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| Solar Power by VeeTech & InovTech |
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Buy with PayPal and be automatically entered into our prize draw to win back what you spend - on purchases of up to £200. (You can split systems)
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Midwinter / Valentines offer until Feb 14th inclusive - FREE CARRIAGE on on-line orders over £100. "We would definitely use motorcaravanning.co.uk again, your customer service is first class" T&AW. Long Page: This long page is in three parts - general 'green power' info at the top, our product range next, and the live shopping further below so do read on or if preferred - Click to go to Products now >>>
Beginners Guide to Solar Power: Out of the great mass of information I've waded through recently there seem to be a few solid and useful guidelines for the less technically inclined ... 1. Don't worry about different cell technologies, the 'mono-crystalline' type are the most common for motorhomers because they give more 'bang for your buck' in most circumstances and so suit most people most of the time. With bigger sales volumes they tend to be competitively priced too. They are also said to be longer lived. But - if you really want polycrystalline we offer those too. 2. Whatever size you think you'll need it may not always seem enough in practice! This is especially true out of season and further north. You can make all sorts of calculations but all have to assume some sort of balance between good and bad weather so in practice you should go for the biggest you can sensibly fit and afford. For general holidaying that will be between 50-100W and probably 80-120W or more in the UK. That said do remember that their fairly modest output is available all the time and the many hours of steady but modest solar charging will usually be adequate for ordinary electrical use. It is also worth remembering that you always benefit from solar to some degree so even if your panel/s aren't big enough to satisfy all your needs they will always extend the time before you have to add some extra charging. Also with our controller you can start with one panel and easily add a second if and when you wish to. 3. A good battery bank is pretty much essential because we use power in bursts and generally more of it in bad weather and less in good weather. As a result you will need at least two leisure batteries to make the best of solar power by storing all that good-weather energy for use when the light deteriorates. 4. Flat panels are the most convenient being 'fit and forget' apart from an occasional wash. On some curved roofs the corner mounts may be preferred to long flat aluminium extrusions. 5. Quite apart from overall capacity, there is some extra advantage in having two panels rather than one. In practice only those with higher power demands will spend the extra on this in which case point six also comes into play. Maybe these high power users will also consider adding wind power for extra versatility as well as extra capacity to both panels and batteries.
6. You can get four or five or more times the normal
output from a panel by making it constantly face the sun. Auto-elevating
and tracking units claim to provide up to 5x the daily charge of flat
mounted panels. They show much greater gains in winter when the panel
elevates to face the low sun. These units can be very expensive, often about
more than the cost of installing substantial twin panels, so
are usually only for the heavier user. NB: Although helpful you can't get this much extra from a
'DIY move it now and then',
7. To complete a kit you need a regulator & wiring and some high-bond Sikaflex sealant and a waterproof cable entry box. Regulators may be fairly simple and cheap one-unit affairs or sophisticated digital units for twin panels, for wet & gel batteries, and for a secondary 'overspill' connection to the starter battery. Our own unit offers all these facilities at an economic price. NB: Don't under-size the wiring it can limit charge rates, we recommend 6mm². Newer premium controllers may offer 'MPPT', these use electronic wizardry that sacrifices a little bright light charge to get more charge in lower light conditions. They are still quite expensive and although technically interesting for winter use do remember that basic charge rates are very low at that time of year so that impressive sounding 20-30% gain is on very little charge and so still amounts to very little charge - as ever miracles are still in short supply! Unsurprisingly not a very popular item. 8. Do try to balance your solar capacity with suitable leisure batteries, preferably 2x80/110Ahr leisure batteries with an 80/100W panel e.g. and maybe 3 or 4 batteries with twin 120W panels. Watch your payload though because four x 120Ahr might weigh 150Kgs or more! You can of course add solar to a single 75Ahr battery - you just won't see as much benefit. 120Ahrs is probably a sensible minimum for many people. 9. Comparison with wind power is inevitable. Wind generators have quite high output when the wind is blowing, but generally have to be set up and then stored away for each use. Some can be both heavy to manipulate and quite noisy in use, sometimes irritatingly so for both you and your neighbours. Combining Solar with a lightweight reputable wind turbine like the Rutland 504 can be a very versatile solution for those determined to be fully 'off grid' at all times. 10. Fuel Cells & Generators are both worth considering. Their relatively high output and full independence from the vagaries of the weather are the main attractions. Generators are notoriously noisy (even so-called silent ones!) but are very good at providing bursts of quite high powered mains electricity. Unfortunately they are relatively poor choices for charging batteries because a genny provides more power than can be readily absorbed by most lead-acid batteries, the waste being given off as noise, heat, and pollution. Another downside is that leisure batteries often have shorter lives if maintained by short bursts on the genny. The self-energy lpg generator is a good if expensive solution for many especially if you have refillable lpg tanks or our Gaslow refillable bottles. Fuel cells are much greener and very quiet albeit much more expensive, our Efoy Cells run on a very pure methanol so there is a cost and storage issue there too. For all gennies you must buy and manage fuel to gain that independence - do compare that to completely free solar and wind power. Please do for help and advice - it's this customer service that sets us apart! See also: Leisure Batteries page! : Wiring - Cable page! : Efoy Fuel Cells! : LEDs - use less electricity! B. Products.
New: 100W Slimline Veetech panel for crowded roofs just 410mm wide x 1600mm long
Veetech MOSFET Regulator: The new RE-CSE0240 regulator will control one or two solar panels totalling 240W. This new device uses the latest technology to ensure maximum efficiency, the mechanical part has been replaced by a MOSFET controlled by a microprocessor. Due to its intelligent software this regulator only uses 0.05 Amp of power to operate. A series of LEDs indicates the system status: charge, end of charge (battery ok), fuse failure alarm (fuse), alarm connection (rev. polarity). Once it reaches the maximum voltage it signals the function led 'battery ok' after one hour for an Acid battery and after 4 hours for a Gel battery. Includes a starter battery overspill circuit as on the Powermaster above. Buy Below >>>
New: Complete Kits: We're now offering a complete kit based on the very popular 90W panel. This includes everything you need to mount and seal your panel on quality alloy extrusions and to take its output into the 'van and regulate it. You might just need additional connectors, fuses, clips etc to connect to your battery or other input, this will vary from vehicle to vehicle. Upgrades to the latest hi-tech mosfet regulator technology is also possible. Other kit configurations could be provided so if interested please for help and/or a quote. We have the previous 80W panel and a Powermaster installed on our own 'van and I have to say it works superbly well. If installing today I'd have the 90W, or the slim 100W, and the mofset regulator. Wiring Note: We recommend the use of 6mm² cable - this is big enough to ensure very low loss even when charge rates are low but the cable is still just small enough to be able to use standard yellow crimp connectors and it also suits our cable entry box. You can of course go up in size further still but then you'll have to use solder terminals. Going down in size may mean lower charge rates in lower light conditions so not so good. We think 3mm is too small but in practice the more readily available 4.5mm² may be fine for some people. If needed you can bind tape around it to give extra sealing through cable boxes if required. Our own choice was 6mm² and we can highly recommend that, our cable entry box listed below is suitable for that size too. Please do for help and advice - it's this customer service that sets us apart! You may also be interested in ... See - our Leisure Batteries page! See - our Wiring - Cable - Fuses page! Click links to view.
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Buy now on our secure server - with UK & Ireland credit cards only. All prices include VAT. OK I want to buy but what do I have to do and what can I expect? - What Next? VAT? Carriage? Is it still safe to buy from you during the current crisis? Yes it certainly is, we are well placed as a low overhead business and will still be here to serve you this year and next with great but not stupid prices! Two ways to pay - using a PayPal account login or direct from your credit or debit card on-line or by phone. If you don't get on with PayPal you can also ring with your credit card details on 01789-778825. Click on Add to Basket to add items to your shopping cart / basket. PgDn for View basket. You can delete items in your shopping basket later so you can 'add' just to reserve a choice of items. Secure? - Yes, clicking on an Add to Basket button takes you to a certificated secure shopping page.
We believe these are great deals but if you know of better
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email us with the detail and we'll try to better!
All these are normally stock items but their popularity does mean that we run out very occasionally so do remember to buy early for that special trip! |
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DISCLAIMER BROWSERS SEARCH LINKS SITEMAP CONTACT FEEDBACK PRIVACY HOME |
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© All material copyright Motorcaravanning.co.uk and/or Neill & Dilys King 1999 - 2011 unless otherwise stated. |
2011 |
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A.
Independent Power - Which one? A frequent and tricky question!
None of the solutions are perfect with each having its own advantages
and disadvantages. Solar and wind power are the greenest followed by
fuel cells and then LPG & petrol & diesel generators which have the biggest
carbon footprints. None are completely green of course each having
materials and manufacturing footprints so power conservation is important
too. 
Solar
panels are more or less fit and forget with a modest but long hours
output that tops up your batteries unattended - whenever parked, out for
the day, on a coffee or lunch stop, or even before you get up in the
morning!
In
contrast fuel cells and 'gennies' are completely independent of the
elements and can run at any time you feed them with fuel. These can be
free standing for ad-hoc use or built in and automated for convenient
low user input. Fuel cells are virtually silent and seen as very green
with their very low emissions but are expensive to buy while gennies are relatively cheap but with a
strong tendency to pollute the local environment with both fumes and
noise! All generators require fuel so you've got to carry and manage
this of course, the lpg and diesel types can be installed to take fuel from the motorhome's on-board tank/s.
Built-in lpg generators are fairly quiet but the others tend to be noisier and may be very unpopular
on some campsites. Increasingly their use is time restricted - we
found they were restricted to 10-12am and 2-4pm on one site we visited
recently.
you do need constant tracking to get 5x!
You need a lot of roof space to allow the unit to
elevate and rotate at will. Although technically very interesting this
is not a popular option.
New:
Inov Tech: 75W
Microcystalline Panel Kit: Complete
Solar Panel Kit at an affordable price. Delivered with Aluminium
Mounting Brackets, Solar Regulator, Sika 252 and single Feed Gland. High
performance panel, a great addition to our solar range. This kit is
pre-wired with UV resistant cables (2 x 4mm2) and 8M long. The Solar
Regulator (right) is capable of regulating a maximum of 150W. Ie. 2x 75W
panels or 1x 150W panel. Maximum charging current is 12.5A 
Veetech
Solar: Veetech Solar Italy. Big name smaller price! These efficient VeeTech
60W,
to 140W Solar Panels have high efficiency mono-crystalline or
poly-crystalline
solar cells with anti-reflective coating. The very popular
monocrystalline panels come in 90W, 100W & 120W sizes while 60W, 80W &
140W versions are available as
polycrystalline panel. Thanks to the new Ultratron®
technology all of the VeeTech Solar modules have higher output and
guarantee very good performances even in lower sunlight conditions.
On our own 80W we've regularly seen ½-1 amp under
really dismal conditions and around 7 amps in sunlight - excellent
performance. These top quality modules are made by using only guaranteed and
certified materials: solar cells encapsulated between sheets of ethylene
vinyl acetate (EVA), highly transparent, anti-shock, tempered glass
which protects the module against mechanical and climatic effects. The
white 'Tedlar' backing sheet provides further protection of the module
as does the anodised aluminium frame. Both panels come complete with 2 x
PG7 cable glands and connecting terminals but you need to order the
mounts separately. For most people a regulator and wiring will also be
needed and both feed gland / cable entry box and a test/readout panel
might also be handy. 20 year warranty and 25 years for 80% output.
As fitted to our own motorhome. See our complete range of accessories
and fitting kits below too. 
Veetech Charge Regulator:
The standard 'Powermaster' unit regulates the charge put in to your
batteries from the Solar Panels. It can be used in conjunction with one or
two panels and also has an 'overspill' charging output to the engine battery
if desired. Good design ensures the starter battery is
charged only after the leisure battery or batteries have been fully
charged. There are no complications here, you can opt to use this
feature or not to suit yourself. Thanks
to an innovative electronic system, there is no need for a warmth dissipater (as is
the case with traditional regulators), the highest performance is
therefore guaranteed. The Powermaster also has a switch for acid/agm-gel
battery charging regimes. Excellent. White usually supplied as left. 
Veetech
Digital Test Panel: Optional Extra. Push button sequential display
of voltage, current,
hours of charge and Amp-hours. For Recessed or surface mounting. Equipped with back frame. Display: 3
figures at 7 segments. Voltage, charge current, Ahrs, etc., displayed with
illumination by pressing button.
Low consumption with automatic switch-off after the system check . Dimensions: 11.5cm x 8cm approx. Equipped with a 2.5M
data cable for really easy connection to the regulator by plug-in RJ11 phone plug. 
Possible
new budget product - are you interested? Solar works extremely well
on motorhomes but is a bit weak in winter when the sun is very low in
the sky. It's possible to buy sophisticated motorised mounts that tilt
the panel up to face the sun and to track it across the sky and these
are excellent devices but extremely expensive at over £2000! In
winter the main benefit comes from the tilt because the sun doesn't move
far across the sky then. A simple, relatively cheap solution therefore
is a straightforward manual tilting mount suitable for all panels. We
think we could provide these for say £40-£60 depending on size - similar
to the unit pictured right. They are very versatile units with travel
locks and friction hinges similar to double glazing units and can be
fitted on the roof or on the side wall of the motorcaravan. The only
limitations are that you have to reach up to adjust them and that you
adjust aim by turning the motorhome until the panel faces south. The
question is would you be interested in these to greatly improve your
winter charging?
