Solar Power in Motor Homes & Caravans

Calculate your Motor Home Power Usage

To calculate how much power you need in order to operate lights, a fridge and other appliances from solar power whilst you are not driving you will need to answer the following questions:

• What do you want to power?
• How long does the equipment run each day?
• How long do you expect to stop without running the vehicle engine?

The answers to the first two questions, what and how long, will determine how much power is used on a daily basis.

The third question, about the length of the stop is asked to help reduce the cost of the power system because you already have an excellent battery charger under the bonnet.

Read more about solar systems for motor homes.

Retrofit your campervan with extra power

We compiled three solar systems based on the assumption that your vehicle remains stationary for extended periods of time. Displayed prices are in Australian Dollar and include GST. Additional charges will apply for cabling and labour (if needed).

Or, let us know your particular power requirements and we will design an appropriate power system to meet your needs.

85W Solar Panel

By Suntech

10A Regulator

By Sundaya

115Ah Battery

By Trojan

Solar System 1

Let's say you want to operate two 20 Watt (12V) lights for 2½ hours per day, a small 12V LCD TV for 1 hour per day, and a 12V water pump for ½ hour per day.

You would need:

• 1 x Suntech 85W Solar Panel
• 1 x Sundaya Apple 10 Amp Regulator
• 1 x Trojan 115Ah Deep Cycle Battery

Price: $749 (for listed items only)

135W Solar Panel

By Kyocera

20A Regulator

By Plasmatronics

250Ah Batteries

By Trojan

Solar System 2

Let's say you want to operate two 20 Watt (12V) lights for 3 hours per day, a small 12V LCD TV for 4 hour per day, and a 12V water pump for ½ hour per day.

You could buy:

• 2 x Kyocera 135W Solar Panels
• 1 x Plasmatronics 20 Amp Regulator
• 1 x Trojan 250Ah Deep Cycle Batteries (set of 2)

Price: $1,975 (for listed items only)

135W Solar Panel

By Kyocera

40A Regulator

By Victron

250Ah Batteries

By Trojan

Solar System 3

Let's say you want to operate a 115 litre 12V fridge, two 20 Watt (12V) lights for 2½ hours per day, a small 12V LCD TV for 3 hour per day, and a 12V water pump for ½ hour per day.

These components would do the job:

• 3 x Kyocera 135W Solar Panels
• 1 x Victron 40 Amp Regulator
• 2 x Trojan 250Ah Deep Cycle Batteries (set of 2)

Price: $3,175 (for listed items only)

A large range of products are available to suit the mobile home. Our product range does not stop at solar panels and batteries - we also have energy efficient lights and (low voltage) appliances.

Some examples of DC appliances include:

• extractor fans & oscillating fans
• hair dryers
• fridges & freezers
• pressure pumps
• battery chargers
• voltage reducers
• DC plugs & sockets

For more information on our range of products, you can purchase our book 'Energy From Nature'.

Batteries

It is recommended to have a second battery in the vehicle for the purpose of providing power whilst stationary and without the engine running. This should be a deep cycle battery significantly larger than the average car battery and set up in such a way that both it and the car battery will charge when the engine is running but are isolated when the engine is turned off. This is to ensure that you don't discharge the car battery and then be unable to start your vehicle engine.

Lights

Did you know that we carry an extensive range of DC lighting, including automotive lamp holders and light bulbs (using identical or similar light bulbs to those used for car indicator lights and parking lights), halogen and dichroic lights (often used as down lights in standard households) as well as a range of standard fluorescent and compact fluorescent lights designed to be powered by either 12 or 24 volt. We also sell complete lighting kits.

The A-Light is the best price/performance ratio lamp in the industry.

Fridges

If you have a three way or gas/electric fridge you will need to operate it from a gas bottle when the vehicle is stationary as this type of fridge consumes too much electricity to operate with solar panels. The other choices are either a 12V/24V DC fridge connected directly to the battery supply or a 240V AC fridge operating from an inverter. Over the past few years 240V AC fridges have steadily been getting more energy efficient to the point where the energy consumption of an efficient AC fridge is very similar to the energy consumption of an energy efficient DC fridge. The AC fridge will also be cheaper although you will need an inverter of 700W (continuous) or greater just for the fridge. The inverter energy consumption also needs to be added to the 240V fridge energy consumption in order to get a fair energy consumption comparison. A chest fridge with more insulation will be more energy efficient than an equivalent upright fridge, but it will also take up more floor space.

Read more about fridges for motor homes.

Programmable Timer

Power consumption can be further reduced with the use of a DC programmable digital timer or a DC motion detector. If you run a fridge from solar power, the system will be more efficient if the fridge only operates during hours of sunshine rather than operating entirely from battery storage during the night. Having the DC fridge plugged into a programmable DC timer set to turn on only during the day will hence reduce the demand on the battery bank and use less power overall.