Solar on a tintop

[sarran1955]

Hello,

My only remaining question is, how far could you actually get with battery not being charged by alternator (ie solar only) on a bright summers day before the battery gave out.

with old vehicles you can get good distance out of them with no charging system at all as long as the battery is good, i once did 34 miles in the day (in a 70s car with a modern electric fuel pump) when the alternator pulley sheared off
modern stuff is a bit more voltage sensitive

..how far can you go??.. in 80 something..my twin battery 6 volt splitty got me from Chatham to Peterborough with no charge..

..or lights.. or wipers..

once running.. bump start.. I would guess a 12 volt points and condenser ignition would take 3 amperes

A team from the University of Columbia crossed the US using commercial electric cars towing trailers with solar panel 'sails'..charging by day and driving by night..

So the real challenge would to see how far you can get at night in your van.(with LED headlights perhaps). using the solar panels on the roof of the van.,
and your batteries instead of the alternator..

Cordialement,

[ghost123uk]

Or, at night, you could put a solar panel on the back of your van, and the folks behind you would charge your battery via their headlights

If everyone did it, you could have your headlights on too, then yours would be charging up the guy in front of you, and his headlights would be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be charging up the guy in front of him and his headlights would be be charging up the guy in front of him etc etc

[CovKid]

Although the bloke at the front would be REALLY peed off by now.

30 years ago, me and a mate came up with a brilliant idea to reduce accidents. If you made the front and rear of cars tapered almost to the ground, articulated like an amardillo's tail, if you got rear-ended, the car would simply go over you - same for head-ons.

Brilliant solution until we realised that at roundabouts, if you came to a halt and the bloke behind didn't have good reactions you could end up with him on your roof, and another on top of him etc. The last one on top would be thinking "I hope the driver at the bottom does a smooth pullaway!"

Also, motorcycles and cyclists could be a problem. You'd just hear crunches and occasional yells I suppose.

[CovKid]

Just a heads up. Not used camper in two weeks. Just been parked outside. Started it today VROOOM! Batteries both fully charged - as they have been since I fitted panels. Its doing what I want - no more flat batteries

Went to Stanford Hall a few weeks back and ran the Propex on full all night. Got out at 7am as I was way too hot. Most other vehicles had ice on them. By 8am the leisure fully charged again. I think the increase to 200 watts helped and no need to track the sun. The mere sight of it seems enough.

I disconnected split charge relay. Doesn't seem to need it now but may fit a switch for Summer/Winter so at least I have the option.

[Mocki]

Have my split charge on a switch, it's there as a back up if the weather isn't good enough for my power consumption!
I haven't needed it so far apart from once in mid winter and the eber had been working overtime all day and all night and it was raining constantly for two days .... The 150w solar panel almost kept up but not quite, redo if I hah had 200w it would have .... Although I'm at a disadvantage in that my panel is on the front of my Hitop so of I'm parked facing north I miss much of the sun in winter !

Did I miss the instalment where you upped it to 200w ?

[kevtherev]

Did I miss the instalment where you upped it to 200w ?

Yes I thought that

[CovKid]

Got the second free. Overkill in Summer but will stop the flat batt problem I had all last Winter on short trips to work and that was its main role for me.