Delivery

UK = 3-5 working days from date of order, though often sooner. Most kits are made to order but are dispatched with a courier for next working day delivery as soon as completed. European orders can take up to 2 weeks but usually it takes 5-7 working days. NOTE: Since brexit many EU Customs clearance systems have slowed down and are holding packages up from a few days, to 2 weeks. All rates are quoted at checkout before you pay.

Please Note: Our UK courier will NOT DELIVER TO NEIGHBOURS. Please make sure you are in to receive your parcel, or keep an eye on the tracking and collect from your local depot ASAP if it is returned.

Cancellation, Refund and Returns

Your rights to return goods are protected under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013.

You are entitled to cancel your order and return the goods within 14 working days of  receipt of the order for a full refund (this does not include the shipping cost). Do this by contacting us by email and quoting the order number supplied to you. Your refund will be paid within 30 days. You are responsible for the cost and risk of loss or damage when returning the goods, so you should take out enough postal insurance to cover their value. This cancellation policy does not affect your rights when we are at fault for example, if goods are faulty or  not as described. 

Any goods returned should be in saleable condition.

For warranty inspection/repairs, you will be responsible for shipping costs after the first year. Within 1 year we will cover shipping unless inspection at our end finds no faults.

Privacy Policy

Solar Camper Solutions do not disclose buyers' information to third parties other than your address, email and phone number to couriers services for delivery of your goods.

Cookies

Cookies are used on this shopping site to keep track of the contents of your shopping cart, to store delivery addresses if the address book is used and to store your details if you select the 'Remember Me' / 'Create Accound' Option. They are also used after you have logged on as part of that process.

‘Cookies’ are small text files that are sorted by the browser on your computer or portable device.  Each cookie is unique to its web browser and provides a memory for the website, enabling it to anonymously recognise a user and tailor its results accordingly.Although it is likely to affect your website experience and reduce the number of functions available to you, such as placing orders, all browsers allow you to alter the cookie preferences. These settings can be found in your ‘options’ or ‘preferences’ menu of your browser. Data collected by this site is used to:a. Take and fulfil customer orders.
b. Administer and enhance the site and service.
c. Disclose information to third-parties - but only for goods delivery purposes. 
d. To ensure your purchasing experience is smooth and secure.
e. To gather anonymous analytical information, such as the number of unique users.  Solar Camper Solutions, May 2017

 

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

- Why dont' you have a phone?

 - I operate on my own, and if I'm not preparing mail orders I'm installing kits and I simply can't fit in answering the phone. It rang all day when I had it active, and customers were sending me text message sales enquiries - I can't work with text messages, it is not a way to keep records. I do check my emails frequently, and any non urgent enquiries will always get answered in the evening when I'm finished working. Email also gives me a record of all conversations which makes admin a lot easier. If you have an enquiry please list all your questions and I'll answer them one by one. No question is a stupid question!

- Is it easy to install? Is there a video?

- Yes - I provide full instructions covering all the installation options with colour photos for teh Mazda Bongo. One of my happy customers has made a video of his Bongo installation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pktEeRDCfBw

The VW flat panel is also surprisingly easy to install. The kit comes with colour printed instructions and all the materials you will need to install it. The installation is designed with the novice in mind. The adhesive used is NOT fast setting, and wipes away with a cloth, so you can clean up any mess you might make, though the installation method is pretty mess-proof.

- I already have a split charging relay system installed, will the solar charger work with this?

- yes it will. The solar charger / regulator only charges the battery when needed, it won't charge your battery once you are driving as the split charger will take over.

- Can I run mains 240v appliances off the solar power with an inverter?

- yes you can, although inverters are not very efficient and you are better off buying 12v equivalent appliances. You connect your inverter to your battery and let the solar power charge the battery.

- Can I charge both my leisure battery AND my starter battery with the solar kit?

- yes you can -  We can supply you with a special charger that charges both batteries, though under normal circumstances, it will spend 99.9% of it's time charging the leisure battery as your starter battery will be full nearly all of the time - as you have a leisure battery.

- I would like you to install the kit for me - where are you and what is the cost?

- I'm based near Taunton, in Somerset. Installation is £160 for the Bongo kit which includes a permanent installation with hidden wiring throughout the vehicle. Please contact me for Cali and MP prices which start at £80.

- I have roof bars fitted - is your kit compatible?

- Bongo - Usually, yes. If you have the bars that bolt into the existing roof mounting holes and run up the length of the vehicle then you simply slide the solar panel bracket under the roof bar rear mounting "foot" and refasten it using your existing bolt. If you have bars than clip into the guttering and run across the width of the vehicle then they usually clear the panel. If not, you can just slide the rear one forwards a bit to accommodate the solar panel.

- VW - usually yes. Most VW roof bars are adjustable so you can slide them fore and aft to clear the panel/s. This is easy with 1 or 2 panels, but you won't fit roof bars on with 3 panels as they take up all the space on the VW roof.

- I have heard that the flat solar panels overheat - is this true?

- When glued to roofs, yes, they get very hot. This is why we don't glue panels down any more. Ours are all bolted down and the nature of the design means there is always a small air gap underneath.  

 

 

 

With a 100 Watt solar panel you can run all of your 12v appliances indefinitely in the summer. Solar panels also produce power in the winter unless it is very overcast. No more need for electric hook-ups - camp in the pretty spots!

Typically, during the day, the solar panel charges your leisure battery (or your starter battery if you don't have a leisure battery) and then when it's full any excess power goes straight to your appliances. At night time, when the panel is no longer producing any power, your appliances run off the battery until the panel recharges it the next morning, and the cycle continues.

The trick is to use a panel large enough to get the battery charged fast in the morning, and then provide enough power to run things like your fridge, phone chargers etc during the day, leaving the battery full and ready to go back into service at night time. I have extensively tested 80 Watt panels and they produce enough power to keep up with 12v compressor fridges with power to spare. But remember, this kit is 100 Watts !

Keeping the beers cool

In my tests my battery ended up with a greater charge at the end of each day than it started with! - This was with running a 12v Waeco fridge, plus other things like phone charging, listening to music etc. With a 100 Watt panel you can camp in the summer, running a fridge, indefinitely with power to spare!

With current technology, 100 Watts is the largest panel that fits on the Bongo roof without covering the sunroof, is not too heavy, and does not protrude from the sides.

Below is a real (I recorded this in my Bongo) data log graph of the voltage of a leisure battery with a 12v compressor fridge running full time, cold enough for ice in the freezer section. This was "only" with an 80 Watt panel.

As you can see, the battery ends the day at midnight with the same (actually a little more) charge as is started the day with at 00:01 am - and this was in April 2012! - not June or July! (the downward spikes on the graph are when the fridge switches on for a few minutes until it's thermostat switches it off again) . In summer it is not unusual for the battery to end the day with more charge than it started with, and to be up to over 13 volts by 10/11 am.

 

All of this solar kits we sell come with a PWM charger as standard. This is the box that turns the solar power into something your battery/ies can handle and charges them correctly.

But there is a better option - MPPT. MPPT chargers typically produce 20% to 30% more charging power from the same panel than a PWM charger (in our experience 20% is realistic). At the bottom of this page is a technical explanation why.

Before we go any further - a heads up - ALL the chargers below will charge multiple (dual) leisure batteries - i.e. if you have two leisure batteries linked together - they just get seen as one larger single battery by the MPPT charger. When you see reference to a "dual" or "duo" battery charger - this refers to the fact it can charge multiple leisure batteries AND your starter battery.

The charger upgrades we offer are:

Above is the 10Amp MPPT charger with built in LCD display. The black LCD on the right is the optional "external/remote LCD" display. You can buy the charger upgrade with or without the remote LCD which shows the same information as the charger's built in display, but with more information on the screen at one time. It also means you can install the charger in a cupboard and flush mount the remote LCD in the side of a cupboard/wall/surface (the LCD is shown in it's surface mounting box, but it can be removed and mounted almost flush). It links to the charger with one slim network cable.

Above is the Victron 75/15 MPPT charger. What is different about this charger is that there is no LCD display at all. You can access charging information and configure the charger via your smartphone with the supplied app (iOS & Android) using bluetooth. The charger is highly configurable via the app - right down to how the charging cycle works! Note that we now sell the SmartSolar version which has Bluetooth integrated , rather than the separate dongle as shown above.

Do you have a lithium power bank Like the EcoFlow River or similar? With the Victron chargers you can use the "load" output to charge your power bank as well as it charging your leisure batteries as normal. The Victron prioritises giving your leisure batteries a full charge at least once a day whilst also charging your power bank via the load terminals with any spare power. You can even manually specify the exact minimum voltage the Victron will charge your leisure batteries to before it enables the charging of your power bank, giving you full control of how much priority your camper batteries have when solar charging.

If you want to do this we can supply a female cigar style socket on a cable for you to plug your power bank into.

 

 

This charger is a good solution if you want to hide your charger and don't want to cut big holes for an LCD display/control panel. The disadvantage is you can't see your battery voltage or charging status at a glance. You have to open the app on your phone or tablet. All Victron chargers come with a 5 year manufacturer's warranty)

The Epever DuoRacer series (above) is a dual battery MPPT charger. This MPPT solar regulator will charge both your starter battery and your leisure batter/ies.  We stock the 20Amp version, wihich will run a single, dual or triple panel setup happily (note: with 300watts of solar, the charger will discard anything over 260w as that is it's maximum capability). Do be aware that the starter battery charges at a maximum of 1Amp regardless of available solar power - it is meant as a maintenance charge - so this charger is not designed so you can run items off your starter battery when camping, it is meant for people who leave their vans unused for long periods at a time (more than a few weeks at a time) and need the starter battery kept in good order. For regular users, just driving your van keeps the starter battery topped up.

Additionally, you can add a remote MT11 LCD display panel that repeats the information on the charger screen. It comes with a 1m cable. 

MPPT Explained:

An MPPT charger works differently from a PWM charger. Solar panels typically produce 12-20volts. The voltage goes down as the sun diminishes, and as the panel gets hot. To charge a leisure battery the volatge of the charger needs to be more than the voltage of the leisure battery -  approx 13volts. This is why solar panels produce up to 20volts, so there is some room to play with. We always recommend MPPT chargers with slimline panels as they priduce a higher voltage, which suits MPPT better - you waste less energy.

When a panel is produces, say, 18 volts, a PWM charger "throws away" the spare 5 volts. With MPPT the charger turns the spare voltage into charging current. The voltage lowers but the amperage increases. The upshot is that, in ideal conditions, an MPPT charger can extract an extra 30% charging power from the same solar panel. Ideal conditions are bright sun and low temperatures - which means winter, or bright but cool days - i.e. frequent British Springs/Autumns. 

An MPPT charger is the way to extract every last drop of energy from your solar panel and are particularly recommended for ultra-slim panels.

 

Contact Us

Solar Camper Solutions Ltd, 404a Ringwood Road, Ferndown BH22 9AU. Installations SOMERSET near M5-J26

Companies house: 13724623  UK VAT: 387999104

enquiries@solarcampersolutions.co.uk 

 

About Our Shop

SCS have been making and installing solar kits for over 10 years.