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Mindsphere · 06-25-2017, 04:56 PM

Hi everyone, I'm new to the world of RVs.

I'm actually travelling to the US in August and renting a Thor ACE 30.2 2017 model for about a month. For some of that time I won't have access to hookup power.

I have this portable lightweight solar panel (120watts) with a regulator all bundled together, and I'm wondering if I would be able to simply clip this on to the battery for charging. The panel itself comes with alligator clips.

Is there anything I need to be aware of in doing this?

Thanks!

cruzbill · 06-25-2017, 05:00 PM

120w, that's a good sized panel! 100w panels are generally about 40"x20". A 120w panel with a controller you say you have will trickle charge your battery, in full sun you can expect about 6amps, summer you have about 5 hours of sun per day, so 30a per day or so. With a portable panel, you have to keep it out of the shade at all times, or no charge. Short answer, yes, it will work.

vsheetz · 06-25-2017, 05:49 PM

Yes, just clip it to the house battery bank. Albeit a small amount of charge capacity will be added from such a setup.

Mindsphere · 06-25-2017, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cruzbill

120w, that's a good sized panel! 100w panels are generally about 40"x20". A 120w panel with a controller you say you have will trickle charge your battery, in full sun you can expect about 6amps, summer you have about 5 hours of sun per day, so 30a per day or so. With a portable panel, you have to keep it out of the shade at all times, or no charge. Short answer, yes, it will work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsheetz

Yes, just clip it to the house battery bank. Albeit a small amount of charge capacity will be added from such a setup.

Awesome thanks to both of you

Re Cruzbill - it's not a single panel as such, more many panels that fold up. It's actually pretty cool - I haven't seen any others like it, and so light! 7kg.. I think that's like 14 pounds or so -
http://www.projecta.com.au/Products/...SolarPanelKits

But basically bottom line sounds like, there's a "house battery" somewhere in the RV that will have the terminals accessible that I can alligator clip onto?