[P @ F]

Been looking around and i see that it has been tried and is thought of as a waste of time , i see that Mark munroe had a go with limited success , anybody know why this was , i saw his youtubes but he never explained why it did not work .
Yet Nathan Kaye seems to be doing a whole lot better with less equipment .
If anybody can shed any light on this please do .

Rich   

[Og]

Calculate how many amp hours you use in a day. (Watt of pump over voltage). X time in hours.

Then take the power rate of the panel w and multiply that by the average sun hours, taking into account angle of the panel and shading etc. Divide this by the potential difference and you'll have a reading in current. If this exceeds consumption it's a goer.
Allow for heat loss and inefficiency too.

Can't see why not.

[P @ F]

Yes , i am aware of all that needs to be taken into consideration , its a lot to work out , mono, poly , mppt , pwm , peak sun , GHI , the list goes on and on and on 

But im just seeing what was the problem for others that had tried , before i do the same maybe 

[Og]

Chuck one on the roof and have a go! Remember to disconnect on a hot weekend to avoid over charging.
Good luck!

[P @ F]

Chuck one on the roof and have a go! Remember to disconnect on a hot weekend to avoid over charging.
Good luck!

If only it was that simple Og !
From what i have seen , others are using small panels 40W max looking at them , i reckon for it to be totally automated with no need to ever bench charge then 150/200W would be the minimum size , and even then it might be touch and go .

[Og]

Wouldn't bother with anything under 200w. On a sunny day that'll really chuck the power in.

Try http://www.bimblesolar.com/

[P @ F]

Wouldn't bother with anything under 200w. On a sunny day that'll really chuck the power in.

Try http://www.bimblesolar.com/

I have not looked at the link yet , i dont get what you say above , can you re phrase .

[nathankaye]

Yep i didnt look too much into all the info into solar charging, haha found the more I read the more confusing it became and then hiw it doesnt work in the uk and bla bla bla.......so i decided to just get one and try. The flow of electricity is one way, so it isnt draining any power from my battery.
Then I simply rely on digi reading the battery voltage rather than using any smart boxes for solar panels. Then I check to me the main point, that (i think im right in this) if the battery is charging more than 14.5v it will kill off the battery more than helping it. So a simple disconnect of the wire sorts that and when the voltage start to drop to 12.7  // 12.8  i reconnect it.
Simples.
But of the one battery i only run the sureflow pump. I have a small 12v battery for my electric reel, which sometimes i will connect my smaller panel too if required.

[P @ F]

Yep i didnt look too much into all the info into solar charging, haha found the more I read the more confusing it became and then hiw it doesnt work in the uk and bla bla bla.......so i decided to just get one and try. The flow of electricity is one way, so it isnt draining any power from my battery.
Then I simply rely on digi reading the battery voltage rather than using any smart boxes for solar panels. Then I check to me the main point, that (i think im right in this) if the battery is charging more than 14.5v it will kill off the battery more than helping it. So a simple disconnect of the wire sorts that and when the voltage start to drop to 12.7  // 12.8  i reconnect it.
Simples.
But of the one battery i only run the sureflow pump. I have a small 12v battery for my electric reel, which sometimes i will connect my smaller panel too if required.

I see what you say about disconecting , it is the simpler option , but you would need to be on the ball all the time , i want to connect the panel, battery and load and leave in the van and never worry about charge state or more so putting it on the bench , the trouble comes with the peak sun index , its constantly changing day to day , im told that some days we can get as little as 1 hour of solar usable sun here in the uk , hence the need for charge controllers and what would seem overkill on panel size , truth is during the winter you need it to compensate for lack of sun .

[P @ F]

And i have also just seen in what you wrote that "The power is only one way" , this is not true as the minute that your battery hits a lower power level than the panel is supplying it will start to back charge , sending power from the battery to the panel .
This is where the controllers come into play , they also give multiple options to look at real battery state if you spend a bit more on them than the ebay led jobbies .   

[Spruce]

Mark Munro got a panel to try out solar charging. He bought a cheap pwm controller. It was heading into winter and he wanted to use a battery driven frost tube heater off an inverter. The idea was to drain the battery during the night and recharge it during the day with the solar panel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MczpSkwTsBw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVPx9C9srh4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBETHJCPhiY

I contacted him to find out when the results video was out. He told me it didn't work and was a waste of time. He would probably have been better off using a quality MPPT controller and that would have converted his extra voltage into amps, whereas the cheap PWM controller disguards it.

[nathankaye]

And i have also just seen in what you wrote that "The power is only one way" , this is not true as the minute that your battery hits a lower power level than the panel is supplying it will start to back charge , sending power from the battery to the panel .
This is where the controllers come into play , they also give multiple options to look at real battery state if you spend a bit more on them than the ebay led jobbies .

I didnt pay attention to the name of the piece, but the wiring has reverse current protection.

[P @ F]

Mark Munro got a panel to try out solar charging. He bought a cheap pwm controller. It was heading into winter and he wanted to use a battery driven frost tube heater off an inverter. The idea was to drain the battery during the night and recharge it during the day with the solar panel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBETHJCPhiY

I contacted him to find out when the results video was out. He told me it didn't work and was a waste of time.

It makes sense now , he was trying to power a heater , one of the things other than a fridge or freezer that is a major stumbling block for off grid solar users , it was never going to happen with the size of his battery bank , from what i can make out it was 110 amp , also the solar panel was waaaay too small , also the inverter was too much 1500w , and it should have been a pure  sinewave inverter (big bucks).
I saw a couple living off grid in America , a sunny place too , they had 400w going into half a dozen batteries , they could only run a table top freezer as and when they had ice cream 

[Den68]

I'm been recently thinking using solar combined with my split charge relay as lot of my round is local so I don't do that much mileage would be nice to hear of anyone that uses both for feedback.

[P @ F]

I'm been recently thinking using solar combined with my split charge relay as lot of my round is local so I don't do that much mileage would be nice to hear of anyone that uses both for feedback.

Thats what is stopping me from split charge too , if you are going to run both the first item you will need is an MPPT charge controller not a PWM one , that much i do know !

[Den68]

I know nothing  regards to solar power, but the link below shows a campervan with solar and split charge relay, the solar controller is PWM if you watch the video all the way through he explains the PWM controller shut off when the engine is running and the split charge relay produces enough volts to charge the leisure battery.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=puKw_KM_GFs

[P @ F]

I dont either , but i think the MPPT goes a step beyond and allows both sources to charge at the same time , ok your split charge will work when the PWM shuts down the panel charge , but why make the panels redundant when you dont have to with a MPPT controller you will get best of both worlds .
I may well be wrong , just going off youtube boredom !

[Solar Steve]

I'm been recently thinking using solar combined with my split charge relay as lot of my round is local so I don't do that much mileage would be nice to hear of anyone that uses both for feedback.

We do both on all of our vehicles.

[P @ F]

I'm been recently thinking using solar combined with my split charge relay as lot of my round is local so I don't do that much mileage would be nice to hear of anyone that uses both for feedback.

We do both on all of our vehicles.

Does that mean solar alone is not do able , you would know as you have the contacts  to be in the know surely Steve !
Or is it because you cover large distances that splits do the job milage wise and solar is handy as you may be on a farm for hours on end with no split running ?
Do you use MPPT or PWM ?

[Den68]

I'm been recently thinking using solar combined with my split charge relay as lot of my round is local so I don't do that much mileage would be nice to hear of anyone that uses both for feedback.

We do both on all of our vehicles.

Are your vehicles in the U.K.  Are you using PWM or MPPT controllers do you recommend having solar installed on your vehicles , what size solar panels are you using? sorry for all the questions.  Geniunely interested.