3 Batteries or Solar panel or Genie??

[AnnPaul]

Just ordered a new van and awaiting delivery. Now thinking about more batteries or Solar or Genie? We wild camp as much as possible and have the odd week or two in the Alps (winter). The van comes with an 80amp Gel battery. We already have an 80 watt solar panel taken off our old van, should we get another gel of 80amps or two larger ones or one very big battery. Or should we get another solar panel or get a Genie?????

 

Of course we must consider the weight/size of all these products aqnd running costs.

 

Your help needed please.

 

Paul and Ann

 

 

 

 

[kelly58]

We have a solar panel and 2 batteries which we fing more than adequate we very seldom use hook ups especially in France as we mostly use Aires,

[Domino]

Hi Ann and Paul

We are very similar to yourselves and wanted to extend offsite camping - even allowing that we have to go to a dump station/site every 3 days.We have recently had two extra leisure batteries connected to our existing 2. We also have 80 amp solar panel and considered another panel as opposed to the batteries. There seems to be a lot of technical stuff regarding batteries, and the imperfect science they deliver, on these forums so I leave that to the experts. All I can add is that ours are all connected, and we are happy. I did take the weight into consideration - the batteries are Elecsol, recommended by many, inlcuding the CC. I would NOT recommend the company we used but that is another story and not something I'd put on general forum. We can get a week offsite - but it does depend what electric stuff you use.

Good luck

[AnnPaul]

Hi Domino

 

Thanks for the reply

 

Do you really mean that you have FOUR (plus the engine battery) leisure battereis! What amps are they and what about the weight!!!!!!!

 

Ann and Paul

[Keithl]

AnnPaul - 2010-03-01 4:23 PM

Or should we ... get a Genie?????

 

Your help needed please.

 

Paul and Ann

 

Hi Paul and Ann,

 

I'd go for the Genie (a supernatural creature according to Wiki) anyday.

Just make sure you feed him well and keep him quiet! :D :D :D

 

Sorry but couldn't miss that opportunity!

 

Keith.

[MandyAndy]

2 110 amp Gel batteries and an 80w solar panel and we do many winter rallies here and use mostly Aires in Europe and not had a problem.

 

Managed to get both batteries under passenger seat so neat and out of the way.

 

Mandy

[Guest peter]

A Genny every time!. The bigger and noisier the better. Whilst your'e at it try and park as close to Brian Kirby and Tracker as you can and run it at full chat.

You will be popular. (lol)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously, it depends on how long you need to be off EHU. Then base your decision on that.

[tonyfletcher]

We have the set up you are considering, 3 x 85amp batteries and 85 watt solar panel.

We were camping over Christmas and the new year in very cold weather. By day 11 the batteries were getting to the point of wanting a good charge, although in fairness, they still registered 11.6v on the meter.

We refused to use our friends genny, (he was next to us in the field) They also managed well with 2 x 125Amp batteries and a 125 watt solar panel.

Just had to brush off the snow each day.

We try to use the TV & Sky, both 12v, sparingly, showered during the day and left the heating on constant to avoid any power surges. We also have LED light's all round

Hope this gives you 1 side of the discussion

Cheers

Tony

[Mike88]

You buy a motorhome to get away from it all and then some inconsiderate numptie parks alongside you with his generator running day and into the night. You close your windows to keep out the fumes and to lessen the noise and the person with the generator thinks this is OK as his wife needs her hairdryer and he needs to watch the TV at a high volume to drown the noise from his generator.

 

You say you like wildcamping but what will you do on French Aires for example where you park very closely to other motorhomes? Is using a generator acceptable where vans are 2 feet apart? You might think so but I - and dare I say the majority of motorhomers - do not.

 

Generators should be banned. Get a solar panel and additional battery capacity.

 

[Lord Raindrop]

We went to an event in Scotland last year. Along comes a guy and runs his generator then sits watching a BIG television, not interested in the event.

[Brian Kirby]

peter - 2010-03-01 9:35 PM A Genny every time!. The bigger and noisier the better. Whilst your'e at it try and park as close to Brian Kirby and Tracker as you can and run it at full chat. You will be popular. (lol) Seriously, it depends on how long you need to be off EHU. Then base your decision on that.

Bum!  :-D

[Guest Tracker]

A lot depends on your heating system and how warm you like to be.

 

A diesel fired system whilst saving on gas is really power hungry and the power surge amperage needed to fire it up every time the stat kicks in will knock seven bells out of most batteries whereas with gas the ignition takes far less power and your batteries last longer - but your gas don't!

[Hymer C 9.]

We have chosen to go for the Solar Panal and a 130 Gel battery, which we find lasts for 4 days wild camping no trouble, the theory being if you are out in beautiful country side all peaceful why spoil it with the noise of a genny, and have to carry something extra when the Solar Panel is fixed to the roof out of the way. Carol.

[Usinmyknaus]

2 x 100 amp/hr leisure batteries, a 100 watt solar panel a 700 watt inverter and a refillable lpg cylinder have been a perfect combination for us. Three years on and every element is still earning its crust.

 

Generators are the spawn of satan unless the CL I'm sharing happens to be underneath a motorway fly-over, on short finals for the runway at Gatwick or next to the village hall on Weight Watchers' weigh-in night.

 

Bob :-)

[Mel B]

AnnPaul - 2010-03-01 4:23 PM

 

Just ordered a new van and awaiting delivery. Now thinking about more batteries or Solar or Genie? We wild camp as much as possible and have the odd week or two in the Alps (winter). The van comes with an 80amp Gel battery. We already have an 80 watt solar panel taken off our old van, should we get another gel of 80amps or two larger ones or one very big battery. Or should we get another solar panel or get a Genie?????

 

We have a 75 amp solar panel and 2 x 110 amp leisure batteries and we used to use a 12v video player and a TV (around 80 watts), with occasional laptop use. We found last year that our set up was more than sufficient. We're having our solar panel moved to our new van and unfortunately it only has an 85 amp leisure battery so we're having to twin with that so it will be 2 x 85 amp batteries. We will see how we go, but if the worst comes to the worst, we'll add another 85 amp battery, however, as we don't stay in one place for more than a couple of days normally the travelling around charges up the batteries on the run too.

 

As for whether to upgrade to a larger gel battery, that will depend on whether the existing location will take a larger battery, however, as they are very expensive you'd probably be better off keeping your existing one and just getting another 80 amp one to run along side it, and, if necessary, you can then add a third (space and payload permitting!). No point in discarding your new 80 amp battery for the sake of it.

 

As you intend to use your van in the Alps in winter I wouldn't think that adding an extra solar panel would be much use due to the low daylight levels at that time of year.

 

As for a gennie ... I really would NOT go there ...! I hate the ruddy things and it appears so do a lot of other people!!! You might get challenged to a snowball fight at dawn if you do!!!!

[weldted]

Hi fitted to my van are two spr 90 watt sunpower panels which are rated as some of the most efficient on the market with a blue point regulator, they are also on tilting brackets to make the most of the sunshine during the winter. They feed three 110 amp wet lead acid batteries, we also have a 50 amp battery to battery charger, and an onboard Telair lpg powered 2.5 kw genny. The gennerator is in a soundproofed case as is the gas locker where it is fitted as we have a gas tank. However quiet a genny is it still makes a noise, we have fitted an uprated charger so if we have to run it to charge the batteries it is run for as short a time as possible. We like to watch the tv quite a lot as we are usually away during the winter so short sunlight long hours of darkness hence quite a lot of tv. During out last stay in Portugal we stayed on a beach carpark for 30 days, weathewr was fairly good most of the time but we had to run the genny for a totla of four hours during that time and as gas was low we ran the engine for about the same time. We are respectfull of other campers and always try to park where possible with the side that has the genny in away from other vans, we only run it when other people are up and about say between 9 and 11 in the morning or 5 to 7 in the evening if required as did most of the other people with gennys, the biggest killer to any battery is the amount of current used by an inverter even if it was 100% efficient which they are not you would use 18.3 amps at 12 volt for every 1 amp at 220 more if cable runs are long battery is old etc so more like 25 amp 12 volt to 1 amp 220. to give you an idea of use we have had the genny for three years and it has run for 187 hours in that time. Cost £2200 and weighs 60 kgsI know it is probably more than most people would require but we have a dog with a heart condition and if she gets to hot she gets distressed, if and when we need to run it for that purpose we always move away from other units because the bigger the load the greater the noise. Basically I try to be considerate of other people when using it its apity that when other campers are using their barbicues listening to music they do not consider where the smoke from the barbi might go or how loud their music might be,and forget that is was the man with the genny who on a nother visit to Portugal supplied power to several units following a long period of bad weather charged up an invalid scooter and numerous engine starts all in the part and parcel of motor homing. I agree that gennys can be intrusive on other people but used responsibly should be acceptable, in three years I have only had one unit complain about the noise and the same man came to me three days later to ask if I could charges his batteries so he could start his engine.

[Archiesgrandad]

I am surprised that no-one has suggested an alternative to the proposed system.

I seem to recall reading in one of the magazines about a system comprising an Efoy generator, a solar panel, and a fairly large, but not too OTT, battery setup. The whole thing was controlled by a computer type gadget, and was able to work out current used against predicted solar charge input and start the Efoy to maintain the battery level as required.

I recall that the cost was a little over 3 grand, and it would seem that such a set up would satisfy pretty well everyone in that there is a solar panel, for the tree huggers, the Efoy generators are more or less silent, for the Dodos, and the weight penalty is less than the proposal which started this thread.

If my six numbers come up it will certainly be the system that I would opt for on a new van.

Just a thought, the limit to the time we are able to wild camp is set, not by the 2x 130 amp traction batteries, but by the time it takes to fill the loo cassette, so should we also include a second cassette and holder when we discuss the needs of extended camping.

AGD

[Den]

I'm amazed how many people are opposed to Genies and yet at MH shows we always find one!!!!!!! Certainly on all the Aires we've used no MH ers have used Genies.

Personally we have 2x100 ah batteries,100w solar panel, 1000w inverter and a 1600 Efoy. Yes the cost is quite high but its a perfect combination and no noise............ BLISS

Dennis

[Porky]

Archiesgrandad - 2010-03-04 10:26 AM

 

I recall that the cost was a little over 3 grand, and it would seem that such a set up would satisfy pretty well everyone in that there is a solar panel, for the tree huggers, the Efoy generators are more or less silent, for the Dodos, and the weight penalty is less than the proposal which started this thread.

 

Just a thought, the limit to the time we are able to wild camp is set, not by the 2x 130 amp traction batteries, but by the time it takes to fill the loo cassette, so should we also include a second cassette and holder when we discuss the needs of extended camping.

AGD

 

I don't think you will much change out of 4 grand, but I agree it is the dogs whatzits as a system.

We have a second cassette in an airtight, waterproof marine bag which because we don't have one, goes where the spare wheel would go. Oh no please not that old spare wheel chestnut. It's been done to death(lol)

 

[Brian Kirby]

Question.  Since an Efoy is a generator (of electricity) the primary function of which, in a motorhome, is to re-charge the habitation battery, is it really necessary to add solar panels?

If the battery is sensibly sized for the user's pattern of use, would it not be more cost effective to rely on the Efoy alone for battery charging when static?  It does require fuel, so there is a cost for using it, but it is virtually silent, will work at night, under trees, when the roof is under snow, or when light levels are too low for a solar panel to give of its best.

Efoy is costly, but having spent the money to buy it, does it not make more sense to maximise its use, than to spend more money on a further intermittently usable device that merely minimises its use?  You won't need holes in the roof, either!

[weldted]

Brian has a point about how many sources of power to carry, but whilst he right the efoy is quie,t it does need fuel, having just spent 30 nights parked on a beach in Portugal (Nov-Dec 2009) using two 90 watt solars panels quite a lot of tv we only ran the genny for four hours, so 28 days of no fuel consumption or wear and tear. (we were lucky with the weather) but having both gives us the option, and I feel that the efoy is whilst in principle an ideal source of power it is still an expensive option. Can anyone using one tell me what there amp hour cost is of using one. If I run my genny when the batteries are low the input using a high putput charger recovers around 45 amps over a two hour period depending on the state of the batteries and costs me £1.16 at current lpg prices. (no allowance being made for cost of genny or wear and tear)

[tonyg3nwl]

May I make a few comments.

 

re Generators , depending on size, they add weight over an above what their actual weight is, in that you also have to carry a gallon or so of fuel, (smelly petrol), and a decent housing to suppress the noise if you are considerate to your neighbours.

 

If you are considerate , why not use the onboard generator that comes with everymotorhome, ie, start the engine, and then go for a drive to view all that scenery in the general area, instead of watching the scenery on tv.

 

re weight, dump the tv at home, together with the satellite dish, or if you wish to watch tv, dump the van and stay at home and watch it.

 

re batteries, a single battery is adequate for a couple of weeks in summer, and if you ensure that all van lighting is change to LED bulbs, it will last during winter for a couple of weeks. Get the biggest battery the van can house,but put the other half on a severe diet to offset the weight problem.

 

Carry a solar panel to get free electric by all means, but again watch the weight. Eat less and get excercise instead of watching telly, or go to bed early and get excercise that way!

 

final suggestion, stay on a site with hookup, pay the fees, and enjoy life.

 

tonyg3nwl

 

 

[Neil Hunt]

This is always going to be an ideological issue as much as a technical one.

 

You will have campers who camp to leave it all behind and those who want to take it all with them when they camp.

 

We are in the former group and after cycle camping where you agonise over carrying a second pair of underpants the most basic of motorhomes and facilities is a mansion of luxury.