newbie campervan

banais

hello fellow campers ! i used to go camping and live out of my tent in a special designed space for camping but now i want to go find any spot i might like and stay there for a week , then move to the next magical place.
i am looking for a place to start on building a vw transit . keep in mind its extremely hot in cyprus and i need a solar powered ac ..
any information on where to start or any tips are appreciated

cheers!

banais

really 60 views and no reply ? at least any online shops in the uk where i can get most of the things ?

I don't mean to be dismissive I'm just too tired to do the maths and legwork now.
Can you provide any technical data on the AC system you want to run?
My first impression would be that AC is too high current a circuit to run on the m² of solar you could fit on a transporter roof. Let alone the battery space you would require.
And really I'd have to say park in the shade and if it's still too hot in the van open the roof lights and go to the beach.

Ps. Protect your tyres from direct sunlight with towels or better reflective material...I hate to see them go bad before the threads are down!

Gilbert Grape

banais wrote: »

hello fellow campers ! i used to go camping and live out of my tent in a special designed space for camping but now i want to go find any spot i might like and stay there for a week , then move to the next magical place.
i am looking for a place to start on building a vw transit . keep in mind its extremely hot in cyprus and i need a solar powered ac ..
any information on where to start or any tips are appreciated

cheers!

Solar powered A/C for the camper?Not possible yet but would be handy.Be an idea to get a generator and a mobile A/C unit.

It's possible..for 30 foot campers with solar tracking and MPPT.

Gilbert Grape

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

It's possible..for 20 foot campers with solar tracking.

It's not for a 20 ft camper

banais

hmm maybe a solar powered ventilation fan ?because even in the shade or night its really hot in cyprus so i am probably going to be using it for many hours and i preffer if its powerd by the sun ( which there is more than enough here) instead of the van's battery

Fans are no problem, brushless ones would be quieter, also don't forget the mosquito nets in the vents.
I use 12v PC fans to vent the fridge but I'm sure there's a wide range.

banais

and would a solar panel support , lets say a 12v fan or even a larger one ?

Gilbert Grape

Gilbert Grape wrote: »

It's not for a 20 ft camper

True, I usually use metric but i was thinking in a scale of truck trailers
The original 40ft sounded too large thus the double edit. I was checking my sources and still can't find a reference to running AC but I was sure I did a short while ago. I did find a reference to a 40 foot carrying 720watts of fixed panels on a $6k system if that's anything to go by.

Will post link if I find the solar tracking example again.

banais

banais wrote: »

and would a solar panel support , lets say a 12v fan or even a larger one ?

A 50watt solar module mounted flat in cyprus would happily run at least 2 of these 24 hours

http://www.maplin.co.uk/expansion-card-fan-29335#reviews

(ps. I didn't check if this was brushless or not, it's just an example)

You will of course also need a solar controller and a deep cycle battery...(i wouldn't recommend running anything except the engine off the starter battery...except maybe the last 15 mins of a movie when all other batteries have failed including the laptop )

There are much more inexpensive options to keep the temperature inside down, as a rule of thumb creating heat or refrigeration is most practical by combustion. Electrically manipulating temperature is highly inefficient and not at all suited to life on batteries.


- Get a brightly coloured van (white/yellow) to reflect the heat.
- Polish the body, for more reflectivity.
- Insulate the van
- Park in the shade.
- Use an awning, it's shade that's better ventilated than four teeny fans.
- Make several of these from this and some gaffa tape (or thermawrap tape if you want to be super efficient) for all your windows and then make two tyre shades from the leftovers and/or tint your side and rear windows.
- Fill the sink with ice and have the fans running next to that as well as vents.
..there's probably many more solutions if you look around. Ask some surfers.

banais

ok i just realised that i started with a wrong question.. sorry about that im a totaly new to this .
is it possibe to run a fairly big enough ventilation fan on the roof , a small refrigerator , a laptop and some lights 24/7 on solar power ? ( yes i know 24/7 is a bit exaggerating but just so i can get an idea on what is possible to do..

It's relative on how much you want to invest, how large a system you want to install. What the cumulative ratings of your appliances are.

I'd suggest getting a 3 way fridge (gas/electric/mains) and run it on gas. On a 5kg gas bottle this will run 24/7 for 3 months...probably a little less in a hot climate. A fridge will rip through a battery in a matter of hours.

Please send a link to the ventilation fan as I've no idea what you are asking for.

LED lighting should be no problem to run as much as you want, in the Spring/Summer/Autumn...Winter will depend on your set-up.
Incandescent lighting is possible but more difficult to manage.

Depends on the laptop mine's pretty power hungry because it's a gamer pc...netbooks are far more efficient. I have three laptop batteries which cost the same as a flooded battery incidentally.
Also I'd recommend a charge regulator with LVD (low voltage disconnect) if you are going to be running a laptop off direct DC...it's ridiculously easy to kill your machine if you aren't careful.

I haven't fully tested my system fully because I'm working 12hour days this fortnight and it's newly installed. It's a 150watt panel about 1m² and it's running lights, laptop, water pump, phone charging and some v. low current things without my battery dropping bellow 60%. It's also charging better than my mains set-up ever did. Battery fully charged daily even on rainy days. Also I'm noticing some minor generation when parking under street lighting.

banais

well the fan its like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Maxxair-12-Volt-DC-Fan-Powered-Roof-Vent-w-Thermostat-RV-Motorhome-00-04000K-/321117900810?pt=Motors_RV_Trailer_Camper_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item4ac41e500a the laptop is a small 12 inch asus eee pc.. and the friedge haven't decited yet..
lets say i get the one you told me , 12v.

what would i need to run this setup ? e.g solar panels , batteries , convertors and what not ?

The link you posted does not provide any information on power consumption (watts or amps) which you will need to calculate it's viability.

Before you get any kit I recommend you get a multimeter, preferably one with a clamp ammeter, if you don't already have one and you intend to install this yourself. You get what you pay for with multimeters so I don't recommend the cheap ones. Fluke meters are pricey but worth it. Also you will need an RMS meter if you want to read modulated sine wave inverters and PWM charge.

Here's a link to installing a solar system.
Here's a few sites for buying the kit I have saved in my favourites folder

http://prismsolar.co.uk/shop/
http://www.wholesalesolar.co.uk/index.php
http://www.sunstore.co.uk/Caravan-Solar-Kits/ & http://www.sunstore.co.uk/Cables-and-Connectors/
http://www.hollybrookps.co.uk/caravan-motorhome-solar-kits.html


Deep cycle traction batteries

DC laptop charging,
This is very risky business, if you make a mistake wiring this or run the battery too low and fall outside the tolerance range you risk destroying your laptop. If you want the safer much more inefficient route I recommend running your laptop off an inverter (you'll find cheaper inverters elsewhere but this is a good site to browse).

The information you require from your laptop is the DC voltage and current output listed on the charging pack.
Without knowing this I can only provide you with a theoretical spec.


You will need a 15amp or greater rated one of these for your power socket on at least 2.5mm stranded twin core cable fused on the positive connected to your leisure battery.

Then one of these that matches your laptop's voltage exactly and exceeds the current (amps) by no more than 300mA and you are good to go. Another fuse between this and the laptop that matches your laptop rating would be good too.

Also be warned that if you wire this with reversed polarity it will destroy the charger, and possibly damage the laptop.

Set to 12volt a fridge will not become cold, it will just maintain temperature and destroy your battery unless it is receiving high current charge. Use gas is my advise.

After all this you need a battery monitor if you want to keep healthy batteries and replace them every 9 years instead of every 2.
Here's a good one here's a cheap one

The reason I go straight into my laptop on DC is that going 12vDC to 19vDC saves me roughly 30% in transmission losses (please somebody else correct me if I'm wrong by lots, it's a guesstimate) compared to going from 12vDC to 230vAC inverted back to 19vDC rectified by the mains charger.
I really don't recommend it though unless you know what you are doing or have good laptop insurance.

paddyp

12v chinese laptop charger is less lightly to blow up than 12v chinese inverter running original laptop supply. If you're concerned you can get genuine hp/dell/panasonic etc car chargers on ebay for about €30

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=genuine+car+charger&_sac=1&_osacat=31510&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR2.TRC0&_nkw=genuine+%28car%2C+vehicle%29+charger&_sacat=31510

I'm not concerned. Two motherboards (possibly unrelated) three DC chargers and one alternator regulator later I think I've learned all my lessons on the procedure :rolleyes:.

Swapping the 12volt plug for croc clips was my biggest downfall.

paddyp

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

I'd suggest getting a 3 way fridge (gas/electric/mains) and run it on gas. On a 5kg gas bottle this will run 24/7 for 3 months...probably a little less in a hot climate. A fridge will rip through a battery in a matter of hours.

Gas fridges are disastrously inefficient you'll find its more like 250g -370g per 24h.

A good compressor fridge like waco coolfreeze will draw about 15-20ah per 24 hours easy peasy to run that from solar. Get a chest type one for hot climates as otherwise opening the door you will replace all the cold air with hot air.

You could run some kind or evaporative cooler from solar too in a small space it may be enough to take the edge off. This is tiny but at 5w you could run a couple.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PORTABLE-MINI-AIR-CONDITIONING-COOLER-12V-230V-NEW-/350793000679?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Hearing_Cooling_Air&hash=item51ace466e7
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eufab-Compact-Air-Conditioning-Unit/dp/B0051F6SW8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368719818&sr=8-1&keywords=12v+air+conditioner

If its not already obvious buy a white van! dark colours will bake in the sun and you'll never cool down. Also worth considering solar film for the windows to reduce solar insolation.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PORTABLE-MINI-AIR-CONDITIONING-COOLER-12V-230V-NEW-/350793000679?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Hearing_Cooling_Air&hash=item51ace466e7
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eufab-Compact-Air-Conditioning-Unit/dp/B0051F6SW8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368719818&sr=8-1&keywords=12v+air+conditioner

paddyp

paddyp wrote: »

Gas fridges are disastrously inefficient you'll find its more like 250g -370g per 24h.

I don't think they are that bad at all, especially when adequately ventilated. Tehehe I'm re-posting this for anyone else interested, given that you originally posted this I'm not that cheeky

paddyp wrote: »

While wonderfully quiet the 3 way fridges are very inefficient.

Good info here on ventilation:

http://www.fridge-and-solar.net/fridge_vent.htm
http://www.dreampod.net/boroma/fridgefan.html

Generally speaking I get 6 weeks from a 5kg propane (including bottle weight) from a 60 litre fridge with a 5 litre mini freezer on 24/7, cooking 1 meal daily min, and boiling roughly 40 litres a week for washing, tea/coffee most days.

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Set to 12volt a fridge will not become cold, it will just maintain temperature and destroy your battery unless it is receiving high current charge.

I'll admit I ought to re-iterate this as "Set to 12volt a 3-way fridge will not become cold, it will just maintain temperature and destroy your battery unless it is receiving high current charge."

paddyp

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Generally speaking I get 6 weeks from a 5kg propane (including bottle weight) from a 60 litre fridge with a 5 litre mini freezer on 24/7, cooking 1 meal daily min, and boiling roughly 40 litres a week for washing, tea/coffee most days.

You must be german - plan what you need in the fridge before you open it

We wouldn't get anywhere near that with the 5 of us. Just looking at the spec for our and is 270g / 24 hours at 25 deg average temp. Average temp in ireland is a lot less than that and the cupboard probably adds to the insulation to keep it cool.

paddyp

paddyp wrote: »

You must be german - plan what you need in the fridge before you open it
.

hahaha I've been laughing about that all day...I didn't think it was a strange thing to do until you mentioned it. ...if you think that's bad you should see me do the washing up. Any more than an inch of water in the basin is a waste!

People always complain that sideways opening fridges let all the cold air out instantaneously when you open the door...I find if you fill the fridge with things like food and drinks instead of air then it retains it's temperature much better :pac: