it's great when you feel like you've nailed one particular job that's been holding other stuff up....looking good BM
I was thinking to fit a shorter panel (s) cross ways, but it's one of those things....you need to have the thing in your hands to judge what possible. There's a guy selling roll up PV on ebay, but I'm not convinced....it's be an expensive experiment at best. The window mats would work well I reckon....just enough juice to keep the glass above dewpoint....I know people have been knocking out something similar as 'whelping mats' for puppies etc....I've used a thin film vivarium mat on my gas bottle before now....
Ah, had the first beer of the evening & now understand what you're proposing. The theory is sound but in application, could you get the mat close enough to the glass to make a difference? Then you've got all that un-insulated metal in the bits of panel you can't get at...particularly down the rear quarters. Heated screens draw what? about 30 amps or so, I'm not sure. In any case thats a lot of power potentially. I'd be inclined to use the solar panels to keep the battery in good nick so the Propex fires up when you need it...
This is why I need to do the maths..... AH output from the solar panels, AH required to warm 'x' m^2 of glass to a specific temperature....all on a thermostat....you'd only be talking a degree or two to prevent condensation....the mats would be foil outwards (next to glass)/ resistance wire/ insulation/ foil inwards (to reflect any cabin heat) it's one for the 'backburner' (not literally) I should get out more....
go on Dicky...you're good at this stuff....50 % of total sq meterage of glass, heated to 3 degrees celsius for 6 hours....maintained via a thermostat
http://www.ramacorporation.com/engineer/Engineerweb.pdf it's all here if you've got five minutes to spare and you fancy dashing off a quick calculation
Flicking through that brought me out in a cold sweat! Which of course would pose an issue in the calculation of the dew point assuming a sea level altitude and a calculation based on absolute humidity rather than relative humidity. Undoubtedly a cold sweat would upset the calibration of any dew point meter being used to determine the suitability of heated thermal screens
More than house trained. Lightly tanned in cod oil it makes an amazing transformation into one of these... And did you know chamois leathers can be used as a fuel filter? If you soak it in fuel and line a funnel, it will not allow the passage of water, only fuel! Top traveller tip ,never to be used.
OK...I'll make the outside face from Chamois then and then retire a millionaire when I sell them to Narrowboaters
Dont take neil to seriously - he re-orientates the suction cups on his window mats you know!! Its true!
Regards the bed pics - hinges are same as the ones I have! Ive got these strange supports for the front though. Anyway - cant see where youve bolted the one up closest the slider. Its tempting but dont go too close to the side wall or when you lift the end up it will hit the side of the van and wont "rock" back into the seat position.
