Solar ... extra 'oomph' required ...

[Minxy]

A 160 Watt folding panel might be an option. Big amount of power that you can point at the sun give you much more benefit..

Not recommending this particular one, but to give you an idea.
Link Removed

Thanks but hopefully I won't need THAT much! If I did I'd need to buy another controller too so a very expensive option for something I might, or might not find we need.

 

[Minxy]

Or stay In the Murcia region

Don't worry ... we're gonna stay wherever the best weather is, that's what we did earlier this year when we were tootling around in Spain heading for Portugal, the weather turned for where we were heading so we went back the way we came!

 

[Minxy]

i would wait and see how it works

For the small outlay I'd rather have something 'in reserve' just to be safe ... don't want to have issues especially with our power hungry fridge.

Looks like you only need the extra solar panel when the sun is too weak to give full output on the main pair of panels. How about fitting another 100 watt panel, and wiring it in to the existing controller with a switch? Or a fuse that you could remove to cut it off. That way, if you ever upgrade the controller you don't have to rewire anything.

Something I've considered but I think having a 50w one I can move around to face the sun will give more benefit that another 100w fixed to the roof. During our last trip we were fine with the 2 x 100w so it's just winter I'm concerned about. If I have some connectors going into the controller for the extra panel I can just connect it when I need/want to (I always install panels with their own in-line fuse before the controller).

You can get a generator that outputs 50a at 12v. Best thing about it is it’s small and lightweight so if you upset someone it should not be to painful to remove

Thanks for the suggestion but it seems a bit OTT for something I 'might' need plus having a PVC with our bed right above the 'garage' area I don't particularly want a smelly generator in there and have to carry fuel for it.

Don’t think you will get much extra out of solar panels unless you point them directly at the sun. Flat panels are never going to give as much power as tilted ones.

Agreed.

As it will be windy that time of year what about a wind turbine...

Hubby suggested that but I don't know in reality how efficient they are, from what I've read previously not very - don't know anyone who's got one.

 

[Mr Mousy]

I appreciate this does not answer your original post... However I can recommend an efoy system which gives us complete peace of mind

 

[Minxy]

What about using a few camperstops and campsites with hook-ups...

No upfront capital cost or alterations and 100% secure power supply, including for any supplementary electric heating.

Some places charge for consumption, others don't!

We've also discussed that and may well do so but prefer not to HAVE to, rather that we can CHOOSE to when it suits us.

Don't be a tight wad Mel, .. go on a site with EHU

you may even meet another (tight wad)

... you mean a prison camp don't you? Seriously though, we may do so occasionally but with 3 dogs it can get expensive, that's if we can find one that will accept 3!

Where are you heading Mel @Minxy Girl and where are you intending on staying...? Sites or FLT..?

FLT mostly as that's what we like to do in nice quiet places, usually out of the way, can't be doing with loads of noise and activity and its nice to let the dogs chill-out and potter within reason.

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[mitzimad]

buy something your not sure you will use?have you moved out of yorkshire

 

[Northernraider]

Fit a gas fridge

Problem solved

 

[Minxy]

I have a 1000w pure sinewave generator for emergency use.
Never really needed it except when we had a power cut at home.

Yours for £250

Thanks Jez but as I said above I don't really want to go down that route.

 

[Minxy]

buy something your not sure you will use?have you moved out of yorkshire

If I find I don't need it I'll just sell it ... and probably make a profit!

... the Trotters have nothing on us!

 

[Minxy]

Fit a gas fridge

Problem solved

We to some extent wish we did still have a gas fridge, whilst we were happy not to have to mess about turning it on/off all the time when we stopped/drove, and it has a bit more capacity that the fridge in our previous camper with a bit bigger freezer I must say I'm not overly impressed with it. I'm going to talk to a Thetford dealer to see if it can be checked/sorted as it doesn't appear to be behaving itself but for the time being I need to get something sorted to be able to keep it 'fed' with power as it is a very hungry baby!

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[Minxy]

I appreciate this does not answer your original post... However I can recommend an efoy system which gives us complete peace of mind

Thanks but being Yorkshire folk I can't see us ever getting one of those ... I could buy another little Smart car for the cost of one of those systems.

 

[gus-lopez]

and 100% secure power supply,

I wouldn't be sure of that , here ?

Modern diesels should be started and driven straight off and never left to idle. On tickover they do not reach operating temperature which can cause the bores to glaze and CAT & DPF to clog up.

That's why old ones are best. You can sleep with engine running & heat coming out at 67º from a transit engine if you are desperate

 

[Mr Chrysalis]

Why don’t you get one of these to keep outside when you are off-grid? It runs on gas. Same cost as a Genny but silent
Dometic CombiCool RF60 Fridge, 12 V/230 V/Gas Amazon product ASIN B007HLYAWEJust shut down the compressor one when you have no sunshine and move food to this

 

[Lenny HB]

Why? --- are they that much better?

No but they eat power.

 

[Lenny HB]

As you are not keen on most of the options why not leave it as it and give it a try. Southern Spain in winter on sunny days you will get around 40% output from your panels but obvisly days are a lot shorter so overall power will be down quite a bit.
Try it if you get desperate you may have to hook up for the odd day.

Most of the folding panels come with a regulator, only a cheap pwm type but as you are moving the panel round to face the sun you will get reasonable performance. MPPT regulators come into their own in low light and low sun angles.

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[ukbill]

Stay here i got sun,

 

[scotjimland]

... you mean a prison camp don't you? Seriously though, we may do so occasionally but with 3 dogs it can get expensive, that's if we can find one that will accept 3!

no idea what you mean.. don't recognise that description.. most sites in Spain are very nice

in any case, I'd rather be in a "prison camp" than a dusty dirty car park, lifting manholes to dump black waste and being moved on every day by the Garda ..

and yes you may have trouble with three dogs, but unlikely , we have two, never had a problem, .. and yes it does add to the costs .. but a small price for having a good time... and a cold fridge

 

[Top Hat]

We to some extent wish we did still have a gas fridge, whilst we were happy not to have to mess about turning it on/off all the time when we stopped/drove, and it has a bit more capacity that the fridge in our previous camper with a bit bigger freezer I must say I'm not overly impressed with it. I'm going to talk to a Thetford dealer to see if it can be checked/sorted as it doesn't appear to be behaving itself but for the time being I need to get something sorted to be able to keep it 'fed' with power as it is a very hungry baby!

I take it you have Thelford 1090 fridge ? we have the same and spent 5 days recently at Bamburgh (Good sunny days) 120w panel and a 220ah battery with a cheap controller and the battery never fell below 12.7. (No TV)
What setting do you use (3 recommended) and are you switching over to night time usage at bed time.

 

[Boringfrog]

@Minxy Girl I didn't know about the fridge. I think and have thought about myself about getting a solar briefcase maybe 100watts so you can get that extra omph....

But (and I just thought about this now) if the sun ain't out, it doesn't matter how many panels you have, your batteries are not going to be charging.

 

[Minxy]

As you are not keen on most of the options why not leave it as it and give it a try. Southern Spain in winter on sunny days you will get around 40% output from your panels but obvisly days are a lot shorter so overall power will be down quite a bit.
Try it if you get desperate you may have to hook up for the odd day.

Certainly something we may do regarding hook-up, but we tend to be in places where it's not available so may or may not be an option.

Most of the folding panels come with a regulator, only a cheap pwm type but as you are moving the panel round to face the sun you will get reasonable performance. MPPT regulators come into their own in low light and low sun angles.

That's why I was thinking of a 50w linked to our existing MPPT Votronic, used as a 'portable' panel as the size means it is easy to move around and store when not in use, and if I want to I can then fit it permanently to the room later.

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[Minxy]

Why don’t you get one of these to keep outside when you are off-grid? It runs on gas. Same cost as a Genny but silent
Dometic CombiCool RF60 Fridge, 12 V/230 V/Gas Amazon product ASIN B007HLYAWEJust shut down the compressor one when you have no sunshine and move food to this

... but what about my ice-cream ... it would be a good way to supplement what I have if I needed more fridge space but it would probably not be possible to leave it outside so would have to stay inside and hammer the batteries even more.

 

[Minxy]

no idea what you mean.. don't recognise that description.. most sites in Spain are very nice

in any case, I'd rather be in a "prison camp" than a dusty dirty car park, lifting manholes to dump black waste and being moved on every day by the Garda ..

It was a joke Jim! However we have seen quite a few where units are packed in like sardines, whereas just down the road was a lovely free-camping spot, not a dusty car park ... I know which I'd rather be on even if you paid me to go on those 'sardine' campsites I wouldn't. We don't lift manholes to as we don't think that's an acceptable way to dispose of waste etc, we places meant for such disposal and have a spare cassette to eek out out 'holding' ability if necessary (not needed it yet but come close!).

and yes you may have trouble with three dogs, but unlikely , we have two, never had a problem, .. and yes it does add to the costs .. but a small price for having a good time... and a cold fridge

Hopefully if we need to use a site we won't have a problem either.

 

[Minxy]

I take it you have Thelford 1090 fridge ? we have the same and spent 5 days recently at Bamburgh (Good sunny days) 120w panel and a 220ah battery with a cheap controller and the battery never fell below 12.7. (No TV)
What setting do you use (3 recommended) and are you switching over to night time usage at bed time.

Yup that's the one. We've tried various settings but it sometimes defrosts and refreezing which is a concern as we don't want to end up with salmonella poisoning from the food in the freezer section, now we know it's doing it we can limit what we put in that bit to minimise the risk so it's still usable as a fridge, but not behaving as it should. We even tried putting some insulation inside the freezer door to see if that helped keep stuff frozen and whilst it improved it, it still wasn't right.

Unfortunately our local Thetford chap (F&M Caravans) is on holiday at the moment so can't diagnose it and inform Thetford if it needs a repair (unlikely) or a replacement (more likely), and even if he could it would take time for parts/new fridge to arrive anyway so for this holiday we'll have to just manage it as best we can. I've tried other people near to us but some don't do Thetford stuff anymore and others can't even be bothered to come back to us. Might have to ring SMC!

We didn't watch TV on our last holiday but did charge up phones, laptop, tablet etc and the batteries coped well but the fridge certainly hammered them a lot (so glad I went for gels!) which even though these fridges are power hungry ours seem to be ravenous! I don't think the amount of power it's using is right, hence why I'm hoping it will be replaced rather than try to repair it.

 

[Minxy]

@Minxy Girl I didn't know about the fridge. I think and have thought about myself about getting a solar briefcase maybe 100watts so you can get that extra omph....

But (and I just thought about this now) if the sun ain't out, it doesn't matter how many panels you have, your batteries are not going to be charging.

True ... which is one reason hubby suggested a wind turbine ... but it seems a bit OTT as I don't think they're that good at generating power not to mention pratting about putting it out etc.

 

[Stealaway]

Yup that's the one. We've tried various settings but it sometimes defrosts and refreezing which is a concern as we don't want to end up with salmonella poisoning from the food in the freezer section, now we know it's doing it we can limit what we put in that bit to minimise the risk so it's still usable as a fridge, but not behaving as it should. We even tried putting some insulation inside the freezer door to see if that helped keep stuff frozen and whilst it improved it, it still wasn't right.

Buy a gas fridge?

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[Minxy]

Buy a gas fridge?

... and a tin opener ... no vents in the side of the camper and no gas supply so not an easy job, that's if one would fit in the same space!

 

[Basildog]

There seems to be plenty of people that like their compressor fridges but our experience with a Waeco chest freezer fitted in our Swift along with a Thetford 3 way fridge wasn’t great .
Ours was great if on hook up but even with 250 watts of solar and 2 x110 AH batteries it would flatten them even in summer

 

[Mr Chrysalis]

... but what about my ice-cream ... it would be a good way to supplement what I have if I needed more fridge space but it would probably not be possible to leave it outside so would have to stay inside and hammer the batteries even more.

You are very difficult to please!
Ice cream is not a problem. You just eat it. And you missed the point, you turn the compressor fridge off when you have run out of electricity and move all the fridge stuff to the absorption fridge running on gas. It’s not somewhere to put all your extra Blue Nun. You could probably lash it to the roof if you felt it was insecure in the awning. Or you could just chuck out the compressor fridge and just install a 3 way fridge freezer.

 

[Lenny HB]

True ... which is one reason hubby suggested a wind turbine ... but it seems a bit OTT as I don't think they're that good at generating power not to mention pratting about putting it out etc.

Unless you can camp permanently with gale force winds a waste of time. They only give anything like there max output in gale force winds, moderate wind hardly any output.
Looked into them when we bought our first Motorhome silly money for small power output at least with solar you get some output on a cloudy day. With a turbine no wind no output, and if you expect some power when sun has gone down most of the time the wind drops at night.

 

[Minxy]

You are very difficult to please!
Ice cream is not a problem. You just eat it.

Not when you've bought a pack so you can have some 'on-standby' wherever you may be stopping!

And you missed the point, you turn the compressor fridge off when you have run out of electricity and move all the fridge stuff to the absorption fridge running on gas. It’s not somewhere to put all your extra Blue Nun. You could probably lash it to the roof if you felt it was insecure in the awning.

One problem ... we wild camp ...

Or you could just chuck out the compressor fridge and just install a 3 way fridge freezer.

Just been looking at that as an option but would be very expensive to do ... but not totally ruled out!

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