Wizard
SupporterWith gas being banned from our touring rig and given its in the shop getting the new rear fitout it seemed the right time to switch
Have committed to the following.
All Enerdrive gear
200amp/hr B-Tech Battery
40amp DC-DC
2000w inverter with RCD and remote on/off
Battery monitor
Low capacity (%) cutout
Re: battery, I initially didn’t want to fit inside the cab due to limited real estate therefore settled on buying 2 AMPS 100amp/hr from a Traxide as they seemed good value for money. Good thing I double check the measurement as I discovered they were too long. The guy doing the fit out is now utilizing some dead space for the 200.
Re: DC-DC 40+, pretty straight forward. Recommend max charge current is 60amps. I’ll leave the DC-DC set at 40 and the roof solar to the battery via the existing Victron 75/15. I’ll have an Anderson plug coming off the DC-DC solar input for when I need to connect a solar blanket.
Re: 2000w inverter. It the max. Size recommended. I’m going with the model with built in RCD. Will have a remote on/off switch and a power point (ext. Lead)in the kitchen.
Re: battery monitor, although not required as I can view the battery from my phone, having a display in the kitchen will be handy. I always in trouble for being on my phone to much.
Re: low capacity cut out, I’m calling it low capacity so not to get confused with the internal low voltage cut out on the battery. If for some reason you get to zero % the BMS is likely to go to sleep and charge from alternator or solar will not wake it up. As I won’t be carry a battery charger the cutout will be set at 15%. I’ve read that running a set of jumper leads from start battery to AUX will wake up the BMS, if that the case why doesn’t the alternator do it.??
Currently have 300w if solar on the roof and a 120 blanket.
I may move away from semi flexible panels as even though this set is performing better than the cheap as chips first set I’m at off the rated output. Will wait for the car to be return and I’ll take measurements and see what options are out there to maximize the allocated roof space.
Load on the system.
- 60L evaKOOL fridge
- 1800w induction cook top
- a couple of LED lights
- a couple of USB outlets
- water pump.
- 12v oven, nearly always used when driving. Maybe the last hour max. on just battery.
The basic redarc battery isolator and 110amp/hr AGM are being retired.
Even when we toured using gas we weren’t big users. On a typical day we only boil water to wash dishes once a day, boil one cup of water in the morning, cook an evening meal.
When available we take advantage of cooking/heating over a fire, camp kitchen or public BBQ.
Oh and if we’re low on power, there is a perfectly good alternator keen to help out with a top up.
Pretty comfortable it’ll all just work.
How’s that grab ya??
Wizard
SupporterCollected the defer last night
Get the battery to 100% so I can calibrate the remote monitor display
have the inverter to wire in today....there had been a rush on Enerdrive gear and they had zero stock in AUS. Found a seller with a stash in WA
Camping this weekend to test the setup.....
Wizard
Supporter40 from the DC-DC and 2.1 from solar.
Wizard
Good move, you won't be sorry. Running the microwave off our Lithium setup as I type this. No more gas kettle either. Proper toaster too.
Enjoy them,.
+ 2016 D4 TDV6
Wizard
SupporterNo microwave or toaster.Originally Posted by Milton477
Just one induction cooktop
Wizard
Supporternew set up has had a few runs...a few observations
2 two night weekends and just finishing a seven night road trip.
Cabling, when running a 2000w inverter pulling 160amps while boiling water it needs to the right size. Installer needed to do some rework, I followed the instructions so mine was good
DC-DC, more than happy with performance, 40amps and whatever from the roof mounted solar. On driving days we were always back to 100% before lunch, even when running a 12v Oven. The 40 does taper off as it gets closer to 100%, seems to differ from day to day. Enerdrive suggested a change in one setting to have it charging at 40 for as long as possible.
Battery, haven’t been below 62% yet and seems to be enough capacity. We were parked up for three days relying only on solar and were at 92% the night before we left. Low voltage (capacity) cuts in at 18%. Ya don’t get to use 100% of a lithium battery
One thing we miss about our gas cooker (disposable cylinder type) is not being able to set up on a park table for a cook up as we’re confined to cooking at the car.
Changed solar to 2 x 120w semi flex....big improvement on the previous two I had. Will switch to one big house type solar panel before we leave.
Really happy with the switch....
Super Moderator
SupporterDon't quite understand the reference to getting rid of gas. Is this an Australian thing for the fire risk? Am in NZ so some context would assist understanding no doubt. Sorry if I missed this somewhere.
An interesting thread, cheers for the initial info and the feedback/followup.
Wizard
SupporterThe dream is to take the defer abroad.....and wanted to remove chasing a second fuel source.
We only have a 110 and room is already at a premium
Last 2-3 years we’ve been using the disposable gas cylinders. Whilst not a tree hugger I do try and limit waste where I can plus they don’t work super good in altitude or cold weather and the wind.
We’re now planning a two lap of AUS and decide if we will ship O/S.
Didn’t want to revert to standard gas cylinders as you generally need two, one in use and one waiting to be filled. Well this is what we did with outlet camper trailer.
So far lithium is working well for us and seems we’ve made the right call......I doubt we’ll get anywhere near our money back in saving from not buying gas......
To answer your question, not an Aussie thing, not a fire thing, just want to reduce waste and not have to worry about buying gas.
Wizard
SupporterIt seems Rule of thumb seems to be you need 2 x usable battery capacity in solar watts.....well that’s what I read on the internet.
Sooo, I have 164 usable amp hours (I still need to understand the built in battery protection) therefore should be aiming for 330w of solar if you use the rule of thumb
The best I got out of the semi flex panels on our recent nine day trip was 181w 75-76%
It been heavily overcast of late and I spotted on a sunny day a few days ago that the solar output peaked at 201w 83% which i thought was pretty good from my reasonably good quality semi flex panels.
Considering something like this for our trip of these semi flex panel don’t perform, but at 19kg....
https://www.springers.com.au/web/con...&download=true
Wizard
SupporterHave the system a good workout over the weekend.
Battery dropped to 68% which is the lowest to date.
I wasn’t convinced the new semi flex solar panels were going to get the tick of approval......
Happy ish with 228w from 240w of panels.
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