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Hello everyone,
What a wealth of information on here! Thank you! I have trawled through quite a lot of posts to answer my questions, but would like to check with you.....
We are currently doing a conversion of a mini-bus into a very basic camper (we previously had an old Autohomes Travelhome with not much room for us left over, there were so many cupboards etc!) Going round Europe next Spring for 6 months, hoping to do some wild camping, no ehu. We won't have many electrical items with us, just phone, netbook (which we can charge whilst driving if necessary) and our coolbox/ fridge which says is 72W, 0.3A. Will a 80W panel and 2 leisure batteries keep my fridge going for a couple of days at a time?
Also, is it entirely necessary to wire in the panel to the engine battery, or can I run the solar charger and leisure batteries as a totally seperate system?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Phae
It is very normal to run the solar panel and leisure batteries independent of the engine battery.
I presume your fridge is a compressor type not absorption ie will not run off gas. The 72W 0.3 amp spec will be for 230V mains operation. If run on 12V then the current draw will be 72/12 = 6 amps. Two 85AH leisure batteries would run this for just 14 hours before reaching their 50% discharge rate (not recommended to go over this)
The 80W solar panel will produce about 4 amps but only in full sunshine around midday, considerably less in cloud and early or late in the day.
If possible I would install an absorption fridge and run it off gas, they use very little.
Trevor
______________________________________________________________ Not all who wander are lost.
Hi Phae
You should run the solar to the leisure batteries only not the van battery.
You can fit a battery master wich will switch charge to the van batt if the leisure batts are full.
2 x 100ah = 220amp per hour or 1 amd for 220 hrs
your fridge will draw about 6-7 amps so 220/7 = 31hrs
the solars will but about 4 amps in at best so this will put the 31 hrs up to about 50 hrs
I assume you will be cooking. if so you will have gas and so why not go for a 3 way fridge which runs on gas when parked, 12v when driving and 240 when on hook up.
the 80w solar will be about 2ft 6 x 14 in so is the roof big enough?
Phill
______________________________________________________________ Just when i found out my dad was right I had a son that thought I was wrong.....Henry winkler.
Check the voltage for your fridge, as I don't think a compressor fridge will run on 12 and 240v directly?
If it does draw 6 amps when running on 12v, it won't run all the time as perhaps you know already. For ours to maintain 5 deg C when the camper is about 18 deg C it runs about a third of the time, so a third of the battery drain.
To wild camp for long periods I think a compressor fridge is ideal, if thats what you have. Gas for fridge, heating and cooking means regular bottle swaps, although many do do that. We have two big solar panels feeding two big batteries and in Southern France they stayed topped up by themselves in summer without any other input. Our heating is by a diesel Eberspacher water heater, pricey to buy and fix if it goes wrong, but really cheap to run. So the 13kg gas bottle used only for cooking lasts six months, which is a balance I like.
You've looked at the SBMCC site? You need to pay for that site as well as this after a few posts, but both are well worth it!
Jason
______________________________________________________________ Small steps
Thanks so muc for all your helpful replies!
fridge is a 3 way coolbox type. The one I had before got so cold you could turn it off some of the time to unfreeze the beers!
Don't want to use gas as our neighbour showed us all the diff bottles and regulators he had collected on a trip round europe- expensive and loads of hassle!
cooking outside on a small camping stove that will run on unleaded- as I said- it's gonna be a basic van!
Thanks again
Phae
You know to change vehicle type on the V5 to motor caravan the DVLA have minimum requirements which include a 2 burner stove fixed in place? Something like a microwave may be an alternative, but I imagine it would still have to be fitted?
Its apparently a legal requirement to tell them if you change you vehicle into a campervan,
"You’ll need to tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) about the following changes to your vehicle:"
"It doesn’t cost you anything ie when you submit your V5C log book to the DVLA they don’t expect a fee and the other good news is that in the long run changing the classification shown could save you a bundle. Your road tax should be lower, depending on the weight classification your MOT class will become lower and the cost of an MOT cheaper, your campervan insurance will be cheaper and on the open road you can go 10 MPH faster than a commercial van."
That link also has a full description of what the DVLA uses to define a camper for imported vehicles. Mine was changed by a wodge of photos in the post, a covering letter and the ammended V5 and took two weeks ish and was not a problem.
The SBMCC has a whole section on DVLA paperwork, and wether you need to etc, but you may have to be a paying subscriber to view it? One point raised there is is the vehicle actually insured (in the eyes of the law) if you have a van converted for living use but not insured as such?
Jason
______________________________________________________________ Small steps
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