Some of you guys know about the problems I have had and with my electrics since my van conversion 2 years ago. It came to a head at The Rutland weekend when the battery just kept failing and then I started to smell burning: I found a melted fuse and 3 connectors with burnt ends.
I was recommended to take the van to
@travelvolts which I did. Martyn wrote me a report that basically said the the 'relay' that had been fitted (yes that old chestnut) was no good on a Euro6 engine & we should have had a DC-DC charger fitted, the fridge was not wired direct to the battery causing voltage drop which tripped out the fridge and some of the cable was the wrong gauge.
I took the report to the converter and they immediately agreed to pay for the restitution which Martyn did. The fridge has ran for 10 days solid with the battery (2x78ah in parallel) never falling below 75%. He also found other wiring issues when he got into it. I now constantly see 13.7 volts in the battery when driving. Before it fluctuated went from 11.5v to 14.9v.
I also had some bluetooth Victron monitors installed which clearly show my 100w solar panel is pushing out 29w at its max on a sunny day at noon but the voltage is in spec 18v-20v current with max @0.9a which is 4a below what i'd expect. So now I am in discussion with Solar technology about the panel which has a 10 year warranty.
If it has to be changed I may have paint issues on the roof when the bonding is removed: we'll just have to wait & see! However it is NOT going back to my original converter who will remain nameless.
Suffice to say thanks to Martyn - I can actually wild camp properly now!
