1996 AS Harmony 2ltr Petrol

Hi Folks.

I intend installing a Solar charging system together with a Battery Master in order to keep both batteries charged when off hook up and would greatly appreciate any advice regarding size of panel, type of charge controller (PWM or MPPT), cable routing, etc. I would be especially interested in hearing from owners of the older AS Harmony and Symbol models who may have installed such a system.

Thanks for reading and Seasons Greetings to all.
Grahame

Hi Grahame

I've never fitted one, but the consensus of opinion seems to suggest that an 80 watt panel should be adequate for most users, and that the additional expense of an MPPT controller is not really worth it. They are more efficient, but not dramatically so.

I do have a Battery Master, and they are well worth installing. Literally "fit and forget" which is just what you want.

If you don't have LED lights throughout the van it would be worth considering those. They save a lot of power, and there are now available units directly to replace most types of fitting if you don't want to bother fiddling with the wiring. (They also come in warm or cold white. The cold white is a bit harsh, but OK in the kitchen area where you need strong light. The warm white is slightly yellowish and much more restful for the lounge area.)

Hope this helps a bit.

Dave. 

Thanks for your reply. I've been toying with either an 80 or a 100 Mono panel and the major problem I have is where to buy it - there seem to be so many suppliers, but which one to trust for aftersale problems. 

As far as the controller is concerned I'll try and buy a complete kit which should include an appropriate unit.

Changing over my lighting to LED is already high on my "things to do" list - it's just a matter of getting round to it.

Once again, thanks for your input Dave.
Seasons Greetings and Best Regards
Grahame

If you're looking to change the lighting for better power conservation, focus your attention on filament bulbs and, particularly, halogens (because they tend to be the highest wattage of filament bulbs used) first. You'll gain a lot by changing these to LED.

There's not so much to be gained (in terms of power use) by changing fluorescent fittings, as they are pretty efficient anyway - though of course you have to put up with the warm-up time, which you don't get with LEDs.

Thanks Mojo, I'll keep that in mind.

Seasons Greetings 

Grahame

I have a Photonics Universe panel which works well, they do complete kits, but cannot comment on the controller side of things as I have a sargent with built in controller on my van.

Richard

Thanks for the panel info Richard, I'll get in touch with Photonics to see what they can do for me, bearing in mind that my van is nearly 20 years older than yours.

Regards Grahame

Grahame T wrote:Thanks for the panel info Richard, I'll get in touch with Photonics to see what they can do for me, bearing in mind that my van is nearly 20 years older than yours.

Regards Grahame

And a lot more reliable I hope!

Richard

Richard. 

I've only been out on a couple of one-nighters since acquiring it in April and, as it's only got less than 27K on the clock, I'm hoping it's going to last many, many more years before anything serious goes wrong.

Grahame