12V lights for catering trailer

I need a 12v replacement for my catering trailer which is usually lit by a 1.5m fluorescent mains light. Will an LED strip give me enough light? Tony.

Hi Tony,

You would need quite a lot of LED lights to give you the same brightness. You might be better (and a lot cheaper) going for 12V fluorescents such as the Trilite 24W. Depending on the size of the trailer you might need several units to give you the same brightness as your original light. If you can find the power of your current light, in watts (it's likely to be on a sticker on it somewhere), you will need about the same wattage in 12V lights to give the same light output.

Andy
Midsummer Energy

Recharging a 24V electric scooter with solar panels

Hello.
I have an electric scooter that I use to make the 8.5 kilometer journey to work.
The 24v battery is rechargeable and takes 3.5 hours to recharge from the mains with a power supply.
What I would like to know is: can I use a small solar panel to recharge outdoors for longer journeys?

Thank you. Jeremy.

Most solar panels are designed for charging 12V batteries. However, it is easy to charge 24V batteries simply by wiring 2 solar panels in series.

So yes, it would be relatively easy to add some solar panels to give some additional charging of the battery. However, you would have to do your sums and work out just how big a pair of solar panels you would need for the system to be effective! If you had say 100W of solar panels (a fairly big area), that would still only give around 20Ah at 24V on a summers day. They would unfortunately be probably too big to carry around on an electric scooter....

Andy - Midsummer Energy

Is an 80W panel sufficient for a motorhome?

Have just bought a motorhome and want solar panels suitable for long term living in van.  Would your 80w panel be sufficient, and what other items would I need ready for fitting this panel on my van?
Thanks - Andrea

Hi Andrea,

Whether 80W is sufficient depends entirely on what appliances you want to power! In the summer, for a few lights / water pump / radio etc it would be more than adequate; in the winter it might not be enough, especially if you also want to run things like a TV, laptop, or fridge.

Try our solar calculator to get an idea of what appliances you might be able to power.

If you buy the 85W solar panel kit it includes the regulator and all the wiring you need for fitting the panel. The only other thing you will need is some means of mounting it on the roof - it shouldn't be too hard to make up some suitable mounting brackets.

Solar powered cool box

Hello - I am looking for a solar panel which I can use with a cool box in our motor home. At present the box connects into the cigarette lighter. Is there a panel that has the facilty for plugging in such an item? Thank you - Tony

Hi Tony,

You could fit a cigarette lighter socket to any solar panel very easily, which would allow you to power your cool box directly. Something like the Spectra 20W panel might just be big enough to power a small cool box.

However, you should note that the voltage on a solar panel varies strongly depending on what appliances are attached to it and how much sun there is. Some appliances can accept a wide range of input voltages and would be fine with the variable voltage; others might not like a voltage of perhaps 18-20V applied to them! When you are running off a battery the voltage is very stable, normally between 12 and 14 volts.

Most cool boxes run on peltier cooling modules, which I am fairly certain would work fine when attached directly to a solar panel. However, I can't promise that it would work.

regards,
Andy
Midsummer Energy