Hi Mr Busmonkey for my van I bought my MPPT controller on your recommendation, do you have an up to date preference as need to put one in the boat.
I don't I'm afraid @Pickles . Both the ones I have of the original type I fitted have been reliable and simply sat there doing their thing. Chips one is 7 years old now. I'm upgrading one of them, the one I fitted in the T3, to a Sterling BBS1230. That's Sterling's 30 amp battery to battery charger that has a 350w mppt solar harvesting function. You'll know Sterling's reputation I guess through your marine association so I'm hoping it'll do what it says on the box! That's all battery chemistries including LiFePO4. I'm happier with that option moving forward because it should mean I can keep the starter battery as a standard FLA and then upgrade the leisure bank from the current AGM one in the future without having to think about unequal charge profiles. That's what I think anyway. I'm sure Mike will point out any potential flaws in my thinking, and I'll be chatting to him about it at TE anyway
im not sure if you have mis-understood my post or are just having a laugh which is fine the point i was making is by fitting panels flat to the roof of the van will never achieve a good output and tried to explain thats why they are usually mounted at an angle and south to south west facing in the UK for grid connected systems on houses obviously on a van you are limited by roof area and fixing methods!! as for taking advice from pros ive been designing and installing grid connected PV arrays for 18 years so i know a little bit about the subject
Thanks, I can't remember who my historical battery management thing is made by but have heard of Sterling, it might even be one of theirs. I don't want to disturb that which has worked well for the last 25 years just to add solar though. Dont need it all the time I am regularly using the boat but as soon as I don't for a couple of weeks a panel will help keep my batteries in good condition.
Nah, I hadn't misunderstood. Our panels are fitted on an elevating roof on a Westy, so totally understand your point about flat mounted panels. I carry a compass... We've had those in particular on for a few years, and have done a few miles over that time. We've also got a flat mounted, therefore less efficient, mono panel strapped to the roof of another van. That was done as an experiment, buying the cheapest kit etc, but with the knowledge we were spending 5 months around the southern Med. Many of the narrow boats on the marina where we live have the tilting mounts but as you know, on a boat or van it's hard getting sufficient angle to fully exploit the panel potential It's awesome you're involved in the industry. I'm not sure we have a forum member that does what you do. Most of our collective experience has come from messing about, as per above, and I know there will be loads of us who will absolutely welcome professional advice based on real experience Do you have a PV set up on your van you could share the details on with us? Be proper grateful for some pro guidance re cabling spec, controllers, and panel construction especially as we are currently planning a fit for the non T2 van Neil
If you have horizontal mounted panels, their output is limited towards dawn and dusk because they end up at 90 degrees to the sun. At the peak elevation of the sun, the angle is about 62 degrees above the horizon - see http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/nao/services/ais58.pdf So that means the output is sin(62) or about 0.86 of full output. If you angle the panels and follow the sun every couple of hours you will do a lot better. But if you just fix the angle of the panels , face them south and leave it, there will be some parts of the summer day when the panels face away from the sun (in fact after the equinox this happens) So with flat panels, you end up with poor output but you will get something if the sun is up. With angled panels fixed in direction, get more output but less than a horizontal panel at the ends of the day .. Now I am going to have to go and make some kind of chart to see the difference ...
Yes you are I have actually no idea what the rear hinge Westy roof angle is on full deployment Our gas struts do allow a little bit of fine tuning though
Perhaps @Doink doesn’t realise you have a tilting Westy roof, not straight up/down? It’s certainly good to have someone knowledgeable on solar on board. I might even replace my duff panels if I can get some advice on which ones to buy.
Agree, we've all sort of muddled through. Sometimes it's worked, sometimes it hasn't. Looking FWD to his input as well coz our 8 year old panels (they were bankrupt US stock from California) aren't available any more and I need some new ones for the other van.
My best howler was fitting some nice ETFE coated panels to the roof of @Razzyh van about 3 years ago at a TE Forgot to take the protective film off the back of the panels and they zipped off the following morning just before he left. Thank God we spotted it cos that wouldn't have been a good look on the M1..
I think the case is we all know, without becoming too technical, that our installs have their limitations. Think the vans bad, what about the boat with mast boom etc casting shadows and people potentially walking on them.
2017 tbf im not sure anyone thought to take that backing off and the panels have worked perfectly since. There’s been a few complaints on TLB about panels but I guess you get what you pay for.
Wow. I'd originally put 4 years ago then changed it cos I thought nah, it can't be... Boooosh....that was your life...
I didn't realise you had a angled roof on your westy lol and I will be happy to post some tech data on here about cable sizes , double insulated connectors , optimal angles for best output and some volt drop calcs for different cables sizes etc also hoping to come to techenders if we're allowed be great to meet you all and discuss van life lol
Be great to have you there. Get tha name on the list Chip is the grey under white Westy tucked behind the windbreak on the left. Always parked about there, always facing that way
Hey Iain how ya doing. The van has got the rear heater matrix and fan fed from the engine coolant system. So, I'm going a bit boatyard on it and attempting to fit a calorifier. I've sourced a 10l stainless single coil unit from a Bulgarian marine supplier, which also has an element that can heat the water when on hook up. So it's a cylindrical unit which will sit in the place of the rear heater. It holds 10l of water and the engine coolant runs through a coil which heats up the water. They're really efficient and as the water is heated to almost coolant temp, you can thermostatically mix cold water into the hot output to gain a bit more warm capacity. It means fitting water tanks (I've got twin 37l tanks on order), plus the pump, pressure vessel and an accumulator to smooth out flow, but I reckon I can make it all quite compact. We'll see, but one of the biggest issues when living in a van full time is condensation from boiling kettles for washing up and washing us! Fingers crossed, but no reason why it shouldn't work
Having similar on the yacht so I know that will take up some space, how hot will the water in the van calorifier get? Is your accumulator going in your cold water supply to the tap? I ask because mine gets really hot and we get a discharge out of the PRV, I need to fit an expansion tank in the hot side to allow for expansion and to save me emptying out a jug of lost water every time we motor for a couple of hours, its not a big job to do but something else to take up space in a van. Even on a boat these jobs are fiddly enough.
