100w to 140w solar (1 Viewer)

[Twoleftfeet]

Am I wasting my money?, as I was thinking of changing the 100w factory installed solar panels to 140w, van has a 100w lead acid battery, will there be much of an advantage?

 

[tonka]

If it was my money i would invest in a second battery first. That doubles your capacity straight away.
Also consider how old the battery is, if it's been on a while it may make more sense to fit a couple of new batteries, so they are matched.
The extra 40w in size is going to do very little.

Then fit larger solar later and also if you have a standard PWM solar regulator then upgrade to an MPPT type.

 

[Lenny HB]

About 40%
If you only have one 100ah battery and two 100 watt panels (I assume two as you said panels) I wouldn't bother. But if you add more batteries then it would be worth doing.

 

[Derbyshire wanderer]

It will recharge your battery quicker and give better performance like for like on shorter days in spring and autumn but adding a second battery would be easier and cheaper with better results.
More battery is increasing the size of the fuel tank, more solar is is a faster fill up but unlike the engine the higher battery use is almost always when there is no solar.

 

[Emmit]

Obviously there would be an advantage to potentially increase your solar by 40% but before anyone could give you a comprehensive answer, perhaps you could tell us what your usage/storage is.

For instance, do you go 'off piste' (no EHU) regularly. Does your vehicle have the capacity to put an extra solar panel on the roof? Do you have space for another battery? How old is your battery?
Over to you.

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[suavecarve]

The other question is why not add the 140 solar to the 100 that exists and have 240 of watts of solar or 140% increase ?

 

[Twoleftfeet]

The battery is 5 months old, plenty of room on the roof for another panel, No room in the battery compartment for another battery, Many trips are 3 days off grid and can't use a lot of stuff, ie TV as limited battery life, who would you recommend to carry out the work in East Anglia region?

 

[tonka]

The battery is 5 months old, plenty of room on the roof for another panel, No room in the battery compartment for another battery, Many trips are 3 days off grid and can't use a lot of stuff, ie TV as limited battery life, who would you recommend to carry out the work in East Anglia region?

Your battery is still the biggest issue... You have 100amp from what you say but with lead acid you can / should only use 50% so in reality you have 50amps to use.. You could load the roof with solar but get a few poor days and it could put very little back in so still left with 50amps or less.
Adding more panels will increase topping up the battery (subject to weather) but you still have a max of 50 amps.

Lithium is another option but that then gets a bit more complicated regarding charging etc, best read up on that.

 

[Lenny HB]

Nothing to stop you fitting another battery elsewhere. As long as both batteries are fused and the correct size cable is used.

 

[Just smiffy]

There’s always room somewhere for another battery, you’ll just have to chuck those six bottles of wine in that cupboard…

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