power packs

[trevskoda]

That Battery to Battery sounds a good idea for you, I cant get my head around these petrol generators, even the Honda EU20i only puts out 8amps, it will take forever to charge your battery bank at that rate

Yes but if you plug in a car jump starter charger like a absar it will pump out 150ah boost charge at 14.5 volts,i can start a van of this in about one minute,it has a lower setting of 28ah for slow charge so not to boil battery over longer time .
But if you had a bank of 4 batters at 4/5 hundred ah and require 35% top up one to two hr charge will have them up again.:idea-007::blah:

 

[Teutone]

We so all that too but once you use any form of blown air heating that really uses the power big time.
We want to be comfortable without having to compromise it is impossible in winter without either being on ehu or running the generator.

I posted this before and I am getting tired of doing it over and over again. You CAN use solar in the winter. I agree with you, it will not be enough longterm and you need ENOUGH solar panels to make it work. We have been out 5 days without hookup and not moving at all using TV, blown air heating 24/7 (but with a bit of commom sense) and the batteries where just fine. But I would guess that after two more days we would have needed to use the engine for charge or else.

You just keep repeating over and over again that solar is useless. Don't be bitter if yours doesn't work. Have a good investigation and sort it out.

 

[Tbear]

Hi Carjem,

It says in your profile that you do not have a van. Are you thinking about buying your first one to live in full time. I ask because that would be a very steep learning curve and as you have seen above, we all have very different likes and needs so it is very difficult for us to advise without a lot of detail of your needs. Even then, expect some controversy.

Richard

 

[CARJEM]

Eza lithium power pack

Thanks for all your replies.
We are about to buy our 'Forever Home' on wheels. It is going to be a learning curve, but an experience. We are looking forward to it.

Tbear states that it will be at least 500 hookups to pay for itself, therefore its paid for itself in a year and a half.
We shall have 120w solar panel.
4-6 batteries, banner batteries are about £200 each, storage/space/weight ?
A generator costs about £500 and about £6 an hour to run according to this post. We would rather not have to sit in lay-bys charging up batteries.

We were hoping to hear from someone that had owned a Eza lithium power pack. We have looked at 'RoadPro' products and reviews and we were very impressed.
we want to get the best advice but realise that everyone has pros and cons.

p.s i do towel dry but sometimes like the luxury of a hair dryer !

We would like to thank you all for your responses

Carole :newhere:

 

[Tbear]

Sorry if I did not make myself clear but you would only normally need a hookup one night in three so that would be four and a half years. If you where using a cheap site that where getting a regular income from you, it could be much longer. It would only pay for itself against hookups. Against lead acid it would never catch up against the best deep cycle ones, against the ordinary ones??? Do you really think that you can manage with just one battery, living full time in the van?

Road Pro are a good company providing some very specialist gear.

Richard

 

[Teutone]

Not bitter at all just don't want people to be misled you only have to do some research to know that solar panels are next to useless in the UK between September and May.especially when mounted flat on the roof.
Or are all the solar experts and calculations used just nonsense.
We would need around 4 kW of panels in the winter months to provide enough charge to a 450 ah battery bank.

I have done better than research. I have real experience with two panels on my roof. As I said before, I don't fully disagree with you but you can't look at yourself (guess not many people need 450 aH) and shy everybody else away from solar just because it doesn't satisfy your needs.

 

[Tbear]

I think we can all agree that solar is as predictable as the weather.

We did have someone on here that had mounted their panels using hinges for double glazed windows so he could improve the angle to the sun considerable. Sounded a good idea?

Richard

 

[delicagirl]

Last winter (mid Dec to mid Jan) I was out for a month in Wales, lakes, Scotland and Yorkshire dales. It got to -10 in Scotland. I have GAS heating and gas cooking and don't have a tele or hair dryer. I have one solar panel on the sloping over-cab roof. I have 3 leisure batteries. i do not use 240v appliances. I did not go on hookup once. .

For me it was possible to live without hookup. you just have to choose what electrical appliances you use. We all live in different ways in houses the same applies to vans

 

[Admin]

With solar panels there are several things to consider:

• Type of panel (monocrystalline / polycrystaline)
• Type of cable (poor cabling = loss of energy)
• Type of charger (rubbish charger = rubbish charging)
• Position of panel (in relation to sun)
• Quality of the panel (good cell manufacturer)
• How clean is the panel? (dirty panel = bad performance)