Self Sufficent for freedom camping, what do I need?

[BernieQ2]

One hour later the battery's at 13.8 with SOC at 70% and 8.4amp inbound .
I forgot to mention I have 480amp of battery .
Temp in the bus is at 35degrs .
Bernie .

[Jon and Kay]

There is nothing on except the -o.6amp

For heavens sake Bernie ...save your beer.

[BernieQ2]

Have a beer fridge in the shed Jon so all good the beer is safe .
Bernie .

[native pepper]

Lots of ifs and buts in your post Terry, all relying on a system being installed without proper understanding, which can be applied to any form of controller. if you have the wrong wiring, wrong panel voltages, panels fitted where air can't circulate around them, of course you will have problems. Never seen the input voltage of my 12v panels gets below 16v in full summer sun in Aus and the same in Tas, never seen a drop in input voltages in full sun at home on the boat of bus.

A majority of mobile charging is on the move, which naturally reduces panel temps with air flow, the distances from panels to controller are not very long and adequately wired. Yet to find anyone who used mppt who complains of batteries of any description not being fully charged, in my own case never had the problem with the gel, but the difference between the pwm controller and the mppt one which has been on the bus for many years now, is a lot when it come to charging. As we stop at many of the same places a few times a year, it's not hard to work out the difference when you take it over a few years. Having fully charged batteries after a day ion shade with an mppt, compared to having to control our usage using a pwm is good enough. Having used both pwm and mppt on our gel bank, the difference was easy to see. It's the same on my boat, when changing from pwm to mppt, has seen the battery bank fully charged during sunny days in winter most of the time, where before only in summer did the batteries reach full capacity using pwm. Always had to go out and start the engines to recharge if there was not wind and no sun. Rarely have to do that now and got rid of the noisy wind generator which topped them up during winter, to keep the bilge pumps and electronics operating.

Even a 2% increase in charge input means a big difference over a few days, especially if you have overcast skies, where an mppt will make a big difference. Of course for those who rarely are on the road and their rig sits idle for the majority of time may not notice, but those living or constantly on the road require any advantage they can get and mppt controllers provide that in my experience. Holiday takers, tend to spent times in van parks as well, so the need for maximum charge input under all circumstances is not warranted so they can use whatever controller they like, but when you are constantly travelling you really notice the difference between pwm and mppt. Just as you really notice the difference between lead acid and lifepo4, both these 21 century improvements make a huge difference for real travelers.

When thinking back to the time I got into lifepo4, the array of components we used to control them and constant need to monitor charge input and balance them was a big hassle To now where it's just single stage mppt controllers and cell equalisers requiring no monitoring or balancing and if you use 24v panels, you have a really great energy system allowing you many luxuries and a comfortable lifestyle. A system installed properly compared to one badly installed whether using mppt or pwm will see a major difference in performance.

[BruceS]

OK before this thread gets too personal, maybe we can all feel free to post what WE have without rubbishing any other one's post? From what I've seen, almost EVERY LiFePO4 install is different in some way but is still OK for that person.
Readers of these threads can feel free to make up their own minds as to the bonefide or not of any/all information they come across. If someone really wishes to imply that their info is more 'correct' than someone else's can they at least provide their name, location and experience in that subject.
This will be my last post in regards to this.
Thank you for your assistance.

[Mrcoolabah1au]

Yes agree the system someone put in mine still working without a hitch

[Greynomad]

Factory-fitted 120W solars on our Winnie are still working to our satisfaction after 13 years.
Coupla years ago our factory-fitted 1500W inverter turned up its toes, so we upgraded to a 2000W unit, taking the opportunity to move the controller from an under-floor bin to inside the cabin, and switched from a green light/red light unit to a digital controller which tells us everything but the weather forecast.
Simultaneously, we switched all lights to LEDs & installed a 12v TV. We no longer have to worry about power usage - unless we roast something in the microwave...
We're very happy with our set-up now: 2x120W solars, 2000W inverter, 2x100AH gel batteries & digital controller. Can camp for a week w/o plugging in. The limiter is our black-water storage: 80 litres. If not for that, we could stay off-grid indefinitely.

[BernieQ2]

Ok a bit more on my setup , at 5.30am batterys at 12.8 with 2.8 amps coming In (no sun up just daylight) .
Now at 8.30am ( I have been walking ) temp at 30deg 14.2 volts at batterys 15.3 amps coming in 98% soc .
I'm not doing this for a argument just to show my system and what it does .
Bernie .

[Greynomad]

Parked up, and not connected to shore power, our solars are keeping the batteries at 13.8~14v.
Even after a microwaved coffee & a night of TV, we rarely drop below 13.1v.
Heavy demand with microwaving some dinner components, lights & TV, we can drop to about 12.5.
Next day, we're back up to 13.6 by lunchtime.
Ours input system is pretty much as the factory installed, except for the new controller as mentioned.
No complaints from us.

[grizzzman]

Does any one here harvest water out of rivers/lakes to extend there boondocking stay? Do you treat/filter it? If so what works for you in the way you treat it?

Thanks