Anyone managed a decent solar setup for under £300 total? What did you actually buy?

Finally pulled the trigger on trying to sort proper off-grid power for my campervan conversion and I'm trying to keep the whole lot under £300 if at all possible. I've got a 175W panel from a guy on Facebook Marketplace for £45 which felt like a result, and I'm looking at a 100Ah leisure battery from Halfords that's around £89. That leaves me roughly £165 for a charge controller, inverter, cabling, fuses and all the odds and ends.

I'm leaning towards an EPEVER 20A MPPT controller (seeing them for about £35-40 on Amazon) rather than PWM just to get a bit more efficiency, but I'm genuinely unsure whether it's worth the extra tenner or so on a setup this size. The inverter is where I'm struggling — I only really need to run a laptop and charge phones, so a 300W pure sine wave should be sufficient, but the cheap ones on eBay worry me a bit.

Has anyone actually pieced together a working setup at this kind of budget and lived with it day to day? Particularly curious whether anyone's gone down the used battery route to save money, and whether that's ended in tears or not. Would love to know what corners are actually safe to cut and which ones will cost you more in the long run.

@Paul1975 What battery have you gone for to pair with that panel? That'll likely be your biggest cost decision. I managed a basic setup in my static caravan for around £280 a few years back — 100Ah AGM, 20A PWM controller, second-hand panel off eBay. Worked fine for lighting and phone charging but struggled when I added a 12V compressor fridge.

If you're doing a van conversion properly, I'd seriously consider whether AGM is worth it at that budget — Fogstar do decent budget LiFePO4 now that weren't around when I started.

Few questions before anyone can properly advise:

• What are you actually trying to run?
• Inverter needed or 12V direct?
• Is this year-round or summer only?

The controller choice matters a lot with a 175W panel — what voltage is it?

@Paul1975 Done similar on a tight budget for my garden office. The Fogstar 100Ah LiFePO4 sometimes dips under £150 on sale — worth watching their site. Pair that with a Renogy Wanderer 30A PWM controller (around £25-30) and you've got the core sorted for well under your budget. Leaves headroom for cable, fusing, and a basic battery monitor.

PWM vs MPPT debate aside, at 175W a decent PWM controller is perfectly adequate — don't let anyone upsell you unnecessarily on this scale.

@Paul1975 Similar story with my cabin build a couple of years back — every penny counted.

The honest truth is that your battery will make or break this. I went down the cheap sealed lead-acid route first and regretted every moment of it. Eventually swapped to a Fogstar 100Ah LiFePO4 and it transformed the whole setup.

If you're wedded to the £300 ceiling, split it roughly like this:

• Panel (already sorted ✓)
• Victron SmartSolar 75/15 MPPT — around £65-70, genuinely worth the stretch over a PWM unit
• Fogstar or similar budget LiFePO4 — keep an eye on their sale section

The Victron controller talking to your phone via Bluetooth saved me hours of guesswork when I was commissioning everything. That visibility matters more than people realise when you're starting out.

@Paul1975 Done exactly this for my static caravan backup setup. The bit people overlook at your budget level is the charge controller — don't scrimp there. A decent MPPT (even a basic Renogy 20A unit around £35-40) will squeeze meaningfully more out of that 175W panel than a PWM will.

Also factor in proper fusing and cabling — I've seen people blow their whole setup because they bodged the wiring to save a tenner. Decent 6mm² cable and an ANL fuse holder won't break the bank and could save your van from a fire.

With your £300 total including the panel you've already got, you're realistically looking at:

• MPPT controller ~£40
• Battery (second-hand AGM or stretched to LiFePO4 like @NeilJackson suggests)
• Remaining budget on connectors, fusing, MC4 leads

Tight but doable.

Hey @Paul1975, great that you've already got the panel sorted — that's usually the biggest chunk of the budget gone right there!

One thing I'd add that nobody's mentioned yet: don't forget your cable sizing and fuse protection. I see so many budget builds where people spend sensibly on the main components then bodge the wiring with undersized cable from a pound shop. A proper inline fuse holder and decent 6mm² cable for the battery connections is only a few quid from somewhere like Bimble Solar or Amazon, but it genuinely could save you a fire.

Also worth checking Facebook Marketplace for a secondhand MPPT controller — I picked up a perfectly good Victron 75/15 for £35 that way. Victron kit holds its value but does come up used fairly regularly. 👍

Great start @Paul1975! One thing I'd add that nobody's mentioned yet — don't skimp on your cable sizing. I made that mistake early on and lost a surprising amount of power to resistance, plus it gets warm which isn't ideal in a van. Proper 6mm² cable between panel and controller makes a real difference.

For your remaining budget, a basic PWM controller rather than MPPT is absolutely fine at 175W — saves you £20-30 right there. Put that money toward a decent fused connection kit instead. Victron do affordable stuff but even the unbranded options from Amazon work if you check the reviews carefully.

What are you actually planning to run from it? That'll determine whether you need a proper leisure battery or whether a cheaper option would do. Makes a big difference to where your remaining budget goes!

@Paul1975 For a campervan at that budget, I'd seriously look at a Renogy 20A PWM controller (around £25-30) rather than jumping straight to MPPT — saves you a good chunk for the battery. Fogstar do decent LiFePO4 cells if you can stretch slightly, but a sealed AGM will do the job for occasional use.

My garden office setup started similarly modest. The thing that caught me out was forgetting a decent inline fuse between battery and loads — cheap insurance for maybe £8. Don't overlook that bit.

Great shout from @Tina1971 on the PWM route at that budget. One thing I'd throw in — seriously consider a used leisure battery rather than new. Facebook Marketplace and eBay regularly have decent 100Ah units for £40-60 that still have plenty of life left. Just bring a multimeter and do a basic load test before handing over cash. Pair that with a cheap battery monitor (Votronic or even a generic one off Amazon for £15-20) and you'll actually know what's going on with your system rather than just guessing. Keeps you well within budget too.

@Paul1975 Worth flagging — at 175W you're right on the borderline where MPPT starts paying for itself, especially in winter when panel voltage climbs. I run a Victron SmartSolar 75/15 (roughly £55-60 delivered) and the efficiency gains over PWM have been measurable in low-light conditions.

For emergency backup purposes specifically, that extra harvested capacity matters when you've had two cloudy days running.

@Tina1971 makes fair points on cost, but factor in that a decent MPPT will handle future panel upgrades without replacement. Running the numbers on your actual usage profile before committing either way is worth 20 minutes of your time.