Portable solar panel/battery etc

[homeless]

You wont be disappointed

The waters nice and warm and we dont bite.

Regards
Brian

[Keith Morris]

I got my 120 ah FOLDING Solar setup on e-Bay for $ 180.00 free post ready to go with all of the controls/regulator things and a 5 metre lead.
The 50 amp Anderson Plug -(dust cover incl) with 2 cable plugs was around $23.00 from memory.
I have seen a like setup advertised in our favourite monthly magazine for $590.00
Keith.

[TigerMK1]

I got my 120 ah FOLDING Solar setup on e-Bay for $ 180.00 free post ready to go with all of the controls/regulator things and a 5 metre lead.
The 50 amp Anderson Plug -(dust cover incl) with 2 cable plugs was around $23.00 from memory.
I have seen a like setup advertised in our favourite monthly magazine for $590.00
Keith.

Hi Keith, check the conductor diameter in the leads from the panel to your RV. Many I have seen are to small meaning you can drop considerable voltage from the panels to your battery over the 5m distance. Better to upgrade the cable than have excessive loss due to a simple fix.

[Keith Morris]

"tanks" here,
I have a friend in Perth who is going to connect it all up for me with the Anderson Plug located on the rear bumper bar, and he is also going to replace/upgrade the supplied lead with a heaver guage/grade wire and do away with the supplied Alligator type battery Clips. It will be great as I have to open the sliding door and lift the bed base to get to the battery bank to use the Solar Panel -- very inconvenient; and the cable on the floor from the sliding door to the battery bank is a tripping hazard for me.

He is ex PMG and was the Supervisor who set up the charging for the PMG battery banks in the Nor-West.
Keith.

[Dot]

Thanks,

Seriously considering taking the plunge...

How many times have I heard that one just do it, go on I dare you...

[bellett65]

Thanks,

Seriously considering taking the plunge...

Go for it its fun. I' m doing mine by remote control. Terry has control of the remote. The parcel man is oon first name terms with Raena with all the bits arriving. Don't woryy about all the milli amps and things. I let that bit go over my head.

Peter

[homeless]

The fun starts when you are out here using them and people try and work out how you are powering your 240v appliances etc with no generator.

I love to make pies for lunch and then they all ask how I can make pies their look when I tell them I use a pie maker (obvious isn't it) is priceless, then when they find I have a coffee machine on tap and I can run lots of other things that the experts still tell us I cant do but then with magic fingers anything is possible. The old SCAN under the aircon in the middle of the days gets them going.

There are still the people who are in the dark ages and want to stay there, but it is a bit like computers many are still waiting for the best. The rest have grabbed the bullet and ran with it.

You have the option to replace your boat anchors with good batteries and use the space and weight allowance if you want to get real power to let the little lady have the luxuries she wants.

You get a lot more power from the sun as there is no drop off of charge 100% all the way till full, no need to get to the 100% if you cant for that day but if you do and you have a good setup then there are lots of things that you can do the others cant even dream of. We don't waste Solar, that is an option not a requirement.

Often amuses me that people pay 60K - 200K for their rig to enjoy the bush but deny themselves the pleasures because they scrimp on batteries.

If you considered the money you would spend on say three lots of AGM's and put that into Lithium (Lithiums last at least three times AGM"S) you would have power to burn. 200AH of AGM say $600 x 3 $1800 that's more than 300AH of Lithium equivalent to 600Ah of AGM to get the same power available . talking round figures so don't get upset if I am a few hundred dollars out.

My 180Ah @24v house batteries cost $2000 but I did not have to spend the $2000+ on a 12v fridge and still have to buy the batteries and the expensive charger etc.

I was that disappointed with mine I threw out the crank batteries and replace them with lithiums as well. Now I can use the power sitting in the crank batteries for house power as they are always over 26v so will always start the bus even if nearly flat.

Oh and the boat battery is lithium to, 90Ah @ 12v and that doubles as my chainsaw battery as well. Chain saw goes better than the 18v babies it came with and it runs for ever. I have to give the saw a rest and not change batteries. I lent this battery to a person to do a rescue a few months ago and he ran it all day doing tours for his relies etc and it still had plenty of charge when I got it back. Plus I could monitor the cell voltages from my bus as he motored up and down the river

Ain't technology fun

I couldn't say this on the other forum as they would say I am lying and start arguments from the dark ages people, but I put it down to good luck knowing Terry and being in the right place at the right time.

Regards
Brian

Regards
Brian

[T1 Terry]

but I put it down to good luck knowing Terry and being in the right place at the right time.

and having the faith and trust to put your hand in your pocket to venture into a totally unknown world. At that stage Brian was the ultimate pioneer when it comes to DIY lithium ferrous RV house batteries. The very first set of batteries I put together was with Brian's help, they are now Brian's house batteries, the demo pack I used for the Kerang and Taggerty show and tell are Brian's start batteries. So Brian actually has the longest continuous running DIY RV lithium battery pack, totally reliant on solar recharging by the limited number of panels you can fit on a 7 mtr Hino 145 roof, along with the shadows from the roof top air con, aerials etc so the 720w of E Bay panels don't alway get full sun. brian also has a few portable panels if he runs into a string of bad weather. A true test of what they can really achieve, thank you Brian.

T1 Terry

[Chuck]

How many times have I heard that one just do it, go on I dare you...

Yep... ya got me by the short & curly ones Dot!

Yesterday I emailed Erich for input on his system & his reply was a remarkable report on how & why he went for the Lithium batteries along with his initial doubts about being able to do the installation himself & I sincerely thank him for that. Cost wise it is definitely right out there in front of the current battery systems & I would love to be able to say yes, we're doing it. But I can't - yet.

I sat here last night after reading Erich's report & tried to put together a plan that would enable us to reach Gentle Annie with the new system on board... but we'd run out of time & available $$$ too. We have the Cruiser booked in to ARB for the suspension upgrade - bull bar - fridge slide... rear vision camera/monitor to be done ... UHF radio to be done ... 2 x 100w folding solar panels/battery for the Engel in the Cruiser to be done.

The budget is really being put into overdrive to achieve what we want - now, before we move on & whilst I would dearly love to go with Lithium I really don't think that I have the time frame to get into the Lithiums at the moment.

Sigh!

Homeless's final sentence of his last post is the clincher... "I put it down to good luck knowing Terry and being in the right place at the right time."

And that's where we fall down... the time factor.

[homeless]

Chuck one of our users had a week to get his batteries and condition them and setup and he went on his travels to the west from Canberra. It was a rush but he made it so that gives you some idea of how complicated it is. He left his van unattended for several weeks while he went prospecting and then returned a happy man.

With enough Duriff and other goodies a few days stop in a certain place in heaven may make it happen but don't stay 18 months like I did.

The BEST guest houses in Australia I have been to, Sorry Dot have not been to your place so yours doesn't count sorry.

Regards
Brian