gstuart · Feb 3, 2020

rob1miles said:
I have a spilit charge smart relay, 50W panel (folding not fixed) a PWM controller and 130ah leisure batt (CT100 - so its nearer 65AH usable). On a sunny day its works well but most of the time 50w is not enough so I'm waiting on a 200W flexible off e-bay coming from China, was due today but clearly they have difficulties of their own at the moment so I don't mind waiting. The prices on the panels are coming down so much its cheaper to just add panels if you have the space. The 200w flexible is only 19% efficient but its also only £60 inc delivery so if it works I'll just get another and parrallel them. I want to get to 8-10A on a bright overcast day (ie 90% of English summer). I'm pretty sure the split charge relay senses both batts and tops up the starter batt too. I don't actually want this but its pain to add an isolator relay, I've got one but its more complexity and more connections. My target is to run the Webasto 6 hours on a cold night and get a full recharge the next day. At the moment the Webasto drops to min volts / cut out at around 8 hours which limits us to one night away if its cold. The true Webasto (Thermotop) draw is about double the Webasto spec because it cuts in and out so the ignitor runs a lot and you need a fan to circulate the warm air.

great info, many thks for sharing

Did fit a T max split charge system in mine but disconnected it lately , yet another solenoid faulty , it joined both batteries together and the smaller aux battery drained the main crank battery , removed the aux leads so cant do it now,

will remove the T max controller etc later on when the weather gets warmer , no point me having it fitted anymore and will then at least keep things a lot simpler

can’t fit a VSR on mine because of the smart charge alternator

going to fit either 2 x 50 watts or 2 x 80s on the roof rails , hoping to get around 8 x amps combined

main battery is new yuasa, 900 Cca , 90 Ah so will only be recharging that via PWM controller

panels will be the ridged framed type and found all the fixings etc , also found some clamp type ones, enclosed some pics if it may be of interest

these are the ones that have been recommend by the guys here

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Renogy-3...e-Solar-Panel-12V-Mono-PV-Power-/123910401901

happy to share any links etc that may also be helpful to ur goodself , also found a box that will go through my roof, have an unused aerial blank

any piccies yet please, we all like piccies

this thread has really gained some invaluable information

gstuart · Feb 3, 2020

@rob1miles

Saw this a little while ago, wished to share the link in case it may be useful

plus will be nice having a thread with everything all in one place

gstuart · Feb 3, 2020

Nodge68 said:
There are 100 Watt Renogy mono-crystalline panels on Amazon at the moment for £79.99, which is a good price for good panels .

found them , many thks

Nodge68 · Feb 5, 2020

rob1miles said:
I'm waiting on a 200W flexible off e-bay coming from China,

I wouldn't bother with them myself, as life is really short.

rob1miles said:
The 200w flexible is only 19% efficient but its also only £60 inc delivery so if it works I'll just get another and parrallel them.

Flexible panels are less then 9% efficient, so are not worth using really.

gstuart said:
found them , many thks

Them are good panels Gary.

Nodge68 · Feb 5, 2020

gstuart said:
going to fit either 2 x 50 watts or 2 x 80s on the roof rails , hoping to get around 8 x amps combined

You can never have too much solar Gary. The more the better.

gstuart said:
main battery is new yuasa, 900 Cca , 90 Ah so will only be recharging that via PWM controller

Excellent choice.

gstuart · Feb 5, 2020

Nodge68 said:
You can never have too much solar Gary. The more the better.

Excellent choice.

bless u and most appreciated

also out of curiosity I looked at the amperage my ctek charger puts out

Technical information
Input
220–240 VAC, 50–60 Hz, 0.6 A
Output
14.4/14.7/15.8 V, 5.0 A

controller , plus can get a Bluetooth module for this

https://uk.renogy.com/renogy-wanderer-li-30a-pwm-charge-controller/

Thks @Nodge68 , they do seem to get good reviews , Emailed renogy and they also said they have some sales , so never know some 100watt panels may come up

at least then it gives more options having bigger panels

many thks as always

Nodge68 · Feb 5, 2020

gstuart said:
bless u and most appreciated

also out of curiosity I looked at the amperage my ctek charger puts out

Technical information
Input
220–240 VAC, 50–60 Hz, 0.6 A
Output
14.4/14.7/15.8 V, 5.0 A

controller , plus can get a Bluetooth module for this

https://uk.renogy.com/renogy-wanderer-li-30a-pwm-charge-controller/

Thks @Nodge68 , they do seem to get good reviews , Emailed renogy and they also said they have some sales , so never know some 100watt panels may come up

at least then it gives more options having bigger panels

many thks as always

I'd always fit the largest panels you can physically get on the roof, especially as the mounting position will we flat. This way you can capture as much of the Sun's energy as possible.

gstuart · Feb 5, 2020

Nodge68 said:
I'd always fit the largest panels you can physically get on the roof, especially as the mounting position will we flat. This way you can capture as much of the Sun's energy as possible.

perfect , many thks

as a side note , quickly picking ur brains if I may plse , going to make up a new charge cable for my ctek

Would this be ok plse, will get the 25amp one

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Core-T...ire-Wiring-Loom/261929589024?var=560754880615

tech details of the charger

Technical information
Input
220–240 VAC, 50–60 Hz, 0.6 A
Output
14.4/14.7/15.8 V, 5.0 A

wish to make up a 5 metre lead for the CTEK

bless as always and indeed will measure the roof first as that will be my governing factor to what size panels

Nodge68 · Feb 5, 2020

gstuart said:
Would this be ok plse, will get the 25amp one

That's overkill for 5 Amps. The 1.5mm would be more than enough, for 5 Amps and 5 meters distance. The 2.5mm cable will loose 355 millivolts, or 1/3 of a volt, so virtual nothing. 1.5mm cable will loose 560 millivolts, or just over 1/2 a volt, so more, but still not very much really.

If you were using a solar panel, then the larger the cable the better, as you don't want to be wasting any valuable solar energy. However on a mains powered charger, a slight loss in the cable is irrelevant. 2.5mm cable will give more mechanically strength though, so it's not completely pointless using the larger cable.

rob1miles · Feb 5, 2020

I used to keep a car on the drive with a ctek tye charger on it as it had a110AH battery that cost a fortune and the alarm used to drain it. I used some old hi-fi speaker cable, really thick and flexible, ran about 5m and it worked fine. Put a 2 pin DC type plug on the lead and on the vehicle so I could just un-plug it and go. Charger lived in a waterproof box on the wall.

Nodge68 · Feb 5, 2020

rob1miles said:
I used some old hi-fi speaker cable, really thick and flexible, ran about 5m and it worked fine.

I have a 10 meter extension on my 10 amp battery charger. The extension is made up of my dads posh speaker cable, which I didn't need, but repurposed it an a new role.

gstuart · Feb 10, 2020

Hi

may i pick ur brains plse, as I’m planning to remove my split charge in view of fitting solar panels, therefore one of the volt meter gauge on my dashboard panel will be redundant, because that was wired to my aux battery which is coming out , thought when I fit the solar controller am I able to take a pos and neg where the solar panels are wired into the controller and get a reading from the redundant volt meter please

many thks

kermit_rr · Feb 10, 2020

Hiya yes you can connect a volt meter to your panels. Amp output isn't directly related to voltage, you could end on a cloudy day with say 16-18v which is enough to charge a battery, but next to no amps.
I thought about putting a cheap dual meter inline, but it's just more connections and more cable

gstuart · Feb 10, 2020

Also going to fit my tyre compressor in the aux batteries place , will be more useful , will wire it to my main battery with a fuse box and isolating switch , compressor pulls 30 x amps and will of course only use it with the engine running

will also have to make up a long air hose to reach round the entire landy

gstuart · Feb 10, 2020

kermit_rr said:
Hiya yes you can connect a volt meter to your panels. Amp output isn't directly related to voltage, you could end on a cloudy day with say 16-18v which is enough to charge a battery, but next to no amps.
I thought about putting a cheap dual meter inline, but it's just more connections and more cable

bless u , could easily change the gauge to a dual volt / amp gauge ,

something like the picture , i think I saw something like a plate that has to be wired in, will try and find it

thks as always

gstuart · Feb 10, 2020

Also just thought , my aux gauge is wired via a relay with an ign trigger wire so it only came on when the ign was tuned on, assume I’ll have to do the same with the solar gauge meter so it’s not permanently on

kermit_rr · Feb 10, 2020

gstuart said:
Also just thought , my aux gauge is wired via a relay with an ign trigger wire so it only came on when the ign was tuned on, assume I’ll have to do the same with the solar gauge meter so it’s not permanently on

If you connected one of those meters then you could use the existing relay to make/break a bypass round the ammeter side which would effectively cut it out of the loop

gstuart · Feb 10, 2020

kermit_rr said:
If you connected one of those meters then you could use the existing relay to make/break a bypass round the ammeter side which would effectively cut it out of the loop

Many thks , just noticed on the back of the gauge in that picture it has 3 x terminals on it which I’m scratching my head about

just trying to find some wiring diagrams of how they should be wired up

unless the 3 x terminals are , 1) neg / 2) live to the battery for volts , 3) other pos for amps from the solar controller ???

also have the aux fuse box that useto come of the aux battery , has the relay in it so this fuse box only becomes live with an ign source , will need to swap it over to my main battery but will leave the rest as it is , reminds me I must get a better terminal for the wires on the left

also handy having this aux fuse box as I’ll wire my dashcam to it

kermit_rr · Feb 10, 2020

The cheap 5 wire dual meters off eBay have 5 wires. 2 to power the meter, one to connect to +ve to get a voltage rating and 2 thicker wires for the amps

gstuart · Feb 10, 2020

kermit_rr said:
The cheap 5 wire dual meters off eBay have 5 wires. 2 to power the meter, one to connect to +ve to get a voltage rating and 2 thicker wires for the amps

ah yes , I know the ones u mean, is that the square ones with a shunt

looked at this one , plus this is there wiring diagram, know it says 10 amp but the other one I’ve looked at is 20 amps

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UK-12V-2...031439&hash=item2cfedb7be5:g:6QkAAOSwQehc48Vt

so wondering if that’s correct could run the pos and neg to the solar panel connections at the controller

Many thks as always

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