Solar Panel on your Camper Van? Avoid This Mistake! ⚠️☀️

0:00 So I've got a pot of bird poo! Don't make this  mistake. If you have you could hugely increase   the power from your solar panel, if you correct  the mistake you've made. I have 150 watts of   solar power on top of this camper van, but it's  only producing this. Something isn't right but  

0:18 I do have a solution. I installed this panel  myself and did an installation video and it's   the perfect addition to my system I bought the  full kit from batteries and solar in Plymouth   the kit comprised of all the fixtures and  fittings cabling also including the gland   which really should be used when you're drilling  a hole through the metal surface of your van or  

0:39 even if it's a popped up roof the movement of  the vehicle can actually Fray that cable so you   should be using a marine quality gland now this  panel is 150 watt etfe semi-flexible solar panel   the controller I've got is a victron energy it's  smart solar mppt 75 15. all up and running and  

1:00 it's currently producing absolute rubbish Watts  but why is that just because the panel is rated   at 150 watts it doesn't necessarily mean I'm  going to be getting 150 watts but this what   I'm getting now is just far too low and there  is a reason for it it's beautiful conditions  

1:20 it's absolutely perfect it's bright sunshine it's  about four o'clock in the afternoon so the sun is   pretty high it's not going to be going down for  another five hours or so so realistically this   should be producing a reasonable amount why is it  not I have turned on a few devices drawing power  

1:40 I've got my laptop my Ryobi inflator it should be  drawing more power than it is and the reason why this this is the reason why I'm getting low power  there's a couple of panels are shaded the output   of the panel is reduced significantly this  makes a massive difference if you're dependent  

2:03 on your solar energy topping up your laser  battery whilst you're off grid you need to   make sure that this isn't being covered so at the  moment I'm on 67 Watts 66 Watts it's drawing 66   Watts from this solar panel now if I remove  this let's have a look what that goes up to

2:29 so I move this away and all of a  sudden each jumped up to 92. 92 Watts and that's quite interesting because  it popped up to 92 then so I'm not   sure if you're going to be able  to see this but that says 92.   now if I put my arm over it or  let's just say my phone on top of it

3:02 that also affects the output of what's coming out  so I am now at 92 Watts but even if I put my arm   over the panel it immediately drops down to  65 66 away straight back up to 90 odd now if   I was pulling more watts from the actual battery  itself I'm pretty sure this will be higher but as  

3:27 you can see it's reduced it by 30 percent just by  putting my hand on there but what else could make   a difference because if you're out and about if  you're off grid completely dependent on this panel   and little things affect it you might  have a problem so let's have a look  

3:44 at some leaves so here's some  leaves which fell off my tray   I've got them my pear tree so we are at 91  Watts and I put one leaf on and it blows off 83 went down to 83. this isn't a good test because  it's going to blow let's just Chuck some leaves on   and out for the best

4:09 the wind picks up just in time so whilst they've been doing this  tastic aren't we windy and then now   when I want to put some leaves on it's  flipping windy so let's have another go so we're at 91 and I put a leaf on

4:34 one leaf takes it down to 81. for one leaf now  it's all right because it blows off and if you're   traveling it's just going to blow away in the  Wind but if that's a wet Leaf like sometimes   you can get stuck on your roof because you've not  cleaned it properly that could be causing a bit  

4:52 of a problem now something else you get on your  roof is bird poop now I'm not going to put bird   poop on the roof because I'm not that clever to  be able to get some birds to be able to then poo   on my roof just exactly as I want them to and  we have managed to get them to poop just over  

5:08 there at the side of it but not actually on the  roof but I've got something I can improvise with so I've got a pot of bird poo it's not Bird  poo honestly it's not because that'd just be   disgusting so let's just get that out  the way I've been annoying me that so  

5:34 here's my bird poo my make-believe Bird  poo so if I get some of this bird poo and just to clarify we're on 91 Watts again  now if I put a dollop a bird poo there oh we went down to 90. no big effect   another doll per burpoo oh it's a big bird  poo that it's flipping Foams going off

6:06 and it drops down because you're cutting the panels off another dollop of bird poo oh these flipping  birds around here they're flipping nightmare   and they go it's dropping it down so

6:31 the birds pooed on it and at least  stuck on it and now we're down to 78.   78 so that ain't very good is  it you know if you've actually   got Bird poo and you've got leaves on your van  and you've got other dirt and debris and rubbish   preventing the sun's Rays from getting to your  panel you're going to have reduced capacity  

6:58 which isn't great days like today your fridge is  going to be working extra hard because it's hot   air and it needs to cool down so it's going  to need a lot of energy and if your leisure   batteries are going to drain quickly you're  going to need something to top them up now if  

7:13 you're doing lots of driving and you DC to DC  Chargers going to actually help you with that   and it is going to be charging it but if you're  not and like me now in the middle of absolutely   nowhere with nowhere to plug in you're going  to need your solar panel the next time you're  

7:31 washing your vehicle make sure it's clean make  sure you get on the roof and actually give it a   good clean there's some good products for this and  I've actually got one but I've not actually got   it here so I can't show you maybe I'll overlay an  image of it and where you can get it from because  

7:45 it's something which I use and I think it's  really good now maybe that's just an essential   item which you need for your van which I've done  a few videos on before but more specifically on   a day like today this beautiful the sun is out  and the water in the sea and the sea water is  

8:02 warming up that's exactly where you want to be you  want to be at the beach see if you've not seen my   beach Essentials video you can have a look at that  here for now take care and I hope to see you soon