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great ideas for yah Van

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Post by Guest Tue 17 Dec 2013, 3:21 pm

thought I'd share a few ideas with yah on ideas to make life easy or less expensive..
1) LED LIGHTS saves a heap of battery power and get the bright ones when buying--

2) External drop down table--how easy is this sucker.. make sure u place it at the right hight befor u screw or pop rivet it to the exterior of yah van--handy as.

3) Cob cooker--mate these are very good in creature comforts. Cooks a roast-whole chook what ever takes yah fancy and a few vegies to b sure. They don't heat up yah van when its a hot/warm day either or just put it on the back of yah ute..

4) Gas bottles--make sure u have 2 gas bottles to b sure--and if u r going on the beaten track tape the taps on the bottles so they don't vibrate loose--we have been on some shocking tracks / roads and yep pull up and the tap has started to leak.

5) Gas stoves with gas cartridges--they r about $14 in Kmart-Bunnings etc
I use mine to dry my gold after it comes of the gold wheel-gold cube or when I pan off..They r pretty handy to make a quick cuppa in the mornings--saves lighting a fire and waiting 20 minutes.

6) Portable Gennie--well every one to there own on the size u want but I don't use anything less than a 2kva or about 1700watts of power. mine in a Kipkor-a Yamaha throw back but good.

7) Solar panels--these r a must these days and I have a 200w on my troopy and 2 x 80watt portable panels with the van. u can never get enough solar power in my opinion.

Cool Inverters--if u have any medical devices, computers & digital TV's, I strongly suggest that u use a pure sine wave inverter. These things get cheaper every year.

9) DC / DC Chargers This recharges yah van batteries while u r on the move--u do this by a Anderson Plug and taking a hot wire to the van from the car

10) 12v Car fridge / freezer--well these days there is a range of fridges out there --personally I use an Engle but there r others out there that can now handle the pace and heat of the great out doors.

11) Entertainment Systems--anything that plays a bit of music will suffice I use my iPod --these days they can store more music that u can listen to for months on end.

12) 12v cig lighter outlets--I have about 6 double ones scattered around my van and some have USB connections to make life a bit more easier.

13) External Antennas--not into TV in the bush--I like to get away but if u have a cranky mrs who watches home and away religiously then u need to satisfy her. These dishes can be simply folding dishes or roof mounted ones --good luck

14) Stone Protection--these r simple cloth-shade cloth guards that r attached to the front of yah van which not only protects the van but will also help take the impact of rocks that want to break the rear window of your car.

I will add more--need a break.

regards
oneday

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Post by martinjsto Tue 17 Dec 2013, 5:53 pm

good tips there Oneday,  Very Happy  I have a 160w panel for the van and will be getting a new inverter soon, a small generator for backup with a 240v car charger just in case.
also a tyre repair kit is a good addition. the plug type, it has fixed a few tyres for me now and could be a life saver.

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Post by Guest Fri 20 Dec 2013, 10:18 am

Hi Martin

each van has its own requirements--ours is a mother of a beast

She has 3 yep 3 air cons on the roof, a full upright fridge freezer and a fair bit of other 240v paraphernalia plus we have installed a 12v set of lights and accessory holders to plug into throughout the van.

I think to run the Engle and all the 12v gear we will most probably need at least 3 x 200w panels on the roof and about 6 deep cycle batteries to keep up.

its fun doing prospecting and trying to out fit yah van..

regards
oneday

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Post by martinjsto Fri 20 Dec 2013, 12:53 pm

cheers ray,
you probably know this but if you get the watts of each appliance then you can add info to a battery size calculator tool such as this;
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
it helps immensely for sizing batteries and for panel and wire sizing
are you using a 12v system for the inverter as it has its issues, with 24v or 48vdc you could run more equipment as less amps will be required to power the inverter.
on our farm I use 24 * 330ahr 2vdc ex western power/telecom gel batteries, 2 banks of 12 of them suckers together running my 24v 2400wh continuous, 3800wh peak inverter runs just about all we need for a holiday home, fridge/freezer, tv. dvd. playstations, microwave, lights and washing machine and AC if required. setting up a similar but smaller system for the caravan soon. solar is the way to go with a backup genny your laughing. as long as the fridge is cold for the beers then all good in life.  Very Happy 

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Post by Guest Fri 20 Dec 2013, 1:19 pm

ive still got a bit of homework to do

regards
oneday

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Post by Guest Fri 20 Dec 2013, 4:19 pm

Hi All,

Something I read, when connecting a bank of batteries it is possible to drain one battery more than another

Don't just wire all the positives together with negatives same,same and have the two terminals that are the feed from the batteries come from the same battery

It said to attach all the positives and the end one will have the lead coming off of it, but the negatives must have the lead coming off the opposite end

This will keep the drain fairly even between all the batteries

There is a couple of other ways to do it as well

Ron

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Post by Guest Fri 20 Dec 2013, 4:42 pm

interesting ron--havent heard that one raised befor--but will wait and see how comments--

regards
oneday

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Post by Nightjar Fri 20 Dec 2013, 5:14 pm

What Ron is saying is how my batteries are set up, don't know whether it is right or wrong but has worked for years.
Mine go one step further, two 110AH batteries wired parallel.
Output is from + on #1 battery and - on #2.
Input is to + on #2 battery and - on #1.

Here are a few links;
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This one explains what Ron is saying, drawing power from opposite ends.

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Post by Guest Fri 20 Dec 2013, 5:18 pm

Hi All,

Stuff me!!, did I get something right for a change

Cheers all,

Ron

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Post by Nightjar Fri 20 Dec 2013, 5:32 pm

On a slightly different note, has anyone carried out welding repairs out on the track?
At our old camp over the years we repaired our wood trailer and a few prospecting related tools with 3 X 12V batteries, welding cables, helmet and a hand full of welding rods.
Connect the 3 batteries together in series = 36V.
Connect hand piece cable & earth.
Stitch weld, ie: runs no longer than about 25mm.
Rest batteries for about 30 seconds between each run.
A class weld can be achieved with this method.
*** Danger*** Be sure to position batteries a couple of metres away from job and in an open breeze way to prevent any explosive gases igniting.*****



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Post by Jack-Tar Fri 20 Dec 2013, 9:48 pm

If setting up a new solar system, I would definitely be using lithium batteries. They have a 10 year warranty and an expected 15 year life. They are half the weight of a lead battery, be it AGM, Gel or wet lead acid battery. You can also run them down to about 80% consistently without doing permanent damage to them. You can't do that with lead batteries. You can also run a 240 volt fridge from them (with a suitable inverter).  Claims of being able to run an air conditioner from them also, but I would expect you would need a decent set up. EVWorks is a Perth mob, give them a call.
I have been using my current 12 volt system for 7 years. The last 5 years has been full time living in my motorhome. I have 410 watts of solar and it is bordering on being not enough. The battery bank is 400 amp hrs of AGM batteries which is perfect for my setup. We run 2 TVs, lighting, water pump, 2 laptops and phone chargers etc and another 200 watts of solar would be perfect.
If you decide not to go down the lithium route can I suggest the AGM batteries are a better choice than gel batteries. Gel battery charging regimes are a bit finicky. They don't tolerate higher charging voltages very well and if they start to gas from being overcharged they will fail soon after (a year or so).
I would also choose a PWM solar controller over a MPPT.  MPPT don't like working with other power sources charging at the same time. Don't believe the hype about MPPT controllers,  they work as a PWM controller after the initial bulk charge.
I can post some links to suppliers of panels, controllers and chargers etc. Their prices are very good and the quality has been good also.

Craig


Last edited by Jack-Tar on Sat 21 Dec 2013, 7:52 am; edited 1 time in total

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Post by AnnieL Sat 21 Dec 2013, 7:07 am

Hi Jack-Tar,  the following is a post on the Kedron Owners Group of a guy who used lithium batteries.  I am no expert on this but it may be of interest to you-

"When I installed our LiFePO4 batteries I said I would give you all a report after 12 months of operation, so here we go.

The plusses:

.The 360 AH Lithium battery bank delivers more available power than the 480 AH capacity we had with the AGM batteries
.The charging regime I set up in the Plasmatronics solar controller and Sterling battery charger works fine
.No battery failures have occurred

The minus:

Lead acid batteries have the ability to "smooth out" bumps in the voltage of a DC system. By this I mean that, for example, when the piezo igniter of the hot water service operates, the short, sharp spike it causes in the DC rail of the van is soaked up by the batteries. This does NOT happen with Lithium batteries. When the piezo igniter fires with Lithium batteries, the lights blink in the van. On one occasion the voltage must have dropped enough that the TV dropped out for a few seconds. Also, the LED lights, of one particular brand that we have, blink in time with the pulsing of the solar and 240 Volt chargers. This only happens when the batteries are on the "float" stage of their charge cycle. These are not huge issues and we can live with them, but the blinking lights can be annoying.

So, the solutions? I could install a small-capacity lead-acid battery with similar charging characteristics in parallel with the lithium batteries, which is not desirable and defeats the purpose somewhat, or I can install capacitors at each light fitting. This wouldn't be difficult and should work. I'll probably do the latter (only to the lights that blink) as it is much cheaper and relatively easy to do.

Overall, I am very pleased with the result. The weight savings we have achieved mean that we are finally travelling at legal weight, for the first time since we've had the van, when fully loaded with all the stuff we need to carry. This is also true for the ball-weight of the van - which was massively excessive. The power delivery of the batteries is great and because of the nature of their charge cycle, recharging is quick. Best of all, there have been no failures. Some opponents of these aggregated Lithium batteries (that is to say, Lithium cells coupled together without charge-management links between the cells) were predicting early, and expensive, failures. A simple method of testing whether the cells within the battery are misbehaving is to disconnect the batteries completely and leave to settle for an hour. After the hour of rest, a digital voltmeter can be used to measure the voltage of each battery. If they vary from each other appreciably it will be because individual cells within those batteries are not charging to the same voltage as others. I am happy to say that all four of my batteries had identical voltages.

Only time will tell whether we get a long working life from these Lithium batteries, but I see no reason as to why I shouldn't. I still manage the depth of discharge of my batteries, just as I did in the AGM days, and so far I have not even gone close to 50% of available capacity (which is a doddle when you know that Lithium batteries can be discharged by 75% to 80% of capacity with perfect safety.) I'll write a follow-up report in another year's time."

 cheers
Annie

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Post by Guest Sat 21 Dec 2013, 5:27 pm

I think technology is over taking me--or leaving me behind--but whatever I will investigate further the Li battery set up.

as far as running the air cons well I don't think so coz I have 3 of them--hang the expense--they r also reverseable so they can heat the van during winter not that it gets all that cold up my way..

regards
oneday

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Post by Jack-Tar Sat 21 Dec 2013, 6:19 pm



Running your air conditioning from them is certainly very doable, it will all come down to the amount of solar you put on the roof and the battery bank size for keeping it going during the night.

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Post by Guest Sat 21 Dec 2013, 6:36 pm

I see that u can get 250w panels and the roof is 8' wide and steel framed.
the 2kva genie struggles with 1 air con and the fridge freezer in the kitchen dining room

solar panel have come down 80% --cheaper and bigger..

regards
oneday

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