Van of enormous power Mk 4

[Joeboy]

£67.40 is the best new price I can see for the smartsolar controller. I find it mildly freaky at the vast range of similar but not at all equipment that Victron make.

That's a decent price with Bluetooth app access to control it thrown in too.

[resybaby]

This is what i have on my motors roof. 2 x 100w panels hooked up to charge controller and 2 x 135ah batteries. All 12v and not linked to the motors alternator (to much effort to lift the floor to fit split charge). Works fine and keeps the crx50 fully operating, (i do have quite a decent amount of storage) the lights on and plenty of usb charge sockets also, occasionally watch the tele via the dashmounted head unit but not loads. Used to run a shower via a submersible pump and collapsable bucket, but have removed all that now.

Homemade ali brackets to fit roof rails (odd size as nothing shelf made to suit) as well as compensate for the van roof curving upwards relative the roof rails, hence the stainless spacing washers. Looks a bit of a dogs breakfast but not visible from the ground and been happily up there for 6-7 years now.

[Joeboy]

This is what i have on my motors roof. 2 x 100w panels hooked up to charge controller and 2 x 135ah batteries. All 12v and not linked to the motors alternator (to much effort to lift the floor to fit split charge). Works fine and keeps the crx50 fully operating, (i do have quite a decent amount of storage) the lights on and plenty of usb charge sockets also, occasionally watch the tele via the dashmounted head unit but not loads. Used to run a shower via a submersible pump and collapsable bucket, but have removed all that now.

Homemade ali brackets to fit roof rails (odd size as nothing shelf made to suit) as well as compensate for the van roof curving upwards relative the roof rails, hence the stainless spacing washers. Looks a bit of a dogs breakfast but not visible from the ground and been happily up there for 6-7 years now.

Thanks for sharing this, cool! As long as it works for you and lifestyle. At one point my whole offgird was a portable folding panel for charging mobile phone. It did the job. We built a nice wee 5V kingdom at our Turkish place. No reason we can't do it again here too.

[Stinsy]

This is what i have on my motors roof. 2 x 100w panels hooked up to charge controller and 2 x 135ah batteries. All 12v and not linked to the motors alternator (to much effort to lift the floor to fit split charge). Works fine and keeps the crx50 fully operating, (i do have quite a decent amount of storage) the lights on and plenty of usb charge sockets also, occasionally watch the tele via the dashmounted head unit but not loads. Used to run a shower via a submersible pump and collapsable bucket, but have removed all that now.

Homemade ali brackets to fit roof rails (odd size as nothing shelf made to suit) as well as compensate for the van roof curving upwards relative the roof rails, hence the stainless spacing washers. Looks a bit of a dogs breakfast but not visible from the ground and been happily up there for 6-7 years now.

Seperate starter/leisure systems is the easiest solution. However you forego the opportunity to charge the leisure side from the alternator or the starter from the solar...

[Joeboy]

Just had a look at generic 105Ah LA LB with their 50% discharge capacity before damage and compared them to 100AH LIFEPO4 LB and their close to flat discharge capability and faster charge profile. Seems like a no brainer upgrade?

Not dropped the hammer on any of this yet.but a plan is certainly forming.

[Stinsy]

Just had a look at generic 105Ah LA LB with their 50% discharge capacity before damage and compared them to 100AH LIFEPO4 LB and their close to flat discharge capability and faster charge profile. Seems like a no brainer upgrade?

Not dropped the hammer on any of this yet.but a plan is certainly forming.

LiFePO4 are just as much of a no-brainer in the van as they are in your house!

Lithium will still be working in 20 years too. Whereas you'll have gone through at least 4 sets of lead!

[richbee]

Think this was the one I was looking at.
Seems like a good deal, not sure if 30V is enough for your solar input?
Victron does seem to be the best of the best for camper ele tricks, just have to work out if you're happy paying their prices

https://uk.renogy.com/renogy-40a-dc-dc- ... ntent=All

[Joeboy]

The penny just dropped for me. These RV/marine Lifepo4 batteries are 4 prismatic 3.2V cell packs, with a bms, inside a waterproof enclosure that looks like a LA battery.

Ahahh!



And it's 1.28kWh of stored energy. That immediately tells me that fridge, cooker and heater will be run off gas in offgrid scenario. Enough power though to run, pumps, lights and media. Something like a 1kW inverter would do to complete the system. 500W wall was hit too often in the Bongo.

Ecoflow x 2 bifacial (390W total) £180
2 x Y splice £12
Bulkhead penetrator £15
Victron 100/20 with load control £68
100Ah lifepo4 LB £146
1kW inverter £60
DC cables £50

£531, that not bad for a full offgrid solar upgrade running off lifepo4 and capable of running power tools? I'll have to raid the spares boxes mightily.

The question now is what price can Colin Deng ship me one from China for? I'll measure the potential underbonnet space on the current LB tray when.i get home. Maybe make up a flat wooden template to the mm and see what is available to fit in the space with the most recent cells. I remember there was a step up in the capacity across one year in the LF280's as design improved. Hopefully it's been similar on these cells too. Be interested to see how far above 100Ah we can get. If I get this right there should be zero impact on interior space for day to day living, more deck chairs!

[Colin Deng]

For the picture that Joe attached
The size is 330*170*220mm
With cylindrical cells, it can be 12v 180ah
With prismatic cells, it can be 12v 150ah

More capacity than before now

[richbee]

The penny just dropped for me. These RV/marine Lifepo4 batteries are 4 prismatic 3.2V cell packs, with a bms, inside a waterproof enclosure that looks like a LA battery.


And it's 1.28kWh of stored energy. That immediately tells me that fridge, cooker and heater will be run off gas in offgrid scenario. Enough power though to run, pumps, lights and media. Something like a 1kW inverter would do to complete the system. 500W wall was hit too often in the Bongo.

Ecoflow x 2 bifacial (390W total) £180
2 x Y splice £12
Bulkhead penetrator £15
Victron 100/20 with load control £68
100Ah lifepo4 LB £146
1kW inverter £60
DC cables £50

I'm definitely with you on the lifepo4 battery instead of lead acid - will be incorporated into van 2.

I do think you'd comfortably be able to run a fridge with the setup you're talking about.
I've got 80w solar, plus 110Ah lead acid & a dometic portable cdf26 compressor fridge - never had a problem being off grid for up to 4 days running lights, chargers, fridge