ kgs. Before you decide what to do you need to do a power audit to understand what your needs are and if you haven't already done so look at ways to reduce your power needs like Led lights, avoiding the dreaded water pump, use 12 volt chargers for laptops, tablets, phones, batteries etc and avoid the power hungary 220 volt inverter as much as possible.

Clive
 

phillybarbour

Fit a second battery before trying any of the other more expensive and complex options, two good AH batteries will meet most peoples needs.
 

mike9jr

Hi,

Laptops use anything from 50 watts to 120 watts and 12 volt Led TV typical use 20 to 30 watts so TV is easier on your battery. If you have plenty of load carrying capacity and the ability to locate it then adding 2nd battery is a good way forward but a 1 panel solar installation is roughly 9 kgs against a battery at 22+ kgs. Before you decide what to do you need to do a power audit to understand what your needs are and if you haven't already done so look at ways to reduce your power needs like Led lights, avoiding the dreaded water pump, use 12 volt chargers for laptops, tablets, phones, batteries etc and avoid the power hungary 220 volt inverter as much as possible.

Clive

Brian,

12 volt charger for the laptop...?? Excuse my ignorance or just plain silliness... What do you mean by a 12 volt charger?
I plan on being out in the wild from mid Jan and once settled I'll be staying in situ for a week or two before moving on. I was thinking solar (Spain is first destination), to add to 2 LB's.

The laptop and phone charging I can do from the 12volt lighter socket but that needs the ignition on and drains the cab battery... What do you suggest for keeping those charged in the lounge from the LB's?

Also, from mid Jan i'll be full time... Can anyone recommend a solar panel fitter.

Thanks

Mike
 

Beemer

I fitted a 100W solar panel and two new leisure batteries 2 years ago and to date have never run out of juice on the batteries.
I have discovered that the solar panel although bypassing my habitation control unit, still charges the vehicle battery. How this happens, I don't know (or care) but it has been doing that since I fitted the solar panel (2 years).
As has already been said, it would depend on your electric consumption, and to give you an idea, we have many LED type lights and two battery LED timed sensor units, that light up when it is dark on entering through the habitation door and/or the bathroom. This means that during the night, if you need to locate the bathroom, you just walk past the habitation door and open the bathroom door, no switches needed.
We use our television most evenings, but usually it is for DVDs as our TV aerial is very intermittent with reception.
 

mike9jr

Sounds good. Thats the way I want to go too, assuming I can get solar on the roof. It is a Joint J150 and has a dip behind the front bulge and I'm hopeful that I still have the room for a panel.

I want to have one with a regulator that houses a normal 3pin plug, 12v cig lighter socket and or a USB type connection to charge all the gubbins.
Are these readily available at reasonable prices?

Mike
 

Redmask09

thanks for posts guys,

I'm thinking of adding a 2nd LB, would i be able to just run a link positive and negative from 1 leisure battery to the other one ?

1 LB linked upto the van battery ... i have a transit van which im self converting so the van battery is inside the van under drivers seat, easy access :)

Danny
 

Brian the snail

Hi Mike,
If you are charging your laptop from the cab battery You obviously already have a 12 volt charger/inverter for it, all you need to do is wire in a 12 volt socket ( or 2) to your leisure battery at a location that is convenient to you. Please excuse if I’m teaching granny to suck eggs with the following if you are already capable to do this without this basic walk through.
There are plenty of sockets on Ebay ( here is an example 12v Motorcycle Car Cigarette Lighter Charger Waterproof USB Power Socket Adapter | eBay). You will need to use suitable wiring with an inline fuse (preferably in the live line not the earth) close to the battery connection you could if you want fuse both lines. Unless you want to connect the sockets to your battery each time you want to use the sockets with crocodile clips you will need to use suitable terminals on the battery connections and clamp them to the battery terminals.
I put 2 of the socket shown in the third thumbnail in my own van but they are wired to the load output of my solar controller, using 70amp cable as they both go through the one cable and have a theoretical capacity of 20 amps each but with suitable fuses at the controller end to protect the wire in case of mishap.
You need to be aware that you can get Cig sockets and Hella and the standard in the Uk is Cig socket and most prewired 12 volt plugs on accessories are cig.
I fitted my own solar panels (2 x 100 watts) and Mppt controller, it is actually a straight forward job as long as you don’t mind drilling a hole in your pride and joy and you take your time planning and doing it.

Clive
 

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