[P @ F]

 Well i put the wheels in motion after a bit of research , ordered all the bits , got scammed along the way (so i thought ) , but its all in now , excuse the vid , not my strong point public speaking !
Well this is what i have and its looking really promising , i will do some more in depth vids on what i got , where , and why i got it soon .
This is just a taster taken at 6 today to give you an idea of what to expect , the results of yield are not great but over the day they are quite amazing with regard to what you can pump into  the battery !

Any Q's , just ask away  , check me out in my sunnies 

Rich

https://youtu.be/3gXXYYOjLzY 

[Spruce]

Well i put the wheels in motion after a bit of research , ordered all the bits , got scammed along the way (so i thought ) , but its all in now , excuse the vid , not my strong point public speaking !
Well this is what i have and its looking really promising , i will do some more in depth vids on what i got , where , and why i got it soon .
This is just a taster taken at 6 today to give you an idea of what to expect , the results of yield are not great but over the day they are quite amazing with regard to what you can pump into  the battery !

Any Q's , just ask away  , check me out in my sunnies 

Rich

https://youtu.be/3gXXYYOjLzY

Hi Rich,

Was looking forward to your solar panel addition. Very nice video.

Firstly, good on you for getting a genuine MPPT controller.  And those volt and amp gauges are ideal to see what the panel is doing. The most important detail is the amps.

If your battery is pretty much charged then the output into the battery will be reduced even when the sun is out.

My only 'concern' is to ensure that the brackets give adequate support to the panel as you don't want it breaking in the middle from road vibration.

[Stoots]

Can I ask what is the need for the controller and all the extra bits.

Why can I not get a solar panel and connect it to my battery and job done?

Maybe stick a 2 quid voltmeter on the battery and disconnect it if it's full?

[Den68]

Nice video thanks for posting.

My understanding The solar controller regulates the  voltage input to the battery and also when the battery is full is going into maintence mode which in turns stops the battery being overcharged.

[Den68]

Just out of curiosity why did you install it on the roof rack and not the roof, as that now restricts your roof bars  just in case you want to use the full width for anything else.

Think I will go Down the solarroute when I get another van.

[nathankaye]

Very nice set up, i like how you run the wires down through the doors, saves putting holes in the roof like i have.

Ive been thinking about redoing my solar panel which is on the roof and attaching it to the roof rack to get the angle but also toying with idea of putting some pives on it like the chap on the boat so it can be slightly angled towards the sun.

Like the volt n amp meter would like a link for that please

[Don Kee]

Do you mind me asking how much that costs (ish) all in, and to those that already use a solar panel, what sort of ampage to you expect to put back into the battery on an average week?

Interested in this as it could be a more cost efficient way of charging batteries on newer vehicles, especially as the battery to battery chargers are expensive (compared to the standard scr's) but it all comes down to average rate of charge...

Nice vid btw

[P @ F]

Thanks for the interest guys , thought i would test the water with a vid to see if any interest , now i know people are interested i will do more of better quality !
I will answer the Q's as they come , im no expert in solar ,but i feel i have watched enough you tube to be one !

Rich

[P @ F]

Well i put the wheels in motion after a bit of research , ordered all the bits , got scammed along the way (so i thought ) , but its all in now , excuse the vid , not my strong point public speaking !
Well this is what i have and its looking really promising , i will do some more in depth vids on what i got , where , and why i got it soon .
This is just a taster taken at 6 today to give you an idea of what to expect , the results of yield are not great but over the day they are quite amazing with regard to what you can pump into  the battery !

Any Q's , just ask away  , check me out in my sunnies 

Rich

https://youtu.be/3gXXYYOjLzY

Hi Rich,

Was looking forward to your solar panel addition. Very nice video.

Firstly, good on you for getting a genuine MPPT controller.  And those volt and amp gauges are ideal to see what the panel is doing. The most important detail is the amps.

If your battery is pretty much charged then the output into the battery will be reduced even when the sun is out.

My only 'concern' is to ensure that the brackets give adequate support to the panel as you don't want it breaking in the middle from road vibration.

Hey Spruce , firstly i must hold my hands up about the solar controller , i did buy cheap china one to start from Ebay £23 , little bit of doubt as to its realness as MPPT as lots are faked , they just put the PWM ones into a casing marked with MPPT !
I will tell the tale of that in a minute .

With regard to the mounting of the panel , that is just for now to see if its all viable , i am looking to put it on some kind of pivot or swing action so i can track the sun properly .

[W.booler]

Thanks for the interest guys , thought i would test the water with a vid to see if any interest , now i know people are interested i will do more of better quality !
I will answer the Q's as they come , im no expert in solar ,but i feel i have watched enough you tube to be one !

Rich

Hi Rich, thanks for the video. I'm a visual learner, so it will help no end for me when I go down that route. Thank you 😊

[P @ F]

Can I ask what is the need for the controller and all the extra bits.

Why can I not get a solar panel and connect it to my battery and job done?

Maybe stick a 2 quid voltmeter on the battery and disconnect it if it's full?

You can do that , but solar panels will put out anything from 0 volts to 22 volts at any given time , the solar controller regulates that voltage in the same way that an intelligent charger does.
You can run as Nathan does and keep a close eye on it , but you will still be at most times cooking the battery .

With a controller you can leave on all the time , so from sun up its charging until sun down , before you start and long after you finish .

The 2 types of controller are ......

PWM  - This one takes the voltage from the panel and reduces it to around 14 volt to feed the battery , the rest it throws away , now this could be anything up to 8 volts (Big waste of power)

MPPT - Does the same job , but instead of throwing the over voltage away it sends it though another coil and converts the over voltage into Amps , usually 20% more efficient , (This is called DC to DC conversion )
I will show you what to look for shortly ,  if you go cheap chinese route as i originally did   . 

[P @ F]

Just out of curiosity why did you install it on the roof rack and not the roof, as that now restricts your roof bars  just in case you want to use the full width for anything else.

Think I will go Down the solarroute when I get another van.

I dont use the rack for anything other than my little pointer and my bike , also , if you are going to mount on the van roof and then put ladders on rack causing shadow then you just as well burn your wallet     

[Simon Trapani]

I don't mean to be the killjoy but would it not be easier to fit an SCR or Battery to Battery charger & bench charge every so often if needed? Also they're obviously much more discreet than having a massive panel on your roof.

Interesting all the same.

[P @ F]

Do you mind me asking how much that costs (ish) all in, and to those that already use a solar panel, what sort of ampage to you expect to put back into the battery on an average week?

Interested in this as it could be a more cost efficient way of charging batteries on newer vehicles, especially as the battery to battery chargers are expensive (compared to the standard scr's) but it all comes down to average rate of charge...

Nice vid btw

OK , cost wise i did very well ........

Solar panel     - Ebay private seller , 80 watt mono crystalline rigid , £40   
Controller      - Including 5m of wire and fixings , £80
Watt meters - £12 each Ebay , local firm   

I got a steal on the panel , if you get one on Ebay new , you will be looking at roughly £100/£110  for 80/100 watt.

If i was starting again i would firstly get 2 x 50 watt panels £60 each on Ebay , if you run them in series and not parralell you will double the voltage to around 40 volt , the over voltage of about 26 volts will then be converted to amps if you have MPPT 

I would get the same controller again , but instead of the watt meters i would get an add on for the conroller , they do a bluetooth dongle that via a free app lets you see masses of info on what the system is doing via smartphone  , this is £40 .

[Spruce]

I don't mean to be the killjoy but would it not be easier to fit an SCR or Battery to Battery charger & bench charge every so often if needed? Also they're obviously much more discreet than having a massive panel on your roof.

Interesting all the same.

If you have access to a drive way then life is much easier for a wfper. But P & F hasn't. To get his battery to a place where he can charge it is a right carry on. So solar will help him to keep the batteries fully charged - in summer anyway and could possibly extend from March through the November. Time will tell.
He could have just fitted an SCR but doing limited mileage its not the total solution. The only time I have a fully charged battery is when I put the charger on it.

Having both is a further step. Victron do also sell a split charge relay to compliment their solar charging system, but any relay will do.

One of the videos pointed to in any earlier solar thread showed a standard PWM controller and a Durite VSR as a joint charging solution. The beauty about the Durite unit is that it is bi directional which means that any excess solar energy will be used to top up the van's battery as well.

.

[P @ F]

I don't mean to be the killjoy but would it not be easier to fit an SCR or Battery to Battery charger & bench charge every so often if needed? Also they're obviously much more discreet than having a massive panel on your roof.

Interesting all the same.

I have looked at all of that , people need to throw a spanner in , as this may not work for all , remember that some work long hours and will use more than they produce .

I have done it purely for the fact that i dont do any milage to run SCR or B2B chargers , solar may not work for me yet , especially through winter , i would maybe need to bench charge now and again , but i would rather waste money on solar than SCR , if solar dont work it will go on the roof of my shed and power the man cave via inverter or the 12 volt .
If i go SCR/B2B and that dont work im left selling it on at loss .

I will probably only have about 2 hours constant run time of pump per day , lets say 12 Amp , that is definately do able in summer , and not totally unthinkable in winter with ongoing mods i have in mind .

[Spruce]

Do you mind me asking how much that costs (ish) all in, and to those that already use a solar panel, what sort of ampage to you expect to put back into the battery on an average week?

Interested in this as it could be a more cost efficient way of charging batteries on newer vehicles, especially as the battery to battery chargers are expensive (compared to the standard scr's) but it all comes down to average rate of charge...

Nice vid btw

OK , cost wise i did very well ........

Solar panel     - Ebay private seller , 80 watt mono crystalline rigid , £40   
Controller      - Including 5m of wire and fixings , £80
Watt meters - £12 each Ebay , local firm   

I got a steal on the panel , if you get one on Ebay new , you will be looking at roughly £100/£110  for 80/100 watt.

If i was starting again i would firstly get 2 x 50 watt panels £60 each on Ebay , if you run them in series and not parralell you will double the voltage to around 40 volt , the over voltage of about 26 volts will then be converted to amps if you have MPPT 

I would get the same controller again , but instead of the watt meters i would get an add on for the conroller , they do a bluetooth dongle that via a free app lets you see masses of info on what the system is doing via smartphone  , this is £40 .

And this is what I would do as it monitors what the controller is doing throughout the day. But those little volt/amp meters have told you what your panel was doing at that moment and that's a good start. Now you also know how much power your pump in drawing.

If you are happy with the result, then you could add an on/off switch into the cable from the panels. It makes removing the battery terminals 'safer'.
Something like this.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-24V-DC-HOME-SOLAR-SYSTEM-WATERPROOF-CIRCUIT-BREAKER-RESET-FUSE-INVERTER/361148581941?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=630494904532&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

.

[P @ F]

Do you mind me asking how much that costs (ish) all in, and to those that already use a solar panel, what sort of ampage to you expect to put back into the battery on an average week?

Interested in this as it could be a more cost efficient way of charging batteries on newer vehicles, especially as the battery to battery chargers are expensive (compared to the standard scr's) but it all comes down to average rate of charge...

Nice vid btw

OK , cost wise i did very well ........

Solar panel     - Ebay private seller , 80 watt mono crystalline rigid , £40   
Controller      - Including 5m of wire and fixings , £80
Watt meters - £12 each Ebay , local firm   

I got a steal on the panel , if you get one on Ebay new , you will be looking at roughly £100/£110  for 80/100 watt.

If i was starting again i would firstly get 2 x 50 watt panels £60 each on Ebay , if you run them in series and not parralell you will double the voltage to around 40 volt , the over voltage of about 26 volts will then be converted to amps if you have MPPT 

I would get the same controller again , but instead of the watt meters i would get an add on for the conroller , they do a bluetooth dongle that via a free app lets you see masses of info on what the system is doing via smartphone  , this is £40 .

And this is what I would do as it monitors what the controller is doing throughout the day. But those little volt/amp meters have told you what your panel was doing at that moment and that's a good start. Now you also know how much power your pump in drawing.

If you are happy with the result, then you could add an on/off switch into the cable from the panels. It makes removing the battery terminals 'safer'.
Something like this.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-24V-DC-HOME-SOLAR-SYSTEM-WATERPROOF-CIRCUIT-BREAKER-RESET-FUSE-INVERTER/361148581941?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=630494904532&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649

.

Spruce , we must share thoughts , im installing quick couplers to battery and pump today to make it easier for a bench charge should i need to !

[Simon Trapani]

I don't mean to be the killjoy but would it not be easier to fit an SCR or Battery to Battery charger & bench charge every so often if needed? Also they're obviously much more discreet than having a massive panel on your roof.

Interesting all the same.

I have looked at all of that , people need to throw a spanner in , as this may not work for all , remember that some work long hours and will use more than they produce .

I have done it purely for the fact that i dont do any milage to run SCR or B2B chargers , solar may not work for me yet , especially through winter , i would maybe need to bench charge now and again , but i would rather waste money on solar than SCR , if solar dont work it will go on the roof of my shed and power the man cave via inverter or the 12 volt .
If i go SCR/B2B and that dont work im left selling it on at loss .

I will probably only have about 2 hours constant run time of pump per day , lets say 12 Amp , that is definately do able in summer , and not totally unthinkable in winter with ongoing mods i have in mind .

Point taken. I didn't know you didn't have access to a driveway. Hope it goes well.

[P @ F]

Its not a major issue with where i can park , i have a choice of 3 carparks , one 20m away , one 30m away , and one to the back of my house 25m away , getting the water to the van is a bigger issue than charging , the water can only be done one way , i have a static 800 L at front and static 450 L out back just so i can fill up !
The whole solar bit is more a "Just to see" exercise really !