Camper power usage and solar panels

thos · 18-09-2020 8:35pm #1

Hi all,
I’ve just bought a new motorhome, 2019 Benimar, and I’m trying to get my head around overall power consumption as well as solar generation.

It’s got a Victron 140W panel on the roof, and a CBE PRS300 Charge Regulator (which only gives me status lights for charge or float), also a CBE 516 Battery Charger. It has 230V hookup, but no inverter. It’s got a separate leisure battery (I haven’t dug it out yet to check the specs), and I have a panel over the door which gives me status bar indicators for van + leisure battery health.

At home, I’ve got solar panels, and I’m used to watching the data, where I can clearly see overall load/demand, solar generation and battery state, but in the van I’m blind in terms of load and generation, and more specific battery charge state.

I know can I can get a battery meter easily enough but would rather have something give me overall data in terms of usage and generation….. and while I’m thinking wishfully, I’d really like something that gave me either some data logging capability or phone bluetooth/app functionality.

In terms of power, there’s a bit on the van- 2 TV’s in the van, mobile wifi, charging for laptops, iPads, cameras. Fridge is 3-way, 230v microwave and I’ve got 2 gas rings + 1 electric ring. Wife would like kettle and hair dryer, need to see.

So, overall I’m looking to get a better handle on usage & generation, and also potentially swap the charger for an inverter/charger, and based on what I find, add additional solar or battery if required.

Browsing Victron stuff at the moment, but looks pricey. Any pointers for other good solutions to help give me better visibility on things and add an inverter in the mix?

Thanks,
Tom

tcawley29 · 21-09-2020 10:04pm

Why not use one of those kettles you can put on a ring?

spaceHopper · 22-09-2020 9:58am

It's not a live aboard motor home, do you really need to be able to power all that stuff at once. I've a small camper van with a 80AH battery, it's enough to run the heater, lights and charge my phone for the weekend. I've no solar, I thinking of adding a small panel to keep the battery topped up and adding a second battery. But to be honest it's something I want to do but probably don't need to.

If I were you I'd add a second battery before you had away fully charge the batteries and then see how you get on. If you are on site you can hook up and run the likes of hair dryers but you've only got 6 amps to play with maybe 10 on some sites

CelticRambler · 22-09-2020 11:08pm

The one thing you haven't told us is how you expect to use the vehicle. That'll very much affect what you need in terms of available amps.

I'm not sure what spaceHopper means when saying it's not a live aboard motor home. I have a 2003 Benimar and it was bought as a live aboard (no other home to go to) motorhome for a family of two adults and four children. When we hit the road in it, we had a 45W solar panel, 2x 100Ah leisure batteries and a 150W Halfords inverter (not bought for the purpose). In our first three months (December, January, February) I think we hooked up to the mains for a grand total of about fifteen days, mostly on two sites, one in Bavaria (-6°C) the other in Vienna (-13°C). The rest of the time, we managed with whatever was in the batteries, which were topped up by sun and/or driving; and that's still very much the case. On our last long trip (summer 2018) we travelled about 2000km over two weeks, including attendance at two festivals (2d & 4d), with no hook-up.

The vehicle is fitted with several 240V sockets; only one of them ever gets used - the one for the kettle, when I have a hook-up while I'm using it as my work accommodation. That's the only time the microwave gets used too. Everything else - including standard laptops - runs off 12V; if it doesn't, it probably doesn't need to be with us on the trip.

Having said that, and having ingested SirLiamalot's critical analysis of three-way fridges, I'm in the (very slow) process of moving towards an enhanced solar panel or two, an additional battery bank and a hefty inverter so as to be able to run a standard domestic fridge. If there was spare juice available via the inverter, then I would use the kettle and the microwave while off the grid. But my more immediate priority is to install more 12V USB sockets.

thos · 23-09-2020 2:35pm

CelticRambler wrote: »

The one thing you haven't told us is how you expect to use the vehicle. That'll very much affect what you need in terms of available amps.

I guess I'm coming at it from the other angle - what CAN I use it for in terms of power?

I think I'll start with a battery monitor and get a better idea on current (bad-dum-tish) usage before tinkering with too much.

thos · 23-09-2020 3:06pm

Ultimately this is the type of visibility I want, to be able to see where power is coming from / going to:

Image%202020-09-23%20at%203.01.25%20p.m..png?source=viewer&v=45955bf9b584ce4f0c727544fc2cdf04

Image%202020-09-23%20at%203.01.25%20p.m..png?source=viewer&v=45955bf9b584ce4f0c727544fc2cdf04

02-10-2020 12:19am

Victron make good interfaces, pdfs, promotional advertising and terrible hardware.
You'd be better off without a CBE charge controller. No messin'. Remove it = more power.

MoningStar have datalogging. The remote meter is good. As for a battery monitor I'd go TriMetric.

Did someone say 80Ah?
I'm putting 600Ah @ 24v in a truck, maybe 1500W Solar. I'm thinking 7kVA inverter or maybe 3.5kVA x 3 phase. Oh and it's grid tied so I can power my house with it...if I fancy.

02-10-2020 12:23am

You know another great thing about electric fridges. You can unplug it from your van and plug it into your truck anytime ya please.

Buford T Justice · 11-10-2020 8:00pm

If the LCD display is what tickles you, victron has open-sourced their software and someone has built a Raspberry PI image that you can install it on.

This means you can buy a PI3 with a 7 inch touchscreen and install the software on it. You then just need to connect the proper pins / devices to the IO pins on the pi and away you go.

I've installed it on my PI at home and it was a simple job to do.

Depending on how things go, this may or may not end up in my build

More info here

Disclaimer, I'm a software engineer by trade, so I may be biased when i say it's a simple install.

11-10-2020 8:30pm

Er what good is a battery charging monitor when the battery charger it's coupled with doesn't charge the battery properly?

11-10-2020 8:32pm

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

MoningStar have datalogging. The remote meter is good.

I meant the TS-RM2 is good, the remote meter is a bit ho-hum.

Buford T Justice · 11-10-2020 10:00pm

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Er what good is a battery charging monitor when the battery charger it's coupled with doesn't charge the battery properly?

I never said the charger was any good.... :cool:

11-10-2020 10:07pm

The link (didn't click on it) is for a Victron topology. The interfaces are slick no argument there but it's tied to some appalling hardware; can't have one without thuther.

I like everything stand alone. Nobody makes a good everything. (You should see my supplier list and the postage charges for jobs :rolleyes:)

If a manufacturer doesn't make hardware that can play nice with other manufacturers' hardware then I boycott them.

thos · 12-10-2020 11:26am

Buford T Justice wrote: »

If the LCD display is what tickles you, victron has open-sourced their software and someone has built a Raspberry PI image that you can install it on.

This means you can buy a PI3 with a 7 inch touchscreen and install the software on it. You then just need to connect the proper pins / devices to the IO pins on the pi and away you go.

I've installed it on my PI at home and it was a simple job to do.

Depending on how things go, this may or may not end up in my build

More info here

Disclaimer, I'm a software engineer by trade, so I may be biased when i say it's a simple install.

Thanks, right up my street, plenty of Pi's in use in my house already.

12-10-2020 5:43pm

Any hydrometers?

14-10-2020 1:22am

Camper power usage and solar panels

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