Solar/Inverter/Batteries

lorger

lorger

LIFE MEMBER
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Posts
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Location
Dumfries
Funster No
3,262
MH
Knaus Sun 650MEG
Exp
2007
After being cancelled due to COVID we now have a collection date of the 19/6 for our new van and thought I'd start getting things organised.

The van will come with one 95ah battery and we would like to have a little bit more power as we wild camp a lot and use Aires, I'm ok with basic electrics so could do with some suggestions on what the best way to do things is.

We're having a Solar panel fitted by eddievanbitz when we get our alarm done, I've still to confirm what power of panel we want so hopefully this will help me decide.

We would like to have an inverter so we could run a few items off grid, we would like to run a slow cooker and the usual charging of things like phones and laptop but Lorraine has mentioned she would like to use a hair dryer if possible so this could be the issue. She has relativity short hair and uses a dryer for less than 5 mins, she would also like to use hes straightners which aren't such a drain as the HD.

My question is what's the best way to do this apart from carrying a generator as it's not something I want to do.

What size of Solar panel would be best ?
How many batteries would be sufficient ?
and anything else you think might be worth considering.
 
If its new van with Euro 5/6 and smart alternator then a B2B will put charge back a lot faster than solar ever will. If only staying in one place for a day or two at a time then may work better than a load of solar.

Work out where you can fit another battery, 95ah isn't a lot to run an inverter. We just fitted a 1000w one and have 2x90ah but won't be running much more that GHD's or travel iron for short bursts. We will have 230w of solar once i've fitted the second one.

Only look at pure sine wave as GHD's etc don't like modified
 
What wattage is the slow cooker? Even if it's just 100w that's 8.3 amps, and would that be on for a long time?

The rest sounds do-able with a couple of batteries and at least 150w solar.
 
Richard and Ann said:
What wattage is the slow cooker? Even if it's just 100w that's 8.3 amps, and would that be on for a long time?

The rest sounds do-able with a couple of batteries and at least 150w solar.
Click to expand...

No idea as it was just a thought of something we might use with it and just trying to cover things.

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Nixdorfer said:
If its new van with Euro 5/6 and smart alternator then a B2B will put charge back a lot faster than solar ever will. If only staying in one place for a day or two at a time then may work better than a load of solar.

Work out where you can fit another battery, 95ah isn't a lot to run an inverter. We just fitted a 1000w one and have 2x90ah but won't be running much more that GHD's or travel iron for short bursts. We will have 230w of solar once i've fitted the second one.

Only look at pure sine wave as GHD's etc don't like modified
Click to expand...

The battery compartment has space for another battery
 
Googled slow cookers and they range from 70w to 250w. I would avoid them on 12v electric, take a mains one for when on hook up, 👍
 
Richard and Ann said:
What wattage is the slow cooker? Even if it's just 100w that's 8.3 amps, and would that be on for a long time?

The rest sounds do-able with a couple of batteries and at least 150w solar.
Click to expand...
Wrap your slow cooker in a towel, place it in the kitchen sink. Throw in Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Pearl Shallots, Lardons, a bouquet garni and some nice lean stewing steak and a whole bottle of red wine (decent enough to drink) drive to destination and arrive with your dinner ready, smelling great, rather than grazing out of the fridge after a long drive! All hail the inverter!

lorger : The answer to your question is Lithium, the price is the stumbling block
 
For the small items you plan to run its not worth the expense but Lithium is undoubtedly the best performing and lightest setup.

eddievanbitz said:
Wrap your slow cooker in a towel, place it in the kitchen sink. Throw in Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Pearl Shallots, Lardons, a bouquet garni and some nice lean stewing steak and a whole bottle of red wine (decent enough to drink) drive to destination and arrive with your dinner ready, smelling great, rather than grazing out of the fridge after a long drive! All hail the inverter!
Click to expand...

That sounds good, might have to dig ours out. You swine thats more payload to find ;)
 
eddievanbitz said:
Wrap your slow cooker in a towel, place it in the kitchen sink. Throw in Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Pearl Shallots, Lardons, a bouquet garni and some nice lean stewing steak and a whole bottle of red wine (decent enough to drink) drive to destination and arrive with your dinner ready, smelling great, rather than grazing out of the fridge after a long drive! All hail the inverter!

lorger : The answer to your question is Lithium, the price is the stumbling block
Click to expand...

That’s a very clever idea: place the pot in the sink while driving.
We do use a slow cooker, but never crossed my mind to place it in the sink.
As for battery, definitely Lithium’s. It may be a upfront cost, but cheaper than Lead in the long run.

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Large inverters (1.5kW or more) have a constant drain that is wasted power, even if nothing at all is using power. For that reason it's very inefficient to use a big inverter to charge things like a phone, toothbrush or even a laptop. Best to get 12V adapters, or run USB sockets from 12V. 12V car chargers for laptop are easily available.

If you really need an inverter for a small device that you can't get a 12V adapter for, then a small inverter, say 150W, will use a lot less constant drain power if it needs charging for several hours. Worth getting one in addition to the big inverter in that case.
 
If you're going to run a hairdryer then you are going to need a larger battery and inverter than you would do otherwise.

My suggested set up therefore is;
Swap your existing battery for a single lithium - this will double your existing battery capacity
2000w Victron Inverter Charger connected directly to all power points
Victron B2B Charger (much better than Sterling) to charge the battery when driving
Victron solar controller with dongle
As much solar as you can afford / have space for (200w minimum)
Victron Battery Monitor to track usage and to tell you if you need extra solar or battery storage

Its a case of managing demand / storage and generation.
 
I assume the new van is a Possl as listed in your profile and a 95a/h battery I assume is an AGM, I would ditch the AGM and fit at least two Gels more if you are going to fit a large inverter. Fitting more AGM's is like throwing money in the bin they are suitable for leisure use.
I think the Possl is fitted with an Elektroblock they only have charging regimes for AGM & Gel that's why I suggested Gel some of the better flooded batteries are OK on the EBL.

If costs allow go for Lithium, what Robert suggests is ideal but at a price.
 
Lenny HB said:
I assume the new van is a Possl as listed in your profile and a 95a/h battery I assume is an AGM, I would ditch the AGM and fit at least two Gels more if you are going to fit a large inverter. Fitting more AGM's is like throwing money in the bin they are suitable for leisure use.
I think the Possl is fitted with an Elektroblock they only have charging regimes for AGM & Gel that's why I suggested Gel some of the better flooded batteries are OK on the EBL.

If costs allow go for Lithium, what Robert suggests is ideal but at a price.
Click to expand...

Sorry Lenny we have sold the Possl and the new van is a Knaus
 
Thanks for the replies, I've gained a couple of things from this.

One is I need a lot of money to get what I think we want :)
Two Lithium is the way to go which I thought would be the answer but then refer back to number one :)


Will have a wee look into Lithium over the weekend and see if it's worth the extra or buy a set of shears for OH's hair.

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lorger said:
Sorry Lenny we have sold the Possl and the new van is a Knaus
Click to expand...
That will probably have an AGM battery and EBL.
lorger said:
Will have a wee look into Lithium over the weekend and see if it's worth the extra or buy a set of shears for OH's hair.
Click to expand...
Get her a Babyliss or Braun gas hair styler, they work well.
 
Yes the babyliss 'big hair' dryer is only 750w and there's also a 350w setting, Ann loves hers, it's got s spining brush on it.
 
On the roof of most euro moho you dont have room for too much solar , helps with those not so bright days .
 
Okay I’ve had a wee look at some Lithium batteries and I see the battery mega store are doing 30% off for Fun members which means you can get a 100ah for £500, that seems reasonable to me but is it enough to do the job.
If it was would my charger be ok and what inverter would be best suited?

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We've got 360w solar and a 3000w PSW inverter connected to two 105Ah grunt batteries. I've got to ration usage of hair drier, Hoover and iron to be on during during the day to be comfortable having enough leccy for telly and lights for two days without getting below about 50%. If we move anywhere then happy to feast on engine generated electrical witchcraft.
 
lorger said:
Okay I’ve had a wee look at some Lithium batteries and I see the battery mega store are doing 30% off for Fun members which means you can get a 100ah for £500, that seems reasonable to me but is it enough to do the job.
If it was would my charger be ok and what inverter would be best suited?
Click to expand...
I would budget on two of those and then you have equivalent to 300 or 400 ah lead, pure sine inverter.

Martin
 
Stand by my original suggestion for inverter / charger based n your desired consumption
 
lorger said:
Okay I’ve had a wee look at some Lithium batteries and I see the battery mega store are doing 30% off for Fun members which means you can get a 100ah for £500, that seems reasonable to me but is it enough to do the job.
If it was would my charger be ok and what inverter would be best suited?
Click to expand...
You can get 2x100 LiFePo4 on eBay for 880, or 100 for 460, bms inside.
 
Well according to Battery Mega Stores post on here their batteries are a simple “drop in”

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lorger said:
Okay I’ve had a wee look at some Lithium batteries and I see the battery mega store are doing 30% off for Fun members which means you can get a 100ah for £500, that seems reasonable to me but is it enough to do the job.
If it was would my charger be ok and what inverter would be best suited?
Click to expand...
Problem with using the existing charger although it probably won't do them any harm it will never give them a full charge also a more powerful charger would be able to make use of their faster charging capability.
Need to work out what you are really going to use the inverter for. You won't have a problem with Lithium's taking high current out of them so running a 2000 watt inverter for a short period won't harm them but it will flatten them a fair bit if used for anything other than short periods.
 
A 2000w inverter will need a 330ah LiFePo4 to keep the discharge up to 0,5C. Anything higher than that, is not recommended for long time use. More like a 1200-1300w inverter for a 200ah LFP. The victron 1600va/50a/16 inverter charger is spot on.
 
Raul said:
A 2000w inverter will need a 330ah LiFePo4 to keep the discharge up to 0,5C. Anything higher than that, is not recommended for long time use. More like a 1200-1300w inverter for a 200ah LFP. The victron 1600va/50a/16 inverter charger is spot on.
Click to expand...
Our Super-B lithium say a single 160ah is good for 480amps continuous discharge, we have 2 anyway.

Martin

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