Is this Solar setup good enough?

Some fridges do have settings which can be adjusted to turn off the fridge at a certain voltage to protect the battery. I don't know if that applies in Slunnie's case. The settings are usually adjustable, so maybe that feature could be turned off if running a lead crystal battery.
Personally, I have found an 80 watt panel mounted permanently to the roof rack to be quite adequate to keep the AGM in the back of the Defender sufficiently charged to cope with a 35 litre Evakool fridge. That includes camping on Straddie for a week at a time in summer. In winter it might be a bit marginal because of the fewer sunny hours.

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Originally Posted by VladTepes

Slunnie... did you get your solar system (above) up and running ?

How's it working out for you?

I'm looking at options myself....

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sa
Sadly I havent had a chance to try it all out yet. I ended up getting the fold up 250w panel, thinking that its ok to have too much, but its a waste to have too little. Looking at the size of the panel I'm expecting it to have more than enough mumbo so that I don't have to think about it at all - of course that thought is based purely on ignorance as well. :lol2: I do like the fold up idea though for carting it.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Some fridges do have settings which can be adjusted to turn off the fridge at a certain voltage to protect the battery. I don't know if that applies in Slunnie's case. The settings are usually adjustable, so maybe that feature could be turned off if running a lead crystal battery.
Personally, I have found an 80 watt panel mounted permanently to the roof rack to be quite adequate to keep the AGM in the back of the Defender sufficiently charged to cope with a 35 litre Evakool fridge. That includes camping on Straddie for a week at a time in summer. In winter it might be a bit marginal because of the fewer sunny hours.

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I've got the Evakool ED50 fridge/freezer, it does have the low voltage cut out, but that seems to trigger sometimes a bit too low to start the car at times. That may also have had to do with failed batteries at the time.

I use 2x fold out panels 120w and a 160w to power 2x 110ah deep cell batteries.
These run 2x fridges a 80l Engel at -2 and a 40l Primus at -15 plus recharging various items along with running an inverter for the laptop and LED lighting.
I was away for nearly 3 weeks last trip and I never ran out of juice.
All I had to do was to spin the panels around in the arvo and in the morning to face the sun [thumbsupbig]

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Originally Posted by trout1105

I use 2x fold out panels 120w and a 160w to power 2x 110ah deep cell batteries.
These run 2x fridges a 80l Engel at -2 and a 40l Primus at -15 plus recharging various items along with running an inverter for the laptop and LED lighting.
I was away for nearly 3 weeks last trip and I never ran out of juice.
All I had to do was to spin the panels around in the arvo and in the morning to face the sun [thumbsupbig]

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So simple, and it works! Some people over complicate it, its just for camping!
If it was running your house, then thats different!
I have similar set up to yours, works a treat.

I have two 120 Watt panels on the roof of the caravan, two odd batteries mounted on the chassis 1 a deep cycle, 1 a 'Marine' battery and a 2800 watt inverter.

Today I tried the airconditioner through the inverter alone and it worked, battery voltage only dropped to 11.6.

I have two 100 AH lead crystal batteries coming from 'Traxide' to ensure longevity of the system.

In my earlier post I mentioned that they (lead crystal) will recharge from zero volts without damage, not that anything but lights will work at reduced voltage but that they are bullet proof and can be discharged and left that way without damage.

I'm rapped that I can run the air con just on batteries out in the sticks if the need arises. Might leave the genny at home.

Cheers

Mike

I run 2 N70 size start batteries in my 130 and have a 100w panel permanently fixed to the roof. Whichever battery is selected will receive charge from the panel.

Recently camped for just under 5 days in the one spot with the fridge drawing power from the one battery and the regulator indicating 14 + volts input during daytime. Vehicle started easily when it was time to leave. I do carry another folding panel of 80w, but have found no need to use it since fitting the panel on the roof.

And, my fridge cycles between about 0 and 4 degrees.