Solar Panel Question

[Maine]

I'm looking to add a solar panel to keep my auxiliary battery's charged. Is there a reason to pick a fixed panel over a movable one?
Maine

[joetiger]

Pro of fixed: Always topping off your batteries, no need to deploy.
Con of fixed: Need to park in the sun and in the right direction for it to work well.

Pro of movable: Can place in sun when parked in shade.
Con of movable: Not always deployed, not always topping off batteries.

Solution: Fixed on roof and second movable for camping in shade.
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Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

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[vwhammer]

Why not make a quick release mount for the roof.
It can be always deployed and when you get to camp you park in the shade, remove the panel from the roof and set it in the sun.

That is my plan.

[joetiger]

[E1]

I suspect over our six years on the road I have used solar waaaay over 1,000 days.

We charge both our starter battery, and a single, 210aH AGM, with the alternator and would never consider not doing that. I'd estimate in total we've idled the van *maybe* 20 times, an hour at a time, when desperate for power to work on bad days, and that gets us approximately 0.4 volts after an hour's idle. A factor here is we are West about 90% of the time, in mostly clear skies.

We almost bought a 160-watt roof panel last winter to supplement our 120-watt, 2013-version Zamp portable. The installer screwed up the roof install, meaning our van body; so we left without the panel, and after working eight months since and idling maybe five hours in dire weather, I am now glad they screwed up for not having anything on the roof.

I am no expert but do know how and what has worked in real life. The only times I can foresee needing a permanent panel is:
-- If never idling the van
-- If spending far more time under marginal skies -- though honestly, in such skies solar charges poorly anyway, so no amount of watts is enough, meaning we'd idle anyway
-- If living in Nirvana where sun does not mean heat

All to say, I believe with a lot of experience that permanent panels are an absolute waste of money unless you never move camp to charge and refuse to idle from time to time. I also do not like the "expensive equipment on board" effect of any roof panel short of maybe a flex panel you can't see from the ground. We've considered housing our foldable in the luggage rack, but the two panels act as one and my understanding is having half the panel shaded means generating maybe 10-20% of the power it does when open.

I also know that moving a portable in and out of the luggage rack every day is bound to lead to a slipping accident eventually. It can happen (and we're careful, and mountaineers).

Rational or not, I also don't want my van in charge mode unless I'm in it and aware of my system. Connections can fail, batteries can fail, controllers can fail. I also don't want an expensive panel getting sun, temp, and weather-hammered every single second of its already-abused life.

We've talked lately that if we run consistently short of power this winter in the Deep South, we may buy a small, foldable, pouch-style portable of around 100 watts as a secondary source. Not pointing any panel at the sun is also a poor and silly use of this Tech.
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‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[Corwyn]

Pro for fixed: stealth camping
Con for fixed: cleaning
_________________
'90 White Westy ("The Longship")
FAS Gen V 2.0
The Annual Baja Rally
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"If anything's" gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there"
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[bjrogers86auto]

I have a 100w fixed and a 40w movable. It's charging a 210ah battery and mostly only running a 65 litre fridge. It's our first summer with the set up and so far it's working great!

The system is also tied into the van battery with an ACR.

Brian
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86 Vanagon GL Westfalia 2.1
18 Nissan Frontier Pro 4X
19 Honda Civic Hatchback

A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day. Calvin and Hobbes.

[jimf909]

[candyman]

[bobhill8]

Hey, My 2 cents. I've had my van for 2 years and the PO had put a fixed panel on the roof on top of Thule bars. It has been great for topping off the battery, but then again, most vehicles in the world don't need solar power to top off their batteries. I am using my van for a few days at a time, not driving across Namibia, so it feels like a little overkill. The issue I have is that the panel is big and takes up a bunch of roof space. I recently tried to put a canoe on, and it wouldn't fit without resting on the panel. This could all be fixed, of course, but I think a portable panel would do the job for most situations. Good luck.

[macjack]

This depends on so much, including:
-Weather where you are and particularly how much sun
-are you fulltiming in the van, vs occasional use
-what loads are you putting on the batteries
-how much storage in your batteries
-where do you park, covered garage vs outside in the sun

For me, I'm not fulltiming, so mostly need the charge for trips where I am parking off the grid, but also I like to keep my truckfridge running when I am not driving the van. I live in Colorado so get lots of sun, and park my van outside. I have a rather small house battery.
So I like to leave a panel connected in the luggage rack, but can pull it down in 3 minutes and put it in the sun or angle it to follow the sun, etc. I don't like to have a big obvious panel up there, so I use a low profile flexible panel with a low profile mounting system. I epoxied threaded posts to the luggage rack that the panel slides over, and the nuts come off easily with a ratchet, but not with bare hands. So the security of the panel deters the most casual would-be thief.
Some of these issues, and many installs, including mine, are covered in this thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=295946&start=320
Consider your needs and priorities, and it will tell you about the tradeoffs that are right for you.
_________________
87 TDI Syncro Westy
81 Westy (sold)
80 Rabbit Wolfsburg (rolled)
Bike as primary transportation

[Maine]

Make and model recommendations for portable units?

[Irishcalifornian]

[owokie]

[PDXWesty]

Definitely go with these guys: https://www.renogy.com/products/solar-panels/folding-solar-suitcases/

Good products, good pricing.

I got something similar a few years ago. I only need solar when I'm off grid for a few days. I haven't yet needed one mounted on the van. Besides, it's nice to park in the shade when camping.

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89 Westy 2.1 Auto

[shagginwagon83]

I have 200w rooftop and 130w portable (Humless). I love both equally. Most times you're parked in the shade and have the portable jammin with a long extension.
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Brandon
"Jo Ann" - '83.5 Westfalia EJ22e w/Peloquin
Instagram @joannthevan

[Marshj]

I spent several months deducting benefits of each; what I concluded for the follow needs:

1. Charge two MacBooks during daytime use, we use our van as a remote office on weekdays

2. Charge devices and other portable battery packs for LED lights, headlamp, etc

3. I do not need a fridge as we eat fresh mostly or eat out / PB&J

4. Eventually I want a portable USB fan setup like a roof vent fan for air circulation while sleeping. I want to use USB Portable chargers to save from hard wiring

I chose;

1. Panel - 100w Flexible Solar panel, I will have to look up the brand. not mounted and store it under the back mattress. If I am out of the van I use it as a window sun shield, fit is perfect and use the sun visors to hold it in place. I was getting 60w like this on an MTB trip yesterday. And keeping the van cool and no theft fears while charging and away.

2. I wanted portable power and if spending the money on a permanent battery would be tied to working in the van. I decided to invest in a Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC. Got it on sale for $220 and includes built in charge controller, AC invertor and plug and 97 Watt hours juice. Enough for 1.5 full MacBook Pro charges. USB-C 60w ports for new macs w no ac convert needed.

My theory was portable power, enough for a single day of 8-10 hours working needs. Good sun and the panel, we get exactly this. It does pass through charging and I charge the other packs and battery items to max. It works well in this capacity, only drawback was this weekend we had 4 guys living out of the van for 3 days off grid. Power needs were high and the battery was a bit too small for the needs of all 4 of us.

I have a 30w USB C charger for the pack, and we pass through charged our devices any time we drove. This ended up working but everything was between 25-40% all weekend. Nothing got full charges but nothing was also dead. Just took some juggling and planning of devices. For this once a year change in plans I am happy with my sub $350 setup. Which for its capacity and portability hits my needs.

Other tips;

Goal Zero sells a $15 MC4 connector to 8mm so you can use any amazon panel with their batteries. It’s not online but all their service team and say you already have solar on your roof and want to get a battery of theirs for van use. They’ll sell it.

I wanted a portable panel so I didn’t need to park in the sun while working. AWG cords are expensive. I put the Goal Zero by the panel in the sun and run a regular orange extension cord from my toolbox to my laptop instead of buying a $30 30’ single purpose solar cord as I try to keep everything multipurpose in the van.

Goal Zero does a Memorial Day sale in partnership with REI every year. Goal Zero website sells out... REI does not. Buy batteries via them.

Jeff

[Marshj]

In addition to above I bought a USB C 12v cigaret lighter plug charger. It is 30W and was on sale online for $15 and will charge the 100w pack in 2.5 hours or so driving time. Meaning this is my version of a 2nd battery with alternator charge capability.

[Abscate]

Sit down Andre it’s use all your powder needs in watts consumed times hour s Used , over one week schedule.

If you don’t know how to do that, stop. Educate.

For purposes of real world living, a 100 watt solar panel will deliver 25 watts usable charge capacity.

If you don’t camp for longer than a week, 99% of the time an auxiliary power pack is a better, faster, cheaper, and safer solution than solar.
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.ssS!

[kourt]

I'm on my third generation of solar/aux battery in my van.

1st generation was a Renogy 100 watt panel with Sagutsune cabinet hinges mounted on the roof:

The battery was three 65AH batteries in parallel, sealed lead acid.

That setup was nice, but not enough wattage of solar, and three batteries are just hard to diagnose when problem occur. I never actually removed the panel from the roof and placed it in the sun while parking in the shade.

2nd generation was two 120 watt flex film solar panels on the roof, and a 200AH SLA battery:

This solar setup is great--low profile, low wind noise, low weight. The battery was still junk--not able to tolerate the abuse of hard use. I loved having more solar power.

3rd generation is the same two 120 watt panels (240 watts total) with a 100AH LiFePO4 battery, managed by a Redarc dual-input battery charger that manages solar and alternator inputs properly. The new battery weighs 30 pounds (as opposed to the 120 pounds of the old SLA battery) and totally outperforms the old SLA unit.

This third gen setup is wonderful. I just spent three weeks on the road, with significant time parked in place. The solar panels kept the battery charged. My ham radios always had power to transmit, and my electronics always got charged. In short, I never had power anxiety.

My takeaways from these experiences:

1. having plenty of solar on the roof mitigates any need/desire to use portable panels
2. LiFePO4 batteries truly are worth the expense
3. Regardless of battery type, a device (in this case, the Redarc) to manage current/voltage from alternators and solar panels will dramatically improve the lifespan of your battery.

kourt