Second battery with one solar panel

Thank you to everyone who has offered help and advice.
The only power hungry item I can think of is my Truma heater fan, I use gas for cooking and the fridge side of things, all the lights are LEDs and I charge 2 phones and my laptop, no inverter (yet) and I may not need a second battery at the moment up until I fitted the solar and 130ah battery in July this year I managed through th last two winters without any solar and a cheap Lion 85ah battery from Euro Car Parts but I usually move every day or two but Hereford will be the first time I've stayed in one place for any length of time in the winter. On the Truma side if I keep it on low am I right in thinking the power consumption will be very low until the fan comes on?

Regards,
Del
 
OFF TOPIC
My (not so nice) new ASUS crashed out on me.
So a 2 stage repair
1 use a windows install which retained old files
2 re-install AOMEI backupper and use a recent backup
BIG BIG thanks to Del for suggesting the software
The windows install only gave me home and none of the nice "Tablet features"
All done nearly just google drive restoring my vital data
 
OFF TOPIC.
Running my dehumidifier may mean I have to fit a second solar panel, but I have a 4 area temperature / humidity monitor. Hymie parked next to car and can sit here in the warm and see if the camper is dryer than the car, or what it's doing outside. So I can then decide to open the roof vents or switch on the dehumidifier if it's higher / wetter outside. The camper is now down 10% on the car, so dryer than it was. Give it another week see if it still improves.
 
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alwaysared said:
Thank you to everyone who has offered help and advice.
The only power hungry item I can think of is my Truma heater fan, I use gas for cooking and the fridge side of things, all the lights are LEDs and I charge 2 phones and my laptop, no inverter (yet) and I may not need a second battery at the moment up until I fitted the solar and 130ah battery in July this year I managed through th last two winters without any solar and a cheap Lion 85ah battery from Euro Car Parts but I usually move every day or two but Hereford will be the first time I've stayed in one place for any length of time in the winter. On the Truma side if I keep it on low am I right in thinking the power consumption will be very low until the fan comes on?

Regards,
Del
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We have the gas fire with the blow option, the fire keeps the camper warm enough on it's own. I have used the blower on occasion but found that I had a flat battery later, hadn't switched the fan off and I can't hear it at low speed. So it still uses power but yes, less on low speed. I don't know if you have the fire/blower of the blower only version of heater, in which case you would have to use the blower.
 
nabsim said:
Well my Votronic B2B arrived today, I bought it from Photonics Universe as I got a discount from C&CC. RoadPro did give me a code that should have worked for C&CC members but it wouldn’t accept it. Saved £16 anyway so just need to get back to van to fit it now and see how that helps.
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I haven't gone down that route yet as I don't have a smart alternator. I suppose as it boosts and then charges the leisure batteries that should be quicker to full charge. It a thought. Years ago you used to be able to get alternator regulators that charged at a higher rate for the first 30mins or so. That's when they were separate from the alternator though.
 
chas142 said:
I haven't gone down that route yet as I don't have a smart alternator. I suppose as it boosts and then charges the leisure batteries that should be quicker to full charge. It a thought. Years ago you used to be able to get alternator regulators that charged at a higher rate for the first 30mins or so. That's when they were separate from the alternator though.
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you still can. Sargent sell a Digital Alternator Regulator. I bought one last year (but not yet fitted!)
 
chas142 said:
We have the gas fire with the blow option, the fire keeps the camper warm enough on it's own. I have used the blower on occasion but found that I had a flat battery later, hadn't switched the fan off and I can't hear it at low speed. So it still uses power but yes, less on low speed. I don't know if you have the fire/blower of the blower only version of heater, in which case you would have to use the blower.
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Unfortunately I don't have the fire as mine is the Combi 6 with hot water heater.

Regards,
Del
 
I count myself so lucky that my fire is just gas but one thing has often occurred to me for those with blown air or combi heating.
If the batteries get too low for overnight heating, how about a couple of low flames on the gas cooker instead? Is there a dire reason why we shouldn't do this?

I remember as a schoolchild, waking up with thick frost patterns all over my bedroom windows. I used to zoom down to the kitchen as fast as I could and put all the gas burners on until I stopped shivering and couldn't see my breath any more!
 
re post before this one....
Using Cooker burners..Not good...
Lack of oxygen in air and certainly more CO2 (carbon dioxide) instead ....not in itself dangerous but can make you drowsy.
But also the possibility of CO (Carbon Monoxide) deadly remember the deaths in Spain due to misuse and faulty gas heaters !
I expect your fire has a proper flue to take way the nasties
 
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jagmanx said:
re post before this one....
Using Cooker burners..Not good...
Lack of oxygen in air and certainly more CO2 (carbon dioxide) instead ....not in itself dangerous but can make you drowsy.
But also the possibility of CO (Carbon Monoxide) deadly remember the deaths in Spain due to misuse and faulty gas heaters !

Also water vapour is another product of burning gas...so much more condensation
I expect your fire has a proper flue to take way the nasties
Click to expand...
 
alwaysared said:
Unfortunately I don't have the fire as mine is the Combi 6 with hot water heater.

Regards,
Del
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A second battery will obviously give you more capacity, a second solar panel will give you more charge, I am getting about 4.5 amps a day at the moment from 140w in Hampshire, not much. You could always start the vehicle each day or every other day and let it top up the batteries a bit. I am going to fit digital voltmeters in mine as they give a clearer indication of battery state.
Regards,
Charlie.
 
chas142 said:
I guessed that, it just makes me feel like a plank at times, when I do something wrong. I will put that down to my illness, I am the one in four:giggle:
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That’s two of us planks then. Let’s get a few more of us and we’ll have enough for a floor.
Don’t feel bad about it. Remember, your not being abused regularly by Nabsim,
Yet?
 
1 x 150W solar panel along with the controller etc. which came with the kit and 2 x 150ah gel batteries, the whole lot then connected via the all important 'split charge relay' and a dirty great big fuse to the van battery. It all works perfectly and now, no matter what the weather, whilst 'Millie' is parked up on SORN between 1st November to the end of April every single battery remains fully charged.
 
Trotter said:
That’s two of us planks then. Let’s get a few more of us and we’ll have enough for a floor.
Don’t feel bad about it. Remember, your not being abused regularly by Nabsim,
Yet?
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Oh, that's something to look forward to then:LOL:
 
nabsim said:
Ignore him Chas, Del isn't happy unless me and Tezza are having a go at him :)
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In that case, I’m in a permanent state of complete happiness. My cup runneth over.?
 
saxonborg said:
Recommended that the second battery is exactly the same as the first and that you connect the positive lead to one battery and the negative to the other battery, there is a diagram I will try and find it for you.
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In layman's terms parallel, that positive to positive and negative to negative, that doubles the capacity.:)NOT series, positive to negative as that doubles the voltage and 24 volts will damage your 12 volt systems.:mad:

Now after being forwarded to another Battery Geek on YouTube, I must update, if you put 2 batteries in parallel you increase your capacity by apparently 2.7:):):). Well I think it's a good point to note, you will be halving the draw on each battery, so its a bit like going from the C20 reading to a C100 reading in AH. You are increasing your usable capacity, especially useful if your system cuts your power off at a particular voltage. You should also extend the life of your batteries. I don't know if there is any data about this anywhere but I can say I have seen this myself as regard to 12v Trucks, I used to maintain various types of trucks, some Ford D series that I worked on had 1 battery and a few had 2 in parallel, I was always changing the 1 battery versions, say every 2 years but the 2 battery versions went on for approx. 5/ 6 years.

If you want to look at the YouTube videos, perhaps you cant sleep:), start here
 
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chas142 said:
In layman's terms parallel, that positive to positive and negative to negative, that doubles the capacity.:)NOT series, positive to negative as that doubles the voltage and 24 volts will damage your 12 volt systems.:mad:
Click to expand...

I think what saxonborg was talking about was not the leads connecting the two batteries together, but the take off leads.
 
Edina said:
I think what saxonborg was talking about was not the leads connecting the two batteries together, but the take off leads.
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Perhaps that was the case, however as an ex auto electrician, (20 years ago), I just wanted to clarify the point, us humans can very easily make mistakes, me probably more than most, waiting to find out if I have undiagnosed Asperger's Syndrome for the last 60ish years. Causes communication and understanding issues. I hope I didn't cause offence by answer or:mad: that meant to highlight differences.

Now for a true story.
Customer phones me up about his big flash imported 4WD, 24 volt, intermittently keeps blowing a fuse, I offer to go out to vehicle, no he wants to drive it in as it would be cheaper, it was only something like the heater fuse, it was the winter but not that bad, he blew the fuse on the way over, he then fits the biggest fuse he has, (despite being told not to fit anything bigger than recommended fuse), that blew, fortunately he had a metal coat hanger in the back and plyer's he was able to make a fuse from that. He continued on his trip to me only about 2 miles away now; Smoke started coming out of the dash and from under the bonnet, then flames and sparks appeared, he decided to drive faster to blow out the fire, he passes the fire station and arrives at my workshop, switches off the vehicle walks in and says I have my vehicle outside blowing the fuse, any idea how much it will cost? It can't be much as it's only a fuse. By the way have you got a fire extinguisher !!!! o_O:eek: as I run out to see and smell smoke and burning wiring looms, anyways it identified where the short was and he stayed warm:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Best if we don't talk about my mistakes in life, but we all make them.:sick::censored:
 
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