Pair of Semi-Flexible 50W Solar Panels with Dual Battery Charger and All Cables (100W Total) (Top Outlet)

Solar panels are an easy way to ensure that your leisure battery, or even your main vehicle battery, is always kept topped up with charge. We've put together this money-saving bundle kit to give you two ultralight, semi-flexible solar panels, as well as all of the connectors, cables and controllers you'll need to install and use them.

This kit includes two solar panels, with the cables, connectors and dual battery charge controller you’ll need to install a complete solar energy system for your campervan, RV, motorhome or van. You can install the solar panels by bonding them in place on your vehicle’s roof, ensuring that you won’t be able to forget to set them up or pack them away – they’ll always be there when you need them!

Alternatively, you can use the integrated eyelets on the panels themselves to hang them somewhere convenient to make sure they’re getting as much sun as possible. Regardless of how you wire them up, or where you put them, these solar panels will let you use your campervan more than ever as you won’t have to worry about electrical accessories draining your battery down. The solar panels: Light weight and semi-flexible, these monocrystalline solar panels are highly efficient, and designed to last for years.

Monocrystaline solar panels are made up of a number of individual solar cells, made from silicone which has been grown specially for this purpose. This style of solar panel is ideal for your camper, as the layout of the cells lets them capture might energy from the sun, while the materials reduce the amount of light reflected away. They work by converting the energy from sunlight into direct current (DC) power which can charge your leisure battery, or be converted to alternating current (AC) with an inverter.

Dimensions:

Height: 420 mm,

Width: 850 mm,

Depth: 2.5 mm,

Weight: 2 kg.

Each panel is made with a backing layer of fibreglass to provide a base, then a layer of sunlight-resistant ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) to hold the cells in place and seal the unit, then the silicone solar cells themselves, with another layer of EVA and finally a surface of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), a plastic which can resist high temperatures while also letting UV light through to the solar cells.

This multi-layer design means that all the materials used work in tandem to ensure that the solar cells get the most light possible, and that the panel as a whole is highly resistant to high temperatures, UV light and moisture. It also means that the panels are semi-flexible, being thinner and lighter than bulkier designs. This makes them ideal for fitting to the roof of your vehicle, where they can mould to the shape of the surface smoothly. As a bonus, it also leaves the solar panels nice and easy to clean, with decent water resistance!

Electrical Information:

Peak power: 50W

Solar cell efficiency: 17-18%

Maximum power voltage: 18V

Maximum power current: 2.78A

Open circuit voltage: 21.24V

Short circuit current: 3.06A

Power allowance range: +/-3%

Maximum system voltage: 500V

Values at standard test conditions: Air

Mass - AM1.5,

Irradiance - 1000W/m2,

Cell Temperature - 25°C.

17% to 18% efficiency in the solar cell may not sound like much, but it’s actually pretty great, especially for panels in this price range. Even the most expensive, high-tech solar panels ‘only’ reach a maximum efficiency of around 23%. Solar cells are guaranteed to operate at 90% of nominal power output at 10 years after purchase, and at 80% of nominal power at 25 years after purchase.

There’s a two-year workmanship warranty included with these panels, provided by the manufacturer of the solar cells. The charge controller Also in this kit is a dual-battery solar charge controller, which is really simple to use and prevents your batteries from overcharging. It’s a Pulse Width Modulation (PMW) control, which means can you charge two batteries at the same time, or just select your main vehicle battery or leisure battery to receive a top-up.

This dual battery charger has been designed to help your batteries last a long time, and improve system performance. There’s a comprehensive self-diagnosis system in place within the unit, which can tell you if anything is going wrong and direct you to how to correct it.

It also offers:

• Overload protection, so that the unit won’t overheat,

• Open circuit protection, to prevent dangerously high voltages,

• Lightning surge protection, so sudden spikes in voltage won’t ruin the system,

• Deep discharge protection, so the batteries won’t be damaged by being drained, The unit also has charge current protection up to 20A.

This setting is only required for advanced applications when there are some radio emitting devices powered by the same batteries and where the solar controller creates interference in the circuit. In such cases the charging frequency can be changed to stop interference. In all other cases this parameter should be kept at pre-set 25Hz.

Change of charging frequency has almost no impact on the efficiency of charging. The cables and connectors: To make sure you can wire your solar panels, charge controller and batteries together, you’ll also receive two, 5-meter lengths of 4mm solar panel cable. This MC4 cable has a male connector on one end, and a female connection on the other.

This cable is:

• TUV Certified,

• Rated for a nominal voltage of 1,000V DC

• Temperature rated for 40 °C up to 125 °C,

• UV, hydrolysis and ozone resistant,

• Highly resistant to temperatures both low and high.

The rubber seal on the cables is waterproof and weatherproof, so you won’t have to worry about rain affecting your solar system! These cables will need into a waterproofed cable entry box, which is also included in this kit. The box is white, and holds slots for both the solar panel cables. Fix it to your vehicle over the site at which you want the cables to enter the vehicle on their way to your batteries, to prevent water and dirt entering the vehicle and causing leaks. The cable entry box will hold two 6 mm to 12 mm cables through two fully-waterproofed, IP65-rated cable glands.

The IP65 rating means that the junction box provides total protection from dust, and against low pressure jets of water from all directions, with limited ingress permitted. You’ll also get two sets of MC4 Y cable connectors. There will be two connectors with one female and two male connectors (1F2M), and two connectors with one male and two female connectors (1M2F). These MC4 (Multi-Contact 4mm) connectors are ideal for connecting multiple solar panels together, to allow them to provide more power with less complex cabling.

These connectors:

• Are fully TUV Certified,

• Rated for a maximum working volrage of 1,000V DC,

• Have a flame resistance class of UL94-V0.

More information about the cables is available on our website if you search for their part number: J42668. You can also read more about the connectors on our site if you search for their part number: J43144.