Class Campers Forums!

Just asked this over on the general forum, and then realised here might be better - does anyone know if it's possible to set up some sort of solar panel/photovoltaic cell, possibly on the roof, to charge up a leisure battery while it's parked up for an extensive, month long trip where it will be lived in, but only driven out of the field to go shopping?

Is that a helpful/efficient way to do it, or is it easier to run a small generator or just start the engine up without driving anywhere to stop a leisure battery running down and the contents of the fridge going off? Anyone tried doing it this way? It seems to make sense to me as a more environmentally friendly way of doing it than pumping out petrol fumes, but I have no idea how easy it would be to sort out in practice.

Hi

I would recommend that you get a portable one such as the one here

Or do a search on Google for solar trickel charger

There are a load and some ever rollup so you can use them anywahere to charge you mobile phone

Admin

 Hi Jenny, what type of fridge are you using? If its a 3 way or gas/12v, it will be set up so it only runs on 12v when the engine is running, by means of a relay, this is because it will flatten a leisure battery in a few hours. If its a modern 12v unit its a different setup, and a solar panel will help. I put a small panel in my van and it really helps keep the leisure battery up. So the answer for you is to run the fridge on gas unless you are on a mains hookup?

Good tip again - you are turning out to be a bit of an expert

 An expert?