Anyone managed a decent 12v solar setup for under £200 total? What did you actually buy?

Finally took the plunge last month and put together a basic system for my old Transit camper. Ended up spending £187 all in — 100W panel off eBay (£55), a Renogy 20A PWM controller (£22), and a 100Ah leisure battery from Tayna (£89). Threw in some 6mm² cable and a couple of ANL fuses from Amazon for the rest. It's running a 12v compressor fridge, phone charging, and a few LED strips without much bother.

I know PWM gets a lot of stick compared to MPPT, but honestly at this panel size and budget I couldn't justify the extra £30-40. The controller seems to be doing its job fine so far — battery's sitting at 12.8v most mornings after overnight use, which I'm reasonably happy with given we're heading into autumn.

Wondering what other people have managed to cobble together on a tight budget? Particularly curious whether anyone's found decent cheap panels that aren't complete rubbish — the eBay lottery is real and I got lucky, but I wouldn't want to rely on that again. Any suppliers or specific bits of kit worth knowing about?

Nice one @Chippy33, that's a solid start for the money.

One thing worth mentioning — if you ever upgrade that battery down the line, consider jumping from PWM to MPPT. I picked up a Victron 75/15 MPPT for around £45 on a Facebook Marketplace find, and it made a noticeable difference to charging efficiency, especially on cloudy days which let's be honest is most of the year here isn't it 😄

Also for anyone reading this thread on a tight budget, keep an eye on Screwfix and Toolstation for cable and fusing gear — I've kitted out cable runs for pennies compared to dedicated solar suppliers. MC4 connectors seem dear but buying a 10-pack brings the unit cost right down.

What battery did you go with @Chippy33? Curious whether you opted for leisure or AGM.

Done similar for my garden office last year. Went 100W panel (£48 off Amazon), Victron SmartSolar 10A MPPT (£65), and a Fogstar 100Ah lithium — though that last bit blew the budget a fair bit 😅

If you're sticking with lead-acid like sounds like you are @Chippy33, that Renogy PWM is fine honestly. Don't let people bully you into MPPT until you're ready to go lithium — the efficiency gains are minimal with a basic flooded battery anyway.

One thing I'd add: fuse everything close to the battery. Took me an embarrassing amount of rewiring to sort that on mine. Inline ANL fuse, few quid on eBay, proper peace of mind.

Great little setup @Chippy33, Transit campers are brilliant for this sort of thing.

One thing I'd add that nobody's mentioned yet — keep an eye on your cable sizing between the panel and controller. Lots of folk on a budget skimp here and lose a surprising amount of efficiency, or worse, create a fire risk. For a 100W panel you want at minimum 4mm² cable for any run over a couple of metres.

Also worth grabbing a basic battery monitor if you haven't already — you can pick up a Bayite or similar shunt monitor for under a tenner on eBay. Makes a massive difference knowing your actual state of charge rather than just guessing. Saved me from flattening my leisure battery more times than I'd like to admit!

All told your £187 sounds very reasonable for what you've got.

Great thread! @Chippy33 that's a cracking result for under £200.

One thing I'd add from my own experience — don't overlook your cable sizing. I went cheap on the wiring first time round and ended up with noticeable voltage drop between the panel and controller. Proper 6mm² cable from panel to battery made a genuine difference, especially on cloudy days when every watt counts.

Also worth picking up a basic battery monitor if you haven't already — something like the Bayite 100A unit off Amazon runs about £12-15 and takes the guesswork out of knowing your actual state of charge. Saved me from flattening my leisure battery more than once before I fitted one.

Sounds like you're well on your way though. What are you mainly running off it?

Really solid build @Chippy33. One thing worth flagging for anyone replicating this on a tight budget — cable sizing is where people consistently underspec and lose real efficiency.

On my motorhome setup I ran 6mm² from the panel to controller and 10mm² from controller to battery. Sounds overkill on a 100W system but voltage drop on undersized cable genuinely kills performance, especially on longer runs.

Also worth factoring in a blade fuse holder close to the battery — usually £3-4 from any auto factors or Halfords. Not glamorous but critical.

Quick rough breakdown of where the budget typically goes wrong:

The panel and controller get all the attention but the ancillaries make or break reliability long-term.

Solid build @Chippy33 but genuinely need to know — did you actually test everything before bolting that panel to the roof, or were you up a ladder in the rain going "well it's not on fire yet, that's promising"? 🔧

Also what battery did you go with? You said "1" and then the post just...

Great setup @Chippy33, and a solid price too!

One thing I'd throw in that hasn't been mentioned yet — give serious thought to fusing both ends of your battery cables, not just at the controller. A short between the battery and the fuse is still a fire risk, so keeping that run as short as physically possible matters too.

Also worth mentioning: if anyone's buying panels off eBay on this sort of budget, check the actual Voc before you buy. Some cheap 100W panels have a higher open-circuit voltage than the controller expects, which can cause headaches with budget PWM units. Renogy's own specs are usually reliable, but third-party panels can be a lottery.

@DefenderDream raises a fair point about cabling — I've seen more budget builds fail from underspec'd cable than anything else. Spend the extra fiver, it's genuinely worth it.