So far this trip Big Mal has been going well, pots and pans slider bounced its door off on the dirt, an easy fix thankfully, dirt suppression worked well when I remembered to put newspaper over door vent ..... power supply has been great, a month so far and just sun powered, the portable has hardly been used and when I plugged it in to sons Ute to run his fridge it had a fault but later I discovered a dry solder joint, 9 years till it let go...now sorted and doing well........ New fridge is working as good as a compressor job, proper insulation of cabinet makes a hell of a difference, something most vans lack........Probably clock up 3K km this trip, good wear trial for new tyres....
Drovers new Rig - "Big Mal"
- Thread starter Drover
- Start date
Well unhitched and parked up at home, diesel heater got a bit of work coming home, about 7 lts worth and the addition of some Fuel Doctor has seemed to got it running better, probably gave the insides a good clean out, runs quieter heats up quicker .................. Might do a reconfig of panels on roof if it ever stops raining, adjust mounting so water can't pool on them and away from AC shadow..... 3500km trip this time and mostly towing, covered in dirt and not getting a wash until the place dries out, been a swamp at home since Xmas so far ................................... Also contemplating air bags in the rear springs of the Jeep as WDH is giving me the sh*ts and would save about 30kgs or so, only need it to take a bit of load of the Nivomat shocks and hold off the porpoising on some of our lovely QLD roads such as around the Darling Downs/Maranoa, sea sick tabs are needed on some of them..........
Big Mal is 13 years old this year, racked up a lot of Kms in that time, as usual a good dose of TLC in coming weeks, might just get the spray polish now though can't handle the hand polishing nowadays ...............
Big Mal is 13 years old this year, racked up a lot of Kms in that time, as usual a good dose of TLC in coming weeks, might just get the spray polish now though can't handle the hand polishing nowadays ...............
Its getting serious thought Dave, just have to drill through three panels to run the line but they sound like a big pain as the first one needs to be 19mm so a sizer will be needed then the other 2 at 13mm need to be angled, so should be fun to do........................... getting someone to do it is about the same price of the units so it will be DiY..................
Thats right I recall talking to you about it and even by then the price had risen, about $400 for a set now for Airbag Man HD kit.... going with them means they are local and I can bash on a desk ......... Been thinking if the Sachs Nivomatt self levelling shocks fail I will be up for a grand or so to replace them so if I chuck some bags on, set up to take a bit of the load from the shocks at least if the shocks go I can fit some gas shocks without any drama, I have already replaced the springs and front struts ages ago to give it a lift, so not relying on the original soft ride rubbish.
Big Mal has been in hibernation for a couple of weeks as Ive been doing other stuff, since going away for a "coupl a days" next week, started on some pre flight checks, instantly found no power, battery at 11 point something, the Epever had shut the system down ................... Some idiot had been doing some maintenance and left the shower lights on and possibly some others, solar was shut down because of lithium not liking being at 100% all the time so before everything went to ZERO totally shut down the show ............................. Problem was it has been heavy overcast the last 2 days here so it wasn't getting charged quickly even so the Epver solar reg has done a fantastic job of sucking some juice out of the sky, even with the portable set up, 520w it was mostly 5amp with the odd double digit when the sun did pop out, about 1400 this arvo we got full charge, then the sun came out in all its glory................ so I fired up the diesel heater to test it while the sun shined ...................... Nice to know the system does work, might just buy a 240v charger for lithium, its on the list .........................
I would have thought that the solar controller would have (should have!!) kicked in when voltage dropped to the low voltage setting , somewhere around the 12.0 volt mark as there is only 0.5 volt difference between a fully charged lithium and a "flat'" lithium with less than 10% charge. It may have done so, but as there was a continuous draw of lights etc (left on by some unthinking person???!!!) for continuous 24 hour periods, night and day, there would be insufficient charge going in through the day to cover the draw down power through the night and still have some power left over to provide charge to flat battery. Does the lithium battery need to be "woken up" if it is left in a charged state for a period??? Will have to do some more research on that situation.
I had the solar shut down so no charging happening at all, when I saw the flashing warning sign and 11.** or something I just went and fired up the panels, the lights being led might have taken awhile to draw it down but it was at 13.2 or there abouts when I did the maintenance and also fired up the TV and Vast to keep the log on current so would have chewed a bit of power, then a couple of weeks and some cold days wouldn't have helped.... Now all charged up even though it took 2 days, a rather good effort from the Epever how it managed to suck something with all the cloud cover ......................
The only problem with the lithium so far is not keeping them on charge all the time means I have to make sure I shut down the load as well when I turn the panels off, at least then it sits happily for months, its just flicking a breaker off for the panels and a button for the load, "old timers" ??????? ............
This batteries BMS discharge cut off is actually 10v but I set the Epever to cut the load at 11.5v or maybe 12v ???? will double check, I thought 10 a tad low and it seems to have worked, not sure how many lights were on as the leds are push button anyway good test of the system ..... Does make me think a mains charger might be an idea but really like my old charger a few hundred dollars sitting around doing nothing though it will provide 12v to van if needed but then need some mains power........... better carry a dolphin battery so I can keep the fridge running on gas.
The only problem with the lithium so far is not keeping them on charge all the time means I have to make sure I shut down the load as well when I turn the panels off, at least then it sits happily for months, its just flicking a breaker off for the panels and a button for the load, "old timers" ??????? ............
This batteries BMS discharge cut off is actually 10v but I set the Epever to cut the load at 11.5v or maybe 12v ???? will double check, I thought 10 a tad low and it seems to have worked, not sure how many lights were on as the leds are push button anyway good test of the system ..... Does make me think a mains charger might be an idea but really like my old charger a few hundred dollars sitting around doing nothing though it will provide 12v to van if needed but then need some mains power........... better carry a dolphin battery so I can keep the fridge running on gas.
Just small point Ian. Your MPPT (Epever?) solar controller DOES NOT "suck any power from the sky"!!! What it really does is "suck up ALL the available energy" generated by the SOLAR Panels. By combining any current generated by the solar panels (no matter how small!) with the solar panel charging voltage, your Epever is able to convert ALL the electrical energy into maximum current at the optimum charging voltage for your battery charging and to provide power to the electrical loads' without wasting any energy. Yes, a bit pedantic I know! But that is how MPPT controllers work.
Incidentally, your controller would show total amp hours IN and OUT over that period, so that will give you details of what happened.
The following links may provide some info for you:
How to wake up your Lithium Battery - JTS12volt
When your Lithium stops working, don't panic, it may be asleep. Here is how to fix it.
jts12volt.com.au
Optimal Voltage Levels for a Fully Charged 12V Battery
Read and manage battery voltage Levels: what a 12 volt battery should read, what voltage is too low or too high, how to monitor batteries, and the state of charge for a 12V battery.
au.renogy.com
IMPORTANT: Note that even when down to only 14% capacity state of charge, VOLTAGE is still 12.8 volts, so you need to set your MPPT solar controllers to start charging, and not letting voltage drop lower before starting recharging. So very different to charging AGM batteries! Printout of chart is attached.
Not to worry @Boots in Action I have all that detail, pretty well on top of my controller as I had to write the settings for the lithium into it, I could have flashed it with the lithium info but that can be a frightful experience if a bit of code is wobbly, so I wrote it in ...................................... I think saying that my Epever is sucking power from the sky is a lot easier BUT when my solar panels are shut down the Epever is just a fancy battery monitor ...............
Big Mal has a stable mate for a few days while I fit a diesel heater to this little New Age Expanda, its a cutie even has an ensuite......................
I will also go over the settings for lithium on the Epever @Boots in Action, just to make sure things are what they should be................
Well there would be a pic here of a small van but it keeps coming up as a Server Error ..............
I will also go over the settings for lithium on the Epever @Boots in Action, just to make sure things are what they should be................
Well there would be a pic here of a small van but it keeps coming up as a Server Error ..............
The little van job completed a day an a half to fit, figuring out a fuel tank rack and construction was the time consumer, eventually got it primed and away it went, so I was very pleased then ..................... not a lot of room to fit things underneath the little bugga either............... that will be the last work I will do on a van other than mine, I'm just not up to crawling around anymore ...............................................................
Major systems check on Big Mal today, not so much for a tour but Sunday our district Tin Can Bay/Cooloola/Rainbow beach has a 7 hour power outage, must be doing up something on the major feed to the area, going to send some into a panic for sure .......................................
So I check fridge and stuff to make sure we can hole up in the van, watch TV or use internet if need be ... Have a Sat Dish on shed roof so I can keep the VAST STB logged in every few weeks, only a single LNB, today I thought I would change it for a double LNB, simple just run an extra cable and swap out the unit, until I found the LNB post nearly rusted away, we have a very salty heavy dew most mornings, of course my Sat Dish collection is early versions as I have made/sorted out a few for folks to travel with have to scrounge some more bits I fear but a bit of ingenious modification and its all sorted, only ingenious because it actually worked, very amazed as I thought surely I would stuff the angles .......................... The KiSS principle at work, no need to set up vans dish, just plug in Foxbox, add a bit of tucker , coffee and milk in fridge and all set, won't need to open the fridge door in house so should be good if Energex go the whole 7 hrs, some will be in limbo as TV repeater will go dead and will be interesting to see how long the mobiles last.................... Mind you if they stuff things up the Honda is close by with plenty of fuel to keep house fridge and beer fridge going ... Turn everything off when things like this happen in case a power spike when they reconnect..
I look at it as a test run for the mini tour in a couple of weeks ......................................
PS: Might give the Honda a test run when I want a coffee ........ no need to go feral and use instant....
PSS: Now confirmed, Im a Old Fool, mate told me to read the Energex card again, bluddy hel its 2200 to 0500, overnight not during the day, they need bigger printing on these things ................ oh well, sorted a few things off the list ...........
So I check fridge and stuff to make sure we can hole up in the van, watch TV or use internet if need be ... Have a Sat Dish on shed roof so I can keep the VAST STB logged in every few weeks, only a single LNB, today I thought I would change it for a double LNB, simple just run an extra cable and swap out the unit, until I found the LNB post nearly rusted away, we have a very salty heavy dew most mornings, of course my Sat Dish collection is early versions as I have made/sorted out a few for folks to travel with have to scrounge some more bits I fear but a bit of ingenious modification and its all sorted, only ingenious because it actually worked, very amazed as I thought surely I would stuff the angles .......................... The KiSS principle at work, no need to set up vans dish, just plug in Foxbox, add a bit of tucker , coffee and milk in fridge and all set, won't need to open the fridge door in house so should be good if Energex go the whole 7 hrs, some will be in limbo as TV repeater will go dead and will be interesting to see how long the mobiles last.................... Mind you if they stuff things up the Honda is close by with plenty of fuel to keep house fridge and beer fridge going ... Turn everything off when things like this happen in case a power spike when they reconnect..
I look at it as a test run for the mini tour in a couple of weeks ......................................
PS: Might give the Honda a test run when I want a coffee ........ no need to go feral and use instant....
PSS: Now confirmed, Im a Old Fool, mate told me to read the Energex card again, bluddy hel its 2200 to 0500, overnight not during the day, they need bigger printing on these things ................ oh well, sorted a few things off the list ...........
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The LPG detector has started throwing fault code, a quick go with a vacuum cleaner didn't do much, since on a short trip will wait till back home and try a hit of sensor cleaner before I order a new one, 10 yrs service so suppose its done its time, until I fitted this lithium the power was on the van all the time but now shut down everything so battery just sits at 80% ............... too long inactive gives the probes a chance to get gungy I suppose............. my other alarms are battery not hard wired so on all the time.