Had a fold up 80 watt solar panel and it wasnt quite up to the job. I purchased a 24 volt 190 watt solar panal on friday and fitted it to the van on saturday. Well what a difference that has made. To do a test I turned the 3 way fridge onto 12 volt which uses about 10 amps, didnt lose any voltage and made some small gains. cheers blaze
What sort of regulator are you using with the new panel? What do you normally power from your solar set-up. I don't have solar but I may do something about this before I head out this winter, hence my interest.
-- Edited by jimricho on Sunday 16th of January 2011 07:39:06 AM
What sort of fridge do you have ? The gas / 240v/12v use a lot of amps and are usually better to run on gas.I have a 55 ltr 12v fridge that uses about 4 amps at +2c. and runs for days on a 150amp/hr deep cycle and 3-40 watt 12v panels. Is your vehicle 24volts?170w at 24v is 340 w at 12volts, which is a lot.
I normally run my 3 way fridge on gas but wanted to see what the panel would do. Knowing I can pull up somewhere and spend 4 or 5 hours on a walk or such like and not having to worry about the fridge. My set up is as follows Disco series 1 with dual battery with isloator which has an 150w invertor and a 50 litre fridge (these would be my heavy power uses) 50 amp anderson plug connecting vehicle to van The van 50 amp plug on van goes to 180 amphour of 12 volt battery. I have set up the van to run on 12 volt which include tv, lighting, 300w invertor, cd player, water pump, laptops, ph chargers and other things that I cant think of now. The solar panal is roof mounted, 190 watt 24 volt bp panel at $637, the regulator is a Traxstar brand, sunsaver MPPT-15 at $367 Thats about it in a nut shell cheers blaze
-- Edited by blaze on Sunday 16th of January 2011 10:07:27 AM
As I implied earlier I'm considering solar so I'm tapping into the collective knowledge base of you guys that have hands on experience.
I mostly stay in caravan parks but occasionally do short stints of bush camping so I'm only running a few lights in the van plus a "Bushman" fridge in the car from an aux battery similar to your set-up. In the case of my van, battery weight is also a consideration as it's only a small rig.
I may go up to the NT Top End later in the year and I'm anticipating the possibility of some places where unpowered sites only may be available. For example I seem to recall that the "Low Level" in Katherine has limited powered sites but a large area available for unpowered camping.
Jim
PS: I prefer to avoid using an inverter if there's a "work around" eg... 12v TV, 12v phone charger, 12v laptop charger etc etc...
-- Edited by jimricho on Sunday 16th of January 2011 10:30:18 AM
Hi Jim I hate invertors but they along with a generator have there place. I also have a 2.5kva generator which I hope never sees the light of day (or night). Not so much because of the common reason of noise but the hassle of fuel, setting it up so as to minimise our discomfort as well as others. I only wish when I brought a new fridge about 8 months ago I had gone 12 volt with that too. cheers blaze
Sounds great and most of us could certainly use the extra power you now have onboard. With the extra weight of the panel have you managed to stay under the vans ATM? Cheers, ozjohn.
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Retired Engineer, Ex Park Owner & Caravan Consultant. Holden 2.8 Colorado - Roma Elegance 17'6" Pop Top. Location: Mornington Peninsula Vic.
Hi Jim I hate invertors but they along with a generator have there place.
I think we're on the same wavelength on this one... I can't help but think some GNs go to a lot of trouble and expense ($1,000s in some cases) for oversize battery inverter systems just to run a few luxuries such as microwaves etc. Weight and cost is probably not such an issue in the case of large motorhomes for those permanently on the road.
My most critical drawdown on 12v is the Bushman (fridge), especially if I have some frozen stuff and the weather is hot, and this is set up in the car.
Darling inverters have their place in travelling. Use for the Lemair washer, stick mixer, charge 18v Ryobi batteries. Darling the sun is generally shining and is excess power. The goodies that power from the inverter would be a drop in a flooding dam. 12v fridge, TV, laptop, 3g router, radio, lights are the big users. Darling the inverter we have is something like 92% efficient. System was designed by a solar professional and been faultless.
-- Edited by Jacko on Friday 18th of February 2011 07:48:32 AM
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dont leave till next year what you can do this year next year may never come
Darling inverters have their place in travelling. Use for the Lemair washer, stick mixer, charge 18v Ryobi batteries. Darling the sun is generally shining and is excess power. The goodies that power from the inverter would be a drop in a flooding dam. 12v fridge, TV, laptop, 3g router, radio, lights are the big users. Darling the inverter we have is something like 92% efficient. System was designed by a solar professional and been faultless.
-- Edited by Jacko on Friday 18th of February 2011 07:48:32 AM
If I read your post correctly you are mainly using the inverter for appliances that are only used intermittently and do not draw a lot of current. These are also appliances that are (most likely) not critical on being powered from a Modified Sine Wave inverter.
Using an MSW inverter with sensitive electronic devices is a case of do so at your own risk. Pure Sine Wave (more expensive) inverters are fine for sensitive gear.
Jim dear, I am not using a modified square wave inverter. Use a sine wave inverter. Jimmy dear no such thing as a modified sine wave. Modified sine wave is salesman deceiving talk. Jim even us scientists cannot modify a sine wave.
-- Edited by Jacko on Sunday 20th of February 2011 05:11:17 AM
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dont leave till next year what you can do this year next year may never come
Jimmy dear no such thing as a modified sine wave. Modified sine wave is salesman deceiving talk. Jim even us scientists cannot modify a sine wave.
-- Edited by Jacko on Sunday 20th of February 2011 05:11:17 AM
No argument from me on that one! It's a point I've made myself on more than one occasion.
Some time ago someone (I think it was DeBe) posted some pictures of oscilloscope traces of a couple of MSW inverters. The spikes, overshoots, and hash seen on the traces makes some of the spikes we get on our mains seem insignificant by comparison.
Protecting our computers at home with spike and surge suppressors and then connecting them to a MSW when away is a "non-sequitor" if ever there was one!
