Generators, Batteries and Inverters

[Dales Cannon]

Subscribed.

Mrs George wants our newly acquired fridge installed in the Colorado, I know the basics, working on the details.

We have a 52L fridge pretty much permanently in the Prado. It is fed by a 110AH AGM battery in the back. This is charged by a 25A dcdc charger and 160W solar panel. Whole setup is made to be removable as needed. The AGM battery and dcdc charger are in a battery box I made from sheet steel and the solar and alternator infeeds are via Anderson plugs. Alternator feed is also isolated with a manual circuit breaker.

When we camp the 4wd will sit for several days at a time. Never had an issue even with rainy or overcast weather but it has dropped to about 60%. If you are just using it for camping then a solar panel will suffice as long as it is big enough. Cable size is very important especially if it is going in the back of the ute. Solar is fine with 4mm2 as the cable run is quite short and it will only be supplying 10-15A maximum. I ran 4B&S to and from the isolator into the back. Fridge cable is then the proprietary cable from the manufacturer. Should have pics somewhere if you want me to send you some.

EDIT: the only time we have had an issue was last camp, the trigger feed to the dcdc charger kept blowing the fuse. Took a while but tracked it down to a switch I installed for the reversing camera on the camper. That failed internally and as I piggy backed the 10A charging system for the power feed it was taking out that circuit. Everything was independently fused so it was something before the camera trigger (duh the switch). I did a temporary feed to trigger the dcdc and that worked for the camp, found the switch after pulling the dash and centre console to pieces...

 

[clockworked]

i run 3 x 135 amp agms in parallel connected to a 3000 watt inverter with 2 x Andy outlets, 2 x cig outlets and 2 x usb 3.0 outlets all drawing from i think about 300 watt solar panels..... it handles my 60 ltr fridge on 2 deg constant, charging multiple devices and phones for kids n missus, runs a mini projector for movies and all night orange n white lights for kitchen in camper.... have had a few times of low uv but the batts seem to hold up.... things like hair dryers, toasters, kettles, coffee machines draw bulk power ,....thats where batts start to get overwhelmed, hence me using the coleman gas dripolator for getting a decent morning coffee...
next year ill change over to li ion batts

Can you come and tell me what i have to do in my trailer? I'll show you when you're down

 

[Cardy George]

We have a 52L fridge pretty much permanently in the Prado. It is fed by a 110AH AGM battery in the back. This is charged by a 25A dcdc charger and 160W solar panel. Whole setup is made to be removable as needed. The AGM battery and dcdc charger are in a battery box I made from sheet steel and the solar and alternator infeeds are via Anderson plugs. Alternator feed is also isolated with a manual circuit breaker.

When we camp the 4wd will sit for several days at a time. Never had an issue even with rainy or overcast weather but it has dropped to about 60%. If you are just using it for camping then a solar panel will suffice as long as it is big enough. Cable size is very important especially if it is going in the back of the ute. Solar is fine with 4mm2 as the cable run is quite short and it will only be supplying 10-15A maximum. I ran 4B&S to and from the isolator into the back. Fridge cable is then the proprietary cable from the manufacturer. Should have pics somewhere if you want me to send you some.

Pics would be fantastic. We're not going off-grid any time soon, but if I'm gonna do it.........

There's no easily found room under the bonnet, so a removable modular system in the boot is what I'm thinking, 110 AH AGM, charger etc. What you described sounds about right. Plus, when we 'camp' it's almost always on a powered site, the fridge will come out and be plugged in to 240v. Solar and probably more batteries will come later.

About the only thing I'm not sure on is the specifics of the wiring.

 

[Minlak]

Pics would be fantastic. We're not going off-grid any time soon, but if I'm gonna do it.........

There's no easily found room under the bonnet, so a removable modular system in the boot is what I'm thinking, 110 AH AGM, charger etc. What you described sounds about right. Plus, when we 'camp' it's almost always on a powered site, the fridge will come out and be plugged in to 240v. Solar and probably more batteries will come later.

About the only thing I'm not sure on is the specifics of the wiring.

I run a redarc isolator under the bonnet between the Anderson plug leads - when there is no current it stops all power going to the back of the vehicle from the starting battery - this way I don’t ever have to remember to turn off or disconnect anything. Anderson plugs then connect to whatever camper trailer or battery box or even fridge etc. I would run a battery box with battery of size needed to run an fridge a few days with out charging if it is on a car I drive all the time. Otherwise as Dale says mount solar panel as well

 

[hifiandmtb]

 

[creaky]

That would be the least of your worries these days, yesterday at double island.


View attachment 374165

That’s a lovely lagoon there at the moment from the look of it. How the hell did a thousand vehicles get onto that sliver of sand bank in what must have been half an hour of tide drop (god I hope the tide was dropping in that photo).

 

[DMan]

I've been running a generator at the 24hr events but it's annoying to me, let alone the other people there. Especially when it cycles up and down with the coffee machine. Like having a dirt bike there and sitting revving it up and down. So I'm with @binner and @Lazmo there. Although it doesn't stop the other fellow pit crewers dropping in for a coffee or asking for things to be quickly heated throughout the night. . Hence the change to a full inverter setup. I'm planning 2X 110aH batteries after reading here. Keep them the same size. Only one box with plugs but charging and hooking up the solar and 1500w inverter like @Dales Cannon suggested. At this stage I'll keep the 160w panel and see how it copes. Otherwise I'll get a larger one. The generator will stay as a back up system though

 

[Flow-Rider]

That’s a lovely lagoon there at the moment from the look of it. How the hell did a thousand vehicles get onto that sliver of sand bank in what must have been half an hour of tide drop (god I hope the tide was dropping in that photo).

Yeah, you need the loud geny to keep them all away . You can get a good 4 hrs out there if you plan it, the sand islands also shift constantly.

I've been running a generator at the 24hr events but it's annoying to me, let alone the other people there. Especially when it cycles up and down with the coffee machine. Like having a dirt bike there and sitting revving it up and down. So I'm with @binner and @Lazmo there. Although it doesn't stop the other fellow pit crewers dropping in for a coffee or asking for things to be quickly heated throughout the night. . Hence the change to a full inverter setup. I'm planning 2X 110aH batteries after reading here. Keep them the same size. Only one box with plugs but charging and hooking up the solar and 1500w inverter like @Dales Cannon suggested. At this stage I'll keep the 160w panel and see how it copes. Otherwise I'll get a larger one. The generator will stay as a back up system though

Which geny unit have you got ?

 

[DMan]

Yeah, you need the loud geny to keep them all away . You can get a good 4 hrs out there if you plan it, the sands islands also shift constantly.

Which geny unit have you got ?

It's a kings generator. I understand there are much nicer and quieter generators such as the Hondas, but for the price it does the job well. Just noisily...

 

[Flow-Rider]

It's a kings generator. I understand there are much nicer and quieter generators such as the Hondas, but for the price it does the job well. Just noisily...

Some of the older Kings were quite loud, they didn't meet regulation for use in Qld parks but even if you skimp on the solar it can end in tears.

 

[Dales Cannon]

When we go west or north I pack the 2kVA generator (Yamaha same same) but prefer not to use it, generators give me the shits. The national parks we camp at have a strict no generator policy anyway. Overall we have 420W of solar feeding 330AH of battery. I also carry another 100AH AGM which I fully charge at home and can divert one or other panel to top it up in the event of lots of overcast wet days. I can hook it up as dcdc infeed or use it standalone for the inverter. The Prado has a rough 100W inverter, camper has a pure sine wave 200W inverter and I bought a standalone 600W inverter. Just watch cable sizes to the inverter, 600W at 12V is 50A...

 

[Minlak]

I've been running a generator at the 24hr events but it's annoying to me, let alone the other people there. Especially when it cycles up and down with the coffee machine. Like having a dirt bike there and sitting revving it up and down. So I'm with @binner and @Lazmo there. Although it doesn't stop the other fellow pit crewers dropping in for a coffee or asking for things to be quickly heated throughout the night. . Hence the change to a full inverter setup. I'm planning 2X 110aH batteries after reading here. Keep them the same size. Only one box with plugs but charging and hooking up the solar and 1500w inverter like @Dales Cannon suggested. At this stage I'll keep the 160w panel and see how it copes. Otherwise I'll get a larger one. The generator will stay as a back up system though

If you plan on running a microwave I would strongly suggest you want a 2000w Inverter - Microwaves have a hella start up draw.

 

[DMan]

If you plan on running a microwave I would strongly suggest you want a 2000w Inverter - Microwaves have a hella start up draw.

It's only 700w though. So peak should still be below 1500w. The Kickass ones I was looking at spec a 700w microwave with a 1500w inverter anyway.

 

[Lazmo]

Our unpowered setup is a 160watt folding panel into a 110aH AGM in a battery box, supplying a Waeco 40L fridge (just the two of us camping now) with 12v LED lights and 5v phone charging. I also have a 500watt pure sine wave inverter if we need to charge the laptops. I precool everything before we leave, and if we stay at any powered sites along the way, I use a CTEK charger to top the AGM up, but with reasonable sunlight it keeps up.

We haven’t needed it yet, but I’m contemplating wiring the car for a DCDC charger, as that would be ideal, but at the moment I run the fridge off the car when we are driving and only plug it into the battery if we are stopping for lunch or shopping.

I’ve had the panel a while now and it came with a PWM charge controller, which is pretty inefficient, so I’ve left it on the panel as a backup, and have mounted a more efficient MPPT charge controller on an aluminium chassis with Anderson plugs, which can sit next to the AGM battery. I have only tested it at home (we are still powered camping down the beach, at the moment) but… swapping between the PWM and the MPPT, the MPPT definitely delivers more grunt to the battery. When I bought my panel an MPPT charge controller almost doubled the price, so I went with the PWM, but MPPT’s are getting much cheaper… and definitely worth a look.

 

[Minlak]

Our unpowered setup is a 160watt folding panel into a 110aH AGM in a battery box, supplying a Waeco 40L fridge (just the two of us camping now) with 12v LED lights and 5v phone charging. I also have a 500watt pure sine wave inverter if we need to charge the laptops. I precool everything before we leave, and if we stay at any powered sites along the way, I use a CTEK charger to top the AGM up, but with reasonable sunlight it keeps up.

We haven’t needed it yet, but I’m contemplating wiring the car for a DCDC charger, as that would be ideal, but at the moment I run the fridge off the car when we are driving and only plug it into the battery if we are stopping for lunch or shopping.

I’ve had the panel a while now and it came with a PWM charge controller, which is pretty inefficient, so I’ve left it on the panel as a backup, and have mounted a more efficient MPPT charge controller on an aluminium chassis with Anderson plugs, which can sit next to the AGM battery. I have only tested it at home (we are still powered camping down the beach, at the moment) but… swapping between the PWM and the MPPT, the MPPT definitely delivers more grunt to the battery. When I bought my panel an MPPT charge controller almost doubled the price, so I went with the PWM, but MPPT’s are getting much cheaper… and definitely worth a look.

Greatest thing I ever did was get the Thunder DCDC Charger - Only charger I could find that doesn't need a low voltage wire running from the ignition to trigger charging off a smart alternator.
So I have:
1 x red anderson plug wired straight to batteries ( AC charger plugs in here)
1 x grey anderson plug wired to DCDC for Solar input - Raw solar direct from panels
1 x grey anderson plug wired to DCDC for car input for charging from car when running ( on isolator alternator not running no current going to van)
The DCDC charger cut charging times from solar by heaps - so much so after the first camping trip using it 2 of the people we camped with did exactly the same to solve their battery issues

 

[DMan]

Our unpowered setup is a 160watt folding panel into a 110aH AGM in a battery box, supplying a Waeco 40L fridge (just the two of us camping now) with 12v LED lights and 5v phone charging. I also have a 500watt pure sine wave inverter if we need to charge the laptops. I precool everything before we leave, and if we stay at any powered sites along the way, I use a CTEK charger to top the AGM up, but with reasonable sunlight it keeps up.

We haven’t needed it yet, but I’m contemplating wiring the car for a DCDC charger, as that would be ideal, but at the moment I run the fridge off the car when we are driving and only plug it into the battery if we are stopping for lunch or shopping.

I’ve had the panel a while now and it came with a PWM charge controller, which is pretty inefficient, so I’ve left it on the panel as a backup, and have mounted a more efficient MPPT charge controller on an aluminium chassis with Anderson plugs, which can sit next to the AGM battery. I have only tested it at home (we are still powered camping down the beach, at the moment) but… swapping between the PWM and the MPPT, the MPPT definitely delivers more grunt to the battery. When I bought my panel an MPPT charge controller almost doubled the price, so I went with the PWM, but MPPT’s are getting much cheaper… and definitely worth a look.

Pretty much the same setup I have. I went with a MPPT controller straight off though.

 

[binner]

Can you come and tell me what i have to do in my trailer? I'll show you when you're down

no worries...will do

 

[binner]

I've been running a generator at the 24hr events but it's annoying to me, let alone the other people there. Especially when it cycles up and down with the coffee machine. Like having a dirt bike there and sitting revving it up and down. So I'm with @binner and @Lazmo there. Although it doesn't stop the other fellow pit crewers dropping in for a coffee or asking for things to be quickly heated throughout the night. . Hence the change to a full inverter setup. I'm planning 2X 110aH batteries after reading here. Keep them the same size. Only one box with plugs but charging and hooking up the solar and 1500w inverter like @Dales Cannon suggested. At this stage I'll keep the 160w panel and see how it copes. Otherwise I'll get a larger one. The generator will stay as a back up system though

..you need to go bigger watts on the inverter and panels, buy the lightweight panels .... fuck the coffee machine off and buy a coleman drip that I talked about earlier. Fuck gennies, yr camping and trying to soak up the serenity not the humm of a gennie, use the sun, its free!!!!!!

 

[binner]

on the last camp i wired up a Andersen 5 mtr double extension with heavy gauge wires for loading up to 2 different solar panels positioned in different spots to collect as much uv as possible thru the day because we were doing full day trips away from camp.Was super impressed on coming back to camp late arvo and see massive volts/amps available in my batts.
Its all trial and error , its taken me about 5 camps to sort shit out for batt n power supply for over 4 nites away camping....

 

[Mattyp]

Question..
Why do people need so much shit while "camping"?
This guy wins the Dick Swinging contest...