Ron and his solar panel

Submitted: Thursday, Feb 15, 2007 at 22:54
ThreadID: 42364 Views:2557 Replies:5 FollowUps:1
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Back in January some time Ron posted that he was going to run his 12 V 40 L frig from a 55watt solar panel.
I think I have that right.

Can't find anything about it did I miss it or am I too early.
Love to know how well it all turned out.

Cheers Jeff M (SA)
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Reply By: Rosco - Qld - Friday, Feb 16, 2007 at 09:20

Friday, Feb 16, 2007 at 09:20
Jeff

I don't know about Ron's experience but I can give you a similar story. I have a 60l and an 80W veh mounted panel connected direct to the aux batt. Recently spent 2 weeks at Straddie and on a number of occasions did not drive significantly for a few days so relied on panel to top up battery. Worked well running the fridge during the day but there was not enough juice left over to completely put back charge drawn over night. In other words we were slowly flattening the batt. I did work, but wouldn't work indefinitely as a stand alone panel/batt/fridge circuit, if you wanted to run the fridge 24/7.

Is that the sort of info you were after ??

Cheers
AnswerID: 222048

Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Friday, Feb 16, 2007 at 09:55

Friday, Feb 16, 2007 at 09:55
jeff,

A 40 L fridge from a 55 watt panel should be do-able unless there wasn't enough sunlight available.

In my experience, I have run my 40 litre Engel for 3 full days using a 40 watt panel during daylight hours and the Thumper portable battery still showed "charged". I didn't have a voltmeter to read the exact voltage but it was not taking much extra current out that wasn't being put back by the Solar panel. I was also using a couple of fluro lights (about 1 Ah draw) for a few hours during the evening.

In my situation the fridge was running as a fridge rather than a freezer so the current draw would have been a little less than if run as a freezer.

I have an option of attaching a second panel to double the input to 80 watts but so far, I just haven't needed to expand the setup.
The panel I use is a BP Solar 40 watt.

Bill


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AnswerID: 222056

Reply By: meandet - Friday, Feb 16, 2007 at 16:24

Friday, Feb 16, 2007 at 16:24
Hi Jeff

It depends on whether you want to run a 40 litre Engel or Waeco. I have 2 x 40 watt solar panels and they easily run our 40 litre Engel and we are stationary at Cape Leveque for a month each year and have cold beer and champers each day. I met a guy two years ago who was there for a week who had one 40 watt panel and had no problems, again with a 40 litre Engel. Last year we met someone who had finally had enough of his 40 litre Waeco breaking down (twice in 4 months) that he bought a 40 litre Engel in Broome and was delighted how much longer his second battery lasted with the Engel. I know there is a lot of debate through this forum Engel v Waeco but experience in talking to people doing the big trip has me firmly believing that Engels do the rough stuff better and draw less from the battery than Waeco. I wouldn't part with mine for quids.

A 55 watt panel would run my fridge the way we use it, that is as a fridge not a freezer.

Cheers
Peter
AnswerID: 222122

Reply By: Member - Jeff H (QLD) - Friday, Feb 16, 2007 at 22:29

Friday, Feb 16, 2007 at 22:29
G'day Meindebt,
Pleased to see that you're happy with your Solar setup and fridge temp. We did have trouble with our 50l Waeco, (5yo, and I think that age[like size] , does matter.
Ultimately we bought the 'newish' Waeco brand, simply because it could sit on 2" closed cell foam cushion(with pillows and other bedding adding further insulation), behind my driver's seat, and The Lady had access to it as we drove. Even if an Engel was more efficient (open question), the Engel cabinet design was less user friendly for our setup.
Apart from that, what draws you back to C. Leveque? You must have family there, eh?
Cheers Pete. Jeff.
AnswerID: 222204

Reply By: Ron173 - Monday, Feb 19, 2007 at 13:29

Monday, Feb 19, 2007 at 13:29
Jeff,

Not been on for a while, I did do a post on it in my back yard, where it ran fine, and during the day it was actually upping the voltage whilst the fridge was running, hence it was actually supplying more than the fridge useage.

I have spent a week (5 days) in one place with it so far, and had one cloudy day in middle too, and it coped ok.

I forget the actual voltages so dont quote me but it was getting up to around 13v by sunset, in morning was back to about 12.2v, getting back up to around 13.5v in hottest sun at around 2-3pm.

On the cloudy day I certainly noticed the difference, and the battery had to cough up big time, but was ok as it was sunny next day.

I would see it as a big problem if I had 2 cloudy days which would make running vehicle essential.

Not often we get 2 days in a row cloudy though, so all up it worked well and I'm pleased with it.

I'm using a projecta 10amp regulator which cost bout $85.

Battery is only 85ah, thats my next upgrade!

Hope this helps, happy to answer any more ??

Rgds

Ron
AnswerID: 222663

Follow Up By: Ron173 - Monday, Feb 19, 2007 at 14:25

Monday, Feb 19, 2007 at 14:25
Jeff,

found my earlier report with figures in it, its called 55w Kyocera report, post number 41659, the figures there are good as i wrote them all down as it was happening.

Rgds

Ron
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