Which choice (1 Viewer)

[kelpie]

I have a 160Ah (Gel) battery bank.

That should power a few things all right.

 

[kelpie]

I self-fitted GasLow with ease. I fitted an internal bracket for the filler and never found the need to change it. An internal fill point makes it easier to keep when you move on (if you want to) and removes the need to drill though an outer skin. Use a leak detector to check the joints (or soap or a nose).

The video I watched makes it look easy . Think it might be One Refillable , uprate battery , and fit B2B.

 

[Minxy]

From what your intention is I'd suggest as follows:

A single 11kg refillable and keep one of your existing Calors too so you can use the refillable and keep the other as a back-up, can be done for around £200 if you shop around for stuff as it's not always cheapest to buy it all from the same supplier (you can mix and match the cylinders and pipework etc). There was another thread recently about Gaslow having some used recalibrated/refurbished refillable cylinders available at a heavily discounted price compared to buying new and they came with a full 10 year 'life' so could be worth considering.

As for the electrics - I'd be tempted first to go down the route of fitting an additional battery to match your existing one if it's a good one, as that way you will have more power to use initially especially in winter when a solar panel isn't likely to keep them sufficiently topped up. Then look at solar - I've got a 60w flexi-panel on our PVC and it works fine though we are not power hungry users, but you can get a 100w semi-flexi panel for approx £90 on Ebay (this has the gubbings on the front so doesn't prevent you sticking it down).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100W-200...hash=item3d1dc468ab:m:mlge7zcLj1FWoqbotjTUxKw

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[Lenny HB]

From what you are saying you do most of your touring in Scotland, in that case I would go for the re-fillable gas bottles, soon recover your costs. As you are looking at all year round use, solar will not give you that much output outside of late spring/summer /early autum.

We rarely use our van in the UK and we live on the south coast so solar is a good option for us. Our set up is 240Ah of Gel batteries, 300 watts of solar, 60 amp B2B & 2 x 14kg Alugas refillables.

With a refillable gas system you have to find a garage for gas, which can be hard to find in many places. A lot harder to find than a calor exchange.

Impossible to get Calor outside of the UK, refillable can be filled in any country.

In the past couple of days I've been looking at gas systems. I don't know what I put in the search panel , but a thread appeared with an article regarding BP stations removing lpg "pumps" due to lack of sales . It seemed to concentrate on UK outlets , didn't say anything about mainland Europe though. The article implied some of the other major fuel stations might do the same.
Think I'll go with one refillable and one bought full. If I don't keep swmbo warm there could be trouble.
Back to net to check prices and capacities.
John

Only in some areas BP were taking out LGP none have done it in the south east. Plenty of filling stations on the continent never been a problem in the 10 years we have been Motorhoming.
Agree with your decision.

 

[Lenny HB]

pol to 21.8H is the adaptor you need for refillable and then your present propane hose will screw into it provided youre using propane

Nope the refillable bottle is the same connection as a UK Butane.

 

[Minxy]

I self-fitted GasLow with ease. I fitted an internal bracket for the filler and never found the need to change it. An internal fill point makes it easier to keep when you move on (if you want to) and removes the need to drill though an outer skin. Use a leak detector to check the joints (or soap or a nose).

I'd still go for an external filler but the smaller square one which can be mounted below the body such as this (shown on a PVC):

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[kelpie]

Nearly there . Think I'll go down the route of one refillable, keeping one Calor Bottle, extra batteries, and a B2B charger.
The rest of my money I'll waste on replacing the whole Scottish Rugby team . Had one eye on the forum and the other two on the game

 

[two]

I'd go one step at a time on the electrics as B2B may not be necessary. Consider a battery monitor on the basis that you cannot manage what you don't measure. if beefing-up your battery bank, make sure that your charger can cope with the new capacity.

 

[Lenny HB]

I'd still go for an external filler but the smaller square one which can be mounted below the body such as this (shown on a PVC):
View attachment 210671 View attachment 210672

Agree, had the small filler mounted in the skirt on all three vans, neat and unatrusive. Saved our bacon in Portugal when they refused to fill us up, I pointed at the filler & said it was a tank and they filled me up.

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[hilldweller]

Given the choice between solar panels or gasit refillable system

John

Chalk and cheese there - solar is for light, electric gadgets, gas is for heating cooking. You need both.

Or do you mean financially one or other ? You can eat a nicely cooked meal by candlelight and stay warm as long as you have gas.

 

[Minxy]

Chalk and cheese there - solar is for light, electric gadgets, gas is for heating cooking. You need both.

Or do you mean financially one or other ? You can eat a nicely cooked meal by candlelight and stay warm as long as you have gas.

Not if you need electric to ignite it and blow the heat around the camper!

 

[hilldweller]

Not if you need electric to ignite it and blow the heat around the camper!

Touche.

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[mfw]

Nope the refillable bottle is the same connection as a UK Butane.

I know some vans use propane which needs the pol to 21.8H adaptor i did say if using propane i would not know what thread is on butane bottle

 

[kelpie]

I'd still go for an external filler but the smaller square one which can be mounted below the body such as this (shown on a PVC):
View attachment 210671 View attachment 210672

That's the one in the video

 

[Eddystone]

Van needs mot , tried to take it couple of weeks ago and it snowed heavily. Hate when the weather dictates my time

I moved my MOT to October for the very same reason.

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[kelpie]

Need to mot it next week but maybe retest end of Sept to make sure . Read somewhere possible snow Thurs Friday next week.
HOPE NOT.

 

[nicholsong]

Kelpie

Back to charging systems

I have just read this post from Dave Burleigh on thread
Is a B2B charger what we need?

Dave is very knowledgable and from years of experience of his postings will not give advice unless he sure of his ground.

"I have a 50Amp Sterling B2B for sale, but offer the following advice in your situation:

1) More battery Ah is a priority.
2) Check your alternator charge rate into your leisure battery depleted by at least 50%. With decent cabling, plenty should be on tap, but with just a single battery, thinner wiring may have been used to protect battery life. For maximum life, the maximum charge rate in Amps should be no greater than one fifth of the capacity in Amp-hours.
3) With decent cabling and a depleted battery, a B2B will buy you nothing, initially.
4) As more charge gets into the battery (say 30-40% depleted) the B2B will give a charge rate streets ahead of just the alternator direct to leisure battery. This phase can be important in maximising the utility of short journeys between overnight stops.
5) Finally, though the charge rate will drop off as the battery gets charged further, the B2B can give your leisure battery a greater capacity than just the alternator would.

In sum, a B2B can maximise the utility of your battery capacity when touring off EHU with limited solar charging. But don't think it is necessarily any better than simply doubling your battery capacity to start with, plus checking you have decent cabling between alternator and leisure battery.

Dave"

Hope it is of use.

Geoff

 

[Just smiffy]

Nearly there . Think I'll go down the route of one refillable, keeping one Calor Bottle, extra batteries, and a B2B charger.
The rest of my money I'll waste on replacing the whole Scottish Rugby team . Had one eye on the forum and the other two on the game

Your there, maybe put a hold on the b2b but with extra batteries you’ll need to put the power used back in somehow.....

You could also buy a portable suitcase solar panel for when the sun shines and placed at an angle to the sun you’d be surprised how much power it produces even on a cloudy day. The prices are good on them and they have come a long way from the old days.

Gaslow/gaslit is a no brainer as far as I’m concerned, availability everywhere and not one problem filling, yet. Cheeper and a lot user friendly especially for me as I don’t want to be lugging heavy gas bottles about in a wheelchair ....

But the best thing you can do is, like us, go south for the winter, I’m sitting here in a T-shirt on the south coast of Spain now....

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[kelpie]

Been working for a few hours today so just logged on.
Thanks to all who are contributing..
My thoughts now are , extra batteries , One gaslow /gasit bottle with external filler, keep one of the propane bottles as back up.
Think I'm being talked out of the B2B immediately , at least until I've been a good few trips.
My birthday is in April , so I'll be getting my prezzies early, therefore , if anyone feels I should tweak it , let me know .
Once again my sincere thanks for your patience, and of course your ideas.
John