In need of more off-grid power

[Desart]

Hi everyone, I hope someone out there can give me some advice on power for my campervan ( I'm only a lay-man so please don't get too technical) I currently have 1x 100ah battery and 1x 100w solar panel. I have enough room on the roof for 2 more panels and enough room for one more battery, what could I set up to get more power? Do I need more panels? do I need another battery? or both? One more thing, I'm from Yorkshire so don't get too expensive cos it'll hurt. Cheers everyone hope you can help.

 

[Jays2]

Why do you need more power?
What do you need to run?
how many days to you usually use your van?
What are your experience's with the set up you have now?

 

[The Wino]

Why do you need more power?
What do you need to run?
how many days to you usually use your van?
What are your experience's with the set up you have now?

Exactly this what you need will depend on what you want to run and for how long off grid and how often you're going to move

 

[Al n Val]

fit as much solar as you possibly can even it it means binning the panel you have now, i’ve got 650W of Solar and 90ah of B2B so manage quite well.

560ah of Lithium so they have to be capable of being charged hence the solar & B2B, it all depends on the amount of power you need, we are heavyish users so I like to know we can cope

 

[The Artilleryman]

Same as we have, but I've changed to a LiFePO4 battery - the 4 year old Banner was caput, - and I reckoned the LIFePO4 would outlast me never mind just my ownership of our MH. Did most of last season off grid with only 1 time running low on power.

I will be adding another 100w solar panel for this year, more for piece of mind than anything.

For a lead/acid leisure battery of 100ah you should not discharge it by more than 50% (you will severely shorten it's life if you do regularly). On the other hand LiFePO4 can be discharged down to 20% safely.

You will need to do some reading on this, I recommend looking in the Electricity, batteries & hook up section.

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[hja]

It depends how much time you want to be without ehu. We had a 90ah battery and 120 w solar and a compressor fridge. We swapped to a 230 ah lithium and new solar controller, which I understand, stores more of the solar more efficiently (or something like that) . That gives us more than enough for 4 days off grid without moving the van. Probably more, but haven’t tested it further.

 

[Al n Val]

Admitted we’re in Spain but the sun is low so getting nowhere near what the solar is capable of but we’ve been away since last August and not hooked up yet

 

[Desart]

Cheers everyone, got the gist of what we need to do so thanks for your replies.

 

[The Wino]

Cheers everyone, got the gist of what we need to do so thanks for your replies.

But have you actually looked at what you're going to use and what you need to cover that use with a bit to spare? It's very easy to think I'll get the maximum solar a battery to battery lots of lithium huge Inverter etc but it's a pretty expensive hobby unless you're actually going to need it! It won't be a problem having excess capacity just expensive!

 

[Blisteringblue]

I posted a thread last year just after we got our van asking if I needed Lithium. Thread replies very similar to yours.

Turns out I really don't need Lithium. I got 160W solar put on the roof and with the existing 90 ah AGM leisure battery it's been more than sufficient.

Managed 4 days happily off grid without remotely getting close to running low. Could have done more.

We just need lights, heat (blowers), water & TV/video etc with no need for an invertor.

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[Conal]

I echo the comments others have made. I recently had work done by James at AJM and the first question he asked when I told him I wanted more “electricity“ was ”what do you want to do with it”.
I could probably fit 500w of solar panels on my roof but, when I explained what wanted he suggested that, rather waste the 100W panel I had, he could add two identical panels on the roof, and with the rest of the kit I was getting, they would do the job.