Solar Panels

I am a new owner and I am looking at solar panels for my camper. Does anyone have any experience with Solarland 90watt portable folding panels (SLP090-12S) or any opinions on them ? Is 90watts preferable to the 45 watt panel ?

 

The size panel you should get depends on what you expect to use it for. If you are going to power a Dometic type refrigerator, 90 watts is about the minimum I recommend. If you will not be running a fridge, you should question if you really need a panel at all. We have been off the grid for as much as six days (no fridge) and still had plenty of battery left, using lights, water pump, furnace, and some TV. YMMV.

There are several threads on the forum here about solar panels. Do a search, there is lots of information here.

 

I went with the Solarland SLP130F 130 Watt folding panel. What I liked about it is that it comes with a 16 foot cord already terminated with a cigarette lighter style plug so it pops right into the CampInn solar outlet, has telescoping legs for adjusting the angle and folds up into a molded aluminum carrying case.

Solarand SLP130F

Like most panels on the market, it comes with its own controller, so if you had the controller installed on your camper you will have to bypass it. Cary can tell you how to do that, its not difficult, just a matter of moving a couple of wires. We had our camper built with the solar receptacle but without the controller

What I don't like about it is that it is very heavy (50 lbs plus) and large (the case is 41x23x5) and the controller doesn't have any kind of digital readout. The upside is that the case is bullet proof, and since my TV is a Ram truck its not a problem for us. If I had to do it over though, I probably would look for something lighter.

The 130 watt gives plenty of power to run everything, including the Dometic. We are at 100% battery at the end of each day.

Hope that helps!

Randy

 

The 90W would be nice assuming it could keep up with the Dometic.

 

The 90W would be nice assuming it could keep up with the Dometic.

 

My recollection is, to run the fridge and lights and stereo and fan, we'd need at least 90. So we went with a well-priced 120.

I figured it was better to go a little big, rather than a little small.

If the prices are good, you might even go with 150.

If you go with too big of a panel, that may hinder you taking it with you. Even at 120, we leave it behind if we don't plan to need it.