Most UK campsites offer electric hook-up, so a touring caravan does not need solar to function. Where solar earns its place is everywhere else - small certificated sites and farm pitches without hook-up, rallies and festivals, the odd night on a friend's drive, and the months the caravan spends in storage slowly losing charge to its alarm and tracker. This guide covers how much power a tourer actually uses, how many panels that takes, roof-mounted versus portable, and the payload question that makes touring different from a static caravan.
A caravan solar panel charges the 12V leisure battery through a charge controller. It never connects to the mains, so there is no G98 notification and no DNO involvement. If you want solar for a house or flat, see our plug-in solar guide instead. If your caravan stays on one pitch all season, the static caravan guide is the better fit.
Do you need solar on a touring caravan?
If every night you tour is on a full-facilities site with hook-up, honestly, no - the site's electricity charges the leisure battery for you. Solar starts to pay its way if any of these sound familiar:
- You like sites without hook-up. Small certificated sites, farm pitches and rally fields often have no electric at all, or charge extra for it. Without a way to recharge, a leisure battery lasts a couple of nights of careful use.
- Your caravan sits in storage. Alarms, trackers and some control panels draw a small current all the time. Over a winter lay-up that can flatten a battery, and repeatedly flattening a lead-acid battery shortens its life.
- You use a motor mover. Movers draw a heavy current for the few minutes they run. A battery that is already low may not have enough left to get the caravan onto the pitch.
The tow car helps less than people expect. It charges the leisure battery through the tow socket while the engine is running, but usually only gently, so a long drive puts back less than a day of solar would in summer.
How much power does a touring caravan use?
Off hook-up, only the 12V side of the caravan runs from the battery. The fridge should be switched to gas, and heating and hot water normally run on gas too, though their fans and control boards still draw a little from the battery. A typical day for two people looks something like this:
| Load | Typical use | Per day |
|---|---|---|
| LED lights (four at about 3W) | 5 hours | ~60Wh |
| Water pump (about 60W) | 15 minutes in total | ~15Wh |
| Two phones charged | Once each | ~20Wh |
| 12V TV (about 30W) | 3 hours | ~90Wh |
| Heating fan, control panel, standby loads | Through the day | ~30-60Wh |
| Total | ~215-245Wh, about 18-20Ah at 12V |
Drop the TV and you are nearer 10-12Ah a day; add a laptop for a few hours and you can pass 30Ah. The figures on your own appliances will differ, so treat this as a way of thinking rather than a spec. The important point is that a sensible day off hook-up is somewhere between 15 and 30 amp-hours - a range solar handles well in summer.
What solar will not do is run the caravan's mains sockets for high-power appliances. A kettle, hair dryer or electric heater draws one to two kilowatts, which is far beyond what a leisure battery and a roof panel can supply. For those you need hook-up or a generator.
How many solar panels do you need for a caravan?
A 100W panel on a 12V system puts back roughly 25-35Ah on a good UK summer day, and much less on dull days and in winter. Set that against the daily use above and the sizes fall out quite simply:
| How you tour | Solar | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Always on hook-up, just want the battery kept healthy in storage | 20-50W trickle panel | Covers the alarm and tracker drain |
| Summer weekends off hook-up - lights, pump, phones | 100W with MPPT | Replaces a typical day's use in good weather |
| A week or more off hook-up, TV or laptop, spring and autumn trips | 150-200W | Headroom for dull days and shorter daylight |
| Running mains appliances or a fridge on 12V all day | Not realistic on a tourer | Use gas for the fridge and hook-up or a generator for 230V |
Roof space limits most tourers to one or two panels anyway, and every panel adds weight, so there is little point oversizing. If you find a 100W panel is not keeping up, adding a second panel later is straightforward as long as your charge controller has the capacity - which is one reason to buy an MPPT controller rated above what you need today. Our guide to solar in a UK winter explains why output falls so sharply between November and February.
Roof-mounted or portable?
This is the main decision, and there is no single right answer.
- Roof-mounted panels charge whenever there is daylight - on the pitch, on the road and in storage - and there is nothing to set up or put away. The downside is fitting: the panel has to be fixed to the roof and a cable brought inside, and it sits flat, which costs some output compared with a panel angled at the sun.
- Portable panels stand on the ground and can be angled at the sun and moved as it tracks round, which matters if you like pitches under trees. Nothing is fitted to the caravan. The downsides are setting it up each time, a cable across the pitch, and the risk of it walking off if you leave it out while you are away. It also does nothing while the caravan is in storage.
One detail catches people out with portable panels. A folding panel sold for power stations, such as the EcoFlow panels in our portable solar panels guide, has no charge controller of its own. To charge a caravan leisure battery you need a charge controller between the panel and the battery - the Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 is the one most caravanners and boaters use for a panel up to about 220W - or a solar suitcase with a controller built in. Plugging a bare panel straight into a battery is not safe.
Fitting a solar panel to a caravan roof
Before you buy anything, check two things in your caravan's handbook:
- Is it solar-ready? Many touring caravans have a power control unit that already has a solar input, and some newer models come with a roof panel or pre-wiring fitted at the factory. If yours does, most of the job is done.
- What does the water ingress warranty say? Caravan roofs are the usual place for leaks to start. Some manufacturers are strict about holes made after delivery, so check before you drill.
Most DIY installs avoid screws altogether. Rigid panels go on with ABS corner brackets bonded to the roof with a caravan adhesive sealant such as Sikaflex 522, and semi-flexible panels can be bonded directly to a curved roof. The cable comes in through a single sealed entry gland, usually into a roof locker or wardrobe, and runs to an MPPT controller mounted near the battery, with an inline fuse on the battery side. Our solar accessories guide covers the cable, connectors and fuses.
A rigid 100W panel weighs roughly 6-8kg and a semi-flexible one a fraction of that, but either way the weight counts against your payload, which brings us to batteries. If you would rather not do it yourself, dealers and mobile caravan engineers fit solar routinely.
Keeping the leisure battery charged in storage
For many touring caravan owners this is the most useful job solar does. Storage compounds rarely have hook-up, and an alarm or tracker running for three or four winter months can drain a battery that was full when you parked. A lead-acid battery left flat for weeks may never fully recover.
A roof panel of any size handles this automatically. If you do not want a full system, a small 20-50W panel with its own controller - the same kind of trickle kit we recommend for horsebox owners - is enough to balance the drain even in winter light. Check that your storage site allows it; most do for panels fixed to the caravan itself.
Lithium batteries and your payload
Every touring caravan has a maximum weight it may be towed at, and the gap between that and its empty weight is your payload - often only 100-200kg for gas bottles, water, food, clothes and everything else. That makes battery weight matter far more on a tourer than on a static caravan.
| 100Ah battery | Typical price | Usable capacity | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| AGM lead-acid | £100-£180 | ~50% | ~28kg |
| LiFePO4 lithium | £250-£450 | ~95-100% | ~12kg |
A lithium leisure battery saves around 16kg and gives you nearly twice the usable energy, so it pairs well with solar - the panel can refill it fully without the long, slow finishing charge lead-acid needs. The catch is compatibility. Set your solar controller to a lithium profile, and check that your caravan's built-in charger and power control unit support lithium, as some older ones do not. Our static caravan guide compares the two battery types in more detail.
Recommended kit
Renogy 100W 12V Solar Panel Starter Kit
The usual starting point for caravan solar: a rigid 100W panel, an MPPT charge controller and the cabling in one box - you add the mounting brackets, sealant and cable entry gland. It covers summer weekends off hook-up and keeps the battery topped up in storage, and Renogy's range makes it easy to add a second panel later.
amazon Check Price on Amazon →50W Flexible Solar Trickle Charge Kit
If you always tour on hook-up and just want the battery kept healthy between trips, a small flexible kit does the job for less money and weight than a full system. It will not keep up with a weekend off hook-up.
amazon Check Price on Amazon →Renogy 100W Solar Suitcase with 20A Controller
The simplest portable setup for a tourer: a folding 100W panel with its own 20A controller, so it charges a leisure battery straight out of the box - no separate controller to buy or wire. The controller is PWM, which is fine at this size, and it weighs about 8kg. Check it is set for your battery type, especially if you have lithium.
amazon Check Price on Amazon →Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/15
If you are building your own setup, or already own a folding panel without a controller, this is the controller to pair it with. It handles up to about 220W of panels on a 12V caravan, has proper lead-acid, AGM and lithium settings, and the free VictronConnect app shows exactly what the panel is putting into the battery.
amazon Check Price on Amazon →Fitting a roof panel yourself? Alongside the kit you will want a set of ABS mounting brackets (this one includes a cable entry nozzle, around £22) and a tube of Sikaflex 522 caravan adhesive sealant (around £12) to bond them - no drilling through the roof skin needed.
Upgrading the battery at the same time? A 100Ah LiFePO4 leisure battery is the natural partner for solar on a tourer, for the payload and capacity reasons above.
Summary
- Always on hook-up? Solar is optional. A 20-50W trickle kit is still worth it to protect the battery in storage.
- Summer weekends off hook-up? One 100W panel with an MPPT controller, about £150-£200.
- Longer stays or spring and autumn touring? 150-200W, and consider a lithium battery.
- Roof or portable? Roof for most people. Portable if you pitch in shade or cannot fit anything - a solar suitcase with a built-in controller is the easy option.
- Run the fridge on gas off hook-up, and do not expect solar to boil a kettle.
Touring with a boat or a horse rather than a caravan? See our guides to narrowboat solar and horsebox solar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you run a caravan off solar panels?
For the 12V side, yes. Lights, the water pump, phone and laptop charging and a 12V TV all run happily on a 100-200W panel through the summer. Mains appliances such as a kettle or hair dryer need hook-up or a generator, and the fridge should run on gas when you are off hook-up rather than on the battery.
How many solar panels do I need for a caravan?
One 100W panel covers lights, water pump and phone charging on summer weekends. Go to 150-200W if you stay off hook-up for a week or more, use a TV or laptop a lot, or tour in spring and autumn when the days are shorter.
Will a solar panel charge my caravan battery in winter storage?
A small 20-50W panel will usually keep a leisure battery topped up against the slow drain from an alarm or tracker, even in winter light. It will not quickly recharge a battery that has already gone flat.
Do I need to drill my caravan roof to fit a solar panel?
Not necessarily. Many owners use bonded brackets or an adhesive-mounted semi-flexible panel, with a single sealed cable entry gland. Check your manufacturer's water ingress warranty before drilling anything.
Is a portable or roof-mounted solar panel better for a touring caravan?
Roof-mounted suits most owners because it charges all the time, including in storage and on the road. A portable panel suits you if you often pitch in shade, cannot fit anything to the roof, or want to use the panel elsewhere too.