{"id":754,"date":"2017-12-29T16:00:32","date_gmt":"2017-12-29T06:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.4wdsupacentre.com.au\/news\/?p=754"},"modified":"2017-12-28T11:45:41","modified_gmt":"2017-12-28T01:45:41","slug":"adventure-kings-solar-panel-range-how-much-power-do-i-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/adventure-kings-solar-panel-range-how-much-power-do-i-need\/","title":{"rendered":"ADVENTURE KINGS SOLAR PANEL RANGE \u2013 HOW MUCH POWER DO I NEED?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re building a tourer or planning a campsite in your head, solar panels<\/a> should always be a consideration \u2013 they are a source of free, limitless power after all \u2013 but how do you know what panel to choose!?<\/p>\n

Luckily Adventure Kings has a wide range of panels<\/a>, that won\u2019t break the bank.<\/p>\n

There are two main considerations to make when choosing a solar panel<\/a> \u2013 how much power you use and how much space you have to pack your panel\/s.<\/p>\n

First, to calculate your requirements, consider how many 12 volt accessories you use at camp.<\/p>\n

Generally all electrical products will have a wattage listed (check for a sticker near the power cord)\u00a0 you can use this wattage to calculate the real-time amps the product will use while it\u2019s on. Some products may also list an Amp\/Hour rating which simply gives an average on the total amount of amps used per hour the product is turned on. For example, the Adventure Kings 60L fridge\/freezer<\/a> is rated to use less than 1 amp\/hour when the interior is set at 5\u00b0C and the outside temperature is 32\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

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So let\u2019s work through an example:<\/p>\n

You arrive at camp at 6pm on Friday, and it\u2019s 32\u00b0C \u2013 your fridge is down to temperature at 5\u00b0C thanks to being plugged in while you drive and you\u2019re ready for an icy cold beverage while you light the campfire, roll out your swag and set up the awning. Then you set up an Illuminator Strip Light<\/a> and as the sun sets you turn it on and wind it down for ambient light.<\/p>\n

As the temperature drops into the night your fridge will use less power, but every time you open it for a bevvy it has to work to cool back down again, so we\u2019ll assume the fridge is using the rated 0.83Amp\/Hours all night and into the morning. 6pm to 8am the fridge<\/a> has used around 12 amp hours. The Illuminator strip light<\/a> was on for 5 hours total and uses 0.4A at its low level for a total of 2A<\/p>\n

So between 6pm and 8am you used 14 Amps<\/strong> total \u2013 whether you have a 98AH<\/a> or 115AH<\/a> deep cycle battery you\u2019ve still got plenty of juice.<\/p>\n

But throughout the next day your fridge<\/a> will continue to use power. Between 8am Saturday and 8am Sunday it will use another 24 Amps. Add another 5 hours of strip light use for 2Amps and add in a phone charge using a cig socket USB adapter rated at 12W \u2013 that\u2019s another Amp per hour your phone is on charge. In this case your phone is charged in 2 hours so that\u2019s another 2Amps. Plus you use your Thumper<\/a> to inflate some inner tubes to relax and float in the river \u2013 you use your Thumper<\/a> for 15 minutes. To calculate the amps used per hour, you find the instantaneous power listed on the sticker (45Amps) and because you\u2019ve used it for a quarter of an hour, calculate one quarter of 45. For this example we\u2019ll call it 12Amp\/Hours.<\/p>\n

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So Saturday to Sunday morning 8am you\u2019ve used 40Amp\/Hours \u2013 combine this with the Friday night total 14Amps and you\u2019re looking at 54Amp\/Hours \u2013 at this point your Deep cycle battery has used over 55% capacity if you\u2019ve got the 98AH battery<\/a>, and over 46% capacity if you\u2019re using a 115AH<\/a> battery.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019re planning to leave camp at 4pm so the fridge still needs to be powered by your battery for a further eight hours. That\u2019s another 8Amp\/Hours, bringing the total weekend use up to 62Amp\/Hours. 63% of your 98AH<\/a> battery and 53% of your 115AH<\/a> battery \u2013 you should definitely add a solar panel<\/a> to keep those batteries charged!<\/p>\n

Now you can look at the output of the different solar panels<\/a> available.<\/p>\n

4WD Supacentre offers a 110W fixed solar panel<\/a>, a 120W Folding Solar blanket (with PWM regulator)<\/a> a 160W Folding solar kit (with PWM regulator)<\/a> and a 250W folding solar panel kit (with PWM regulator)<\/a>. The table below shows their maximum charging amperage (assuming the same PWM regulator for all panels) as well as the estimated total Amp\/Hours after 6,8 and 10 hours of sun light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n110W fixed solar panel<\/a><\/td>\n120W Portable Solar blanket<\/a><\/td>\n160W Folding Solar Panel<\/a><\/td>\n250W Folding Solar Panel<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 Watts<\/td>\n110<\/td>\n120<\/td>\n160<\/td>\n250<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2248 Volts<\/td>\n18.33333333<\/td>\n16.19433198<\/td>\n18.28571429<\/td>\n18.28822238<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2248 AMPS<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n7.41<\/td>\n8.75<\/td>\n13.67<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2248 A\/H for 6 hours of light<\/td>\n36<\/td>\n44.46<\/td>\n52.5<\/td>\n82.02<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2248 A\/H for 8 hours of light<\/td>\n48<\/td>\n59.28<\/td>\n70<\/td>\n109.36<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u2248 A\/H for 10 hours of light<\/td>\n60<\/td>\n74.1<\/td>\n87.5<\/td>\n136.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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So even six hours of sunlight on the Saturday and Sunday and your battery will have recharged at least 72A\/H with a 110W Fixed Solar Panel (with added PWM regulator.)<\/a> This would cover your power usage and keep your batteries charged.\u00a0 Of course, this is only a guide and your actual consumption may vary depending on many factors including, but not limited to, the outside temperature, fridge temperature, battery condition, wiring size and condition, solar panel angle and position etc etc.<\/p>\n

The second consideration is the amount of space you have in your vehicle \u2013 for smaller vehicles, a 120W portable Solar blanket<\/a> is perfect as it packs down to a compact size and still packs a punch.<\/p>\n

For permanent mounting solar panels, the choice is obvious \u2013 a 110W fixed solar panel (or two!)<\/a> These feature a thicker aluminium frame and don\u2019t come with a regulator so you can connect your own, use a DC to DC charger<\/a> and even connect multiple.<\/p>\n

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For bigger vehicle where space is less of a priority a 160<\/a> or 250 watt folding solar panel<\/a> is ideal. You can set these at varying angles to catch the sun, and they mean you can park in the shade and have your panel in the sun doing the hard work! They also provide plenty of power for bigger camp setups or hotter conditions where your fridge is working more to keep your drinks cool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019re building a tourer or planning a campsite in your head, solar panels should always be a consideration \u2013 they are a source of free, limitless power after all \u2013 but how do you know what panel to choose!? Luckily Adventure Kings has a wide range of panels, that won\u2019t break the bank. There…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123456,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123456"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5580,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754\/revisions\/5580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.emgcloud.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}