installing solar power in a westy

[paulo999]

Joining this thread late. Nice to see quite a few good solar installs happening.

Mine is essential kit - I have to park up for two weeks every year, no hook up, and live a daily routine of lights, charging laptops, gadgets etc, for professional use. The panel isn't a frippery - without it I'd need maybe 10 batteries to last me. Generators are banned where I have to pitch.

Do get some way of metering. Then you can see whether you're "makin' bacon". A small panel can be there just for conditioning, but a beefy one can do loads more. Can't vouch for compressor fridges (I run gas, lasts for a month or so, will freeze everything solid if it's left out of control )... but should keep pace with anything that's not motorised or heat generating

[willpom]

Sorry to hijack...where did you get it from?

When I first found this thread there was a Baird 100w semi-flexi monocrystalline on FleaBay for £130. They sold out pretty quick. I've been waiting till they popped up at around this price again. They did, a few left so hurry http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161285729977? ... 1439.l2649

Both batteries -ve & +ve need to be wired directly to the controller.

Cheers!

[Tobyt25]

Will a 2.4w 17.5v solar charger do anything? A shop in town was selling them for £10
Is it pointless or will it help the battery stay charged?

[CJH]

Will a 2.4w 17.5v solar charger do anything? A shop in town was selling them for £10
Is it pointless or will it help the battery stay charged?

At around 150mA in full sun it should cover the drain caused by your radio's memory and a GPS tracker for instance, so might be useful in that respect. It'll take a very long time to put back anything you use while camping though.

[Tobyt25]

Thanks, thats really helpful. The van is stood allot as its not my daily drive. if it covers the memory on the radio and any minor drains on the battery whilst its stood, that would be quite useful.

[LeeME3]

There are other panels a few £££ cheaper than the Biard ones...are the Biards reckoned to be the best?

[willpom]

There are other panels a few £££ cheaper than the Biard ones...are the Biards reckoned to be the best?

Not sure, but they were the cheapest monocrystaline semi flexible that I have been able to find that hasn't involved hours trawling the internet.

[ghost123uk]

Will a 2.4w 17.5v solar charger do anything? A shop in town was selling them for £10
Is it pointless or will it help the battery stay charged?

At around 150mA in full sun it should cover the drain caused by your radio's memory and a GPS tracker for instance, so might be useful in that respect. It'll take a very long time to put back anything you use while camping though.

Note Chris says "in full sun". I find mine (60Watts = about ~4 Amps) drops off at an alarming rate if it is at all cloudy. On an overcast day you may find that 2.4 Watts / 150mA drops to virtually nothing. I am told that "other peoples mileage varies" though and their panels still work well on dull days (though I have yet to see that in action). Maybe some are better in duller conditions than others.

[Tobyt25]

My electric coolbox is 42w on a 12v supply running at 3.5a i have a spare car battery as a temporary stand in for a broken old leisure battery. . How many hours would this run for roughly. Im planning to use it at camperjam and was wondering how long i can keep stuff cold for.

[LeeME3]

Take the Ah rating of the battery. Half it. Divide the result by your 3.5, than answer is the number of hours you can run for.

Assuming: the battery is in excellent condition AND fully charged. In reality knock another 10-15% off.

Fill it with ice packs and don't plug it in until they're defrosted. And turn it off overnight.

[shepster]

To put things into perspective if you had a 110ah leisure the most theoretical time it would last will be 31hrs, realistically as stated you never get the full amount and I doubt your car battery will be a 110 in the first place.

If for instance the battery is say 60ah and factoring in the efficiency loss you could be down to about 12hrs and that's the coolbox alone without anything else.

[California Dreamin]

Finally jumped on board with this one.
Didn't want to go FLEXI so bought the following:

100 watt Biard Panel
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... OC:GB:3160" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10 amp MTTP Controller with LCD
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... OC:GB:3160" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


3 metres of 25 amp twin core for connecting everything up....£4.50

And a pair of MC4 connectors for £1.25

Total spend £117.11

Has anyone any comments on the controller I bought? any good?

Martin

[ghost123uk]

Has anyone any comments on the controller I bought? any good?

I'm not familiar with that particular one, but the specs and functions look good, especially at the price (bet it's Chinese )

[California Dreamin]

To be honest with you John, I fancied an LCD display of some sort but didn't really want the unsightliness of two separate units.....and then there were a couple of comments about MPPT control over normal, this seems to have everything I want.
And... I think they are all made in China aren't they. lol

Anyone using this model?

Martin

[California Dreamin]

The 100 watt Biard panel was ordered at 1.45pm yesterday and arrived at 9.15am this morning...how good is that! especially at £89.99 which included shipping....well chuffed...just gotta wait for the rest to arrive now.


Martin