Timwhy wrote:I think everyone needs to put their wants and desires in perspective. If you want to run a compressor fridge and anything else you'll need a large enough battery bank(capacity) and a large solar panel or panels to quickly charge that battery bank. I have a compressor fridge and they do eat batteries, if this is all that I run then I should not have any issue with 134 amp hour capacity with a 135 watts panel. In the real world that's not the case, I want to run my radio and lights, sink pump, shower pump, coffee grinder, tv etc..... You get the picture. The more you use the bigger and quicker you need to get! Figure out your needs and this will tell you what you need in equipment, then add half again as much and you should be good to go. But the final thing is you will be at the Mercy of the Sun, hope you have plenty of it!
I think this is the key point, there is loads of info on the net with figures and quotes etc but the bottom line is do they work and if so how well with how you use them. Compressor fridges are amazing and work no matter how hot it gets
in the sun and the hotter inside the vehicle gets the harder they work and more
power they use. While quoting figures of
power inputs/outputs it might pay to take into consideration the maximum ambient temperature
in the manual that your fridge is designed to work at and you might find that the fridge is being used above the manufacturers guide lines. The fridges still work fine but when its 50*C inside the van manufacturers guide lines go out of the window. If you want to save
power then I would personally keep the van as cool as posable and park the van
in the shade, not much good with
solar panels on the roof. It would be better to have one of those roll out panels like lots of overlanders use so you can park your vehicle
in the shade and have the panel out
in the sun and when its not megga hot and there is no shade just throw it on top of your side awning out of the way. Also
in the winter think about snow on your roof and I know this wont apply to everyone but dust needed to be cleaned off mine on our very recent trip to the Sahara, look at the state of the windows to get the idea.
Thats why
in my personal experience you would have to go
a long way to beat
a Sterling Charger if you want to be self surfactant.
Jed
