A nice 730 watts of solar charge this morning

Although we don't actually need many Ahr's/day, using power from the battery can save gas. When not driving, during the day a combination of solar power and spare battery capacity avoids the use of gas for the fridge. Added to that our fridge uses about 30-50Ahr overnight. Boiling water for a couple of mugs of tea/coffee uses about 7Ahr each time. Each morning we use an electric toaster (haven't checked the consumption of that yet). When driving I use a 60A B-B charger. This usually limits itself to about 40A due to thermal loading. This is after adding extra forced air cooling. Even with that limit, with some solar assistance, the charge rate works out at about 45AHrs/hr. I have 180AHr of Lithium Ion batteries so even after extensive power use it only takes about 3-3.5hrs driving to fill the batteries in preparation for the next night of wild camping.
My 260W of solar panels only produce about 160W at midday at the moment on a bright sunny day due to the flat roof mounting. Having seen the recent published benefits for angled panels I intend to modify mine accordingly to make the most of the solar power.
 
Phil said:
New (old GoPro Karma) drone arrived at home Yesterday. So I will be flying again soon.
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phil you have lost a fair bit of waight. but find it hard to believe you will be flying that drone. mind post the video and put a helmet on best of luck. just looked at the date. so it must be true
 
Is this some kind of competition between you and Phil??? Only slightly (majorly) envious of your knowledge and skill to set this all up.
 
Phil said:
Rae's water heater now automatically takes the wasted energy from his solar panels when his batteries are full!
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It's definately worth doing that and making the most of the energy that would otherwise go to waste.

For my 400W installation I see this information (in the summertime)

Solar Yield & SOC by David, on Flickr
Most of the solar harvesting between the start and finish red lines each day is just wasted (it is evident by not even being there! There would be a nice curve from morning to evening if all the energy was being ustilised). I'll be using the BMV Relay output to automatically turn my hot water on as soon as the batteries hit 99% SOC and then off again when it drops a few percent. Found the principle works very well on my testing in the last few months :)
 
I got a 12v 300w immersion element last year but not fitted yet, am leaning towards keeping the 240v in but wiring it in as it was never completed by previous owner. Ideally I should take the tank out and get another stub fitted so I can have both. That way I could heat water by solar when harvesting or generator in winter. Currently water is heated when engine runs or kettle :)
 
nabsim said:
I got a 12v 300w immersion element last year but not fitted yet, am leaning towards keeping the 240v in but wiring it in as it was never completed by previous owner. Ideally I should take the tank out and get another stub fitted so I can have both. That way I could heat water by solar when harvesting or generator in winter. Currently water is heated when engine runs or kettle :)
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Having both is good, but if it were the case of one OR other, the 300W element would be preferable over 240V for anyone who wants to wildcamp (A normal Mains element of around 2kW is a big hit on the batteries whilst on - better to spread out the same load over time)
 
nabsim said:
I got a 12v 300w immersion element last year but not fitted yet, am leaning towards keeping the 240v in but wiring it in as it was never completed by previous owner. Ideally I should take the tank out and get another stub fitted so I can have both. That way I could heat water by solar when harvesting or generator in winter. Currently water is heated when engine runs or kettle :)
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Are you going this route because you don't have the LPG Truma water heater?
 
wildebus said:
Having both is good, but if it were the case of one OR other, the 300W element would be preferable over 240V for anyone who wants to wildcamp (A normal Mains element of around 2kW is a big hit on the batteries whilst on - better to spread out the same load over time)
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The built in element is 1KW but still a big hit
 
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