Solar anyone????????

[Buffettphan]

I am thinking i need a little Solar Power on our Lance 1010. I now have to keep the camper in a yard with no shore power and find the battery goes dead fast. I dont really need much, just enough to keep us powered in the off chance we need to boondock for a night.
The 1010 only has one battery and charges from the truck while traveling.
How big a panel and wattage would/should i go? I know nothing of this so its all knew to me.

Thanks for the help. I like to keep it simple.

[sabconsulting]

This was a big benefit I found of adding solar - meaning I no longer had to worry about looking after the battery when the camper was unused - the solar would do it for me.

Consider whether you just want a small panel that you plug in while parked or something permanently fixed. A small panel may keep your battery trickle charged, but I suspect it won't do as good a job as a proper charge controller you get with a reasonable size panel (e.g. 80w). The latter charge controllers tend to work in multiple stages and will actively charge the battery when it is low, then maintain it carefully once charged.

If decide to permanently install solar on your camper roof then you might as well do it properly and get at least 80w - i.e. something that will do more than just trickle charge the battery, since whether you install 80w or 20w you will still need to fix it to the roof, run cables down through the camper and wire them up - i.e. the effort is pretty much the same for either, so makes sense to spend a bit more for the same installation effort and get a more useful solar set-up.

Check the truck camper university sticky thread - lots of info there from various people who installed solar.

Steve.

[Bedlam]

1. You should have a battery disconnect switch to remove parasitic loads and prevent the battery from discharging.

2. A simple 10W panel connected directly to your battery will keep it at full capacity without overcharging it. It will not bring a weak battery back up to full, but it will maintain it.

[Johnny_G1]

I have 1 80 watt panel on my Bigfoot for 2 Blue Top gel batteries with a SS10 controller, more than enough power to keep them charge up.