phillybarbour
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Very interesting to read thanks for posting
Avoiding EHUs
- Thread starter Aethelric
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Wooie1958
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Well said, there`s a good few of them on here ................................... LOL
Aethelric
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Yes, its a bad idea. I would only do it in an emergency.
sparrks
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I thought Diesel Particulate Filters were easy to clean out by getting the exhaust system hot, usually a blast down the Motorway or up a large hill in a low gear.
Goaskalys
Guest
Hi chaps, I've had my converted Transit van for 3 years now and have never hooked-up.
A couple of years ago I had a problem with the electrics which meant that the leisure battery drained the main battery, so I decided to wire them completely separately and charge the 110AH battery with an 80 watt solar panel. Now, I'm not electrically trained, but even i found it easy peasy to fit the solar panel and wire it into it's controller and then into the other leisure electrics. I replaced the flourescent bulbs with LEDS and added a few more and wired in a cigar lighter socket and an 300 watt inverter. I replaced the electric sink tap with a manual (Whale) one as the switch was unreliable anyway.
The fridge is gas powered and hot water I heat in the kettle on the gas hob. The electrics power lights, phone chargers, laptop, shaver and fairylights that we string-up when at festivals. So far, I have never got near flattening the battery living in it for 5 weeks last summer driving round Europe. I love my solar panel
A couple of years ago I had a problem with the electrics which meant that the leisure battery drained the main battery, so I decided to wire them completely separately and charge the 110AH battery with an 80 watt solar panel. Now, I'm not electrically trained, but even i found it easy peasy to fit the solar panel and wire it into it's controller and then into the other leisure electrics. I replaced the flourescent bulbs with LEDS and added a few more and wired in a cigar lighter socket and an 300 watt inverter. I replaced the electric sink tap with a manual (Whale) one as the switch was unreliable anyway.
The fridge is gas powered and hot water I heat in the kettle on the gas hob. The electrics power lights, phone chargers, laptop, shaver and fairylights that we string-up when at festivals. So far, I have never got near flattening the battery living in it for 5 weeks last summer driving round Europe. I love my solar panel
Siimplyloco
Guest
Agreed. Diesel engines need to work hard. We used to call that an 'Italian Tune Up'!
John
henryt
Guest
400w of solar, diesel airtop 3500, 3.5kw truma gas, all led lights, a 300w inverter for tv and laptop charging, a 20a rapid charger and 3x 110ah batteries. (I can watch discharge values and charge values on 2x digital power meters).
To be honest, the solar is pretty much useless in winter unless the sun is shining and the one tilting 80w panel gives more power than the other 320w !
In summer its way over specked and the batteries are fully charged very early morning, so I end up running the fridge on solar all day.
(nearly 50kg of weight on the roof)
conclusion- one 80 to120w tilting panel is about the best charge to weight option and most efficient for all year use.
Alternator split charging - start the engine and a burst of amps runs through to the leisure batteries dependant on their state of charge, but this does tail off to 6a very quickly just as it does on the engine battery of every vehicle.
conclusion - you do have to drive for hours to top up the leisures at 6a and it seems pretty pointless idling the engine to do so unless in an emergency with flat leisures.
Airtop diesel heating - Boy does this use power ! - on full chat 3ah dropping to 1ah when up to temperature , but the big problem is the amount of power the glow plug uses to start and stop it ( 6 to 20 amps )
Advantages - convenient being able to buy and use red diesel and instant heat .
Truma blown gas - hot water and heating (1 to 2.5 ah )
Advantage - uses less than half the power of a diesel system and costs half the price to run against normal pump diesel (roughly the same against red diesel )
HERE IS THE CRUNCH.
In summer the 3 x 110ah new batteries will happily give over 150ah of useable power but in winter they will only give 60ah of power due to the cold temperature. yes, just 60ah useable from 330ah
conclusion - At a time I need more power I have less than half the power and solar will not perform and all I can expect from a drive or idling is 6ah.
SOLUTION.
Strip off the solar leaving 80 to 120a tilting and use an 8kg 300w tiny silent generator hooked to the 20a battery charger which takes roughly 3 hours to put back the 60ah !
To be honest, the solar is pretty much useless in winter unless the sun is shining and the one tilting 80w panel gives more power than the other 320w !
In summer its way over specked and the batteries are fully charged very early morning, so I end up running the fridge on solar all day.
(nearly 50kg of weight on the roof)
conclusion- one 80 to120w tilting panel is about the best charge to weight option and most efficient for all year use.
Alternator split charging - start the engine and a burst of amps runs through to the leisure batteries dependant on their state of charge, but this does tail off to 6a very quickly just as it does on the engine battery of every vehicle.
conclusion - you do have to drive for hours to top up the leisures at 6a and it seems pretty pointless idling the engine to do so unless in an emergency with flat leisures.
Airtop diesel heating - Boy does this use power ! - on full chat 3ah dropping to 1ah when up to temperature , but the big problem is the amount of power the glow plug uses to start and stop it ( 6 to 20 amps )
Advantages - convenient being able to buy and use red diesel and instant heat .
Truma blown gas - hot water and heating (1 to 2.5 ah )
Advantage - uses less than half the power of a diesel system and costs half the price to run against normal pump diesel (roughly the same against red diesel )
HERE IS THE CRUNCH.
In summer the 3 x 110ah new batteries will happily give over 150ah of useable power but in winter they will only give 60ah of power due to the cold temperature. yes, just 60ah useable from 330ah
conclusion - At a time I need more power I have less than half the power and solar will not perform and all I can expect from a drive or idling is 6ah.
SOLUTION.
Strip off the solar leaving 80 to 120a tilting and use an 8kg 300w tiny silent generator hooked to the 20a battery charger which takes roughly 3 hours to put back the 60ah !
Aethelric
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We use a USB TV stick plugged into the laptop. It's ok, but the main problem is my present omni directional aerial (another challenge!). However, we can record all sorts of stuff on the pvr at home (on the timer) and download it to the laptop to watch whenever we want. It will run on its own battery for around three hours and charge up again fully in 90 mins (usually, but not always from the engine while travelling). The 12-19V car adaptor is much more efficient than using the inverter and the mains power supply.
CooP
Guest
Are you sure about this? I have understood that I should take both connections from the same battery, such as in the drawing provided here
Connecting Batteries in Series or Parallel
IJenk52
Guest
Multiple batteries
Have a look at this: SmartGauge Electronics - Interconnecting multiple batteries to form one larger bank at the bottom of the page is the best arrangement and the logic behind it.
Have a look at this: SmartGauge Electronics - Interconnecting multiple batteries to form one larger bank at the bottom of the page is the best arrangement and the logic behind it.