Solar, ARB Fridge, Sears Platinum PM-1 - Group Size 31M QUESTIONS

[Corey]

So I'm new to this whole idea, but my question is if you go with one of the rigid panels either permanently mounted or set out when you need it what do you need to get the juice from the panel to the battery?

Heidi, here is my installation, and part numbers for the cables to keep your battery juiced up, and the controller.
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=28712

I bought everything except the Brunton charge controller from Martyn at Adventure Trailers.

[SoCal_80]

How much was the 27 watt panel going to cost you and how cheap you trying to go?

Looks like you're less that 1hr from this place and could avoid shipping costs if you wanted:
75 watt panel for $162

80 watt panel for $175

Hey Thanks. Yep they are nearby and it looks like a gret deal. DOes anyone know anything about their panels?

[pods8]

Hey Thanks. Yep they are nearby and it looks like a gret deal. DOes anyone know anything about their panels?

Most of them are common brands (same as other retailers), you'd just need to read up on which are of interest. A couple folks at WTW bought through them and were satisfied.

[lostworldexpedition]

After some very frustrating experiences with a couple of set ups I can tell you a few things (including a bad battery at the moment)... these are comments that apply for our very extended travel and therefore may be helpful?

Go for the highest capacity panel you can afford and/or fit on your set up. Go for high quality, preferably tried and tested.

Get a good "intelligent" battery charger (preferably marine if permanent mount) and plug it in whenever an outlet is available. This will top of the Group 31 and condition it hopefully extending its life. It goes without saying that you should carry a long, high quality extension cord.

We try to plug in the Engel whenever we can. If we are hosteling or hoteling we take the fridge into our room (added benefit of cold beer in room).

Invest in some kind of battery monitoring system (we only have a multimeter and it can be a PITA compared to a simple in dash monitor). Continuously monitor your "house" battery and make sure it does not go below safe depleting levels... the Engel will drain it and keep working.

If higher capacity alternator is an option go for it... short trips and idling will not do much for charging the house battery.

I hope that helps somewhat

[pods8]

lostworldexpedition,

I'd add to your list:
Take a few moments to understand what charge voltages the battery manufacturer recommends for your specific battery (different brands and types differ, they are not plug and play if you want the best life out of them).

If you aren't familiar with what voltages relate to what charge level and a battery life cycle chart look them up! The farther down you drain a battery the less life (or repeat cycles) the battery has in it.*

*This applies to all batteries, deep cycle batteries are more suited to be drained down farther but the farther you go the more life it still takes off them. Starter batteries are not intended to be drained down numerous times. I shake my head when I hear people saying they have a "crappy" battery because it died in a year but you find out they are draining down their plain vehicle starting battery over and over. They aren't meant for that and have a very short life cycle when operated in that fashion.

[dzzz]

I would be concerned about running my engel fridge even overnight on a single battery.

[teotwaki]

I would be concerned about running my engel fridge even overnight on a single battery.

Why? There is lots of recorded data as well as testimonials to show it is not a problem

[Superu]

Before setting up my National Luna PPP with a DieHard Platinum Group 31, I frequently ran my Engel MT-45 overnight with no issues at all. Was running a D34 Optima Yellow Top (55ah) at the time.

[Corey]

I would be concerned about running my engel fridge even overnight on a single battery.

Why? There is lots of recorded data as well as testimonials to show it is not a problem

I ran my ARB fridge on the stock battery for close to five days without starting the rig as a test.
It fired up to go to work, but it was a little sluggish kicking over.

[dzzz]

Because it's a single starting battery. 20-25ah use overnight is probably fine with a full charged battery with like-new capacity. But it's hard to know when a battery is losing capacity.
I would have no problem running it on a house battery.
If the vehicle starts sluggishly the battery is discharged to the point where its life is reduced. Do that regularly and there won't be enough capacity to run the fridge all night.
I'm traveling in a week, and I won't be running the engel at night. I'll drag it into the motel room and plug it in. But partly because I don't want it stolen.

It would be nice to have an automatic cutoff at 12 volts.