If we buy a Consort Oslo, electrickery questions!! (1 Viewer)

[carolyn]

I wish I hadn’t looked at the Consort website which is now claiming to have Fiat Autos !

We think we may go to the Newbury show now god help us. Consort are there plus Offgrid power solutions.

It’s the likes of Lenny HB who can hopefully tell us the questions to ask Consort.

The van if there really was one is a 6.4 metre PVC. On the new Fiat 9 speed auto. Standard spec is 2 x 95 ah batteries, 150w solar panel with dual regulator. I know from watching You tube it’s a £29.99 Photonic Universe so not an MPPT . So rubbish. It comes with a 140 litre compressor fridge or you can have a smaller 90 litre one plus a cupboard. We like to offgrid so feel we will need lithium for all season use.

I’ve been reading the Offgrid pages and Roadpro. More confused than ever. Roadpro only ever used 1 or more 100ah lithium batteries, never a single big one.

They do offer a second solar panel 160 w for £550 . They do lithium upgrades but our gut feeling is that if they don’t even use an MPPT controller it would be better to just get the van with it’s basic spec and take it straight to Offgrid solutions for upgrades. Thought? Ideas? Questions to ask please of nigelivy and his team.

We do offgrid in our current van. PVC. 3 way fridge. Underslung lpg tank. 120 ah solar panel and 140w gel battery. We are not heavy hairdryer users but want to be able to use TV , charge laptops .

We would want an idiot proof system, not something that needed lots of fiddling with.

I think we’d need a BM, B2B as we’d want lithium, lithium battery or batteries, another solar panel. Plus maybe an inverter. I know this is dumb but if you have an inverted (pure sine wave due to lap top ) does that make all your 3 pin sockets live ie for your kettle?

Please don’t anyone tell us it’s really easy to do ourselves. We can change lightbulbs , but only on a good day with a fair wind and someone holding a torch

Thankyou in anticipation.

 

[Riverbankannie]

Jumping ship eh? If new build, I would get it specced to what Offgrid do otherwise you are paying twice. I would have thought Consort would be able to do that.

 

[Lenny HB]

The van if there really was one is a 6.4 metre PVC. On the new Fiat 9 speed auto. Standard spec is 2 x 95 ah batteries, 150w solar panel with dual regulator. I know from watching You tube it’s a £29.99 Photonic Universe so not an MPPT . So rubbish. It comes with a 140 litre compressor fridge or you can have a smaller 90 litre one plus a cupboard. We like to offgrid so feel we will need lithium for all season use.

95ah battery it will be a high chance it's AGM about the last type of battery you want for leisure use and yes that Solar regulator is a pile of poo.

They do offer a second solar panel 160 w for £550 . They do lithium upgrades but our gut feeling is that if they don’t even use an MPPT controller it would be better to just get the van with it’s basic spec and take it straight to Offgrid solutions for upgrades. Thought? Ideas? Questions to ask please of @nigelivy and his team.

A much more sensible option is to go to Off Grid power Solutions.

I think we’d need a BM, B2B as we’d want lithium, lithium battery or batteries, another solar panel. Plus maybe an inverter. I know this is dumb but if you have an inverted (pure sine wave due to lap top ) does that make all your 3 pin sockets live ie for your kettle?

If the van you go for has a smart alternator they should fit a B2B but if they don't even fit a decent solar regulator they may not bother.
With a smart alternator a B2B is essential & without they are worth it for the better charging & essential with Lithium.
If you go for a Victron solar regulator (one of the best) they are signal output so you will need a battery maintainer like a BM or Ablemail, the Ablemail would be my choice with Lithium.

The sockets can be switched manually or auto switched to change over between EHU and the inverter, this does involve a fair bit of labour to re-configure the wiring.

Worth considering a Victron Multiplus, it is an inverter/charger with auto switching. lt also syncs up with the mains so if you are on a 6 amp EHU and you want to use a 10 amp appliance, the inverter starts up and combines with the mains to give you 10 amps when the load has turned off it goes back to charging the batteries. It has a good Lithium charger 80 amps on the 2000va and 120 amps on the 3000 va. There are smaller ones available.

With Lithium batteries it will probably come down to space, a single larger battery will be cheaper weigh a bit less and take up less space.
Two batteries has the advantage of redundancy if one battery does fail you still have power.

 

[carolyn]

Jumping ship eh? If new build, I would get it specced to what Offgrid do otherwise you are paying twice. I would have thought Consort would be able to do that.

It’s whether you’d actually be sure they’d done it properly as they do so few and then if they don’t use the heavy duty cabling you’d have a fire risk. To use a £29.99 PCW controller when an MPPT isn’t much more doesn’t fill you with confidence.

 

[carolyn]

95ah battery it will be a high chance it's AGM about the last type of battery you want for leisure use and yes that Solar regulator is a pile of poo.


A much more sensible option is to go to Off Grid power Solutions.


If the van you go for has a smart alternator they should fit a B2B but if they don't even fit a decent solar regulator they may not bother.
With a smart alternator a B2B is essential & without they are worth it for the better charging & essential with Lithium.
If you go for a Victron solar regulator (one of the best) they are signal output so you will need a battery maintainer like a BM or Ablemail, the Ablemail would be my choice with Lithium.

The sockets can be switched manually or auto switched to change over between EHU and the inverter, this does involve a fair bit of labour to re-configure the wiring.

Worth considering a Victron Multiplus, it is an inverter/charger with auto switching. lt also syncs up with the mains so if you are on a 6 amp EHU and you want to use a 10 amp appliance, the inverter starts up and combines with the mains to give you 10 amps when the load has turned off it goes back to charging the batteries. It has a good Lithium charger 80 amps on the 2000va and 120 amps on the 3000 va. There are smaller ones available.

With Lithium batteries it will probably come down to space, a single larger battery will be cheaper weigh a bit less and take up less space.
Two batteries has the advantage of redundancy if one battery does fail you still have power.

Thankyou Lenny for your good advice. You lost me in the middle bit but I’m going to get concentrating and I think over the next couple of days it will sink in a bit.

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[BillandHelen]

Carolyn, we went through the same process when we got our Wildax Elara, it came with 2 100 amp cheap lead acid batteries. When we did ours the price of lithium was much higher and the choice of installers much smaller, we went with Roadpro as they supplied Wildax with their electrical equipment. They have been excellent with advice and aftercare as well as the actual install.

Here is what we have ended up with, excuse the mess in the garage!

2 x 100 amp lithium, but with 150amp max draw which means they easily cope with induction hob, microwave, coffee maker, hairdryer etc, we even run our roof aircon in the evening. We have found 200amp to be fine for our use and have never had power worries. We also like idea of having 2 for redundancy if one fails.

2 x 30amp Votronic b2b, the fridge takes 20 amps on the move so we get 40amps recharge as we travel.

Nds mppt, we only have room for one 120amp solar panel but with the b2b it’s been ok.

25 amp mains charger for the lithium and we kept the original cbe non lithium charger connected to the van battery.

Ablemail battery master, as Lenny HB says, great for lithium, can be set up as you need it.

2000w nds pure sine inverter wired to all mains points with a remote switch.

Everything is monitored through a Votronic screen in the van or by an app. I pay no attention to the install, do no maintenance whatsoever apart from look at it in amazement!!

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[carolyn]

Carolyn, we went through the same process when we got our Wildax Elara, it came with 2 100 amp cheap lead acid batteries. When we did ours the price of lithium was much higher and the choice of installers much smaller, we went with Roadpro as they supplied Wildax with their electrical equipment. They have been excellent with advice and aftercare as well as the actual install.

Here is what we have ended up with, excuse the mess in the garage!

View attachment 892707

2 x 100 amp lithium, but with 150amp max draw which means they easily cope with induction hob, microwave, coffee maker, hairdryer etc, we even run our roof aircon in the evening. We have found 200amp to be fine for our use and have never had power worries. We also like idea of having 2 for redundancy if one fails.

2 x 30amp Votronic b2b, the fridge takes 20 amps on the move so we get 40amps recharge as we travel.

Nds mppt, we only have room for one 120amp solar panel but with the b2b it’s been ok.

25 amp mains charger for the lithium and we kept the original cbe non lithium charger connected to the van battery.

Ablemail battery master, as Lenny HB says, great for lithium, can be set up as you need it.

2000w nds pure sine inverter wired to all mains points with a remote switch.

Everything is monitored through a Votronic screen in the van or by an app. I pay no attention to the install, do no maintenance whatsoever apart from look at it in amazement!!

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Thankyou, very helpful indeed.

 

[Waveski]

The first thing I would do is to talk to Scott Naylor at Consort. They do offer lithium and solar upgrades. I’m sure they will be helpful, flexible and positive.

 

[Just smiffy]

Get it done properly and get it done right the first time, tell https://offgridpower.solutions/ what you want to do and achieve in the van and they’ll sort you out and you’ll get a funster discount. They’re knowledge is impeccable.

And you don’t live too far from them… win win…

 

[nigelivy]

We actually installed a Fogstar Seat Base and Victron Orion Tr Smart DC/DC on a Consort PVC a few weeks ago.
The owner of the van had spoken with Consort to have them do the upgrade but wasn't satisfied with the equipment they offered (e.g. unknown "DC/DC charger" brand, etc..), so he opted to have us put in exactly what he wanted (Victron charger & Fogstar battery).

We actually install systems into brand-new vans quite often (we did one today on a brand-new Hymer 4x4 motorhome) where the owners want more than the manufacturers/dealers can offer so they order a basic spec and then get everything they want fitted after.

I'd be happy to chat at the Newbury show, or if you'd like to chat beforehand, feel free to give us a call.

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[carolyn]

We actually installed a Fogstar Seat Base and Victron Orion Tr Smart DC/DC on a Consort PVC a few weeks ago.
The owner of the van had spoken with Consort to have them do the upgrade but wasn't satisfied with the equipment they offered (e.g. unknown "DC/DC charger" brand, etc..), so he opted to have us put in exactly what he wanted (Victron charger & Fogstar battery).

We actually install systems into brand-new vans quite often (we did one today on a brand-new Hymer 4x4 motorhome) where the owners want more than the manufacturers/dealers can offer so they order a basic spec and then get everything they want fitted after.

I'd be happy to chat at the Newbury show, or if you'd like to chat beforehand, feel free to give us a call.

Thankyou. I might email Consort. We don’t want to get our hopes up and then find that in fact they’ve got lots of Autos but in fact they’re all 6m vans! We’re not the sort of people who could order for 18 months delivery!

 

[Lenny HB]

We’re not the sort of people who could order for 18 months delivery!

Neither were we, previous vans have been ordered in Sep/Oct and delivered in March.
One on order now we new was going to be a lot longer but the only way of getting what we wanted. We didn't expect the delivery to keep being extended now looking we might get it by June as dealer has a chassis number it will be 21 months and had to accept RHD which I really don't want but would have to wait another year for a LHD.

 

[carolyn]

Neither were we, previous vans have been ordered in Sep/Oct and delivered in March.
One on order now we new was going to be a lot longer but the only way of getting what we wanted. We didn't expect the delivery to keep being extended now looking we might get it by June as dealer has a chassis number it will be 21 months and had to accept RHD which I really don't want but would have to wait another year for a LHD.

All joking aside I suppose I’d be thinking I might change my mind or if one of us died suddenly it would be a right old palaver being stuck with two vans. I’d be OK at sorting that sort of thing out but Nick less so. Darling daughter who is the most pragmatic of our offspring is off to Panama for 2-3 years shortly. She’d be the one to help him. Look what happened when she went to Bangladesh…..

Nick and I aren’t old but nor was my sister when she died suddenly at 60 recently. We’re not ones for waiting. There’s no right or wrong.

If we can’t have one that’s fine we will have to see what we can do to make our IH more user friendly for our Iceland trip next year. We know it’s only 2019, damn Comformatic though! We know Offgrid can advise us there as well.

 

[berni109]

Well Carolyn (&Nick) at least you are starting with the right questions rather than jumping straight in and then having to sort out retrofit to meet your expectations.
As spected with standard set-up it won't keep that fridge working for long unless it's very sunny.
Lithium system is the way to go and a professional install will/should see you through your period of ownership. Don't vanbitz also do this kind of installation?
Best of luck with your search.

 

[Lenny333]

95ah battery it will be a high chance it's AGM about the last type of battery you want for leisure use and yes that Solar regulator is a pile of poo.


A much more sensible option is to go to Off Grid power Solutions.


If the van you go for has a smart alternator they should fit a B2B but if they don't even fit a decent solar regulator they may not bother.

Lenny HB I was worried about what you said above as we collect our Consort in a couple of months (hopefully!) and I had a look in their website where they state…

“Vehicle alternator charge – When the vehicle engine is running, the alternator recharges the vehicle starter battery and by connecting the leisure batteries to the starter battery some of the charge created by the alternator finds it’s way into the leisure batteries, so the leisure batteries will receive a charge”

So they must fit a B2B I guess… whether it’s any good is another question but sounds like they do install one.

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[DuxDeluxe]

I wish I hadn’t looked at the Consort website which is now claiming to have Fiat Autos !

We think we may go to the Newbury show now god help us. Consort are there plus Offgrid power solutions.

It’s the likes of Lenny HB who can hopefully tell us the questions to ask Consort.

The van if there really was one is a 6.4 metre PVC. On the new Fiat 9 speed auto. Standard spec is 2 x 95 ah batteries, 150w solar panel with dual regulator. I know from watching You tube it’s a £29.99 Photonic Universe so not an MPPT . So rubbish. It comes with a 140 litre compressor fridge or you can have a smaller 90 litre one plus a cupboard. We like to offgrid so feel we will need lithium for all season use.

I’ve been reading the Offgrid pages and Roadpro. More confused than ever. Roadpro only ever used 1 or more 100ah lithium batteries, never a single big one.

They do offer a second solar panel 160 w for £550 . They do lithium upgrades but our gut feeling is that if they don’t even use an MPPT controller it would be better to just get the van with it’s basic spec and take it straight to Offgrid solutions for upgrades. Thought? Ideas? Questions to ask please of nigelivy and his team.

We do offgrid in our current van. PVC. 3 way fridge. Underslung lpg tank. 120 ah solar panel and 140w gel battery. We are not heavy hairdryer users but want to be able to use TV , charge laptops .

We would want an idiot proof system, not something that needed lots of fiddling with.

I think we’d need a BM, B2B as we’d want lithium, lithium battery or batteries, another solar panel. Plus maybe an inverter. I know this is dumb but if you have an inverted (pure sine wave due to lap top ) does that make all your 3 pin sockets live ie for your kettle?

Please don’t anyone tell us it’s really easy to do ourselves. We can change lightbulbs , but only on a good day with a fair wind and someone holding a torch

Thankyou in anticipation.

Hi, we looked at that van but it was very expensive as they only offered the auto with the 180 engine and all singing dashboard. Although very nice, I had my doubts whether it would actually be registered as a motorhome as well. We went for a Wild Europa with the auto but avoided the vollt pack, instead upgraded to 200AH lithium (which will be increased) a 3 kw inverter and 440W solar up top using an MPPT controller. We still retained the gas option as very doubtful that all electric will work well in the winter off hook up. Maple Leisure near Hull gave exemplary sales and after sales service

 

[carolyn]

Hi, we looked at that van but it was very expensive as they only offered the auto with the 180 engine and all singing dashboard. Although very nice, I had my doubts whether it would actually be registered as a motorhome as well. We went for a Wild Europa with the auto but avoided the vollt pack, instead upgraded to 200AH lithium (which will be increased) a 3 kw inverter and 440W solar up top using an MPPT controller. We still retained the gas option as very doubtful that all electric will work well in the winter off hook up. Maple Leisure near Hull gave exemplary sales and after sales service

I don’t understand why you don’t think it would be registered as a Motorhome. It’s no different to a Vantage Neo or our IH630RD. That makes no sense to me at all.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

I don’t understand why you don’t think it would be registered as a Motorhome. It’s no different to a Vantage Neo or our IH630RD. That makes no sense to me at all.

Small company and I never really got a straight answer when I asked about it when we looked at the beginning of last year but it has probably changed by now The Wildax is MH registered on the V5

 

[BillandHelen]

Carolyn, we spoke with Scott and his wife at the Glasgow show, a lovely couple. They were keen that we came to the factory in Leeds for a visit to see how they were insulated and built.

We talked about upgrading their lithium offering to something more substantial which they were happy to discuss.

Got the feeling that they were like IH in their earlier days, very hands on and flexible. Really liked their build quality, however they were using fridges/chargers I’d never heard off, maybe to keep costs down?

 

[carolyn]

Carolyn, we spoke with Scott and his wife at the Glasgow show, a lovely couple. They were keen that we came to the factory in Leeds for a visit to see how they were insulated and built.

We talked about upgrading their lithium offering to something more substantial which they were happy to discuss.

Got the feeling that they were like IH in their earlier days, very hands on and flexible. Really liked their build quality, however they were using fridges/chargers I’d never heard off, maybe to keep costs down?

We remember meeting Scott many years ago at the NEC when he owned Vantage. It was down to a Vantage Neo or our first IH630RD. I think the deciding factor back then was the fact that Vantage didn’t do tradeins. I know Consort don’t but we have Simon Select now who isn’t far from us. Hopefully if we did go ahead he’d be interested in our van.

I remember Scott telling us how easy it would be to sell our van privately, just buy a burner phone, do this, do that, he talked very fast. He frightened us to death!

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[Lenny333]

carolyn

It’s a bit ‘buried’ on the Consort website but they say this about part exchanges…

Part Exchange Policy​

We work closely with Motorhome Valuation Services who buy many of our customer’s existing motorhomes – this is a very straightforward process which will allow you to achieve a more than fair price for your motorhome and free up funds so that you can move forward with your new purchase.

Once you have agreed a price with Motorhome Valuation Services they will transfer the money directly into your bank account and collect your motorhome from you on an agreed date – often this can be done to tie in with when you collect your new van from Consort.

For a free valuation please call Tim Jordan on 07921 540192 quoting reference ‘Consort’.

 

[Eyeballmike]

Hi Carolyn, if it's any help we are booked in with off Grid power solutions this year to have lithium fitted, they were far superior with their quote than all the other companies I contacted, we all know Nicks useless. haha love u Nick

 

[Jenben]

We remember meeting Scott many years ago at the NEC when he owned Vantage. It was down to a Vantage Neo or our first IH630RD. I think the deciding factor back then was the fact that Vantage didn’t do tradeins. I know Consort don’t but we have @Simon Select now who isn’t far from us. Hopefully if we did go ahead he’d be interested in our van.

We bought one of the very first Vantage vans that Scott made , we suspect we were his first nec sale. They were great to deal with ,very straightforward and helpful as we were totally new to motorhoming.

We would buy from Scott again if they had the right van for our needs.

 

[carolyn]

Hi Carolyn, if it's any help we are booked in with off Grid power solutions this year to have lithium fitted, they were far superior with their quote than all the other companies I contacted, we all know Nicks useless. haha love u Nick

You have remembered we’re seeing you later this year!! He is very pleased with the washing brush you recommended Mike

 

[Eyeballmike]

I look forward to telling him face to face

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[yorkiebar]

Interesting thread!

As a Consort PVC owner I can answer some of the questions raised.

1. The solar controller is a Photonic Universe PWM controller which is conected to both the vehicle and habitabation batteries. The controller allows you to set the charge ratio between vehicle and habitation .
2. There is no B2B device for the stock lead acid habitation battery offering ( the lithium upgrade includes a B2B). The stock solution is a split charge relay.
3. All consort vans will come with the V5C classification of "panel van". The order invoice explicitly states that this will be the case.

The build quality of the van is excellent, can't fault it.

On the electrical side of things, obviously offering a split charge relay with a smart alternator isn't what should really be fitted.
And with solar MPPT controller giving better performance then a PWM install is not great.

We knew all of this prior to purchase and will upgrade the electrics when the time comes.