Additional solar system & B2B for compressor fridge

That's a useful harvest you have there for that time of year (y) (and a lot better than 'sod all' ;) )

If I had a tilted system on my van where I park, it really would make 'sod all' difference due to parking facing due North and various tall obstacles (trees and houses) blocking the sun all day in the winter months.
I am just saying this as the benefit of tilting also is impacted by how you are able to park up.
At Moffat you could position just as you wanted; and the same at Kelso earlier in the year as I saw, but sometime that is not an option - Some of the places I go to for a weekend, I have to park in a very particular orientation and can't even choose to go 180 Degrees to, for example, park SE instead of NW, so for me the typical tilt system would only be usefully deployable 25% of the time even in an field with no obstacles (I am working on a 'universal' tilting system to address this as it happens though).
 
wildebus said:
That's a useful harvest you have there for that time of year (y) (and a lot better than 'sod all' ;) )

If I had a tilted system on my van where I park, it really would make 'sod all' difference due to parking facing due North and various tall obstacles (trees and houses) blocking the sun all day in the winter months.
I am just saying this as the benefit of tilting also is impacted by how you are able to park up.
At Moffat you could position just as you wanted; and the same at Kelso earlier in the year as I saw, but sometime that is not an option - Some of the places I go to for a weekend, I have to park in a very particular orientation and can't even choose to go 180 Degrees to, for example, park SE instead of NW, so for me the typical tilt system would only be usefully deployable 25% of the time even in an field with no obstacles (I am working on a 'universal' tilting system to address this as it happens though).
Click to expand...
Fortunately I don’t have that restriction except on a campsite but I’d be plug in to the main so would make know difference.
 
Yes, wimpy summer use only. Though it might make resale harder. Even if it were for non summer use, flipping up panels on one side may shade the flat ones on the other side that are for the standard leisure battery. I could still go with portable ones as well for additional oomph.

What does the white and higher dark bit on that graph indicate?
 
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wfdTamar said:
Yes, wimpy summer use only. Though it might make resale harder. Even if it were for non summer use, flipping up panels on one side may shade the flat ones on the other side that are for the standard leisure battery. I could still go with portable ones as well for additional oomph.

What does the white and higher dark bit on that graph indicate?
Click to expand...
It is the battery State -
bottom (white) = Bulk Charge
middle (light grey) = Absorption
top (darker grey) = Float
 
wfdTamar said:
Yes, wimpy summer use only. Though it might make resale harder. Even if it were for non summer use, flipping up panels on one side may shade the flat ones on the other side that are for the standard leisure battery. I could still go with portable ones as well for additional oomph.

What does the white and higher dark bit on that graph indicate?
Click to expand...
It’s how much watts I am getting daily as you can see on the 29th 30th and the 1st when I was in Moffat and tilting my panel there is a big difference to the rest of the month when they where flat on the roof.
 
Yes, good isn't it? Must be very satisfying when you see that. Even the first time you start getting 'free' solar power is a 'woo hoo' moment.

I'll have 500 watts on the roof in two arrays (if you could call 2-3 panels an array) to two controllers. Another thing I could do is wire both arrays up so I can direct both arrays to either controller (and therefore - battery).

In the same way I was thinking of having a switch to direct the fridge to draw from either leisure battery, I could have a simple, single input, 2 output switch on each array cable. Just as long as I don't leave all panels feeding into the smaller controller at midday - might overdo it. Max amps for the Votronic Duo Digital (VDD) 250 is 15A. Theoretical max from the 5 panels is about 27. The VDD 430 can handle 25A.
 
wfdTamar said:
Yes, good isn't it? Must be very satisfying when you see that. Even the first time you start getting 'free' solar power is a 'woo hoo' moment.

I'll have 500 watts on the roof in two arrays (if you could call 2-3 panels an array) to two controllers. Another thing I could do is wire both arrays up so I can direct both arrays to either controller (and therefore - battery).

In the same way I was thinking of having a switch to direct the fridge to draw from either leisure battery, I could have a simple, single input, 2 output switch on each array cable. Just as long as I don't leave all panels feeding into the smaller controller at midday - might overdo it. Max amps for the Votronic Duo Digital (VDD) 250 is 15A. Theoretical max from the 5 panels is about 27. The VDD 430 can handle 25A.
Click to expand...
I was up at Moffat last year and it was a sunny winters day and my panels maxed out at 417watts I think it was 27amps I’ve a Victron 100/30 mppt controler .I don’t see why you need to split your panels into two controllers when one would do the job just as well.
 
Exwindsurfer said:
I was up at Moffat last year and it was a sunny winters day and my panels maxed out at 417watts I think it was 27amps I’ve a Victron 100/30 mppt controler .I don’t see why you need to split your panels into two controllers when one would do the job just as well.
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Last year at Moffat I stood 6 days before I was needing power though Jeff, that was exceptional weather. Certainly I haven’t had anything like that since mid September this year. Last year was a solar dream. That’s me with flat panels anywaylol

edit, the split is because he has two independent battery banks at present 👍
 
Just confirmed with Beko the fridge has a rear cooling grid. The clearance for the sides is only so room air can get to the back. So having the sides enclosed is ok if the rear space is properly vented.
 
Better even as you should get a good chimney effect and not draw warm air from inside van.
 
Neat bit of kit especially for adsorption fridge.
I'd have thought that a "proper" condenser grille would be fine without if both top and bottom vents are present.
 
Surely when air temperature rises either type of fridge will benefit from moving air through? They’re both different methods of moving heat to cooler air.
 
There will be benefit but whether it is necessary is debatable - how many built in domestic fridges have ventilation grilles through house walls?
 
To be fair the first built in fridge freezer I owned had a cut out in the kick board and the top vented to clear at the back.
So many free standing fridges and freezers nowadays have skin cooling - which I see as the pits as the increased insulation reduces internal capacity.
The space and positive air flow we're used to in motorhomes is surely because historically we've had adsorption fridges with gravity circulation.
Compressor fridges can dump heat much more easily.
 
These too expensive:

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www.amazon.co.uk


These were around US$13.50 £10.30 to UK. Only 2 bars

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