Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 07:20:08 EDT
Reply-To: RAlanen@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Frank Condelli <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Solar panels for your Vanagon..
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
In a message dated 16/06/2007 9:21:26 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
Well, do the math. How much power does a coolatron require?
Plug the data into the Handy Battery Demand Calculator
http://www.altavistaaudio.com/Westy/Vanagon/battcalc.html
and see how many ampere-hours your battery will need to supply, and from
that you can see how much power the panels will need to stuff back into
the battery during the sunlight hours.
Yes, and yes, Now more to what I'm trying to do. Yes, as Mike said the
solar panel must be removable from the van. Tripods or similar devices and
extension cord is a must. Panel will be connected and angleable on the roof with
a quick detach mechanism. You don't want to be parked in the sun to get
your electrical charge, trust me. What I want is a large enough solar panel
that can keep my aux battery charged while operating my Koolatron or other 12 v
cooler while parked for EXTENDED times on the Mexican beaches I will be
visiting next winter after the wedding. Now to the Koolatron or other 12 volt
cooler. You need to find the one that has the largest capacity and lowest 12v
amp draw. So far my research is showing that the Koolatron P65 Kargo Cooler,
20" h x 16" w x 14" d at 33 quart capacity with a 3 amp current draw as being
the best. But - I'm still looking ! My aux battery is a group 41 Kirkland
standard automotive battery from Costco, for cost and ease of replacement
reasons. A charge controller as explained by Dave Etter in his previous message
will be installed and I'm still looking for the best set up here Dave has
some pretty good recommendations. I think the idea is to get the lowest amp
draw cooler, calculate any other electrical requirements use, calculate the
drain on the battery and find the size solar panel that will keep the charge up
for the 6 hours without sunlight on those Mexican beaches. So far as I can
determine a 120w ~ 150w solar panel should work with a 3 amp draw cooler,
Satellite radio, standard radio, 12v cooling fans and LED lighting as the only
current draws. So why all this for an extra fridge. Well, the OEM Dometic, is
not large enough to handle the needs of extended stays on the isolated
Mexican beaches. Once you get out there and set up you don't want to be moving to
go get more Cerveza or food. I know, food can be gotten easily form fishing
or from the Mexican vendors who frequent the beaches but still being
realistic and having been there before you need the extra capacity of an extra
fridge. The Dometic running on propane will keep all the beer cold and other food
stuff go in the 12 volt cooler and will last even if the power goes out for
a few hours at night. There will be a battery saver installed to keep the
battery from discharging completely. I think they shut the draw off at 10.5
volts. So this may happen infrequently depending on the draw and supply during
the day.
So.........back to my original question...........what's a "GOOD" solar
panel ? I have seen so many and so many different prices, I'm confused ! I
was told by one salesman the difference in price of the same watt panels is
due to the quality of the chips. He said there are first, second and third
quality chips on the market and therefore the cheaper panels are using the
lesser quality chips and may fail sooner. Anyone know about this ? I have seen
120w ~ 150w panels from $500 to $3000, so what's that all about. I see
Canadian Tire has a 120w on sale this week for $935 and RONA has a 130w on sale
for $1225. Anyone know about these ? My question is where is the best panel
for the least money ! ? ! ?
Cheers,
Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg (Forsale) & Lionel Trains (_Collection
for sale_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
_Frank Condelli & Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
- Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm) a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10, 2007
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