Victron mppt 75/15 question (1 Viewer)

[Just smiffy]

And to think you didn't like us at first

Leave everything as "was" and simply run the "new" 2nd LNB cable direct to the Humax box.

So LNB1 goes LNB to "LNB In" on the Oyster control box
LNB Out to Humax box

New LNB straight to Humax

Let the Oyster search as normal, when the Oyster acquires Astra2 use the AV switch on the Oyster remote which will allow the LNB feed to "switch"through to the Humax

Then select the appropriate "input" on the TV and happy viewing

Finished my wine now so locking up and going home

Now that’s what I like to hear... perfectly understandable English... thanks...

 

[TheCaller]

Shading etc.

I would sum it up like this:
If you mostly tour in the summer, mostly turn right at Calais & don't have to rely on solar to keep the batteries charged over winter, then the way Smith and Sharp have their panels wired will give the best result for those circumstances & you won't have to worry too much about shading of any one panel - you will only lose the output of the shaded panel.

If you use the van in the UK in the winter, if you mostly turn left at Calais & if you rely on solar to keep the batteries (including the engine battery - alarms etc) topped up over winter, then the Urs4 method will extract the maximum power from what little sun there is - but you do have to pay close attention to make sure that there is no shading on any panel at all.

Apart from swinging both ways at Calais, (but as often as not going north), I'm in the second camp, so that's how my panels are wired. The only day this winter I didn't get at least some charge was when both panels were under 3" snow & it was overcast all day.

 

[Urs4_2008]

Shading etc.

I would sum it up like this:
If you mostly tour in the summer, mostly turn right at Calais & don't have to rely on solar to keep the batteries charged over winter, then the way Smith and Sharp have their panels wired will give the best result for those circumstances & you won't have to worry too much about shading of any one panel - you will only lose the output of the shaded panel.

If you use the van in the UK in the winter, if you mostly turn left at Calais & if you rely on solar to keep the batteries (including the engine battery - alarms etc) topped up over winter, then the Urs4 method will extract the maximum power from what little sun there is - but you do have to pay close attention to make sure that there is no shading on any panel at all.

Apart from swinging both ways at Calais, (but as often as not going north), I'm in the second camp, so that's how my panels are wired. The only day this winter I didn't get at least some charge was when both panels were under 3" snow & it was overcast all day.

Completely agree except I don’t use a calorie regarding how I park related to shades, except if possible i park in the sun, not in a parking house or behind a skyscraper hiding from the sun

That said, with an even number of panels you can achieve the best of both: connect half in series and parallel each half. Doing that, some shading will worst case cancel half of your production.

This is how I currently have connected my 8 100w panels. 4 in series parallel with 4 in series

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[TheCaller]

That said, with an even number of panels you can achieve the best of both: connect half in series and parallel each half. Doing that, some shading will worst case cancel half of your production.

This is how I currently have connected my 8 100w panels. 4 in series parallel with 4 in series

..... but I've only got a little van.
No more roof space!

 

[Urs4_2008]

..... but I've only got a little van.
No more roof space!

Problem solved:

 

[Minxy]

Same reason you've got 2 vans - cos he can.

Yeh... and two smarts and two park homes....

Oi, I do NOT have park homes!!! I have LODGES!!!! Proper 'residential' quality foundation built ones I'll have you know!

• 2 campers
• 2 smart cars
• 2 lodges

oh and 2 bungalows ... our home and a rental one! I like things in pairs!

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[Just smiffy]

Oi, I do NOT have park homes!!! I have LODGES!!!! Proper 'residential' quality foundation built ones I'll have you know!

• 2 campers
• 2 smart cars
• 2 lodges

oh and 2 bungalows ... our home and a rental one! I like things in pairs!

Ooh I like a nice pair too...



.

 

[Silver-Fox]

Ooh I like a nice pair too...



.

One of your five a day I believe

 

[canopus]

I like things in pairs!

Apart from knickers, and you buy them by the gross you told us recently. However you did remind us that your shower tray was buggered and ablutions were difficult.

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[Minxy]

Apart from knickers, and you buy them by the gross you told us recently. However you did remind us that your shower tray was buggered and ablutions were difficult.

The clues in the name though a 'pair' of knickers, but yes I do have LOTS of pairs of knickers ... I like to be clean and change them daily but I suspect some others don't or go commando!!!! Not being able to get a shower doesn't mean you can't get a good wash instead ... a bonus is you don't use loads of water either!!!

 

[canopus]

TMI

 

[Minxy]

TMI

You shouldn't have mentioned knickers then ... what's worrying is that you remembered I'd bought a load ... do you have a fettish???

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[Just smiffy]

Love this forum..... its amazing that solar controllers got to used knickers in two pages.....

 

[canopus]

Mel you are the original 'walk a mile to save an apeny' gal.
I remember meeting you in a branch of Currys in Doncaster and you telling us that you'd driven round all their local branches buying up this particular model of Huaweii Mifi's. If you bought the mifi then cancelled the contract when you got home you could save a few bob you told us. You must have covered a few miles that day as you were en route to the Wakefield branch from Doncaster and had arrived previously from Scunthorpe.

Consequently I tend to read your 'wacky' posts more than most, especially when youre in entrepreneurial mode, and like the adage says, 'an elephant never forgets'.

 

[Clarky]

Only on MHF can a technical thread about solar panel controllers change so quickly to knickers. You mucky minded lot!

Richard.

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[Minxy]

Mel you are the original 'walk a mile to save an apeny' gal.
I remember meeting you in a branch of Currys in Doncaster and you telling us that you'd driven round all their local branches buying up this particular model of Huaweii Mifi's. If you bought the mifi then cancelled the contract when you got home you could save a few bob you told us. You must have covered a few miles that day as you were en route to the Wakefield branch from Doncaster and had arrived previously from Scunthorpe.

Consequently I tend to read your 'wacky' posts more than most, especially when youre in entrepreneurial mode, and like the adage says, 'an elephant never forgets'.

Goodness ... I've got a stalker!!!!

We were buying other stuff at the time too I think (probably tents!) ... now hubby is getting his works pension we plan on having more holidays away/longer ones. Over the last year we drastically reduced our buying and now aren't buying any more at all and concentrating on just selling what we still have 'in stock' which is a necessity as we want to move this year so we need to empty the workshop/garages of not only our 'stock' but also our clutter ... of which there's a lot!!!

As for 'wacky' posts ... makes a change from being called 'weird'!

 

[Minxy]

Oi, I do NOT have park homes!!! I have LODGES!!!! Proper 'residential' quality foundation built ones I'll have you know!

• 2 campers
• 2 smart cars
• 2 lodges

oh and 2 bungalows ... our home and a rental one! I like things in pairs!

Update ... now only got 1 Smart car ... 'Peanut' went to his new owner this afternoon ...

 

[Lenny HB]

Thanks Robert, I’ve got Banner AGM’s too and according to Lenny @Lenny HB I’ll be replacing them soon...

Batteries or knickers?

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[Silver-Fox]

Just going back to solar panels and controllers for a minute.
If you have more than one controller how do the batteries get wired up?

Sorry for taking the thread back on track

 

[Just smiffy]

Just going back to solar panels and controllers for a minute.
If you have more than one controller how do the batteries get wired up?

Sorry for taking the thread back on track

If you look at my first picture you’ll see that the wires from the controllers collect to a central spigot and then a single thicker wire goes Down to the batteries ..

 

[Urs4_2008]

Just going back to solar panels and controllers for a minute.
If you have more than one controller how do the batteries get wired up?

Sorry for taking the thread back on track

Thanks
Parallell

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[Silver-Fox]

If you look at my first picture you’ll see that the wires from the controllers collect to a central spigot and then a single thicker wire goes Down to the batteries ..

Ohh yeah

Nice set up

 

[michael thorpe]

solar panels are not all there cracked up to be, at best they are only 17% efficient! but they only have a life span of 10 years at most before there power output falls to about half of what they are rated for, and by the way, they will still work in the shade or on a rainy day but not at there full output, all my old campers had solar panels fitted by myself, and they did keep the engine starter and internal batteries fully charged all the time, even on winter lay-ups, but if you have your camper lit up like a "gin palace" all night long you will need a dig battery bank and a solar farm on the roof to keep you fully charged up, however I like to use them small "led lanterns" rather than the internal lights, I find it more romantic when I'm hugging my old dog,, no not the wife!,, my K9 dog?,, most of my solar panels were no bigger than 50 watts yet still did the job just fine, as a point of interest, I found that the solar panel's cost about £2 per watt for the smaller ones, but only "one small stone smashes a panel and then it never works again", and so it makes sense to try to use two smaller panels rather than one big panel, if you mount them on your roof remember the extra weight will make your camper roll more on bends,