Hank the Tanks Dodgy battery and solar system

exwindsurfer said:
Yeah on the way if you want
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You mean on the way back? That would be better as Im not sure I can get all the bits by Sunday. If I cant suss it out I can always have a drive up to Sunderland. It seems a bit unfair to interrupt your trip.
 
exwindsurfer said:
No probs Barry.
Sorry yes on the way back
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Yep that could work cheers. As said ill get posted on here photos and vids and what I can tomorrow, get the gear sorted and ordered and take it from there. Im going to do a Whatsapp call with Merl also hopefully. I think the biggest battle might be getting that second battery holder out as the bolts that go through the box are knackered. Might have to saw them off. I can probably get that done though I would think.
 
barryd said:
Yep that could work cheers. As said ill get posted on here photos and vids and what I can tomorrow, get the gear sorted and ordered and take it from there. Im going to do a Whatsapp call with Merl also hopefully. I think the biggest battle might be getting that second battery holder out as the bolts that go through the box are knackered. Might have to saw them off. I can probably get that done though I would think.
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Can't you twat it wit thammer lad?
 
Ok so here is a little video for you to look at. It should show in detail the controller, the feed in to the controller and the two output cables. One goes to the leisure battery and one out the bottom and somehow up to the cab battery. It also shows the fuse for I think the solar feed to the battery which I guess needs to come out before we start messing with it. Ive also shown the terminals. I think there is enough space for another identical battery. The issues are. How to remove that second empty battery holder as the bolts are knackered, do I need a battery bag, which cables do I need to connect the two.

Few pics below the video.


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exwindsurfer said:
That looks pretty straight forward Barry.
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Could be but I did a Whatsapp with Merl this morning and we are going to have to be careful with the large leads that go back to the vans supply as they are not that long and I need to factor in getting that clamp out which is going to be a bugger. Also Merl thinks the connectors I need might not be the ones I linked to on ebay. There is talk of fitting another panel as well and Merl has offered to help with that. So I might hold off for now with your kind offer of dropping in on your way back from your trip. I dont think ill have it all in place by then and I think ill take Merl up on his offer to fit another panel as well. Much appreciated though.
 
barryd said:
Ok so here is a little video for you to look at. It should show in detail the controller, the feed in to the controller and the two output cables. One goes to the leisure battery and one out the bottom and somehow up to the cab battery. It also shows the fuse for I think the solar feed to the battery which I guess needs to come out before we start messing with it. Ive also shown the terminals. I think there is enough space for another identical battery. The issues are. How to remove that second empty battery holder as the bolts are knackered, do I need a battery bag, which cables do I need to connect the two.

Few pics below the video.


View attachment 141020View attachment 141021View attachment 141022View attachment 141023
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Great pics Barry but is your solar controller MPPT? If not would suggest you look at Votronic which have twin outputs ie one for charging hab batteries and another for charging vehicle battery

Best wishes
 
Wightman said:
Great pics Barry but is your solar controller MPPT? If not would suggest you look at Votronic which have twin outputs ie one for charging hab batteries and another for charging vehicle battery

Best wishes
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I wouldn't be averse to that. Yes it's not mppt mine and yes it was mentioned but I'm not sure one was put forward with two outputs. I'll have a look.

I was wary of changing too much when I was doing it myself.
 
barryd said:
I wouldn't be averse to that. Yes it's not mppt mine and yes it was mentioned but I'm not sure one was put forward with two outputs. I'll have a look.

I was wary of changing too much when I was doing it myself.
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You need to bear in mind that there are only two wires Barry, one black and one red, and you would need to be pretty stupid to **** up, and although it would amuse me to say you are, you clearly are not or you would have done it all by now, at least buy the gear suggested that you need, basically a controller and a couple of cables, a 2nd battery and a MPPT controller then lay them out on the floor and just look at them, and you will figure it all out on your own (the best way) it's all very logical, even to a thick twat like me.


There are 100's of videos on how to do it all, just split them into different bite-sized jobs, not one larger one.

Take the controller you have, a bit of masking tape to identify which wires came out of where, mask ALL the red wires so they cannot touch the black ones, then fit the new one and put the wires back in, best to take the pos of the battery, but not essential.

For the new battery, place it next to the other, and just run red to red and black to black with the new cables, I prefer to feed into one battery and power from the other but that's just me and not entirely essential.

The new panel is not much more complicated, just two more wires to go into a junction box, then from there into the new controller.
 
barryd said:
Could be but I did a Whatsapp with Merl this morning and we are going to have to be careful with the large leads that go back to the vans supply as they are not that long and I need to factor in getting that clamp out which is going to be a bugger. Also Merl thinks the connectors I need might not be the ones I linked to on ebay. There is talk of fitting another panel as well and Merl has offered to help with that. So I might hold off for now with your kind offer of dropping in on your way back from your trip. I dont think ill have it all in place by then and I think ill take Merl up on his offer to fit another panel as well. Much appreciated though.
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Are we talking mppt panel ? Sorry say yours looks a bit naff for my liking + the cable to you van supply look a bit thin for my liking .
 
barryd said:
Could be but I did a Whatsapp with Merl this morning and we are going to have to be careful with the large leads that go back to the vans supply as they are not that long and I need to factor in getting that clamp out which is going to be a bugger. Also Merl thinks the connectors I need might not be the ones I linked to on ebay. There is talk of fitting another panel as well and Merl has offered to help with that. So I might hold off for now with your kind offer of dropping in on your way back from your trip. I dont think ill have it all in place by then and I think ill take Merl up on his offer to fit another panel as well. Much appreciated though.
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That ok Barry .I don't know if your fitting a inverter or not if you are make sure the cable are well up to it .I had 35mm cable but ended up fitting 70mm as the 35mm where getting warm and you have to use the same cable to your batteries as well .
 
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