Our solar and battery setup for camping to power our fridge

Not long after you purchase your camping fridge, you’ll likely start looking for a power solution to charge it while you’re not driving. And if you plan a long outdoor trip, the solution is likely to be solar panels. So in this article, I’m sharing information about our solar camping setup to help you find the best solution for your needs. I’ve included a breakdown of our setup, what we’ve learned, and tips for optimising your own system.

Our setup was designed for a Toyota RAV4, a rather small vehicle, and it’s adaptable for any car. It revolves around a portable 240W solar panel*, a 120Ah AGM slimline battery*, and an MPPT solar controller. This simple system powers our 50L camping fridge* and charges our devices while giving us the flexibility to recharge the battery while we’re out exploring, as we rarely stay put at the camp.

Key components of our camping solar setup

• 240W portable solar panels*:
  • It is portable and adjustable, allowing us to position it away from the car for maximum solar exposure when we park in the shade. We chose large solar panels to recharge our battery quickly to suit our way of travelling. We rarely spend a lot of time at the campground and might not be able to take them out every time we park. It’s also a good way to still recharge the battery even when the conditions are not optimal (early or late in the day, in the shade or on cloudy days).
• MPPT solar controller*:
  • It manages the solar power input and maximises energy harvest, delivering up to 30% more efficiency compared to cheaper PWM controllers. We find the Bluetooth connection to view details on our phones quite handy to easily check the system is working and monitor the status of the battery.
• 120Ah AGM slimline battery:
  • It was important for us to have a slimline battery* to save space during road trips, and the slimline 120Ah could easily fit behind our car seats.
  • An AGM battery is a budget-friendly option compared to lithium batteries, but careful management is required to avoid discharging below 50% capacity. If it weren’t for budget reasons, we would have opted for a lithium battery* as it’s not as heavy and easier to manage.

Lessons learned

Setting up portable solar panels for camping requires attention to detail and a clear understanding of your needs. Here are key insights from our experience with a camping solar setup designed to power a fridge and other essentials.

1. Not all portable solar panels are equal

We quickly found out that comparing solar panels can be tricky, as advertised wattages don’t always match real-world performance. Quality and technology vary widely, which impacts performance a lot. Don’t get fooled by cheap options that appear too good to be true. Here are a few tips:

Buy from trusted websites with reviews

We found reviews really helpful, as previous buyers may share their experience with the product’s performance with their solar camping setup. Again, it’s tricky to compare as goals and setups always differ, but it’s good to avoid products that really overestimate their wattage.

Check the specifications:

To gauge real output, look at the max power voltage (Vmp) and max power current (Imp) ratings.

Make sure you ask the sellers what you can expect to get with their product. They may always try to make it sound better than it is, but we had a few who admitted the real-world performance was about 50% of what was advertised, so we looked at their products with a higher voltage.

Solar blankets can underperform

It’s important to have cooling airflow behind your solar panels to maximise their performance; hence, solar blankets that lie flat on a surface may not be your best option. It’s better to look for a solution with support to give an angle to the panels.

Some of the cheaper solar blankets bend with the heat, which reduces again performance.

Portability and placement:

If you move a lot like us, choose panels that can be placed on your car as well as on the ground. This flexibility ensures the panel can catch sunlight while you’re away hiking and not just when you’re staying at your campground.

Our choice: 240W portable solar panels*

We are very satisfied with our 240W portable solar panels*. While they’re a bit heavy, they fold flat and don’t take up much space in our boot. We reached over 240W during our first camping trip! They obviously produced a lot less when in the shade early in the morning, but we were still satisfied to see the battery would charge slowly in bad conditions.

2. Cables and connections matter, and it’s not that simple

We initially thought we’d just need to purchase cables at the shop where we bought the equipment. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that easy as they didn’t have the products we wanted to maximise quality and length. Here’s what we learnt:

Cable size:

While we opted for longer cables to position our panels away from the car, which is often parked in the shade, you can lose performance if your cable is too long.

Make sure you use thicker cables (4 or 6mm2 for a system like ours) to minimise resistance and power loss. We found many cables that were only 2.5mm2, which isn’t the best solution.

Plan your connections:

Different components may require Anderson plugs, ferrules, or ring terminals. Sketching out your system beforehand helps avoid compatibility issues and bad surprises when you’re ready to test your system.

Use a box:

A power box is ideal to have multiple connection options to charge your devices but not many cables. It keeps everything tidy. We opted to design our own with only the connection we needed, to keep costs down and save space with a very small box. But it’s very easy to find a pre-made power box* to suit your needs.

Fuses

While fuses are often recommended by the product manufacturer when you look at the installation manual, they were rarely included in the cables we could purchase at the same shop.

Our choice: customised cables

In the end, we opted for customised cables, which allowed us to avoid compromising on quality and length. We found a small business willing to do them for us as we didn’t have the tools. It took a bit of back-and-forth to place the order, but it ended up being cheaper than the pre-made cables.

3. Protect your AGM battery

AGM batteries are cost-effective but require careful management as discharging below 50% damages the battery. Our fridge does have a low-voltage disconnect that we can setup on low, medium or high, but the specifications seemed to indicate it would still draw power from the battery under the 50% mark, unfortunately.

For piece of mind, we tried to protect our AGM battery with an LVD that would automatically disconnect loads when the battery reached 50%, preventing damage from over-discharge. Unfortunately, all the options we found were either too complicated to set up or would disconnect the battery too late. So instead, we relied on the information from our MPPT solar controller, which was easy to look at using the phone app.

Do you have a battery and solar setup for camping? Share your tips in the comments below!