Solar Sucess

Its been a while since I posted on here, but there has been some progress recently

I have finished fitting the dual charge system into Katy and have left her over Christmas and the new year without the intelligent battery charger running during which time I would have expected the alarm etc. to have drawn down the battery enough to make the starting at least a little sluggish

However the new split charge system seems to have done its's work well and she started on first turnover

This is the next phase of the system I described installing in the post do-land-rovers-dream-of-electric-sheep and consists of an intelligent device between the main and leisure battery

 Admittedly the wiring looks a little untidy at the moment, its out of sight, but will be sorted finally once I am 100% sure that the new system is working fully as I want. in the mean time all I need to do is pull the passenger seat forwards to get at all of this...

 Another addition has been the installation of a bluetooth controller monitoring system so I can see the state of the system on my phone. It was a very easy install.. plug it in, connect via bluetooth, Change Default Password! and use it.

I put that bit in bold because it's a key step that anyone installing any form of computer equipment should do. its got a bit too much cable and I need to find a tidier way to deal with that, but it is all working 

This is what I see on my phone, the state of the voltages at any point in time and what mode the charger is using (in this case float because the batteries are full

And I can look at the last 30 days to see what it did.. not much because there has not been much drawn from the batteries, but useful when we get going and use the system for real

There is an option in the system where you can connect both batteries to help start in an emergency. I have not as yet put this in because if both are fully charged why would I need it? Time will tell if that is the correct decision

Do Land Rovers Dream of Electric Sheep Part II?

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

Katy's Winter Put Away

November is a cold time of year, it's not a good time for workong on vehicles outdoors and there are no car shows to visit either so its the time of year for putting things away and making things ready for winter.

In Katy's case this means taking out the soft furnishings and anything else that can be damaged if it gets damp through any water ingress or simply condensation build up. It means making sure she goes for a run now and again to charge the battery and if I can't manage that plugging in the intelligent battery charger I bought.

These next generation battery charging devices are becoming more common and from the reviews I have read do a much better job than the old ones.

From initial use on both Katy and our classic mini the initial summary is that the device is a lot more informative about the state of the battery, the state of the charge and the status of the recharge. There are multiple devices in this market place. The one I purchased has won a "best buy" award from a Land Rover magazine, but to be honest it was the one available in our local auto spares shop when I went in so little more thinking than that

I've not used all the features, but so far so good and I hope to have a more reliable start whenever I need a vehicle this winter, andI don't want to rely on my previous best buy in this area the "Instant start charger".

It gets you going, but with the mains start it means you have not been looking after your battery and it's a sledgehammer approach to this problem. Hopefully  by the spring my review will be as positive as others I have seen. I will also be using it on the leisure battery as I do not think that the Solar panel we have is effective at keeping that charged. it was fitted in 2001 so there have been a lot of developments in that area and it is one I will need to investigate across the winter looking at a possible upgrade

Cardiff to Langorse for the Air Ambulance

Getting Katy was about many things and fun was high on the list 

This event was all about that, and making money for charity too. It was a road run from Cardiff to Langorse for the Air Ambulance charity

The team from SWLRC gathered at the start, minus us at first because Katy would not start with a flat battery so I am now the proud owner of a new Ring battery charger purchased from our Local Halfords (thank goodness they had it on stock) with instant charge so you can start your vehicle from the mains - wonderful gadget so I have no worries recommending it 

picture from Halfords web page - used as fair use, get in touch if you disagree and I'll take a picture of my unit

We did make it in time for the group picture. Rhian and Misty at the front there on the left

With all the vehicles at the side of the road we looked a wonderful sight. Stratstone have never had so many excellent vehicles on show

Including Chris's excellent ex-military Land Rover fully decked out and ready for action

There was of course plenty of opportunity for people to admire the new offerings from Land Rover, no-one succumbed, but I think Martyn was tempted

But we were soon off on the run which you can watch highlights of here

Another stop at Likes of Brecon where some of the team took on the off-rad course to get their tyres dirty including Wayne and Amanda's "Wobble" still looking good after the photo shoot at Blaenavon they did for Classic Land Rover Magazine

And then to the fun and games at the lake including the Knobbly knees competition

Here we have our Chairman Edwin and Noel Harper our guest for the day and Chairman of the Land Rover Enthusiasts club from Dunedin, Otago  (in the black T Shirt) comparing. Neither won!

Many people admiring Peter's wonderful Series 1 and he even let people do things in the engine bay whilst we were there (Brave man)

And just to prove we were still enjoying ourselves as the sun went down