Hank the Tanks Dodgy battery and solar system

barryd said:
Nah. That means getting someone else involved which is always a PIA plus its not immediately obvious what size additional panels would fit on that roof. The issue last year I dont think was with the panel, when there was sun it charged the single battery to full in a couple of hours. Ill use it this year with one panel and two batteries and find out if its enough or not that way.
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Rule of thumb is 100w solar to 100ah battery, so 2 batts will require 200w of solar, easy to link to the panel you have.
 
barryd said:
Im sure all this stuff is very useful but its partly what put me off going the lithium route. Having spent a lifetime working in tech I have grown to hate it. :D The more I read up on it the more monitors, apps, dials, bells and whistles that seem to be involved. I was bad enough last summer just plugging the £3.50 volt metre in all the time to check the bleeding voltage. That control panel on our van gets on my tits as well. The water tank gets to three quarters empty and you think WW3 had broken out as alarms start going off. Bloody Fridge does it as well and with that one it turns out its some sensor on the light getting condensation on it (IN A FRIDGE!!! NO SH*T!!) :ROFLMAO: I just ripped the wires out to solve that one.

I love the idea of Lithium, don't get me wrong but it seems very complicated to me.
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Don't think there is any need for it to be complicated Barry.
Had same decision to make as yourself, double up or install lithium .
I've gone for lithium but , to be honest, it was (almost) a coin toss .
Bluetooth etc ? No reason for it in my opinion
 
barryd said:
Its all you need if you have a simple system though I reckon. On my old van my MPPT controller had a screen that told me everything I needed to know. What was going in, what was going out and what my voltage was. I just looked at it occasionally but I got so used to how the old van worked and performed over the years I just knew from the weather how well it was doing and when we needed to be careful or not. Same with the Gaslow. I can probably tell you within a litre how much we have left without even looking at a gauge. I've not quite got there with this van yet but ill figure it out. I know what you mean about "joy" though. I used to get quite excited if I saw my old MPPT throwing in maybe 70 watts! :ROFLMAO:
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Why don't you buy another one of those Controllers Barry, Bought a different one now but I'd have another.

MPP Solar Inc » PCM2012/3012 Series

www.mppsolar.com www.mppsolar.com

link to buy one

PCM3012 (25A MPPT) – Maximum Solar Online

maximumsolar.online maximumsolar.online
 
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alcam said:
Don't think there is any need for it to be complicated Barry.
Had same decision to make as yourself, double up or install lithium .
I've gone for lithium but , to be honest, it was (almost) a coin toss .
Bluetooth etc ? No reason for it in my opinion
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As I have mentioned I am disabled so having BT and not having to go to the van just to check is a bonus, but it seems this particular item would be wasted on LA batteries
 
Pudsey Bear said:
Cheapest Wifi is £50 so a bit OTT, not sure I have the range for BT I have a BT speaker in the van so I can test on that, just leave my phone in the house and see if it connects, I assume if the monitor is connected to the battery it'll be powered by it?
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If I park the van on the road outside the house I can connect to my ppt and shunt from the rooms at the front of the house, upstairs and down. I can also turn the diesel heater on/off and up/down from those places. Modern bluetooth has much better range and connectivity.

Just make sure you name devices so when you park somewhere you know which is yours from the loads of others that appear from other vans lol
 
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