1st night

[Deleted member 71915]

Well folks just had our first night in the camper up at Tosside brill little site Marl Barn. £12 with EHU. next 2 wilding. Ok it chucked it down all day but dogs loved it in Gisburn Forrest.
Just may be a problem we had why, 800w fire on a few led lights on, 2 phone charges, and the smart charger on putting 2amp in and batteries went down it showed red / low on van control panel, charges showed 60%. This morning with no fire on 100% in only 1hr so I think I need to check batts.good thing solar panels showing 5.6.
Ps. We have 2 x 110amp batteries

 

[molly 2]

You could be right about you're battery failing ,don't take to much notice of your on board gauge's ,much better to use a multy metre .what size solar do you have 5.6 amp is the very most you could get from a 100 wat panel ,much less this time of year.

 

[Deleted member 71915]

You could be right about you're battery failing ,don't take to much notice of your on board gauge's ,much better to use a multy metre .what size solar do you have 5.6 amp is the very most you could get from a 100 wat panel ,much less this time of year.

Thanks for the reply the panels are 2x90watt.the problem As got worse we now aren't on a hook up so reliant on the panels and the fridge stopped as the meter was showing 11,3amps or less with just 3 small led lights on knock them off and it would go up a bit. On the control panel which is a HPMS 3 H that was showing red when I switched it to the main very but the camper starts no problem thank God. This morning the solar panels are showing 2,4 ish so things are working the voltage gauge is reading 13,7 turn the pump on and the fridge and it drops back to 11.?
Ps I will get a multi meter tomrriw when we're back home.hope this makes senseiam doing it on my crap phone.

 

[Obanboy666]

Thanks for the reply the panels are 2x90watt.the problem As got worse we now aren't on a hook up so reliant on the panels and the fridge stopped as the meter was showing 11,3amps or less with just 3 small led lights on knock them off and it would go up a bit. On the control panel which is a HPMS 3 H that was showing red when I switched it to the main very but the camper starts no problem thank God. This morning the solar panels are showing 2,4 ish so things are working the voltage gauge is reading 13,7 turn the pump on and the fridge and it drops back to 11.?
Ps I will get a multi meter tomrriw when we're back home.hope this makes senseiam doing it on my crap phone.

Are you running the fridge on 12v ?

 

[trevskoda]

Make sure fridge is on gas not 12v,use a diesel heater and not electric which is a masif drain,solar panels are almost usless this time of year.
Get batterys tested,if replacing either varta silver power frame or if space trojan deep cycle,think you should be looking at 200ah battery bank at least,change your charger to a 20ah unit numax.

 

[molly 2]

Are you running the fridge on 12v ?

I dose sound like your battery's are duff ..you can't take too much notice of the battery voltage because the voltage is increased by solar set up ,and the battery charger ,the only time you will get an fairly accurate reading is at night when the solar is dead and the battery charger is turned of,also you will not get a true reading until the battery has been dormant for several hours ..As trev said varta battery's are far superior as the have the latest technology ..unless your van is a self build it should not be possible to run the fridge on 12 v volt unless the engine is running, unless it is a compressor fridge ?.

 

[Deleted member 71915]

Are you running the fridge on 12v ?

Yes it's a 12v only

 

[Deleted member 71915]

I dose sound like your battery's are duff ..you can't take too much notice of the battery voltage because the voltage is increased by solar set up ,and the battery charger ,the only time you will get an fairly accurate reading is at night when the solar is dead and the battery charger is turned of,also you will not get a true reading until the batter has been dormant for several hours ..As trev said varta battery's are far superior as the have the latest technology ..unless your van is a self build it should be possible to run the fridge on 12 v volt unless the engine is running, unless it is a compressor fridge ?.

Thanks yes it's a compressor fridge.@

 

[trevskoda]

Yes it's a 12v only

That alone could burn 40ah in 24hrs or less,so two 100ah batterys will be required for over night leaving you some for lights tv ph charging etc.

 

[Deleted member 71915]

That alone could burn 40ah in 24hrs or less,so two 100ah batterys will be required for over night leaving you some for lights tv ph charging etc.

Thanks for the reply 40ah even in this weather?

 

[Nabsim]

My Waeco Coolermatic MDC 110 is rated at 45Ah a day estimated

 

[Deleted member 71915]

That alone could burn 40ah in 24hrs or less,so two 100ah batterys will be required for over night leaving you some for lights tv ph charging etc.[/QUOTE
Thanks again so, without ehu we will assume rhats giving me 200ah 1/2 use age 100ah let's say at this time I get 2.5 average from the solar panels at this time of year am I right in thinking it will take 40hrs to re-charge them ? I am new to all this but hopefully I am a quick learner

 

[Nabsim]

Wait for someone who knows more but I dont think you want to use half you battery capacity, I think you want to aim as no less than 60% remaining capacity but as I say wait for someone else. I am also interested in this for same reason. Dont forget you will get a lot of amps back in the batteries when you run the engine though as well

 

[molly 2]

That alone could burn 40ah in 24hrs or less,so two 100ah batterys will be required for over night leaving you some for lights tv ph charging etc.[/QUOTE
Thanks again so, without ehu we will assume rhats giving me 200ah 1/2 use age 100ah let's say at this time I get 2.5 average from the solar panels at this time of year am I right in thinking it will take 40hrs to re-charge them ? I am new to all this but hopefully I am a quick learner

At this time of year you won't come near 2.5 amps average .in my opinion you would be lucky to get between 5= 10 amps a day .a100 w panel can produce 5.5 amps an hour in perfect cloud free day at midday midsummer .from then on it is down hill .some solar control units have built in display that tell you how many amps you have harvested and how much you are using .you can also buy a display monitor that tell you the same . I have a DC clamp meter that can tell you how many amps is going in or out of the battery .start @ about £ 25 be aware the cheap ones one's don't do 12 v DC amps

 

[QFour]

The solar panel is at the wrong angle to the sun at this time of year. The further north you go the worse it gets. At this time of year my shed solar panel is nearly vertical so its getting the best view of what sun is available. Today it was producing just over 1A for a couple of hours :sad: .. You will not be able to keep a fridge and heating going using the solar panel its just not possible. You really need another form of heating / fridge if you want to Wild Camp which is why most of use use gas heating and fridge.

If you were in Spain during the Spring / Summer it would be different if you get 10 hours of sunshine and 5A from the panel then you can run the fridge .. JUST ..

What are you using for heating when not connected to EHU ?

..

 

[sparrks]

Well folks just had our first night in the camper up at Tosside brill little site Marl Barn. £12 with EHU. next 2 wilding. Ok it chucked it down all day but dogs loved it in Gisburn Forrest.
Just may be a problem we had why, 800w fire on a few led lights on, 2 phone charges, and the smart charger on putting 2amp in and batteries went down it showed red / low on van control panel, charges showed 60%. This morning with no fire on 100% in only 1hr so I think I need to check batts.good thing solar panels showing 5.6.
Ps. We have 2 x 110amp batteries

Surely you are charging your batteries whilst connected to EHU? so why the lack of power?

 

[phillybarbour]

Good to hear you’ve been out, a few problems along the way is part of it in the early days.

 

[molly 2]

Now wash your mouth out with soap you naughty boy :lol-049:
Someone with the magic solar panels will sort you out and educate you as to :scared:how their 10 year old batteries will have had their blown air heating running constantly for 4 days and their batteries will still be fully charged in winter .:scared:

You took your time

 

[Deleted member 71915]

The solar panel is at the wrong angle to the sun at this time of year. The further north you go the worse it gets. At this time of year my shed solar panel is nearly vertical so its getting the best view of what sun is available. Today it was producing just over 1A for a couple of hours :sad: .. You will not be able to keep a fridge and heating going using the solar panel its just not possible. You really need another form of heating / fridge if you want to Wild Camp which is why most of use use gas heating and fridge.

If you were in Spain during the Spring / Summer it would be different if you get 10 hours of sunshine and 5A from the panel then you can run the fridge .. JUST ..

What are you using for heating when not connected to EHU ?

..

Thanks for the reply gas for the heating, as for the fridge I have no option its 12v only, dose the fridge use as said earlier so much electric as they aren't running all the time?

 

[molly 2]

Some people with compressor fridges tend to have huge solar set up 400 plus watts and 400 amp plus battery's.another favorite option on here is silent generator :lol-049::lol-049::lol-049::blah::blah: