Specific advice please for Fiat PVC ........

[Chockswahay]

So then, I know there is loads of stuff on here about solar but I have a couple of specific questions if anyone can help please.......

Having just bought a new Hymer Ayers Rock with electric fridge only (yes I knew about the limits beforehand!) I wish to extend the time we can go off site. I am a little (!) shocked to find that Hymer only fit an 85AH battery.

Questions:

Has anyone fitted 2 batteries under the driver seat? if so what size max?

Has anyone fitted the thinner semi flexible panels? (van has an elevating roof so slight curves)

Will all this clobber work with the EBL 30 ?

Any recommendations on good quality panels, chargers, cables and connectors etc would be much appreciated.

I am fairly handy with DIY stuff and figure that given a few rules I can fit this kit myself (it's just that I will probably take 2 days when a pro will probably do it in 2 hours!)

Thank you in advance

 

[Robert Clark]

I've bought a couple of sets of solar panels from Photonic Universe
https://www.photonicuniverse.com/en/catalog/list/category/flex-panels

Quality and service has been excellent.
I didnt use them for the controller, I bought a Victron MMPT one

 

[Chockswahay]

Crikey @Robert Clark that was quick! Thank you. I'm just beginning to think I should have bought a gas fridge! Hey ho .......

Since we are almost always on the move I'm hoping the alternator will do some of the work ............ and I can top up the rest with the solar stuff

 

[Lenny HB]

Hymer's normally arrangement with smaller vans is the EBL under one seat with a battery behind it and the second battery under the other seat.
I would be inclined to fit standard panels, generally more reliable.
Fit a decent MPPT regulator either a Votronic or Victron, will all work OK with the EBL 30, the solar connections on the EBL are straight through to the batteries.

I am fairly handy with DIY stuff and figure that given a few rules I can fit this kit myself (it's just that I will probably take 2 days when a pro will probably do it in 2 hours!)

You will probably do a better job and know how it's configured if you have problems.

 

[Two on Tour]

Another vote for Photonic Universe.
You might want to think about a B2B charger as you may not get all you wish from the smart alternator fitted to you van.

Here's some reading matter on the subject.

Link Removed

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[Chockswahay]

Oooh thanks @Lenny HB , I hadn't thought of putting a battery behind the EBL ..........( hmm, maybe I could have 3 )

I take it your van is 'standard Fiat' seat bases etc?

 

[Chockswahay]

Another vote for Photonic Universe.
You might want to think about a B2B charger as you may not get all you wish from the smart alternator fitted to you van.

Here's some reading matter on the subject.

Link Removed

Doh! looks like this is gathering costs thank you I'll have a butchers .......

 

[Lenny HB]

Oooh thanks @Lenny HB , I hadn't thought of putting a battery behind the EBL ..........( hmm, maybe I could have 3 )

I take it your van is 'standard Fiat' seat bases etc?

Mines an A Class batteries not under the seats, our first Hymer was a Tramp and had the batteries under the seats.

 

[Chockswahay]

'Old up a mo' ................. since we nearly always drive every day or at least every other day I wonder if a B2B would do the job without solar?

( or maybe that's just my wallet talking )

 

[Lenny HB]

'Old up a mo' ................. since we nearly always drive every day or at least every other day I wonder if a B2B would do the job without solar?

( or maybe that's just my wallet talking )

Depends how far you drive, Hymer's standard set up is fairly good as they use decent size cables. Will start charging at 20-25 amps then drop to 10-12 amps.

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[Two on Tour]

Not ideal to discharge batteries further than you have to, so solar will be charging as you use if parked up and the sun shines.

 

[Robert Clark]

If funds allowed I'd have solar and a B2B charger
Another option to consider is Lithium batteries, as they charge very quickly (on solar this is a major advantage) and they can be discharged almost 100%, whereas with lead acid you can only discharge to 50%
They are also lighter, which may help if you have a payload issue

Im fitting these in my van at the moment
https://relionbattery.com/products/lithium/rb100

 

[Chockswahay]

@Robert Clark

OUCH !

 

[Minxy]

First of all what is your existing battery, lead-acid, AGM, Gel?

We were in a similar position with our Campscout which has an all-electric fridge and I stared a thread about it so some of the info on there might be helpful, my post #50 says what I did in the end:

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/battery-and-solar-advice-please.174715/#post-2822925

 

[Robert Clark]

@Robert Clark

OUCH !

That’s what I thought
So I fitted 6 lead acid batteries in my garage

Then recently i weighed my
Ouch !

Now I’m replacing my 6 lead acid batteries with two Lithium and saving over 120kg of payload

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[Chockswahay]

First of all what is your existing battery, lead-acid, AGM, Gel?

We were in a similar position with our Campscout which has an all-electric fridge and I stared a thread about it so some of the info on there might be helpful, my post #50 says what I did in the end:

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/battery-and-solar-advice-please.174715/#post-2822925

Ah @Minxy Girl I knew you'd pop in I'll have a look at my battery tomo and check out your thread ta

 

[Lenny HB]

Lithium batteries, as they charge very quickly (on solar this is a major advantage)

Doesn't make any difference if you have 10 amps coming out of your solar panels you can only charge at the 10 amp rate. It only helps if you have more solar output than a lead acid battery can cope with say 600 - 1000 watts of solar, he is not going to get that on the roof of a PVC.

 

[Jands]

Would it all work better to change the fridge for one that works on gas?
How much power does an electric fridge draw?

 

[Minxy]

Just to say, I wouldn't fit standard panels on a rising roof as the amount you'd need would add quite a lot of weight and make it heavy to lift, also the mechanism may not like it either. I know people say you need an air gap but these panels are fitted to boats etc flat against the cabin roofs, and have been for a long time, so I wouldn't worry about it.

As for fitting, it's not difficult or that time consuming, it's easy to feed the cable down from the roof into the front where the batteries are by going down inside the 'b' pillar plastic covering, however with your rising roof you'd need to allow for the movement so looking at the mechanism it may be better to bring the cable down through the rising roof and below on the outside next to the rear bracket which you can fasten it to, this would mean the only 'movement' would be where it goes through the raising roof and into to the side 'cowl' at the bottom of the bracket, or alternatively take it in through the rising roof at it's lower end near the corner but inside the fabric covering and allow some cable inside to cope with the movement, you can then feed it along to wherever you decide to take it down to the batteries, this latter option would be my preference.

 

[Lenny HB]

I didn't check it was a rising roof, my option would still be standard panels any if neccessary fit stronger struts, easy enough to get from SGS.

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[Minxy]

Would it all work better to change the fridge for one that works on gas?
How much power does an electric fridge draw?

Its not that simply I'm afraid due to the location of the fridge as there'd be no way to put in ventilation grills for the exhaust fumes so a no-no for this particular layout.

 

[grumps147]

@Robert Clark

OUCH !

I am looking to reduce weight drastically, ouch is appropriate, it made my eyes water.

 

[Chockswahay]

@Minxy Girl Minxy, you are always there with useful advice ........... can I adopt you? (of course I would need my my kids approval )

Thanks for your time on this, you provide me with the confidence I need (if that makes any sense!)

 

[Chockswahay]

I know people say you need an air gap but these panels are fitted to boats etc flat against the cabin roofs, and have been for a long time, so I wouldn't worry about it.

I had 3 of these on a yacht back in the day (pre campervan day haha) and as you say it was the standard method of fitting. They worked fine. I just need to find a good make at a fair price....

 

[Minxy]

Unfortunately the seller I bought from has sold all of his stock but I am very pleased with them, they have a matt finish rather than the shiny one, so I imagine this helps to allow more light onto the cells, rather than it being reflected, they certainly are good, reading over 21 on my volt meter before I installed them, this was compared to another semi-flexible at about 18, and some rigid ones at 19.

You may be wondering why I had so many different ones ... well, I had already bought a single semi-flexible one with the plan of putting it on my Familyscout but with changing vans I wanted matching panels and couldn't get the same one, so bought a pair of rigid ones but decided to go down the semi-flexible route again for ease of fitting etc and the fact that our 60w semi-flexible on the Familyscout was still going strong after 3 years.

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[Waveski]

Hi. I don’t know if this helps but I have a 90 litre compressor frig in a Vantage 5.4m PVC. The frig takes about 4 amps on start up from cold for about 1-2 hours and then drops back to about 1 amp. I have a single solar panel on the roof which supplies about 4 amps in bright sunshine to feed 2 x 105 amp batteries under the drivers seat.
I usually pre-cool food and drink and pre-cool the frig on hook up at home and then forget all about it!
Never had a problem but suspect winter days in UK would be limited off grid, but then other power usages would also heavily impact.
The way I use my van with maybe 2/3 days off grid followed by hook up on a site to recharge and empty waste and water; no problem at all. My batteries never get any where near a 50 percent discharge. A big thumbs up for compressor fridges for this sort of usage.

 

[Langtoftlad]

Never had a problem but suspect winter days in UK would be limited off grid, but then other power usages would also heavily impact.

Read on another forum about batteries & compressor fridges which seemed to make sense:

Solar & Compressor fridge are a balance - in the summer when the fridge has to work harder, there are longer days & more sunshine. In the colder winter months when there is less sun, the ambient temperature is also cooler which means the fridge doesn't have to work so hard.

Might the OP be looking to fix a problem that doesn't yet exist?

 

[Chockswahay]

Might the OP be looking to fix a problem that doesn't yet exist?

You might have a point ............. I suspect there is a 'middle ground' for me

 

[Langtoftlad]

You might have a point ............. I suspect there is a 'middle ground' for me

Like on an aircraft... you're wanting some extra redundancy built in, just in case...

 

[bobandjanie]

I must admit when we were deciding on what panel van we wanted, when cbanging, we narrowed it down to two, that was a Knaus with the compressor or the Pilote with the 3 way fridge, we went for the Pilote.
We had that on our last PVC so sort of swung it.

We also had 2 x 100w flexible solar panels that were working perfectly when we sold it after 4 years and put the same on the new van with 2 x exide gel 80ah.

All this you read about airflow under the panels, we spend most of our time in hot weather, and never had a problem. Bob.

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