Maybe not, but I was dreaming of a better solar panel setup than the one that she arrived with which was a 10 watt panel installed in 2001 and probably not very efficient at all any more
The first thing to do was remove the old panel I have to admit that she looks a lot better without the panel on the top, but it will be coming back as you will see later
What we have purchased is an 80W flexible panel which fits exactly over the rigid panel that the old 10W panel was made into. I would have like to go for a 100-150W panel, but this makes refitting an awful lot easier
I also bought a new Victron MPPT controller which feeds the leisure battery. This is more effciient than the old controller and being modern technology also has the capability of being linked to a smartphone app via bluetooth to give me some details on the charge profile of the battery. That's going to be a later addition when I find the bluetooth dongle at a reasonable price probably second hand.
I also bought a heavy duty cable with fuse to go from the controller to the leisure battery and some solar panel cable to connect from the panel to the controller – I bought the shortest cable because all I really wanted was the connections because I was connecting this into the grey cable which was already in place through the roof.
The previous owner had run a cable with two black cores which was not clear once I had disconnected the old panel so Rhian helped me test with the circuit tester. The one I bought is designed to be cut in ½ so you need twice the length that you have between the panel connections and the controller. It was the same for me with the battery cable – I only needed a couple of feet, but the spare will come in useful some time.
The new connections were all made in a waterproof housing which had grommets where the cable came through
But for "belt and braces" the whole connection box was sealed with flexible sealant as well
I would have liked to have virtually no loose wires, but that would have meant cutting the connections off the solar panel so I arranged them on the rear. it will mean there is spare cable if I need to adjust things so maybe not a bad thing
From this last picture you can see the old frame which was bolted to the roof-rack and to the blue light bracket on the roof. Once it was connected I took the cardboard I had temporarily put over the cells and things worked first time. I now have more reliable power and a basis of a modern system with reliable wiring which I need for the next 2 projects
Here she is sporting the new panel at the Welsh Festival of Land Rovers
The first thing to do was remove the old panel I have to admit that she looks a lot better without the panel on the top, but it will be coming back as you will see later
What we have purchased is an 80W flexible panel which fits exactly over the rigid panel that the old 10W panel was made into. I would have like to go for a 100-150W panel, but this makes refitting an awful lot easier
I also bought a new Victron MPPT controller which feeds the leisure battery. This is more effciient than the old controller and being modern technology also has the capability of being linked to a smartphone app via bluetooth to give me some details on the charge profile of the battery. That's going to be a later addition when I find the bluetooth dongle at a reasonable price probably second hand.
I also bought a heavy duty cable with fuse to go from the controller to the leisure battery and some solar panel cable to connect from the panel to the controller – I bought the shortest cable because all I really wanted was the connections because I was connecting this into the grey cable which was already in place through the roof.
The previous owner had run a cable with two black cores which was not clear once I had disconnected the old panel so Rhian helped me test with the circuit tester. The one I bought is designed to be cut in ½ so you need twice the length that you have between the panel connections and the controller. It was the same for me with the battery cable – I only needed a couple of feet, but the spare will come in useful some time.
The new connections were all made in a waterproof housing which had grommets where the cable came through
But for "belt and braces" the whole connection box was sealed with flexible sealant as well
I would have liked to have virtually no loose wires, but that would have meant cutting the connections off the solar panel so I arranged them on the rear. it will mean there is spare cable if I need to adjust things so maybe not a bad thing
From this last picture you can see the old frame which was bolted to the roof-rack and to the blue light bracket on the roof. Once it was connected I took the cardboard I had temporarily put over the cells and things worked first time. I now have more reliable power and a basis of a modern system with reliable wiring which I need for the next 2 projects
Here she is sporting the new panel at the Welsh Festival of Land Rovers
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