Solar Power for your leisure vehicle-benefit or not?
Having the use of solar power in your leisure vehicle means you can really go off grid, no electric hook-up needed, allowing you to really get away from it all and visit some more remote and peaceful locations.
How can I manage without electric hook-up?
Simple! Install a solar panel.
Are you thinking that the British summer just isn’t going to produce enough sunshine to be be able to make good use of solar power?
Well the average amount of sunshine a UK summer delivers, along with a 150W solar panel will charge your battery at around 105 Ah per day.
So, not such a bad investment.
Making an investment in solar isn’t cheap but savings can be made, not always needing to pay for hook-up, charging your battery whilst the vehicle is in storage can prolong the life of your battery.
Of course, you will have the option of visiting some places you may not have thought about going to without the option of mains electric, stays at these places can often be cheaper.
It is well worth carrying out some research before hand, you could go to the trouble of calculating how many Amp Hours you may use on an average day, but that could be a lot of working out and not always accurate.
Here’s some more helpful information.
| Appliance | Power rating in watts (W) | Current drawn at 12V in amps (A) | Number of hours appliance is on | Amp hours (Ah) required | Energy top-up per day in watt hours (Wh) |
| (Power/12) | (Current x hours) | (Power x hours) | |||
| Living Area Light (each) | 16 | 1.3 | 3 | 3.9 | 48 |
| Halogen downlighter (each) | 10 | 0.8 | 2 | 1.6 | 20 |
| Kitchen Ventilation Fan | 20 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 10 |
| Water Pump | 40 | 3.3 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 8 |
| 14in 12V colour television | 45 | 3.8 | 2 | 7.5 | 90 |
| 12V Radio | 24 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 48 |
| Total | 18.7Ah | 224Wh |
If at any time you would like some more information about solar power, prices and installation at our workshop on Kenfig Estate, Margam, please just call or email.
