Quiet generator how much

Right Alan my mistake, one of these NSR or Nordstar type RV's

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nice one. mine were old suntrekkers made in aluminium .but the new ones are f,glass. quite like those like yours good insulation. very common on landrovers . better get your bags packed and join us in maroc this winter. make it work hard for its living. there was a good write up about your demount a while ago with a visit to the factory . think it was in land rover owners mag. cheers alan.
 
From what I've learnt since buying one,
is they appear to be marketed. As NSL or (Nordstar in Germany)
By a company called Karroser of Sweden.

Very well insulated though, supposedly down to -30 or something.

Due to the use of space though as I said, there's little room for further additional equipment
(Aside from drying SKI's,

which have their own large radiator in the WC.

Not a feature of much use in Maroc, although thanks for kind offer Alan ;)
 
big snow scenes in maroc . they hold world championship do,s there . very deep snow there two winters ago came right down to the road and skies and toboggans were for hire. the atlas is famous for skiing. you need to do some homework. you can surf before breakfast .ski at dinner and ride in the desert for tea. all in same day. up near azrou there is a place with snow just about all year. we had to turn round up dades gorge the other year as it was too deep to carry on. we actually drov above the snowline at one place it was incredible. we also got altitude sickness. well over 3,000mtr high. you have a perfect vehicle for maroc. shame you have wine storage shortage though. ha ha. cheers have fun we do. alan.
 
Alan,
when selecting a regulator, what do I need to look for

I see an amperage listed, together with the voltage 12/24

is their any other feature I should look out for


richard
 
hi . some will handle 12v or 24 v the other is amps to look for .based on an 80wt is about 5amp . but better to leave a good reserve then you can add more. mine is meant to be 30amp reg. but i only put 3 panels through it. when i put the other 3 on the roof i will start another system. with its own reg. then if anything goes wrong i hope i can use one or other.
 
that should handle two x80wt panels . thats a good price as well . like every thing dont know the quality. but then if it was 50 quid the quality may not be better. i have been using cheap maroc regs but they do get warm . usually they last a couple of years so i try to always have a spare. cheers alan.
 
Hi all, just thought I'd add my two bob's worth regarding solar panels.

We have a 55 watt panel on the overcab, ( came with it when we bought it so that's what we're using ), through an 8 amp Steco regulator feeding 2 x 110 amp leisure batteries. Our leisure batteries also charge off the engine via relay when it's running and 240 volts when we're on EHU.

Last weekend we did three nights at Huttoft car terrace with our Avtex 12 volt tv running all day, ( the missus likes her daytime tv when we're on holiday :eek: ), and without running the van engine, just using the solar panel, we found we had plenty of power for our needs. I felt that if we had wanted to stay longer without running the van engine we could have easily done so.

For this winter I'm looking at putting in a system to charge the van battery off the solar panel while it's stood for long periods, all ideas as to the best way to achieve this will be welcome please. :)

We have found our solar panel to be well worth the money ( well, it would be if we'd had to pay for it!!! ), and no noisy genny to worry about.
 
It certainly seem the way forward, the generator idea is off the menu now anyway.

and I'm a little more clued-up than I was last week, I want ideally to keep the roof access to a minimum so they would need mounting permanently, Alan offered me some helpful advice on that,

I'm loathe to drill holes in campers body,
but I suppose one of those threaded gland things would be long enough although ideally I suppose it wants to be concealed beneath a panel in the roof itself
so the next thing is looking the path a cable might take and remain out of sight
 
hi you can link the batteries . there could be a bit of discrepancy because of age condition of batteries but it will help. again use a big red switch in line to control manually. if both engine and leisure batteries are earthed its only one thickish cable to route through. someone may come up with an easier way because of your van system in place but i try to work simple . hope i got it right. cheers alan.
 
Randonneur said:
For this winter I'm looking at putting in a system to charge the van battery off the solar panel while it's stood for long periods, all ideas as to the best way to achieve this will be welcome please. :)
Click to expand...

Why not take the simple approach of placing a solar panel inside the vehicle propped up on the dashboard, and connected via the cigarette lighter?

This is what I use to just trickle charge the van battery.

This presumes of course that the van battery is not being used whilst stationary for any domestic supllies ...
 
dependencies said:
and I'm a little more clued-up than I was last week, I want ideally to keep the roof access to a minimum so they would need mounting permanently
Click to expand...

Do you have roof bars?

They could be used for panel mounting ...

For the cable run, I wouldn't take it through the roof. Rather route it down the rear of the vehicle at the corner, then back up through the floor.

Incidentally, the cable needs to be fairly substantial to avoid voltage drop caused by excessive resistance.
 
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Actually it does have an arrangement of bars (with runners glued to roof)

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Certainly I could bolt to that, but a cable of say 'Biro' diameter would stick out like a sore thumb,
so that's out.

Have to think up something else for routing it.

As you say in terms of voltage drop' the shortest route is prefferable
and there are benefits to using floor, as access
as there's already enough pipes and cables there anyway
 
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hi two panels on roof front . cable through side usiong a gland nut. reg high on wall inside twin cable running down inside wall to bateries plastic duct or a channeled strip of wood covering cable job done . simple easy cost minimal. more than enough power and plenty left for lifes little extra,s trouble with a portable panel is storage .breakage etc. and then you do have to face the right way. on roof not the best advantage point but its fixed forget and takes up no room. may be fit a small spoiler in front to deflect branches.
cheers alan.
 
What about this,
I wanted to add a Fiamma roll out awning to N/S, so perhaps I could conceal the cabling on the outside,
which would make it enter inside an overhead locker above the sink area
so the regulator could be mounted out of sight in there as well,
just its cabling on down to the battery
(in floor locker at base of headboard below central table)
 
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i always think its better to have the reg on view then you can monitor what is happening. as a matter of comment i dont find roll out awningvery usefull . theydont like the rain . put alot of stress to side walls and if wild camping take abit of the stealth aspect away if out. but its your van your choice. i like sitting in the sun . cheers alan.
 
Canalsman said:
Why not take the simple approach of placing a solar panel inside the vehicle propped up on the dashboard, and connected via the cigarette lighter?

This is what I use to just trickle charge the van battery.

This presumes of course that the van battery is not being used whilst stationary for any domestic supllies ...
Click to expand...

Hi Canalsman,

The van battery is only used for engine starting. I did'nt think those cig lighter panels were much good, I've heard that they can overheat the vehicle wiring causing fires if you're not careful, especially on older vehicles like ours.

I've heard about these so called battery to battery smart chargers, I may look into those, does anyone have any experience of using these??
 
Randonneur said:
Hi Canalsman,

The van battery is only used for engine starting. I did'nt think those cig lighter panels were much good, I've heard that they can overheat the vehicle wiring causing fires if you're not careful, especially on older vehicles like ours.

I've heard about these so called battery to battery smart chargers, I may look into those, does anyone have any experience of using these??
Click to expand...

The current is low - hence the trickle charging reference - so there is no chance of overheating the wiring.

We're talking 0.5 amps or thereabouts ...

The other advantage is that because it's a trickle charge, you don't need any form of regulator.

I have successfully used this approach both on my narrow boat that I used to own, and on the 'van.

Make sure that the panel produces at least 0.5 amps (500 milliamps) in full sun.
 
Much easier that trying to explain it is to suggest putting solar panels (or solar panel calculator) into Google. It explains all the pros and cons. Just looked into in massive detail myself, but given the age of my motorhome and the cost of running my generator I just couldn't justify the outlay. I know the green argument and agree with it, but for me at the end of the day it has to be viable economically.

I have a generator that cost just short of £1000. It is very quiet and when wild camping, if you buy or make up a decent length power lead you can nearly always position it where nobody can hear it. Even when it's raining and under the back of our motorhome we barely hear it once the TV is on at normal volume. We use ours just as you've said you'd use yours - it runs TV and charges phones, laptop etc and runs the lights (well one halogen light to be exact!)....

For the same money I could have bought 3 or 4 DECENT solar panels which would not have been sufficient during winter months to do what I wanted them to. The most important thing to remember is they only produce a fraction of what they claim unless exposed directly to sunlight at exactly the right angle all day long on a summer day. The websites explain this quite clearly and many give you a calculator to let you work out what you'd need. One gallon of petrol has just run my generator for three to four hours a day for a whole month! It sips petrol!

Best of luck with your choosing.
 
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