Solar panel

[janie]

Just ordered a solar panel - hope it's as good as I want it to be!

Jane

[Jimbobvfr400]

I guess it depends on what you're expecting. I would say make sure your leisure battery is still up to scratch. Mines only 75MAH so I'm not making the most of the solar but it's working fine for now, I will upgrade to at least a 100May at some point.

Which panel and other bits did you buy?

[janie]

I have a 110Ah battery (new last summer) and I bought the panel from 'solar panel solutions' with the kit that comes with it.

[Jimbobvfr400]

In that case I can't see you will be disappointed, I have the same panel from Roger and I'm delighted with it, even with my 25% less battery capacity.

[Jillygumbo]

I'm also very happy with the kit that Roger fitted to Tonto - does very well.

[janie]

Thanks for the replies.....does anyone run a coolbox from one, (would love a new fridge but can't really justify the expense after shelling out for the solar panel).

[Jillygumbo]

I've got a Waeco compressor fridge and it runs well but I'm sure someone will come along regarding a coolbox. I do understand they do drain the leisure battery quicker than a fridge though.

I have the MPPT controller with my solar kit, meaning that I don't need sunlight, I don't need to tuck my rear end towards the south - just daylight is enough to charge the LB.

[Jimbobvfr400]

I've got a Waeco compressor fridge and it runs well but I'm sure someone will come along regarding a coolbox. I do understand they do drain the leisure battery quicker than a fridge though.

I have the MPPT controller with my solar kit, meaning that I don't need sunlight, I don't need to tuck my rear end towards the south - just daylight is enough to charge the LB.

Apart from replacing Waeco with a Vitrifrigo compressor fridge I agree with everything Jilly says.

With hindsight I don't think I'd bother with the remote display for the controller, it's quite a cool bit of kit but I find myself looking at it all the time, I should probably just let it do its thing but I can't, I'm constantly checking levels and charging rate. Maybe the novelty will wear off eventually though.

[Muzorewa]

We got the panel from Roger too and had him fit it, super bit of kit.

I can't believe how expensive our fridge is to buy separately, it's a Waeco MDC 50 and they sell for £550.00 There's no way we would have bought that if it were not part of the conversion. Great fridge though.

Don't some (all?) coolboxes run all the time rather than on a thermostat, so you're zapping the leisure battery all the time and they're not even that efficient.

For touring continental Europe, solar + fridge = cool beer when you pitch up for the night

[g8dhe]

Coolboxes are really not suitable
They draw a continuous 4 Amps, no matter the temperature or time of day.
Under really good sun a 100W solar panel will generate around 5Amps, so enough to run a coolbox during sunlight, and 1 Amp to charge the battery.
However once the sun has gone then you have around 12 hours of no sun which means you need an extra 4Amps * 12hours = 48AmpHours, when you only had 1Amp * 12Hours spare = 12AmpHours, now if you have a battery rated at 100AmpHours and you only want to discharge it to about 50% then you have 50/48=1Days of running a coolbox under IDEAL conditions, now normally you will want lighting, radio, charge phones, tablets etc........ so overnight your battery will be flat.

[janie]

Thanks for the info....very useful. I've been looking at fridges (although been told I'm not allowed to buy one under any circumstances). Out of interest what do you think of absorption fridges...they seem much cheaper.

[g8dhe]

Absorption fridges are more efficient in that you can freeze, but they have the same problem as coolboxes they draw a constant 4Amps or so. The thing is compressor fridges store the compressed fluid until needed, neither coolboxes or absorption fridges have this feature so once they loose power they warm up.

[Jillygumbo]

I've got a Waeco compressor fridge and it runs well but I'm sure someone will come along regarding a coolbox. I do understand they do drain the leisure battery quicker than a fridge though.

I have the MPPT controller with my solar kit, meaning that I don't need sunlight, I don't need to tuck my rear end towards the south - just daylight is enough to charge the LB.

Apart from replacing Waeco with a Vitrifrigo compressor fridge I agree with everything Jilly says.

With hindsight I don't think I'd bother with the remote display for the controller, it's quite a cool bit of kit but I find myself looking at it all the time, I should probably just let it do its thing but I can't, I'm constantly checking levels and charging rate. Maybe the novelty will wear off eventually though.

But it would show if there was a problem, wouldn't it, and if you didn't have the remote controller, then you wouldn't know about it until everything had died!

[roosmith]

I have the kit from Dodgey with remote display. Couldn't be without the display, don't know how I would pass the time without it

I have the CDF-35 and while expensive, it is the mutts nuts, you have to be careful not to freeze everything by turning it down too low.

[mikeonb4c]

Some peltier type coolboxes are much more efficient than others from my experience of replacing a basic one with a Waeco Tropicool. The former simply let its fan run all the time, and had i suspect poor insulation. The latter spends a lot of time with the thermostatically controlled variable speed fan not wasting electricity by running. If i freeze my meals, chill my drinks and include freezer packs when i set off, the fan hardly needs to work at all for some time. So although not as efficient as a compressor fridge, its not a bad trade off between price and performance (i got one for £80 second hand off eBay and they can be got cheaper). One thing that doesn't get discussed enough is the greater efficiency of a top loading coolbox over a front loading fridge, as the latter dumps its cold air and lets in warm air every time the door is opened. It would be interesting to see for how long a Tropicool could be kept going on solar power