I own a 2011 Jayco Expanda van, which unfortunately has no battery power on board.
We have recently booked a 3 day holiday to an unpowered campsite in a national park which has no lighting.
I'm hoping that someone may be able to suggest some reasonably priced solar lighting options that I can use to illuminate the awning each night, and bright enough to eat dinner etc. :), then fully charge the next day (weather permitting).
It would also be handy to be able to dim the lights to extend the run time.
I've looked at many options on Ebay, Amazon etc. however I have my doubts that they will illuminate for very long as most have very small rechargable batteries. I also need them to be able to charge fully during the day.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I live in South Australia.
travelyounger said
02:39 PM Feb 11, 2021
I suppose it depends on your future needs and how much free camping and your budget it can be easy to spend other peoples money
Cheers
Peter_n_Margaret said
02:51 PM Feb 11, 2021
Get yourself a small portable solar panel and regulator and hook it to the car battery.
Run a couple of portable 12V led lights from there.
Cheers,
Peter
PeterD said
03:55 PM Feb 11, 2021
Hasten slowly! When are you going? Don't rush into things unless you have a few months to get the job done.
Your Jayco is wired to allow you to be able to use your tugs (tow vehicle) battery if the wiring has not been fiddled with. What trailer plug do you have on the Expanda? On the older Jaycos, pin 2 of the trailer plug was used to supply power to the van to power the lights and the fridge. If you get your tug wired so that there is a hot wire from the battery (through a fuse) to the pin 2 in the trailer socket you will be able to power your lights from the tugs battery. You will get a couple of nights out of your battery before you have to go for a run in the tug to recharge your battery. This is how we camped off power in our vans 15 or more years ago. There were extremely few vans before the year 2000 that had batteries supplied with them, you had to make special arrangements with the builder before they would fit batteries.
Here are a couple of Jayco documents for vans built after yours. One is a photocopy and the other is PDF document. You will note that the PDF one has the battery circuit in dotted lines. That is hoe the vans were delivered from the factory. If the new owners wanted a battery the agent fitted them before they were handed over.
-- Edited by PeterD on Thursday 11th of February 2021 04:00:38 PM
I would forget about trying to figure out the van wiring.
Run the LED lights straight from the car battery to the awning.
Cheers,
Peter
PeterD said
04:40 PM Feb 11, 2021
He wants lights in the van. Why not use the van the way it was designed? If he gets his rig sorted out he can use the van whilst he makes arrangements for a solar system without doing it in a rush and having to do it a second time.
travelyounger said
04:51 PM Feb 11, 2021
PeterD wrote:
Hasten slowly! When are you going? Don't rush into things unless you have a few months to get the job done.
Your Jayco is wired to allow you to be able to use your tugs (tow vehicle) battery if the wiring has not been fiddled with. What trailer plug do you have on the Expanda? On the older Jaycos, pin 2 of the trailer plug was used to supply power to the van to power the lights and the fridge. If you get your tug wired so that there is a hot wire from the battery (through a fuse) to the pin 2 in the trailer socket you will be able to power your lights from the tugs battery. You will get a couple of nights out of your battery before you have to go for a run in the tug to recharge your battery. This is how we camped off power in our vans 15 or more years ago. There were extremely few vans before the year 2000 that had batteries supplied with them, you had to make special arrangements with the builder before they would fit batteries.
Here are a couple of Jayco documents for vans built after yours. One is a photocopy and the other is PDF document. You will note that the PDF one has the battery circuit in dotted lines. That is hoe the vans were delivered from the factory. If the new owners wanted a battery the agent fitted them before they were handed over.
-- Edited by PeterD on Thursday 11th of February 2021 04:00:38 PM
Hi
If you intend to set up this way as PeterD mentioned in his reply I would highly recommend that you put at least a 100 amp agm deep cycle that is isolated from your tugs battery.
There is not much fun having a flat battery when you leave or worse when your on your lonesome.
Cheers
Peter_n_Margaret said
06:53 PM Feb 11, 2021
PeterD wrote:
He wants lights in the van. Why not use the van the way it was designed? If he gets his rig sorted out he can use the van whilst he makes arrangements for a solar system without doing it in a rush and having to do it a second time.
No, he wants lights in the awning, for 2 or 3 evenings. Could probably simply run them from the car battery and charge from the alternator for a short time each morning, if it even needs it?
Cheers,
Peter
Whenarewethere said
07:25 PM Feb 11, 2021
If you want to keep it simple until you know what you precisely want to do.
A white plastic bag over a USB rechargeable torch gives you nice soft lighting. The current torches go for days.
G'day Troy,
Welcome to the forum.
You've been given several solutions above. Some companies produce a small power pack consisting of a rechargeable (nominally 12v) battery, complete with regulator & small solar panel that will last for a considerable time.
Don't make the mistake when you get home of neglecting any extra battery (on top of your car's one). Batteries don't take kindly from being put in a cupboard, when it's partially discharged & "left for the next trip away."
Perhaps in time, you might want to "have a home away from home" where you want to live it up a bit with batteries, solar panels, etc. There is significant info in this forum (mainly the "Techies'" column & the "Solar" pages of that.
rgren2 said
10:11 PM Feb 11, 2021
Get a big generator.
Whenarewethere said
10:34 PM Feb 11, 2021
Then I could run my ARRI 2000 watt portable sun!
Mike Harding said
04:39 AM Feb 12, 2021
Consider headlights. They are an excellent form of bush illumination and. They put the light exactly where you want it and, of course, leave both hands free.
And don't forget the older style lighting - fuel lamps. I used one in the bush for many years and actually prefer their light to that of LEDs, they are a warmer light and do not have the sharp cut-off of LED lights:
No messing around with solar panels in forests and the like, a 1L bottle of Shellite will last a couple of weeks minimum at this time of the year.
Whenarewethere said
06:32 AM Feb 12, 2021
A lot of LED lighting has very poor CRI (colour rendering index) it is tiring for your eyes & difficult to see the colour spectrum properly. Together with about 10% of the male population with some degree of colour issues we are not in a good situation.
https://www.xrite.com/hue-test
TroyK said
08:00 AM Feb 12, 2021
Thanks for the replies everyone. So many options. I have would prefer not to use the cars battery, therefore I'll look at what other portable options there are. Cheers
Stewart said
08:49 AM Feb 12, 2021
Although I have plenty of solar and 12volt I also carry the Coleman duel fuel lamp. They are brilliant and have that old time camping look. Very bright if required and can cast light around a large area. Cheers Stewart
TheHeaths said
08:49 AM Feb 12, 2021
Troy, I see you are in SA.
As an option, that may be even good for longer term, consider this.
Home of 12 Volt at Pooraka in the northern suburbs, and Mt Barker, sell the Thumper range of 12 volt battery packs. They have a range of amp hour units, and when I purchased mine years ago, you could get a lead that allowed you to connect to your van via the 7 pin plug. It effectively became the van battery. A flat 7 pin adapter will do the same if your van has a 12 pin plug. They also come with an in car charging system, or you can connect a solar panel during the day to charge them.
Using them allows you to use your vans normal lights, including the awning light, and all 12 volt inside. I would recommend the 105 aH version if you look to use it to power a Waeco or such as well.
They are not cheap, but do last, and will serve you for years to come. It may be worth calling them to find out what they have available if you are close, and looking for a longer term solution. You can also get them repackaged, at the cost of a similar size decent brand AGM battery when they get older. Ours is coming up for 13 years old, and I had it repackaged a second time mid last year.
Hope this helps.
-- Edited by TheHeaths on Friday 12th of February 2021 08:50:50 AM
Whenarewethere said
09:01 AM Feb 12, 2021
Or just get battery. This is a 26AH gel battery & I have mounted 2 Anderson plugs on the side. Screwed onto an aluminium plate plus spacer & that plate double sided taped on the side on the battery. Can simply plug it into the car to charge & have a spare Anderson plug.
Hi All,
I own a 2011 Jayco Expanda van, which unfortunately has no battery power on board.
We have recently booked a 3 day holiday to an unpowered campsite in a national park which has no lighting.
I'm hoping that someone may be able to suggest some reasonably priced solar lighting options that I can use to illuminate the awning each night, and bright enough to eat dinner etc. :), then fully charge the next day (weather permitting).
It would also be handy to be able to dim the lights to extend the run time.
I've looked at many options on Ebay, Amazon etc. however I have my doubts that they will illuminate for very long as most have very small rechargable batteries. I also need them to be able to charge fully during the day.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I live in South Australia.
Cheers
Run a couple of portable 12V led lights from there.
Cheers,
Peter
Hasten slowly! When are you going? Don't rush into things unless you have a few months to get the job done.
Your Jayco is wired to allow you to be able to use your tugs (tow vehicle) battery if the wiring has not been fiddled with. What trailer plug do you have on the Expanda? On the older Jaycos, pin 2 of the trailer plug was used to supply power to the van to power the lights and the fridge. If you get your tug wired so that there is a hot wire from the battery (through a fuse) to the pin 2 in the trailer socket you will be able to power your lights from the tugs battery. You will get a couple of nights out of your battery before you have to go for a run in the tug to recharge your battery. This is how we camped off power in our vans 15 or more years ago. There were extremely few vans before the year 2000 that had batteries supplied with them, you had to make special arrangements with the builder before they would fit batteries.
Here are a couple of Jayco documents for vans built after yours. One is a photocopy and the other is PDF document. You will note that the PDF one has the battery circuit in dotted lines. That is hoe the vans were delivered from the factory. If the new owners wanted a battery the agent fitted them before they were handed over.
-- Edited by PeterD on Thursday 11th of February 2021 04:00:38 PM
Run the LED lights straight from the car battery to the awning.
Cheers,
Peter
Hi
If you intend to set up this way as PeterD mentioned in his reply I would highly recommend that you put at least a 100 amp agm deep cycle that is isolated from your tugs battery.
There is not much fun having a flat battery when you leave or worse when your on your lonesome.
Cheers
No, he wants lights in the awning, for 2 or 3 evenings. Could probably simply run them from the car battery and charge from the alternator for a short time each morning, if it even needs it?
Cheers,
Peter
If you want to keep it simple until you know what you precisely want to do.
A white plastic bag over a USB rechargeable torch gives you nice soft lighting. The current torches go for days.
Welcome to the forum.
You've been given several solutions above. Some companies produce a small power pack consisting of a rechargeable (nominally 12v) battery, complete with regulator & small solar panel that will last for a considerable time.
Don't make the mistake when you get home of neglecting any extra battery (on top of your car's one). Batteries don't take kindly from being put in a cupboard, when it's partially discharged & "left for the next trip away."
Perhaps in time, you might want to "have a home away from home" where you want to live it up a bit with batteries, solar panels, etc. There is significant info in this forum (mainly the "Techies'" column & the "Solar" pages of that.
Then I could run my ARRI 2000 watt portable sun!
Consider headlights. They are an excellent form of bush illumination and. They put the light exactly where you want it and, of course, leave both hands free.
And don't forget the older style lighting - fuel lamps. I used one in the bush for many years and actually prefer their light to that of LEDs, they are a warmer light and do not have the sharp cut-off of LED lights:
Coleman lamp
No messing around with solar panels in forests and the like, a 1L bottle of Shellite will last a couple of weeks minimum at this time of the year.
A lot of LED lighting has very poor CRI (colour rendering index) it is tiring for your eyes & difficult to see the colour spectrum properly. Together with about 10% of the male population with some degree of colour issues we are not in a good situation.
https://www.xrite.com/hue-test
Troy, I see you are in SA.
As an option, that may be even good for longer term, consider this.
Home of 12 Volt at Pooraka in the northern suburbs, and Mt Barker, sell the Thumper range of 12 volt battery packs. They have a range of amp hour units, and when I purchased mine years ago, you could get a lead that allowed you to connect to your van via the 7 pin plug. It effectively became the van battery. A flat 7 pin adapter will do the same if your van has a 12 pin plug. They also come with an in car charging system, or you can connect a solar panel during the day to charge them.
Using them allows you to use your vans normal lights, including the awning light, and all 12 volt inside. I would recommend the 105 aH version if you look to use it to power a Waeco or such as well.
They are not cheap, but do last, and will serve you for years to come. It may be worth calling them to find out what they have available if you are close, and looking for a longer term solution. You can also get them repackaged, at the cost of a similar size decent brand AGM battery when they get older. Ours is coming up for 13 years old, and I had it repackaged a second time mid last year.
Hope this helps.
-- Edited by TheHeaths on Friday 12th of February 2021 08:50:50 AM
Or just get battery. This is a 26AH gel battery & I have mounted 2 Anderson plugs on the side. Screwed onto an aluminium plate plus spacer & that plate double sided taped on the side on the battery. Can simply plug it into the car to charge & have a spare Anderson plug.