100ah battery and 100w solar panels in UK recommendations?

[nicklee]

Hi,

I looked around in Ebay and Amazon. The choices are overwhelming. im afraid to buy bad quality though I focus on budget. I think around 350£ is a good start. Whether it is ready 12v or to build 4x blue tiny boxes. Im just not sure what brands are good Same with solarpanels. I think id go with Renogy 100w because it is a known brand. The Renogy battery looks good as well.

Thanks in advance!

 

[B27]

I bought a solar panel on ebay 50W for £40.
You have to be very careful, a lot of people are blatantly selling smaller panels with '50W' in the title.
You may find having two or more panels is easier to find mounting places and keep some sort of power through the day?

I really don't know about batteries, whether it's worth spending a lot of money on lithium will depend on what you want to do.
A 100Ah or so of Lead acid is under £100. If you do anything lithium, don't forget the cost and time of upgrading wiring etc to suit.

 

[dukeofted]

I bought my solar panel, mounts and wires from craigsolar.co.uk and had good service. They do Epever MPPT solar controllers which are supposed to be pretty decent but I used a Victron 10A smart solar controller for a similar price.

From your budget I'm assuming you are looking at lead acid for the leisure battery. I always order batteries from Tayna, they have good prices and quick delivery.

 

[fredrussell]

Photonic Universe are trustworthy.

 

[SimonD]

Photonic Universe are trustworthy.

They also know their stuff and sell quality kit. I've bought several panels from them over the years.

 

[Pete7]

As are Bimble Solar. A regular customer.

What are you going to power with the battery?

Pete

 

[B27]

Just looking at ebay, there are a lot of cheap panels like this:
12V 30W Portable Solar Panel Car Van Boat Caravan Camper Trickle Battery Charger | eBay
It claims in the headline to be 30W, but it's actually 18V 800mA.
Which I make 14.4W at best.
Same thing many different sellers, I have no link with any of them.

But just over £1 a watt for semi-flex panels is cheap enough.
It may be easier to find space for a few small panels like this than a 100W panel.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Just looking at ebay, there are a lot of cheap panels like this:
12V 30W Portable Solar Panel Car Van Boat Caravan Camper Trickle Battery Charger | eBay
It claims in the headline to be 30W, but it's actually 18V 800mA.
Which I make 14.4W at best.
Same thing many different sellers, I have no link with any of them.

But just over £1 a watt for semi-flex panels is cheap enough.
It may be easier to find space for a few small panels like this than a 100W panel.

Cheap and nasty solar panels are a false economy, buy decent kit that will last years.

 

[stuartwineberg]

Photonic Universe are trustworthy.

+1 and also a plus for epever which photonic supplied

 

[wingcommander]

Tayna for batteries always seem competitive price wise . Used them a couple of times. Even with delivery cost they beat my local stores. Much bigger turnover also.

 

[saxonpirate]

I'll second Tanya for batteries.. but as far as solar panels go, I personally think its a bit of crap shoot.. you pays your money and takes your chance..

Buying so called 'marine rated' panels is not a guarantee of longevity either. I bought a couple of expensive Sunware flexible panels a few years back and was very disappointed. In no time at all they were suffering from de-laminating and moisture ingress around the edges. I'm actually in the market for panels now, but will hold my fire on purchase until I'm as sure as I can be that I'm not going to get stung again..

 

[alahol2]

I fitted a small (30W) Lensun panel 7 years ago and it's still functioning fine.
Tayna or BatteryMegaStore for batteries.

 

[Aquanaught]

I have a 100W folding Lensun panel now in use for 4 years and no sign of any problems - very satisfied with product appears well made and robust. www.lensunsolar.com

 

[MikeBz]

My experience is that cheap flexi panels don’t last long if they are left out all the time. So now I tie 2 x 50w flexi panels across the coachroof when we are on board, and replace them with a 20W rigid panel the rest of the time to keep the batteries topped up. The cheap flexis (£107 for the pair on EBay 2 years ago) are poor, each one performing little better than the 20W rigid.

 

[nicklee]

Thank you for your advice.