100w Flexible Solar Panel

[Mocki]

How is a compressor fridge saving you electric? My gas fridge uses none what so ever on gas ?

[Joker79]

That sounds Awesome v-lux

Have you seen the 12v laptop power supplies from maplin.
They don't need an invertor and are straight DC I reckon its much more efficient powering a lappy fromone of these than using a DC-AC-DC convertor which is what an invertor and normal laptop PSU do.

[v-lux]

I've been meaning to get a decent power supply for my laptop as it happens. I agree, inverters are very lossy! Its by far the thing that uses the most power in my set up.

Sorry, should have made myself more clear about the fridge. I decided to set my van up so that the only thing running on gas is my cooker. I've seen too many people run out of gas because their propex and/or fridge has used it all only to then need to disappear for a day looking for a replacement bottle or filling station if on LPG. Or worst case scenario, be stuck in the middle of nowhere with no heat, no fridge and no way of cooking anything.
So i decided to go almost completely electric, fridge uses approx 1-1.5A when the compressor is running, Eberspacher uses Diesel and some electric, leaving all my gas for just cooking. generally a 4.5kg bottle lasts us 6 months, bearing in mind we live in the van almost full time cooking meals sometimes twice a day.

I never turn the fridge off, it runs continuously just like the one in everyone's kitchen. This was also a requirement around which i designed my set up. I wanted the fridge to be just like one you'd have in a kitchen, always on and always the correct temperature whatever temperature it is in the van/outside. I've used this set up extensively and its always at 4º whether its -25ºC or +40ºC outside temperature, obviously it uses more power in warmer climates.

[silverbullet]

What voltage are your rack battery units Al?

[v-lux]

They're 12V.

The communications set ups tend to use racks of 12V batteries to make up the banks. Iirc the comms equipment mostly ran on 36V hence the banks of 12v cells.

The other stuff i used to work on was all mainly 110V being made up of 50 odd single cells. (usually 1.75V i think).

Stuff like UPS's often have very similar batteries to mine also, much like these:

[silverbullet]

Good man. Just after I posted I wondered if it was a really daft-sounding query... maybe not!

So you're van's a bit like a WW2 submarine then (apart from the torpedoes)

[HarryMann]

Good question... is 13.38 the answer ?

Bet that CTEK is the business... want, want, want.