Overlanding is self-reliant travel to remote places, and most often, these places have no source of electricity. How can you enjoy the camping part of overlanding, when you can’t afford to light up your campsite with bright LED lights or power an electric fan to sleep peacefully inside your rooftop tent?
This is the part where solar panels come into the picture. From being a trend, they have become a necessity, especially if it’s a long-week overland trip. Solar panels will give you a comfortable, convenient, and safe way to live off the grid.
But how does solar power work when overlanding? A solar power system makes use of solar panels to harvest renewable, natural, and free energy from the sun. The energy collected is then converted into usable electricity that is stored in a battery. This will provide you with a stable supply of electricity wherever you go on your overlanding trip, even if that is hundreds of miles away from civilization.
Let’s take a closer look and discuss everything you need to know to be able to have a reliable power supply for your next off-grid camping trip.
What Do I Need to Get Started with Solar When Overlanding?
Many are discouraged from having their own solar power system for overlanding because of the complicated setup and overwhelming electrical system that it comes with. This is the reason behind solar power kits, which have everything you need to be able to easily set up your own solar power system on your camping site or on your vehicle’s rooftop.
The solar power kit is the only thing you need to get started with solar when overlanding. The kits include a solar panel, charge controller, inverter, and battery (this will be further discussed in another article). For now, let’s enumerate the components of a solar power system and how they work together to harness the energy from the sun and turn it into electricity.
Remember that each component has to be compatible with the other and that is why kits are a good idea.
Solar Panel – collects the energy and converts to dc power
Perhaps you’ve already encountered a solar panel; that small grayish rectangle at the top of your calculator or a huge solar panel on your neighbor’s rooftop. It was Edmond Becquerel who first discovered the photovoltaic effect, which is the science behind solar panels.
Solar panels are made up of cells, that when exposed to sunlight, produce electricity. It is the solar panel that will collect the energy from the sun and turns it into DC electricity to charge the battery. Find the best solar panel for overlanding that matches your budget, your power needs, and your camping setup.
Charge Controller – mediates the power into the battery
It is not advisable to connect the solar panel directly to the battery to charge it because the electricity coming from the solar panel is constantly fluctuating. To avoid overcharging and to normalize the voltage, the charge controller or regulator mediates between the solar panel and the battery. The charge controller makes sure that the battery is properly charged. It can also directly power DC appliances because it contains DC electricity.
Battery – stores the sun’s energy
The battery in a solar power system will store all the electricity that the solar panel has harnessed from the sun. This also contains all the outlets that you need to charge all your electrical appliances. It contains DC electricity, so it can only power or charge DC appliances like those that are portable and run on a battery as well.
Inverter – converts DC to AC power
The electricity that you get from your house outlets is AC. The majority of electrical appliances actually require AC for them to run. If you have a refrigerator inside your rig, you may have to use an inverter to convert the DC electricity inside the battery into AC electricity for your refrigerator to function. If you don’t have AC appliances, then you don’t have to spend another dime on an inverter to complete your solar power system.
What Types of Solar Options Are There?
Back then, solar panels were just for those who could afford them. Because they are sustainable and capable of providing a stable supply of electricity in off-grid places, demand has increased, and with the support of the government, solar panels have become affordable and easily accessible to the people. In today’s market, you have lots of solar options to choose from, which can be grouped into three types according to how they are set up.
There are three main types of solar panels for overlanding: fixed solar power systems, portable solar panels, and flexible solar panels. Let’s take a closer look.
1. Fixed Solar Power Systems
Most solar power systems for overlanding use a fixed solar panel. This means that the solar panel is permanently mounted on the vehicle’s rooftop. With this kind of setup, the solar panel is always connected and always making power. This is a good setup when you are driving off-road because it lets you take advantage of the bright sun.
So, by the time you’ve reached the camping site, you already have a full battery. But when you set up camp and you need to power your devices, you will have to park your vehicle directly under the sun for the solar panels to generate electricity.
2. Portable Solar Panels
Portable solar panels are not permanently mounted on your vehicle but are stored inside your rig. They will only be put out when you need to charge your battery. They take up space in your rig and can suffer from the bumps and shakes of your vehicle when you drive off-road.
The wear and tear process will speed up for portables because they are constantly being plugged in and plugged out. However, one great advantage of having portable ones is being able to use them not only for overlanding but also for home appliances. When you set up camp, you can rest under the shade of a tree while your solar panels are charging somewhere sunny.
3. Flexible Solar Panels
Yes, there are flexible solar panels. Most people only know portable or folding solar panels and fixed or rigid solar panels. Flexible or blanket-style solar panels are more lightweight and can be placed on uneven surfaces. You can easily place them at the top of the other gears stored on your vehicle’s rooftop. Also, if the only place you can charge the solar panel is rocky, you can easily lay down a flexible solar panel without the worry of it tumbling down and getting damaged.
Is Solar Panel Enough to Power My Equipment During My Overlanding Trip?
Most solar panels are 15%-20% efficient. This means that they only convert up to 20% of the sunlight that they receive into electricity. So you really have to place them under direct sunlight and leave them there for 5-8 hours to be fully charged.
The best time to charge them is from 9 am to 3 pm. With this capability, is a solar panel enough to power your equipment during your entire overland trip? Well, it depends on the electrical equipment that you have inside your rig and the capacity of your chosen solar panel.
Let’s take a 100-watt solar panel, for example. This means that it has a power output of up to 100 watts of DC output. Connect it to a deep-cycle battery that can store more than twice the daily output of the solar panel.
What are the common appliances you bring with you on an overland trip? A phone, laptop, camera, portable fan, interior, and exterior lights, and speaker. A 100-watt solar panel is enough to power small devices and keep them running for one hour to several hours.
If you need more power, then you can just install another solar panel to increase the power output of your solar power system.
How Many Watts of Power Do I Need to Go Off-Grid?
One thing you have to consider before buying your own solar panel and setting up the solar panel system is how much power you need. This is the part where you’ll hear a voice inside your head telling you to just forget about solar power and just stick with your car’s battery.
The terms amp-hour, watt-hour, voltage, and watt can really cause a headache, especially if electrical systems are not your thing. But we’ll not dive more into that.
To determine how many watts of power you need to go off-grid, list down all your appliances. If you only need to power small devices, then a 100-200 watt solar panel is all you need to live comfortably off the grid. You can start with a 100-watt if you only have phones, laptops, and cameras.
A 100-watt solar panel is not enough to run appliances such as a mini-fridge, small TV, heater, air conditioning system, and microwave. You have to double or even triple your 100-watt solar panel for this and then adjust the other components of your solar power system accordingly.
Final Thoughts
To get started with solar when overlanding, you only need a solar power kit for easy and safe installation. You can choose to mount it permanently on your vehicle’s rooftop, but if you don’t have space there, you can go with portable panels.
If you have small devices, a 100-watt solar panel can easily power these electrical devices. If you need more power, you can just double this panel or buy a 200-watt solar panel.
Solar power is popular for a reason. You’ve probably noticed that almost all overland vehicles on the road have a rooftop solar panel, and almost every camping site you visit has a foldable solar panel placed on the ground.
They offer free, clean, and renewable energy to power all the appliances you need to enjoy your camping miles away from home. As compared to generators, solar panels produce less noise when generating electricity. They are also friendly to the environment because they use no gasoline or diesel. For your next off-grid overlanding, I recommend that you give solar panels a try.
