Does anyone actually get usable solar through a UK winter? Asking about my 200W roof setup

I've had 200W of panels on my Transit conversion since last spring and honestly it's been brilliant — kept a 100Ah lithium topped up no bother through summer. But now we're heading into November I'm starting to wonder whether I'm being naive expecting it to do much at all between now and February.

Yesterday (overcast, south-facing, panels flat on the roof) I got maybe 8–10Ah into the battery over the whole day. My fridge is pulling around 30Ah a day on its own, so I'm already in a deficit and it's not even properly winter yet. I've got a Victron SmartSolar 100/20 controller and a 175Ah Battle Born, so the kit isn't the problem — it's just the physics of being at 52°N with a flat roof mount.

I know tilting the panels helps in winter but obviously that's not really practical when you're parked up in a car park or moving every couple of days. Has anyone actually run figures on what you realistically pull in December or January? I'm wondering whether to just budget for shore power top-ups every few days or invest in a second 200W panel instead.

@KarenEvans honestly the short answer is: yes, but you'll need to manage expectations. Running a 200W setup through a UK winter I reckon you'll realistically see maybe 30–60 minutes of "useful" generation on overcast days, sometimes nothing if it's properly grey for a week straight.

What saved me was:

• Keeping panels as tilted as possible — sun angle drops massively December/January
• Watching the Victron app obsessively and cutting discretionary loads early
• Having a backup shore power or DC-DC charger option for the rough patches

The 100Ah lithium helps because at least you're not worrying about discharge damage like with AGM. But I'd say plan for your van needing supplementary charging October through February rather than treating solar as your primary source. It's a bridging tool in winter, not a solution.

@KarenEvans worth actually knowing your numbers before you panic. UK winter you're looking at maybe 1-2 peak sun hours on a decent day, so realistically 200-300Wh on a good day from your 200W setup — less when it's properly grey.

The angle matters too. If your panels are flat on the roof you're losing a fair chunk in winter because the sun sits so low. Nothing you can do about that in a van obviously, but it's worth knowing why production drops so sharply.

What I found in my own build — Victron MPPT really does squeeze the most out of weak winter light compared to cheaper controllers. If you're still on a PWM unit, that's low-hanging fruit worth addressing before anything else.

Shore power hookup when you can get it is just practical reality from November through February tbh.