Solar ONLY to charge a Leisure battery

JamesD27

JamesD27

New Member
Hi all,

I have what is essentially considered a day van and am currently looking at a leisure battery (100ah lithium)and how to charge it.

My usage is very low as will only be used to power 4-6 LED spotlights and maybe 2 phones via USB output. I estimate my usage to be 25ah per day tops!

My initial thought was dc to dc, but then I went down a habit hole of thought.

Would it be possible to have a 185w solar panel with mppt controller as the only source of charging the battery?

Given my low use this would i estimate I'd only need 4-6 hours input a day to top up my usage without the need for a good drive to recharge.

Does this seem sensible? Has anyone else gone this route? And am I right in thinking battery, solar panel, mppt controller and online fuse/12v output would be the extent of my shopping list?

I welcome any advice on this any advice on this.

Thank you
 
Yes I do that. Only lights, charging stuff, and diesel heater in mine. I have a foldable 120w solar that I plug in via MPPT under the bonnet. No DC to DC.100Ah lithium battery.

Haven't done a camp which needed the heater yet but did 4 days a couple of months ago, 2 of us, didn't even bother hooking up the solar in that time as our consumption was pretty minimal.
 
StratosFearXX said:
Yes I do that. Only lights, charging stuff, and diesel heater in mine. I have a foldable 120w solar that I plug in via MPPT under the bonnet. No DC to DC.100Ah lithium battery.

Haven't done a camp which needed the heater yet but did 4 days a couple of months ago, 2 of us, didn't even bother hooking up the solar in that time as our consumption was pretty minimal.
Click to expand...
Do you mind me asking what mppt controller you use and how the foldable panel connects?

Thank you.
 
Yes 😁

It's a Victron BlueSolar MPPT 75V/15A and I've got grey Anderson plugs on panel and mppt input, then red Anderson plugs to go to battery. Red and grey can't plug into each other so I can't get the connections wrong.

Wire to battery (under passenger seat) goes through the grommet in the plenum chamber then under the rubber floor to passenger seat base.

I do need to mount the MPPT somewhere in the engine bay so it's permanently connected to the battery, haven't done that yet.

Can also charge starter battery from the solar if necessary.
 
I've got this exact setup - 200W panel installed with the pop top then a basic charge controller to a 110Ah LiFePo battery.
Powered LED strip lights built into the kitchen, charged phones etc, and a basic 12v coolbox for 2 weeks in France no problem.

Obviously the French summer sun was doing a lot of work but without the coolbox running you'll have no issues at all.
 
Don’t underestimate just how variable solar is by season. In the summer it’ll likely be fine but if you want to use it in winter be careful as the solar yield really falls off a cliff.

Also, assuming the voltage on your panel isn’t too high then you can get a combined DC-DC and MPPT unit so the additional cost of the DC-DC isn’t actually very high.
 
Just to add to this. I have two Renogy 100ah Litium batteries, a 300 watt panel on the roof and victron Mppt controller and also a renogy 2kw inverter. During the summer when camping I can run the fridge, TV, lights, wifes hairdryer etc indefinitely.....batteries are fully charged by midday next day after the nights usage and never drops below 80% on both batteries.
 
t0mb0 said:
Don’t underestimate just how variable solar is by season. In the summer it’ll likely be fine but if you want to use it in winter be careful as the solar yield really falls off a cliff.

Also, assuming the voltage on your panel isn’t too high then you can get a combined DC-DC and MPPT unit so the additional cost of the DC-DC isn’t actually very high.
Click to expand...
Spot on t0mb0.......winter months is sooooo different for how much power is generated, but if driving and with a reasonable split charger you'll get charge when your driving too.
 
JamesD27 said:
Hi all,

I have what is essentially considered a day van and am currently looking at a leisure battery (100ah lithium)and how to charge it.

My usage is very low as will only be used to power 4-6 LED spotlights and maybe 2 phones via USB output. I estimate my usage to be 25ah per day tops!

My initial thought was dc to dc, but then I went down a habit hole of thought.

Would it be possible to have a 185w solar panel with mppt controller as the only source of charging the battery?

Given my low use this would i estimate I'd only need 4-6 hours input a day to top up my usage without the need for a good drive to recharge.

Does this seem sensible? Has anyone else gone this route? And am I right in thinking battery, solar panel, mppt controller and online fuse/12v output would be the extent of my shopping list?

I welcome any advice on this any advice on this.

Thank you
Click to expand...
Depends on how long you intend to sit up without the engine being started

My own experience, wide camping 105a lithium , DC2DC charger , no solar, running fridge, Webasto heater occasionally, lights, usb and still have 83-86% left in the morning , I won’t be fitting a solar panel , if I need more I will up the battery capacity

However we have been installing more solar this year along with lithium than ever before
 
Hi, Newbie here 👋and total novice to campervans. We have just purchased a T6 camper which has solar panels in the roof. I dont know if this is possible to swich how I charge the leisure battery. I am told that there is a split charging system in the van, so this charges as im driving? I wanted to know if I could switch the charging to solar so its getting a bit of charge on a daily basis whilst its sitting on the drive. Hope this makes sense. Thanks
 
jaywil4 said:
Hi, Newbie here 👋and total novice to campervans. We have just purchased a T6 camper which has solar panels in the roof. I dont know if this is possible to swich how I charge the leisure battery. I am told that there is a split charging system in the van, so this charges as im driving? I wanted to know if I could switch the charging to solar so its getting a bit of charge on a daily basis whilst its sitting on the drive. Hope this makes sense. Thanks
Click to expand...
Post pictures of the electrical kit in your lovely new van and we may be able to work it out.
 
jaywil4 said:
Hi, Newbie here 👋and total novice to campervans. We have just purchased a T6 camper which has solar panels in the roof. I dont know if this is possible to swich how I charge the leisure battery. I am told that there is a split charging system in the van, so this charges as im driving? I wanted to know if I could switch the charging to solar so its getting a bit of charge on a daily basis whilst its sitting on the drive. Hope this makes sense. Thanks
Click to expand...
Welcome!

Your solar will always charge when it can - the MPPT will look after this.
The split charging will charge when the engine is on - you'll sometimes notice at festivals, van engines running. They'll probably be putting a bit more juice in the battery.

I use a battery monitor like this to not only see the battery fullness but also I can see when its charging. Others available.
 
StratosFearXX said:
Post pictures of the electrical kit in your lovely new van and we may be able to work it out.
Click to expand...
Hi, Thanks for the reply. Whilst I have been busy googling the hell out of it my Mrs, the brains of the operation, rang the company that originally completed the conversion and they have sent us loads of stuff through which has been a god send. So we have it all sorted now. Really appreciate the offer of the help tho 👍
 
monkeybusiness said:
Welcome!

Your solar will always charge when it can - the MPPT will look after this.
The split charging will charge when the engine is on - you'll sometimes notice at festivals, van engines running. They'll probably be putting a bit more juice in the battery.

I use a battery monitor like this to not only see the battery fullness but also I can see when its charging. Others available.
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for the reply, really appreciate it. Thanks for the conformation !! I will definitely be getting one of those monitors 👍
 
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