Leisure Battery Life In This Hot Weather ??

[Anthony Ball]

During the recent spell of hot weather what sort of leisure battery life are people getting , I've a Dometic cx50 fridge set at medium and struggling to get more than a couple of days with using some lights at night and odd phone charge here and there , is this about right ? Battery is a Yuasa 115A

Ta for any thoughts/experience shared
Ant

 

[Fish]

Id be lucky to get a day at the moment but fridge is set to 1 below super freeze, at min if 5A use I think that its zapping batteries.

 

[Wills]

Solar panels love this weather

 

[Anthony Ball]

Strangely enough I've just spent the last couple of hours looking at solar kits !!

 

[Dilbert]

Yes, makes a big difference if you have solar to to keep things topped up.

 

[Davenjo]

Solar is the way to go - I have a similar compressor fridge and it has been running 24/7 for months off of a 75ah battery, including a few long weekends off grid.

 

[Fish]

Solar is the way to go - I have a similar compressor fridge and it has been running 24/7 for months off of a 75ah battery, including a few long weekends off grid.

And this is quite frankly amazing.. as a few of us at CJ struggled the get 48hrs out of 100+Ah batteries...

 

[Dellmassive]

Solar is the way to go - I have a similar compressor fridge and it has been running 24/7 for months off of a 75ah battery, including a few long weekends off grid.

Sweet,

whats you solar setup? so we can look into it. And a few pics maybe?

ie what wattage/panels?
what controller PWM/MPPT/Make?
where are the panels? mobile/fitted?
how are they cabled?
any ideas what power your generating on a nice sunny day like we have now?

looking into it a 100W decent panel with a decent MPPT controller should provide about 4Ah - 5Ah ish , , , , which would be be enough to power a small cooler/frisge.

so 200W/300W panel should provide 8-12Ah which should power the kit and have enough headroom to start recharging the battery bank too.


I've started this myself, i have the leisure batteries and a new Victron MPPT 75/115 controller, . . . . now just waiting for the Renology 100W solar suitcase (mobile unit) to arrive to start testing. (ill swap out the cheap PWM controller for the better Victron one)

 

[Martinf]

We have a small PV panel on our new camper and it produces as noted above 4A to 5A when the summer sun is shining. It is sufficient to power the fridge when that is running, which of course is only part of the time. The remaining time it’s topping up the battery for the fridge night load and for the lights.

This is one of those seemingly rare events where demand and supply are synchronised. The hotter it is, the harder the fridge has to work, but the output from a PV panel is also likely to be greater!

 

[Bryn23]

Actually the hotter the panel when over 25 degrees lessens the output.

but as long as its clear day, it doesn't really matter to much, any free power is better than no power

 

[Deaky]

Had a panel on my old van and could use our lights and fridge as much as we liked without any battery problems. So much so that I didn't bother with EHU on the new van. Solar all the way

 

[Dilbert]

Actually the hotter the panel when over 25 degrees lessens the output.

An MPPT charge controller helps when a solar panel is outside of optimum temperature (or on cloudy days). Good article here by Viction: Which solar charge controller: PWM or MPPT? - Victron Energy

D.

 

[Dellmassive]

Had a panel on my old van and could use our lights and fridge as much as we liked without any battery problems. So much so that I didn't bother with EHU on the new van. Solar all the way

Got any pics of your setup?

 

[Bryn23]

Yes that is true, MPPT does help on cloudy days

but while MPPT can somewhat help with reduced power output on hot days, there is still power loss due to panels becoming less efficient.

I'm surprised they are still offering PWM, its not much more for a MPPT these days.

But it a moot point, as while its hot, it normally means lots more sun, which intern means more sun hours and makes up on less efficiently.

 

[Deaky]

Got any pics of your setup?

250w panel with a Victron MPPT controller. I have a factory fitted aux battery under the passenger seat. It's not that big 75Ah from memory. I did intend fitting the biggest battery I could squeeze in but for now this seems fine.



According to the app I'm getting 8amps at 113 watts. This was taken when the panel was not in full on sun. I've seen it put 12amps into the battery.

 

[t0mb0]

Same setup as Deaky here, 250w panel, mppt controller and 75ah AGM battery. Fridge (Waeco 40l) is permanently on over summer and leisure battery has never been below about 60% or so.

 

[Mark Howkins]

Victon Smart devices all the way.....I've started a small collection of thier kit!!

 

[Dellmassive]

250w panel with a Victron MPPT controller. I have a factory fitted aux battery under the passenger seat. It's not that big 75Ah from memory. I did intend fitting the biggest battery I could squeeze in but for now this seems fine.

View attachment 26542

According to the app I'm getting 8amps at 113 watts. This was taken when the panel was not in full on sun. I've seen it put 12amps into the battery.

View attachment 26543

cool, looks awesome . . . . . .

how is that panel fixed to the roof?
where is the PV cables running to connect to the MPPT, ie how are they drilled through roof and down to charge controller?
where is the MPPT fitted?

 

[Dellmassive]

This is the start of my setup . . . . . few more bits to go =]

im gonna swap out the RENOLOGY PWM charge controller for this Victron unit. (PWM comes are part of the 100W suitcase kit)

 

[Deaky]

@Dellmassive The panel is sikaflexed to the roof. It has a rear exit cable.... if I'd of fitted it I'd have cut a hole in the roof big enough for the panel to sit completely flat on the roof, however, it bulges up slightly. The cables then pass through to roof under the panel, through some conduit between the roof and the roof cassette around the top of the van. They then pass through the cassette, across the back of the van and along the side, down the B post to under the passenger seat. I have a Bule Solar 75/15 charge controller with a separate Bluetooth module. I chose this combo because the Blue Solar is quite a bit smaller than the Smart Solar and I was tight on space under the seat.