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

[Minxy]

Okay, been having a shuftie on Evilbay and come up with some ideas, I've found a 50w semi-flexible panel comes with connectors:

What I'm thinking is that if I put a 12v socket behind my passenger seat where there's already a spare 'hole' in the existing bracket which has the cab battery readout in it (photo below with brown blanking cover on it), I can wire the socket to the controller under the seat (where the existing solar panel cables connect to it) and use the 12v cable supplied with the panel plugged into that, this would make for a quick way to connect/disconnect the panel (obviously I would make a sticker to say the socket is for input only!). I could then place the panel wherever I needed it (suckers and/or magnets), even on the Heki and raise it up to face the sun.

Whatdoyathink?

 

[Boringfrog]

Okay, been having a shuftie on Evilbay and come up with some ideas, I've found a 50w semi-flexible panel comes with connectors:

What I'm thinking is that if I put a 12v socket behind my passenger seat where there's already a spare 'hole' in the existing bracket which has the cab battery readout in it (photo below with brown blanking cover on it), I can wire the socket to the controller under the seat (where the existing solar panel cables connect to it) and use the 12v cable supplied with the panel plugged into that, this would make for a quick way to connect/disconnect the panel (obviously I would make a sticker to say the socket is for input only!). I could then place the panel wherever I needed it (suckers and/or magnets), even on the Heki and raise it up to face the sun.

View attachment 261048

Whatdoyathink?

I wouldn't buy from Hong Kong.....

 

[DBK]

If the panel has its own controller built in I would wire the socket directly to the batteries, using a suitable fuse.

 

[scotjimland]

Whatdoyathink?

I thinkthat's atleastfournightssite fees..

 

[Minxy]

I thinkthat's atleastfournightssite fees..

... but we got for 45 days at a time ... so 10 x the cost of the panel (40 nights) would be £450 ...

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[Minxy]

If the panel has its own controller built in I would wire the socket directly to the batteries, using a suitable fuse.

Doesn't have a controller with it, just the cabling, I'll make sure the input socket has a fuse in line between it and the controller.

 

[Minxy]

I wouldn't buy from Hong Kong.....

Why? They're made over there???

How about this one ... from China but with a quicker delivery date (must be somewhere in Europe).

 

[DBK]

Doesn't have a controller with it, just the cabling, I'll make sure the input socket has a fuse in line between it and the controller.

It would be worth getting a controller, even a cheap one. My worry is if you have one panel putting out power but the roof ones not then you could have an effect like shading and the output from your portable panel will be dragged down.

 

[MitchandJenny]

Minxy. I got a 100watt solar foldaway panel, put a plug on the end of an extended wander lead and fitted a socket to the van (next to where the batteries are) Took wires from the neg of one batt and the pos from the other connected them to the socket and bingo. It is brilliant, quick, easy and cheap. I fold it away and store it on end in our wardrobe. (We are naturists, so don't have too many clothes), works well for us.
Mitch.

 

[Chockswahay]

Crikey @Minxy Girl you may recall all my fears about power but we have been away for 4 weeks now and only on hookup once (and that was only because there were no free aires where we were at the time).

We can go 3 days comfortably and 2 days without any worry but we do tend to drive every day or every other day. The best (and only toy) I fitted was the battery monitor which has shown me where we do and don’t use/need power. Our fridge is the only real power user at around 20 to 25 amps/day when it’s hot outside.

Is it not worth seeing how you get on in Spain before you spend more money?

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[Chockswahay]

@Minxy Girl have you got a battery monitor? Fitting one was actually the best advice I was given I can measure power consumption and remaining power MUCH more accurately than the Mickey Mouse LED scales that Hymer fit on the power panel

Although to be honest the volt meter is a much better indication than the percentage meter (which is a bit optimistic I think)

 

[Minxy]

Crikey @Minxy Girl you may recall all my fears about power but we have been away for 4 weeks now and only on hookup once (and that was only because there were no free aires where we were at the time).

We can go 3 days comfortably and 2 days without any worry but we do tend to drive every day or every other day. The best (and only toy) I fitted was the battery monitor which has shown me where we do and don’t use/need power. Our fridge is the only real power user at around 20 to 25 amps/day when it’s hot outside.

Is it not worth seeing how you get on in Spain before you spend more money?

I believe you have the Waeco 65L one, whereas ours is a larger one and consumes up to 37 amp a day, a bit less when using night mode, but we won't be driving every day on our Spain trip as we intend to spend more time 'chilling out' and stopping longer if we have good weather and lovely stops. For the sake of less than £50 it's not worth us having the worry.

The cab battery has it's own digital display - that's what's in the seat base above, and we have one that we can plug into a 12v socket to see the leisure battery reading as the control panel only has 'lights' at certain points so useless really.

 

[Chockswahay]

I believe you have the Waeco 65L one, whereas ours is a larger one and consumes up to 37 amp a day, a bit less when using night mode, but we won't be driving every day on our Spain trip as we intend to spend more time 'chilling out' and stopping longer if we have good weather and lovely stops. For the sake of less than £50 it's not worth us having the worry.

I can see that, but surely you already have enough power with the solar?

A more radical thought that my wife mentions ........ if it gets a bit close to the wire now and then just turn the fridge off (we haven’t got there yet )

 

[Minxy]

I can see that, but surely you already have enough power with the solar?

Hopefully ... but longer nights, less sun input during the day and being stationary more than usual could put a strain on our existing set-up so just trying to be prepared for any eventuality, I'd rather be ready in case we need to use the extra panel, than not and be sat there in the cold and dark ... no electric means no heating and I really DO feel the cold, although I'm not one for switching the heating on for the sake of it!

A more radical thought that my wife mentions ........ if it gets a bit close to the wire now and then just turn the fridge off (we haven’t got there yet )

That's certainly an option but not one we really want to have to do, we're gonna use the fridge more as a cool larder and see how we get on with it until we can get it properly sorted as that's not gonna happen before we go away again. As I said, if we get the fridge 'fixed' and find that the extra solar isn't needed in the future I can easily sell it on, if not I can fit it to build in 'redundancy' for our summer use, or just keep it for going away over winter ... this is the first time we'll have been away at this time of year without being on a site etc so best to be prepared.

 

[EssexBoy]

Doesn't have a controller with it, just the cabling, I'll make sure the input socket has a fuse in line between it and the controller.

Just a thought, my solar controller "switches off" if it sees another charge at the batteries such as the mains charger or the engine running...
I don't know your setup, but might be worth checking...

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[Minxy]

Just a thought, my solar controller "switches off" if it sees another charge at the batteries such as the mains charger or the engine running...
I don't know your setup, but might be worth checking...

One reason why I want to go via the existing Votronic MPPT Duo controller which the other 2 fixed panels are fed into, no issues with it then.

 

[Boringfrog]

Why? They're made over there???

How about this one ... from China but with a quicker delivery date (must be somewhere in Europe).

I've bought one thing from China, thinking I'm saving money, it arrived faulty, I had to pay for return to China, I loose. Check out your sellers feedback and address. You think they're in UK/Europe but I don't believe it.

 

[Minxy]

I've bought one thing from China, thinking I'm saving money, it arrived faulty, I had to pay for return to China, I loose. Check out your sellers feedback and address. You think they're in UK/Europe but I don't believe it.
View attachment 261145

If something is faulty or not as described you do NOT have to pay the return postage, only if you decide you don't want it ... looks like the seller tried it on with you and unfortunately got away with it.

 

[Lenny HB]

I've bought one thing from China, thinking I'm saving money, it arrived faulty, I had to pay for return to China, I loose. Check out your sellers feedback and address. You think they're in UK/Europe but I don't believe it.
View attachment 261145

Also items over £15 can get pulled at customs then you have to pay 10% inport duty plus 20% VAT and if someone like DHL are handling it they will charge you another £25. Been there done that.

 

[Lenny HB]

If you have space for a 100w panel why not go for that, you won't overload your controller as at the time of the year you are using it you ill never get more than 50% of the output out of your exsisting panels.

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[Campscout]

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.



We’ve had our Thetford 1090 replaced on our 10 month old Campscout, same defrosting and freezing at will. I would contact your dealer, Thetford aware of problem brought out the Mk2.

 

[Campscout]

We’ve had our Thetford 1090 replaced on our 10 month old Campscout, same defrosting and freezing at will. I would contact your dealer, Thetford aware of problem brought out the Mk2.

Sorry not sure why my comment was mixed with your quote

 

[Minxy]

We’ve had our Thetford 1090 replaced on our 10 month old Campscout, same defrosting and freezing at will. I would contact your dealer, Thetford aware of problem brought out the Mk2.

Sorry not sure why my comment was mixed with your quote

Did you get it replaced with the Mk 2 version? Which dealer did you use?

 

[ukbill]

I welcome dogs

 

[Campscout]

Did you get it replaced with the Mk 2 version? Which dealer did you use?

Yes with the Mk2. We used Dicksons of Perth. Another Campscout owner who bought their camper from SMC also had it replaced, it seems a faulty batch.
Are you aware from the fridge handbook the ambient temperature range is 16°-36° and the freezer defrosts when below 16°?

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[Minxy]

Yes with the Mk2. We used Dicksons of Perth. Another Campscout owner who bought their camper from SMC also had it replaced, it seems a faulty batch.
Are you aware from the fridge handbook the ambient temperature range is 16°-36° and the freezer defrosts when below 16°?

Thanks, yes we know the limitations but this was doing it when it was between those figures so somethings wrong with it.

We're waiting for a call back from our supplying dealer (they don't do Globecars now) to see if they can expedite it for us and then get it sorted by our local chap who is an Thetford authorised repairer (not dealer) who's away on holiday until 23rd. We've tried a dealer about 20 miles away but as we didn't buy it from them (they don't do Globecar) they aren't interested (no surprise there).

 

[Hilewaychile]

I've just been up on the terrazza [flat roof] of my building in Valencia city and it's sunny and 25-26C. Washing will soon be dry.

My experience of the weather in this area over the coming months is that there are few days without bright sun all day. Here are a couple of examples. You can see enough of the sky to the right of the building and the sun on the grafitto encouraging us to adopt a dog to see that it's a sunny day in Jan. Take no notice of the way the dog walker is all muffled up. The Valencianas are a pretty nesh lot when the temps drop below about 24C.

Fernando shows how warm it can be in the sun on Boxing Day. Look at that lovely blue sky. Full of photons just itching to stimulate your solar cells. Mind you, it can be brilliant sun and Very Cold. I arrived in the first week of Jan some years ago to a balmy 25C evening. Next day it dropped to 3C and stayed there all week.Lovely sun tho'.

 

[HandyAndy]

I'd go with a second controller (MPPT) and a couple of the fold up 120w panels.
I put one across the windscreen and bungie cord the other on the roof, connect both together into one controller.
These are the ones I have.

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[Minxy]

I'd go with a second controller (MPPT) and a couple of the fold up 120w panels.
I put one across the windscreen and bungie cord the other on the roof, connect both together into one controller.
These are the ones I have.

Link Removed

A bit OTT for us I think ... nice camo though!

 

[SMB]

Not a big fan of the flexible panels minxy girl, when I bought the van I had two rigid 90w panels fitted five years ago and they are still like new. Three years ago I had a semi-flexible 50w panel fitted and it's now scuffed to bits. Also the only spots of corrosion on the roof are around this panel, I don't know if it's because there's no gap between the panel and roof unlike the rigid panels so the roof heats up but I wouldn't get another one.

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