How much is too much battery capacity?

[Lenny HB]

180bhp if you please the missing 20bhp from your calcs should make up for the drag on the alternator belt
But I get your point, it would take me twice as long as you to put it back
That said I didn’t notice any noticeable difference in mpg coming back from offgrid with the 2x50a B2Bs and the extra battery, it regularly returns 27mpg overall up hill and down dale, which for the size of it isn’t too bad.

Lot more than the 24.5 I get out of my little Compactline with the more efficient engine.
Are you talking actual consumption or are you believing the computer?

 

[WESTY66]

Lot more than the 24.5 I get out of my little Compactline with the more efficient engine.
Are you talking actual consumption or are you believing the computer?

The computer says 28.7 the 27.9 was from my Croatia trip a few years ago up and down the Austrian, Slovenian,Swiss and Italian alps I calculated via the fuel used, but tbh I haven’t done it since!
I do drive with an egg on the brake and accelerator tho

I do think although smaller engines are more efficient, they do have to work harder

Out of interest Lenny what was the consumption on the hymer?

 

[JockandRita]

Has anybody worked out how much diesel you use to charge the mega lithium setups. No way solar would touch the sides of some setups in the UK?

No, because I only run the engine to get from A to B.

I use the same amount that gets me to where I’m going, the solar will do the rest

Ditto Ade.

Out here in Spain, I am usually getting about 10A an hour from the winter sun on 320W of solar panels, though it did get up to 15A on Wednesday/Thursday.
It is so overcast and dull right now, I'm not even getting 1A between them yet.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[Raul]

I currently have 2x280ah Fogstar, and I am planning adding another to make a total of 840ah, this is tied into upgrading the solar to 700w. Now my question is- do I go all out and fit a fourth, I have the room and the payload but is this being greedy to have 1120ah?? Does the extra cost outweigh the additional benefits? Any one else have 4 fitted and or have / need this capacity? My logic would be fit and forget and run what we want when we want but…??

Generally an off grid set up, properly sized, should have a min 3 day reserve without charging, supporting all the consumption out of the battery. A max Ah storage does have a limit of 5 days on lead, but no limit on lithium.
In your case will be economics and weight, that may influence your max capacity. Also consider how you going to recharge it.

 

[Lenny HB]

The computer says 28.7 the 27.9 was from my Croatia trip a few years ago up and down the Austrian, Slovenian,Swiss and Italian alps I calculated via the fuel used, but tbh I haven’t done it since!
I do drive with an egg on the brake and accelerator tho

I do think although smaller engines are more efficient, they do have to work harder

Out of interest Lenny what was the consumption on the hymer?

25 to 26mpg.

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[WESTY66]

25 to 26mpg.

So the big heavy van was better on fuel? Very interesting, then again your motor is still new

 

[G1969]

So the big heavy van was better on fuel? Very interesting, then again your motor is still new

I only get 22ish, which is slightly better than my old chieftain, but don’t hang about and tend to run quite full. Not sure what another 100kg( 50kg solar&50kg batteries)will do?

 

[WESTY66]

I only get 22ish, which is slightly better than my old chieftain, but don’t hang about and tend to run quite full. Not sure what another 100kg( 50kg solar&50kg batteries)will do?

Not a jot of difference I would imagine

 

[gus-lopez]

I've been getting less than 5% yield from my 4kW setup for about 4 months over the drab winter so no way any moho roof setup would sustain much off grid use. It would take all winter just to charge the bank up once.

Move to spain, 1400w of panels+300w from another battery fill a 4kw power bank from 40% to full in around 5 hours +run house & that is low winter sun.Battery is topped up from another set of 1400w panels

 

[G7UXG]

160 bhp = 12kw, if its a 180, 13.4kw

160bhp is 119Kw
180hp is 134Kw
(Approximate )

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[Lenny HB]

160bhp is 119Kw
180hp is 134Kw
(Approximate )

Whoops dropped a decimal point.

 

[WESTY66]

Whoops dropped a decimal point.

You’re always dropping summat, good job they’re in a bag

 

[CazPaul]

We fulltimed in our van for 2 years throughout 2 frozen, dark UK winters 2011-2013, not a solar panel in sight, never used EHU and never ran out of power.

Sat inside in the warmth with a cup of tea and press a button on the van wall.

 

[cyberyacht]

Lot more than the 24.5 I get out of my little Compactline with the more efficient engine.
Are you talking actual consumption or are you believing the computer?

You need thinner soled shoes. I've averaged just over 30mpg on my Euro 5 150BHP over the past four years. Your engine must be starting to loosen up by now.

 

[Lenny HB]

You need thinner soled shoes. I've averaged just over 30mpg on my Euro 5 150BHP over the past four years. Your engine must be starting to loosen up by now.

If I take my lead boots off I have seen 28 with a tail wind but no fun driving like that.

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[WESTY66]

If I take my lead boots off I have seen 28 with a tail wind but no fun driving like that.

I was always lead to believe that torque converters sap a bit of power out of the engine, hence the comfortmatic with the dry clutch having little effect on power loss

 

[McLouis]

Thanks, my logic is yes we would use more- ie induction hob etc / less gas , so hopefully in addition to less anxiety it would have a pay back at some point.

I think if was going to go that far I would look at going 51.2 V which I noticed a lot of the campervans at the show were trending towards.

 

[felixSA]

L

I currently have 2x280ah Fogstar, and I am planning adding another to make a total of 840ah, this is tied into upgrading the solar to 700w. Now my question is- do I go all out and fit a fourth, I have the room and the payload but is this being greedy to have 1120ah?? Does the extra cost outweigh the additional benefits? Any one else have 4 fitted and or have / need this capacity? My logic would be fit and forget and run what we want when we want but…

I currently have 2x280ah Fogstar, and I am planning adding another to make a total of 840ah, this is tied into upgrading the solar to 700w. Now my question is- do I go all out and fit a fourth, I have the room and the payload but is this being greedy to have 1120ah?? Does the extra cost outweigh the additional benefits? Any one else have 4 fitted and or have / need this capacity? My logic would be fit and forget and run what we want when we want but…??

Get it fitted. You don’t mention how much DC to DC charging you are running with

 

[Buddy1012]

I currently have 2x280ah Fogstar, and I am planning adding another to make a total of 840ah, this is tied into upgrading the solar to 700w. Now my question is- do I go all out and fit a fourth, I have the room and the payload but is this being greedy to have 1120ah?? Does the extra cost outweigh the additional benefits? Any one else have 4 fitted and or have / need this capacity? My logic would be fit and forget and run what we want when we want but…??

I have 430ah and just done a 3 week winter trip with an hour or so of driving every 3 days or so and never saw batteries below 60% and we use all of the paraphernalia inc air fryer, microwave, coffee machine, hair dryer & straighteners (not me!). Didn’t plug into EHU at all.
A sobering thought - until 2023 we lived in an off grid house where 600ah of LifePO4 batteries, with 5500kw solar gave us all the electricity we needed for 8.5 months of the year. It was a fully functioning house as well - 4 beds, 4 bathrooms, all usual domestic appliances (actually 2 fridges and 2 freezers to overcome remote location), electric heating of water in summer months.

I sometimes think it’s easier to think of your electricity needs in terms of kWh (easier to work out your usage needs) our domestic batteries were 28.8kWh and our average daily consumption was 15kW so in theory we had two days worth with no solar input.

 

[oldiesontour]

I converted my van 3 summers ago with 200w solar,30 a B2B,3 way fridge ,gas oven,220la battery,now 640lithium,440w solar,50 a B2B ,240v fridge freezer ,air fryer,200w folding,WiFi,Alexa,2 x 2kw inverters,imho the initial set up looked good on paper at the time,now (and as it cost not much less) I think it was a waste of money and time..... evolution I guess.

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[G1969]

L



Get it fitted. You don’t mention how much DC to DC charging you are running with

I have the original schaudt 25amp plus victron xs 50 amp, so 75 or so

 

[Garry - June]

I'd love to know what exactly you people are running in your vans.... it appears to me a lot of it is some sort of bragging rights..
We fulltime in our van and have for the last 5 yrs.. we run a large compressor fridge Freezer... Alde wet heating system... Two TV's.... Two roof Maxxfans... charging 2 laptops & phones... 2 fullsize E-Bikes and various other bits and pieces.... we have 430w roof solar, 300w of suitcase panels if required as well, and only 310a of Lithium .... from around end of this month to October we never have to plug in to EHU and never come close to depleting our batteries..

 

[antonyh1952]

The problem is the more you fit the more power you tend to use so it's never ending.
I fitted 460AH and now wish I'd fitted 600Ah but do I really need it?

In 1997 I bought a computer with a massive 8gb drive, It would see me out they said. Now i am typing on a 512gb SSD laptop wondering if I should have bought a 1TB.

 

[bobandjanie]

For years I have watched people fit loads of batteries and a roof full of solar panels, and half of them mainly used campsites our first caravan had gas lights/ gas fire / gas fridge and a battery to run the 12v water pump that also had a foot pump on the floor.

I'm concerned about being able to replace my gel batteries when the time comes, I feel it will be like vehicles being pushed into this crazy " Game Changer " going electric and saving the planet, still there 7 years old so another year or two yet maybe or should I get new ones now before they become obsolete or more expensive than lithium. Bob

 

[oldiesontour]

For years I have watched people fit loads of batteries and a roof full of solar panels, and half of them mainly used campsites our first caravan had gas lights/ gas fire / gas fridge and a battery to run the 12v water pump that also had a foot pump on the floor.

I'm concerned about being able to replace my gel batteries when the time comes, I feel it will be like vehicles being pushed into this crazy " Game Changer " going electric and saving the planet, still there 7 years old so another year or two yet maybe or should I get new ones now before they become obsolete or more expensive than lithium. Bob

Useable amp for amp my cheep 110 lead acids were around £90 so £1.63 per ah(3 yrs ago) my current lithiums Bluetooth heated we're circa £1 per ah

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[bobandjanie]

Useable amp for amp my cheep 110 lead acids were around £90 so £1.63 per ah(3 yrs ago) my current lithiums Bluetooth heated we're circa £1 per ah

We don't use that many amp hours, we only use the camper May till October continuous, and although we have two coffee machines at home quiet happy with a french press. Bob.

 

[JockandRita]

or should I get new ones now before they become obsolete or more expensive than lithium. Bob

I think you'll find that the cheaper non Bluetooth 100A LiFePO4s, are already cheaper than replacement Exide 80A Gels Bob.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[G1969]

I'd love to know what exactly you people are running in your vans.... it appears to me a lot of it is some sort of bragging rights..
We fulltime in our van and have for the last 5 yrs.. we run a large compressor fridge Freezer... Alde wet heating system... Two TV's.... Two roof Maxxfans... charging 2 laptops & phones... 2 fullsize E-Bikes and various other bits and pieces.... we have 430w roof solar, 300w of suitcase panels if required as well, and only 310a of Lithium .... from around end of this month to October we never have to plug in to EHU and never come close to depleting our batteries..

Do you use a lot of Gas ?
My thought process is to reduce gas usage in addition to taking advantage of cheaper non electric pitches/ off grid sites/spots. Not fully decided, so all opinions welcome.

 

[oldiesontour]

Do you use a lot of Gas ?
My thought process is to reduce gas usage in addition to taking advantage of cheaper non electric pitches/ off grid sites/spots. Not fully decided, so all opinions welcome.

We certainly reduced gas use...air fryer (oven type) instead of slow Thetford gas oven..small saving... Fridge (was 3 way ...fairly big saving...never paid for hook up. £3 to £6 a night saving on many sites .So cheaper Ah for Ah than lead hopefully much longer life,more Ah kg for Kg ...this is why I think (with hindsight) that my initial set up was money wasted

 

[Smokaijo]

We have 460 Fogstar Drift 460 in Solar but Andy happily wants to add another solar panel - our back up is the 2 EcoFlow portable batteries one of which can charge my large power wheelchair.
We would love more power but that means lots of reworking layout so not a priority at the moment.

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