Van battery solar trickle charger

I have a solar panel on my motorhome with a Truma controller which allows two feeds, one to the leisure battery and the other to the cab battery. Can't you just run a cable from your property to the motorhome? You could then have a Battery Master fitted to push any excess charge from the leisure battery to the cab battery.

David

 

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Can't you just run a cable from your property to the motorhome?

It's plugged into a neighbour's house 🙄

A lot depends on how much your camper van is in the sun. If you can park facing south then a small 20w panel connected via crocodile clips to the cab battery and propped up at a bit of an angle inside the windscreen should provide sufficient to cope with an alarm drain.

if you want this system to be part of way of touring away from ehu as well as just maintaing the battery while not in use, then a 80w min panel and a simple dual channel regulator/charger will do the job...

ps...one of the big drag downs on cab batteries are fancy radio head units wired that way and which dont get properly switched off when you think they are.....Pioneer are reknowned for being very resource hungry even in standby..

But the OP feels guilty about that! 

I have had a Split charge CBE CSB2 fitted for the last six years, powered by an 80 watt Solar panel on the roof, to keep the engine battery topped up and despite the British weather have never needed a boost from hook-up when parked at home.

They are £25 on Ebay and take a few minutes to fit.

If you do fit a Solar panel get the biggest wattage you can afford – but make sure there is enough room on the roof before buying.

Then, with a decent Solar panel, a refillable gas system and your own facilities (toilet,shower) the World is quite literally your lobster.

 

Yep I do.  And my definition of “neighbour” is not my next door neighbour - they’re actually about 1/4 mile away!!

Thanks  - I have a large solar panel on the roof which only feeds the leisure battery.  The van is covered therefore having something on the roof or windscreen is not an option unfortunately. 

I'm sure Poppy would have already thought of that .... hence she wants a solar panel!