When looking to buy a solar panel for your campervan, you first have to decide what you want to power. What do you use in your campervan that needs power?
It will help to make a list of everything that uses electricity in your campervan and which are the most power-hungry items. For this, you should start with the big energy consumers such as compressor fridges and inverters.
Inverters directly drain the energy out of your campervan battery. These include laptops that you power directly off the battery and any other gadget that you charge up from your battery, such as mobile phones and tablets.
While it is OK to charge up your laptop and other gadgets off your battery for an hour, unplug them and then run them off their own battery once charged. It would be best if you didn’t leave any gadgets plugged in constantly.
Keeping your food fresh
Keeping your compressor fridge running is essential to keep your food cool and at a safe temperature to prevent it from going off. Compressor fridges are a constant drain on your battery power, but not as much as you may think!
Standard campervan fridges are rated at about 40w, so that’s around 3.3A per hour and about 80Ah per 24 hours. This means you will have a dead campervan battery if you leave your fridge on 24/7.
However, this isn’t really how campervan fridges work. They only draw power to cool the refrigerator to the desired temperature but then don’t use much energy to maintain the temperature. So the more you open and close your fridge, the more power it will use to bring it back to the right temperature.
The brilliant thing about using solar panels on your campervan is that once you have arrived at your destination and start using your solar system to top up your battery, your fridge will already be cool and won’t be drawing much power off the battery.
You can also add a rocker switch to your fridge to turn off the power supply overnight while you are sleeping. This means less noise to disturb your sleep, and your fridge won’t be drawing power while your solar panels are not working at night.
Compare the types of solar panels available
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to buying a solar panel for your campervan. There are different types of panels and solar systems you can choose from. Let’s take a look at the choices.
Ridged frame solar panels
Rigid frame soar panels are a good choice for caravan and motorhome owners as these vehicles tend to have more roof space available. Ridged frame solar panels have been the leading choice for many years, but as solar technology has moved on, the development of Flexi-panels have risen in popularity.
Ridged frame solar panels have a good reputation for durability, but the durability of both ridged frame and flex panels are now just about the same.
Semi-flexible solar panels
Campervan owners like semi-flexible solar panels because they can be directly bonded to the roof with strong adhesive. You can now get rear-mounted junction box solar panels that are a favourite with pop-top campervan owners.
This discreet option looks neat and is not as prominent and evident as other solar panel choices. There is a reasonable degree of flexibility in these panels that allow you to gently bend the panel to suit the contours of your campervan roof. However, they do have a bend limit so they are not suitable for attaching to very curved surfaces.
Folding (briefcase) solar panels
Many campervan owners don’t want to attach solar panels to their vehicle permanently. This is where choosing a folding briefcase-style solar panel is a good choice.
You can stand these types of panels in direct sunlight and keep your campervan parked in the shade on hot days. You can quickly turn the panels towards the sun throughout the day, and they are straightforward to connect to your campervan battery.
Choosing the right size solar panel system
Once you have decided on the type of solar panel to go with, you will need to choose the right panel size to provide enough power to meet your needs.
So, how big should you go? If you run a compressor fridge and an inverter, choose a 120w or above. If you have the available space on our roof, choose a 150W panel. You can get away with a 100W panel if you turn your fridge off at night and drive your campervan every day.
A 60W solar panel is helpful for keeping your starter battery topped up when your campervan is parked up at home and not in use. However, don’t even think about using those tiny dash-mounted solar panels, as they will do absolutely zero for your campervan batteries.
Another item that you should get alongside your solar panel is a controller. You can choose from cheap PWM controllers for basic functions to more expensive MPPT controllers.
Best solar panels reviews
CG Camper Gold 100 watt solar complete system
This complete solar panel system for your campervan includes everything you need, so you don’t have to buy all the components separately.
The system includes a solar panel to generate electricity, connective wiring to enable the transfer of captured electricity to your leisure battery, and the charge controller to regulate the incoming voltage coming from your solar panel.
This package includes the necessary fixtures and fittings to attach the solar panel to your campervan roof securely.
ECO-WORTHY L02M100N-CBWZ-1, 100W Solar Panel Kit
If you are looking for a sturdy and reliable stand-alone solar panel system for your campervan, then this is a good choice. The kit includes a 100W solar panel that works well even on cloudy days.
The solar panel is covered in tempered glass that withstands hail, snow and ice. The frame is made from strong anodizes aluminium that delivers excellent stability. The kit includes a solar charge controller, cabling and bracket mounting kit – everything you need in one kit!
DOKIO 100W 12V Foldable Solar Panel Kit
This is a foldable (briefcase) style solar panel kit for your campervan. This is an excellent choice for those who don’t want to fix permanent solar panels to their caravan or campervan.
This stand-alone, foldable style solar panel kit includes the solar panel, solar controller, and all the electrical cabling, adaptors and connectors your need to attach to your leisure battery.
Monocrystalline solar panels use advanced technology where the solar cells are made from a single crystal of silicon. This means that these panels are a little more efficient than panels made from polycrystalline.
Conclusion
When choosing the size of solar panel to buy for your campervan, the most important factor is what you intend to power in your van. Note down everything that uses electricity, including lights, fridges, television, laptops, tablets, mobile phone charging.
Don’t forget to include all those gadgets that make our life a little easier that you may want to pack into your campervan. For example, a small microwave, food blender, and vacuum cleaner.
You also need to consider what type of camping you do and how it affects your battery use. If you plan to drive to a static pitch and stay there for several days, then a larger solar panel will be handy here to keep your battery topped up and your fridge, TV and gadgets well powered.
If you are the type of campervan owner that likes to drive around from place to place a lot and change camping sites daily, then your battery will be being charged by the alternator. You won’t need to calculate a net required charge from your solar panels to power everything alone for days on end.