We have a caravan with two solar panels on top which works the caravan quite well. Our tow has a waeco 50 litre fridge which runs off 2 75ah batteries in back which will run fridge for about 4 days without driving vehicle to charge batteries. I have a 120 watt solar panel that I was going to mount on canopy of tow vehicle to keep batteries charged. Now someone has suggested that I mount the solar panel on the caravan roof and use anderson plug lead from caravan to car when parked and then that will charged the batteries through that. It is unlikely that we will stay anywhere with the car on its own for more than four days. So, my quandry is this . Do I fit the solar panel to tow vehicle or caravan roof. I would welcome your comments.

I guess van ? The vehicle has an alternater to charge ? The van solar fitted ., Can still charge while away ? Can't have too much solar !! Getting way cheaper now ! Especially if you fit yourself !!

The Van solar can't charge the car batts if it's not there , yes the car has a alternator but what if you leave the van somewhere and only drive a couple of K's and spend the rest of the day walking around , sightseeing, shopping ect , a few days only doing short drives the alternator hasn't had time to do much .
But you have to park in the sun if the panels are fixed , same for Van it needs to be in the sun to .
Really depends where you go what you do most , I suppose , only you know that .

I used to have 320w on the roof of the van charging 2 x 120ah batteries, 80w on the canopy hooked up to a 2nd battery and all hooked together via a 50 amp plug. Never had a low battery problem
cheers
blaze

Same as above but 110a Battery's. Patrol had 80ltr Waeco in back.
As long as car run daily. 80w panel on roof with 1 x NZ70 second battery.
kept things ticking over.
Have Anderson cable to link if req'd plus genny.

Those genny's are GREAT peace of mind everywhere.

Personally id put the extra panel on the roof. With van parked in shade and car in full sun. The fridges are running from your car not van. Also you have to add up the current loss over long lengths of cable.
Alternatively why not have anderson plugs on bothe car and van with a remote panel? That way both van and car in shade and fridges not working as hard?
Hope this helps.
Kezngaz.

I assume fridge etc is in van ? Solar permanent fitted to van . The batteries in van cant charge while away . Depending where house batteries are ? Not always a good idea to park under trees .. 100 amp plus alternator charges pretty good these days .

On the topic of solar panels - Have two solar panels fitted to roof of pop top BUT it is almost impossible to lift the roof. Any suggestions?

Stronger springs or longer leverage arms normally do it.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my post. I think that I'll fit the panel to the caravan roof. Thank you and kind regards. Graeme (Gemangi)

I just used alloy angle L cut and drilled using nut & bolts to attack to solar then 25 mm stainless screws into roof with liberal amounts of sikoflex as bonding and seal any possible leaks . The cables went down fridge vent . No need to buy attachment brackets ., The original solar on my roof has the L bracket pop riveted to outer solar panel .

Few spelled mistakes ., ^^ All bought from Bunnings for under $20