This is where portable solar panels for caravans, campervans, and camp trailers come into play. Its all well and good to have a portable generator, but I like to get back to nature for the peace and quiet, not to hear the noise of a loud petrol generator.<\/p>\n
What options are there for portable solar panels for caravans, campervans, and camp trailers?<\/h2>\n
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Depending on your electricity needs you may only need 1 or 2 folding 120w solar panels. These are very popular with the boating and camping community. They are able to pump out around 700 watts plus a day into a deep cycle battery. This means you are covered for basic needs like camp fridges and LED lighting.<\/p>\n
So the question now arises what type of portable solar panels do you require?<\/em><\/p>\n Ultra-Thin and light 110W 18V 12V RV Solar Panel<\/a> SunPower Cells.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n All three of these are rated at 100 watts or more per hour, depending on the quality and angle of sunlight. What it comes down to are your needs and storage options. My pick is the Eco-Worthy 120w folding solar panel due to its low cost and high power output.<\/p>\n It\u2019s safe to estimate that a 120W\u00a0folding solar panel can supply between 6 and 7.5 Amps on a sunny day. For most of the day (with an average of 8 sunlight hours in a day) providing you continuously move the panel to follow the sun.<\/p>\n Calculating your equipment\u2019s power usage is key to creating a solar power system that works for you. Power = VxA<\/p>\n Where V= Voltage and A = Amps<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So if we say that a 120w solar panel can produce about 12voltsx7amps = 670 watts for a 7 hour day on average depending on where you like and how sunny it is. Winter and Summer will also play a part in your calculations as summer get more sun than winter.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s my camping setup: I have a small\u00a0Whynter FM-45G 45-Quart Portable Refrigerator\/Freezer\u00a0shown below that draws around 5 amps peak,\u00a0<\/span>and some LED camping lights that draw 0.25amps each.<\/p>\n Remember everything has to be portable to be able to fit in our camping trailers. That’s why I love the high power folding solar panels.<\/p>\n My 120W folding solar panel kit coupled with a 100 amp deep cycle battery and the solar regulator charge controller covers my needs and then some. More information on the charge controller is further down in the article.<\/p>\n To find out what power draw you have with all of your equipment, check out\u00a0Redarc’s Solar Calculator<\/a>.<\/p>\n My camping solar setup uses around 422wh according to the solar camping calculator mentioned above. If I use two of these panels I can get up to 844wh of power. Great for when we go away with friends.<\/p>\n Note: This setup works for me, the Whunter FM-45 fridge\/freezer is kept in the shade at all times so to reduce the power consumption. Also if you are in and out of the fridge all day long it will work harder causing a bigger power draw. I also have a small portable solar phone charger for all of our electronic devices. This Anker solar charger can be mounted anywhere and is great to quickly charge up phones and tablets. Being able to fold up means you can take it hiking as well.\u00a0 Check out our full review of this great lightweight portable folding solar panel.<\/a><\/p>\n The trend in campground lighting is to go for tent rope light strips<\/a> to illuminate your campground. These give a much brighter concentrated light that is very user-friendly.<\/p>\n You can wrap these rope light strips around many pull out vehicle awnings and tent poles. As they are IP67 rated means that they are fully waterproof and weather resistant so no problems if it rains. This one shown above I have just purchased, it runs at 24 watts so its amp draw is around 2 amps. As it’s only on for a few hours at night, it won’t be a huge power draw on my solar battery system.<\/p>\n They come with convenient battery clamps and an on-off button switch so you don’t have to go to your battery to turn off the camp lights.<\/p>\n If you are after a simple plug and play RV solar power kit then check out Eco Worthys solar self-install kits<\/a> of various sizes and configurations.<\/p>\n This takes the guesswork out of matching panels with solar battery chargers and sine wave controllers.<\/p>\n The above Eco-worthy solar panels are more of a traditional aluminum frame panel. These are usually cheaper than some of the more exotic storage-friendly solar panels which we will review later in this article.<\/p>\n These solar kits take the guesswork out of finding all the components yourselves, as the solar panels are power matched to the battery charger. This kit also includes a very powerful 1000w pure sine wave inverter. All that is required is a deep cycle battery. I like 100A batteries myself. Lots of power storage.<\/p>\n Let’s look at three of the most common solar panels I see around the campgrounds.<\/p>\n As these solar panels fold up they are perfect to store in your travel trailer or motorhome.<\/p>\n Basically, I need power for a camp fridge freezer, some electronics and some LED light strips at night. To make all this work well I need the following 4 items<\/p>\n Now, this setup looks complicated with wires running all over the place but it is really simple when you break it down to each of the 4 components and what they do. It provides electricity to the charge controller at a variable voltage and current rate. All the way up to 18v, this will fry batteries and 12v electronics so we must first control this voltage.<\/p>\n This small box converts the solar DC electricity into a more battery-friendly charge voltage somewhere around 13.5v but can be higher depending on the quality of the charge controller.<\/p>\n Some 7 and 8 step battery chargers<\/a> will boost the voltage up for a short time to get a rapid fast charge into the battery which also can help with the\u00a0desulphurization process.<\/p>\n These solar charge controllers will also provide some battery monitoring hardware to make sure your battery will stop being charged at the 100% level. We don’t want to continue you charge a battery beyond this point as it will boil off the water in wet cells and destroy the deep cycle battery.<\/p>\n The user manual for the CY1210 – CY4830 can be found here<\/a><\/p>\nThe 3 main types of portable solar generation panels are:<\/h3>\n
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How much power do I need for camping?<\/h2>\n
![\"tent](\"https:\/\/notsealed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/tent-full-solar-panels.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMy Portable Camping Solar Setup<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nRope Lights for camping<\/h3>\n
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Motorhome RV solar power kits<\/h2>\n
ECO-WORTHY 120 Watt 12Volt Monocrystalline Portable Foldable Solar Panel review<\/h2>\n
\nThis 120w folding camping solar panel<\/a> is one of my favorite power generation accessories. Coupled with a 100 amp deep cycle battery, I can have power at my campsite for weeks.<\/p>\n\n
![\"how](\"https:\/\/notsealed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/solar-camp-layout.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSolar Panel:<\/h3>\n
Solar Charge Controller:<\/h3>\n
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