Solar Panel for battery top up.

I should add the van is a Lunar Venus 550/4.

The battery is a nearly new 80 amp/hr .

The distance I need to move it is about it's own length then turn it 90 degrees.

I isolate the vans electrics when I store it so the only loss to the battery should be that caused by standing.

aamcle

if you're happy not to have the battery managing any of the caravan electrics (tracker, alarm etc) while in storage, why not just bring the battery home and keep it charged there....

however, if the battery id sully charged when the ban is parked, then with it being isolated, it should be (pretty much) fully charged when you return to the van....

or are you saying that ypu may have run it down slightly when parking it?

if so, bring it home, charge it and take it back full...

its fairly obvious you are not familiar with how solar works, id not bother, bring the battery home.

Hi Aamcle

I cant comment on the small panels that sit in the window, but I recently fitted a roof mounted 100W panel to my caravan, the kit cost me about £140 from a UK supplier on eBay, and it took me about 2 hours to fit.

My caravan is parked on the drive, and since the solar panel has been fitted the battery has never been below 13.5 volts, even on dark winter days.

I also fitted one for my brother in law and he keeps his van on storage with no access to electricity - again his battery is a constant 13v - 14v

I know it is not everyone's cup of tea to have a panel mounted on the roof - but for the money is well worth the effort

Just Google 'caravan solar panels' and you will come up with a lot of information/web site and see appropriate threads on this and other forum. 

Hi garry1958 is that your solar panel on your roof in pitcher looks really large 

don't think that's attached to roof of caravan, looks like something pitched next to it.

You need:

A solar panel

A controller

A fuse link

cable

Terminals

soldering iron and solder.

A test meter.

The panel has two wires +/-, connect these to the controller in the appropriate place, most are screw terminals so no soldering needed.

Test with meter to make sure you have correct polarity, the output from the panel in sunlight is usually 14 to 18v (may be higher).

Connect the output from the controller to the respective +/- terminals on the battery. This best done with ring terminals bolted to the battery clamps.

The issue with solar panels is that they are low current so make sure you use at least 1mm2 cable or even better 2mm2 and make sure you solder any joints to reduce the resistance of the circuit. Put a fused link in the cable between the +ve output from the controller to the battery +ve terminal, 10A fuse will do.

I have the controller on the battery box top inside the van, if you need a hole in the battery box for the cables it must have a sealing grommet fitted.

If you have a motor mover fitted then wire the -ve output from the controller to the power negative on the mover controller, wire the +ve output controller to the permanently connected cable on the isolator switch. No need to drill into the battery box.