Hank the Tanks Dodgy battery and solar system

[barryd]

Always pays to have more than enough than less than enough, and if you do want to add further 240V stuff in the future, the capacity is already there.

But if the new battery is working you've got plenty of leeway and you can postpone the upgrade indefinitely. Who knows, the price of the Lithiums and the Victron gear may come down more. I suspect the Lithiums will as the market is now getting some quite cheap ones as we have seen recently and companies like Fogstar etc. will have to compete with them.

Yep all true. There is no rush now either. In fact you could argue that it might be best "if" we get the work done to get it done early next year rather than the backend of this year on the way home. Then I dont have to worry about what happens to it all over the winter. On the other hand it would be cool to go off wilding or an off grid CL in winter again like we used to. Gas will take a battering of course.

Its a bit like having Uncle Tims zzr1400 or the Honda Biff chariot. Both will get you from here to Dartmouth today in probably around the same time but its nice to have that reserve in place if you suddenly need to roar 200 miles up the M5 in double quick time.

 

[barryd]

Oh I meant to say thanks to Kev. That usb charger you found on Amazon for Michelles laptop is working fine. Its charging it right now as Im using it. Seems pretty quick as well. So thats 10w overhead saved not using the Bestek inverter which I might add is also working fine when we thought it was kaput. I think the fault was a dodgy twin socket lead (now replaced) and / or possibly low voltage.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Glad to be of help old lad.

 

[Nabsim]

I have a less battery and B2B than your quote Barry but a bit more of everything else except a battery master and I have been off grid without needing genny or EHU all year so far. My compressor fridge hasn’t been turned off since last defrost which I think was mid December.
Fridge is my big user all year round, apart from that I guess I use what you do apart from I don’t have satellite.

I can stand for weeks on end like you do as well. Obviously if I have several days together of no solar I would have to run genny or move on to get charge, (won’t run engine to charge stood except in emergency). For you with no fridge and no 230V items I would think at least two weeks no solar is doable lol

 

[barryd]

I have a less battery and B2B than your quote Barry but a bit more of everything else except a battery master and I have been off grid without needing genny or EHU all year so far. My compressor fridge hasn’t been turned off since last defrost which I think was mid December.
Fridge is my big user all year round, apart from that I guess I use what you do apart from I don’t have satellite.

I can stand for weeks on end like you do as well. Obviously if I have several days together of no solar I would have to run genny or move on to get charge, (won’t run engine to charge stood except in emergency). For you with no fridge and no 230V items I would think at least two weeks no solar is doable lol

Sounds good. This will definitely be overkill for me then with a gas fridge but it's the Future!

 

[Fazerloz]

I think Pudsey has a valid argument with sticking with lead acid over your 10 year life span for a light power user. You can buy a lot of LA batteries for 3 grand and they have worked well for you over the years. Think back how many new LBs have you bought in the last 10 years or are you just getting caught up in the hype of must have latest tech. I think I would be tempted just to add another panel and a better solar controller. It’s now coming up to 7 years since I put in a pair of 6v Trojans and Robs are about the same age.

 

[Robmac]

I think Pudsey has a valid argument with sticking with lead acid over your 10 year life span for a light power user. You can buy a lot of LA batteries for 3 grand and they have worked well for you over the years. Think back how many new LBs have you bought in the last 10 years or are you just getting caught up in the hype of must have latest tech. I think I would be tempted just to add another panel and a better solar controller. It’s now coming up to 7 years since I put in a pair of 6v Trojans and Robs are about the same age.

Yeah about right Chris, my Trojans are about 7 years old now. They are wearing out a bit now but then I haven't really looked after them but by God they have served me well.

The way I'm thinking now though is that for the price of 2 T125's I can get an Eco Worthy 280AH Lithium - but it's all the extra gear to make them work is where the expense comes in. Hopefully I'll learn more at the meet this weekend.

 

[Fazerloz]

Yeah about right Chris, my Trojans are about 7 years old now. They are wearing out a bit now but then I haven't really looked after them but by God they have served me well.

The way I'm thinking now though is that for the price of 2 T125's I can get an Eco Worthy 280AH Lithium - but it's all the extra gear to make them work is where the expense comes in. Hopefully I'll learn more at the meet this weekend.

I have looked after mine with reg topping up and they seem to be still holding strong. I do think over the next couple of years there will be a massive drop in the price of what is now the latest tech as tech advances especially the batteries.

 

[mistericeman]

I think Pudsey has a valid argument with sticking with lead acid over your 10 year life span for a light power user. You can buy a lot of LA batteries for 3 grand and they have worked well for you over the years. Think back how many new LBs have you bought in the last 10 years or are you just getting caught up in the hype of must have latest tech. I think I would be tempted just to add another panel and a better solar controller. It’s now coming up to 7 years since I put in a pair of 6v Trojans and Robs are about the same age.

Having run 3 x 100ah lead acids and 200w of solar for an good number of years with a cheap £20 PWM controller on the transit (those batteries are still in use on the diesel greenhouse heater BTW 5+ years on )
With a VSR ....
Solar worked fab all summer with 12v compressor cool box)

When we swapped to the motorhome precovid ...
I upgraded to 400w of solar
3 x 100ah agm
Victron mppt
B2B etc etc ....

Is it 'better' than what we had in the transit ...

I'm not sure ....to be honest

We were fully self sufficient power wise in the transit in summer
And moved around in winter every couple of days ...even with all electric cooking

We are STILL fully self sufficient power wise in summer
And we still move around every couple of days in winter ....

So I suspect I've possibly gone on the overkill side of things as usual ...
I always advise folks to work out WHAT they want to run AND for how long without hook up ...

THEN work backwards to how they achieve that within their budget ...
As there's no point in fitting lithium etc if your on hook up everytime ....

I considered lithium BUT at the time it was out of my budget ...
And I keep looking at it BUT have to reign myself in because what we have works perfectly fine as is ....
Even though everything is lithium capable ....

It's easy to get carried away

 

[Robmac]

Having run 3 x 100ah lead acids and 200w of solar for an good number of years with a cheap £20 PWM controller on the transit (those batteries are still in use on the diesel greenhouse heater BTW 5+ years on )
With a VSR ....
Solar worked fab all summer with 12v compressor cool box)

When we swapped to the motorhome precovid ...
I upgraded to 400w of solar
3 x 100ah agm
Victron mppt
B2B etc etc ....

Is it 'better' than what we had in the transit ...

I'm not sure ....to be honest

We were fully self sufficient power wise in the transit in summer
And moved around in winter every couple of days ...even with all electric cooking

We are STILL fully self sufficient power wise in summer
And we still move around every couple of days in winter ....

So I suspect I've possibly gone on the overkill side of things as usual ...
I always advise folks to work out WHAT they want to run AND for how long without hook up ...

THEN work backwards to how they achieve that within their budget ...
As there's no point in fitting lithium etc if your on hook up everytime ....

I considered lithium BUT at the time it was out of my budget ...
And I keep looking at it BUT have to reign myself in because what we have works perfectly fine as is ....
Even though everything is lithium capable ....

It's easy to get carried away

Can't disagree with any of that.

But I do like overkill!

 

[barryd]

I think Pudsey has a valid argument with sticking with lead acid over your 10 year life span for a light power user. You can buy a lot of LA batteries for 3 grand and they have worked well for you over the years. Think back how many new LBs have you bought in the last 10 years or are you just getting caught up in the hype of must have latest tech. I think I would be tempted just to add another panel and a better solar controller. It’s now coming up to 7 years since I put in a pair of 6v Trojans and Robs are about the same age.

Trouble is I still need a reputable installer to do all the work so let's say they only need half the bits in that quote and maybe a bit less labour. I bet it's still going to be £1500. VanBitz were wanting £2k for a lead Carbon solution. I may as well have the latest technology which of course is lighter and apparently will last a lot longer.

It will probably get scuppered anyway if the new battery works all of August. I'll just leave the Inverter plugged in 24/7. That will sort it.

 

[barryd]

Well third day off grid again and here's my thoughts. I don't think the new battery is going to last. It's been wall to wall sunshine. First night battery was at 12.5 at the end of the evening and the same in the morning second night 12.4 and and the same in the morning and last night also 12.4 but read 12.3 just now. On the old van in this weather the 120agm and the brilliant mppt controller would have not dropped below 12.6 or maybe 12.7 in this weather.

So I bet there was nothing wrong with the battery we replaced. It's just this van. Or the controller or both. When the weather changes by Monday I reckon we will be back to square one unless we sit there twiddling our thumbs in the dark. Maybe I'm being pessimistic but my gut feeling is it's just not enough power and charge in this van. There is no way a brand new 120ah battery should drop from supposedly fully charged yesterday afternoon to 12.3v overnight after five hours tv and some laptop use. Mind you the bloody Freesat box uses up to 18w which is more than the TV at 14w

 

[barryd]

Actually it's reading 12.4 now.

 

[1 Cup]

If at work 10 amp draw, the battery can go down to 11volts untill load taken off.

12.4v at battery you crappie them already ? . Should have put a switch to turn off draw completely. I use four terminal bus bars and put longer studs in as needed.
What's the highest voltage your Sargent can handle as input ? If high turn up SC.
If you got a victron SC turn it up to 15 v output. but should be on 13.6v
Noon to 5 pm and charge everything at this time

My sprinter changes wet battery at 15v smart altonator.

 

[barryd]

First day when we got here after fitting the battery and driving for three hours was the only time it was showing 14v on the new meter. It gets up to 13v on the solar. Showing 12.8 now and I always charge stuff early on but obviously have four hours or so of TV or laptops running after the sun goes down.

It's maybe ok but I bet one, two or three days of crap weather which is possibly coming will kill it again. I'm even more convinced I'll go for the all singing all dancing lithium system now. This is a right pia.

 

[merl]

So I bet there was nothing wrong with the battery we replaced. It's just this van.

Barry, isn't there enough room to fit both batteries? As I said previously just connect em up in parallel with a pair of jump leads for now.

 

[barryd]

Barry, isn't there enough room to fit both batteries? As I said previously just connect em up in parallel with a pair of jump leads for now.

Probably but I gave Julian @yeoblade the old one for his fish pond lights.

 

[yeoblade]

Probably but I gave Julian @yeoblade the old one for his fish pond lights.

The fish wont mind if you want it back,, they're in all weekend.

 

[trevskoda]

Is not about time you listened to the folk on here and stopped being skimpy tight ar-e, fit what is required.

 

[barryd]

Is not about time you listened to the folk on here and stopped being skimpy tight ar-e, fit what is required.

Stupid boy.

Did I not just put a quote up for nearly £3ks worth of lithium and solar? Find me an expert in south Devon who can fit it this weekend Trev and let's get it done! I'll even give you a commission! Good luck.