RV FEATURE
In winter, the long afternoon shadows can cast over your solar panels without you realising it. Always keep an eye on the path of the sun and move your panels accordingly.
THE DAYS ARE SHORT
It’ s not just the low angle of the sun that is conspiring against you. The number of daylight hours is less during winter. The impact of this on free-camping is profound. Not only do you have a shorter space of time to harvest what little solar energy is available, you’ ll be depleting your batteries over a longer period of time than you would in summer, thanks to the longer nights. The more you can do to maximise solar charging in those hours, the better.
External solar panels come in all shapes and sizes, some very compact and lightweight. If you have the means, we recommend carrying two external panels if you can and moving them to follow the sun in the sky. You only have to do this just three times a day to extract every last bit of available solar energy.
Another thing to consider is that the cooler temperatures of winter work in your favour. Solar panels are at their most efficient when they are cool. We’ ve seen our external panels produce higher output during winter, and, in the case of our Redarc panels, they can exceed their rated output.
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