Warwick XL - Off-grid modifications

How about the wire saw used to remove bonded windscreens a bit like a cheese wire with a handle on each end? Hope it is sikaflex and not tiger seal as that stuff sticks like the proverbial!
Graham

gobsmacked wrote:I will try build such a tool.

I've never had much luck with cutting wires, but a Swann Morton handle No.3 (and a No.7 for where you need long reach) may be what you need, plus a selection of suitable blades.

If you are putting a solar panel there just leave the base plate in situ  unless your using the stick down panel

You could also build a dam around the panel with something like plasticine clay and fill with sikaflex 208 remover and leave to do it’s magic

Grabea wrote:How about the wire saw used to remove bonded windscreens a bit like a cheese wire with a handle on each end? Hope it is sikaflex and not tiger seal as that stuff sticks like the proverbial!
Graham

Great! I did not know of such a tool, I tried to build it myself with piano wire, I will pass by a car workshop and see what they use. I was assuming the plate is fixed with Sicaflex but to be honest I have no idea if is that or tiger seal.
I could try writing to Auto-Sleepers and ask what they use for mounting

Roopert wrote:

gobsmacked wrote:I will try build such a tool.

I've never had much luck with cutting wires, but a Swann Morton handle No.3 (and a No.7 for where you need long reach) may be what you need, plus a selection of suitable blades.

Very Clever! Thanks for the precise product name!

FreelanderUK wrote:If you are putting a solar panel there just leave the base plate in situ  unless your using the stick down panel

You could also build a dam around the panel with something like plasticine clay and fill with sikaflex 208 remover and leave to do it’s magic

If we are going for a third solar panel there it will be indeed a semiflexible glued one, so the plate has to go. Your suggestion of letting the removing doing its work sounds very clever. I will consider it after verifying with Auto-Sleeper if they indeed used Sicaflex (I was assuming that)
Thanks

Hello fellow owners,

here comes another chapter of our modification to achieve better off-grid capabilities.
SOLAR Panel upgrade
To avoid pulling new cables, the 2 new solar panels will be wired in serial.  This allows higher voltage and more efficiency for the controller while keeping a lower amperage.
The only drawback is partial shading of a panel.

Products used in this setup:

• SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 (https://www.victronenergy.com/solar-charge-controllers/smartsolar-mppt-75-10-75-15-100-15-100-20)
  
• 2 x Solara Power M 105 W Semi flexible solar panels S465M31 (https://www.solara.eu/products/solar-panels-felxible-without-frames/)
  
• IP65 Waterproof junction box - (https://www.solara.eu/products/solar-panels-felxible-without-frames/)
  
• Cable glands for Ø 6 mm solar cable
  
• 2 poles DC MCB 10 Amp (https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07PCRWKB5)
  
• Surface-Mounted Small Distribution Box for MCB (https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07K5W1Y6S)
  
• 6 mm polycarbonate sheets
  
• Sicaflex
  

Removal of old panel and gland
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After cleaning the area, drilled a suitable hole on the back side of the junction box to the the placement instead of the cable gland
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Preparing the junction box with the 2 cell protectors for serial connection and attached glands for solar cables
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Junction fixed in place with sicaflex and connected to the original cable going inside the van
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All surface cleaned, using a template for the solar panel to finalize placement and masking
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All surfaces primed and 6.5 cm wide panels of 6mm polycarbonate glued with sicaflex to create breathable support in the van ridges
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Solar panels glued on top of ridges and policarbonate using sicaflex
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Solar panels wired on the junction box
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Final solar panels overview (need to install cable cips glued to the roof)
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Inside the van (no picture at this time)

• Mount the MCB and box in a suitable place under the bench near the EC500
  
• Disconnect the solar positive and negative cable from the existing solar controller inside the EC500
  
• Connect the solar positive and negative to the 10 Amp MCB Input 
  
• Connect the Victron Solar Controller directly to your battery system and program it for your battery type
  
• Connect the Victron Solar Controller to the 10 Amp MCB Output
  

For any question, clarification or missing details, please ask

Nicely done, we only had room for 100w on our roof due to the size of the dish. Never needed more than the standard battery yet though plus we have 2x 22AH lipo batteries as a backup.  Interested in how the wifi antenna works as that is a thing I have been thinking of getting.

J&P,
I dithered on fitting a WiFi antenna and Huawei router in the van but bit the bullet earlier in the year.
I had always used the phone as a mobile hotspot until then with a pretty decent amount of success but the MiFI in the van has proved a great improvement. Also, the fact we now have 2 networks to choose from (phone and Mifi) has been a saviour on more than one occasion.

jennyandpeter wrote:Nicely done, we only had room for 100w on our roof due to the size of the dish. Never needed more than the standard battery yet though plus we have 2x 22AH lipo batteries as a backup.  Interested in how the wifi antenna works as that is a thing I have been thinking of getting.

Thanks a lot, I don’t know the layout of the Duo, in our XL we removed the TV antenna to create space for the second panel. 
We also removed the satellite antenna to reduce weight and reusing the cable hole for the WiFi, 3/4G antenna. 
The antenna is already tested with the peplink max transit router and works perfectly with a wide range of band coverage

Dbvwt wrote:…. Also, the fact we now have 2 networks to choose from (phone and Mifi) has been a saviour on more than one occasion.

Having multiple network was also the reason we chose the peplink Max transit. 
It can accommodate 2 SIM cards and be programmed in various way regarding which one to choose.

Dbvwt wrote:J&P,
I dithered on fitting a WiFi antenna and Huawei router in the van but bit the bullet earlier in the year.
I had always used the phone as a mobile hotspot until then with a pretty decent amount of success but the MiFI in the van has proved a great improvement. Also, the fact we now have 2 networks to choose from (phone and Mifi) has been a saviour on more than one occasion.

We dithered for ages before having an aerial and Huawei router installed (supplied by MotorhomeWiFi). It's made a great improvement to our internet connection and also means the passenger has an excellent internet signal while we're on the move.  
One thing to bear in mind: the system we have is normally used with its SIM and mobile data in its various forms (2, 3, 4G), but I think the roof aerial is not designed to pick up campsite wifi. so, although it's possible to swap the router so it uses campsite wifi, you're relying on the aerial inside the router, not the roof aerial, which means it's about the same reception as a mobile phone. This isn't a problem for us as 4G coverage is fine and we don't use anything like our maximum data allowance, so aren't bothered about connecting to a campsite's local wifi network, but it's something to bear in mind when thinking about buying wifi kit.

Slow-Lane wrote:.. but I think the roof aerial is not designed to pick up campsite wifi. so, although it's possible to swap the router so it uses campsite wifi, you're relying on the aerial inside the router, not the roof aerial, which means it's about the same reception as a mobile phone. ....

The antenna we have installed (same place where MotorhomeWiFi gets their antennas i am sure) is a model among these [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

These antennas come in different configurations, our is:
GPS/GNSS:1562-1612MHz 26dB LNA
Cellular / LTE: 4x4MiMo: 617-960/1710-6000MHz
WiFi: 4x4MiMo: 2.4/5.0GHz
The above means that the dome contains 1 GPS antenna, 4 x Cellular antennas (frequency covering from 2g to 5g) and 4 Wifi Antennas.
To the antenna, we have connected the Peplinl Max Transit mobile router (https://www.peplink.com/products/transit-series-max-transit/) instead of the more simple router provided by MotorhomeWiFi
In this way, the router server these purposes:
1) Creates a wifi access point for the van appliances and the passengers
2) Connect to 2,3,4G using 4 antennas and 2 different sim cards
3) Connects to public wifi to save money on the cellular data usage

It's a more expensive solution but it fits our need for mobile office and solid connectivity in all Europe

The white cable that came threw the roof you have used dose not look thick enough for solar panel use, it looks like 5amp lighting cable that some one has used

FreelanderUK wrote:The white cable that came threw the roof you have used dose not look thick enough for solar panel use, it looks like 5am lighting cable that some one has used

The cable is at least 1,5mm2 at it fits perfectly the max 10Amp rating we need for the 2 solar panels connected in series.
Have a look at this thread where I started investigating before going for this solution
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At 1.5mm2 your getting nearly a 1volt drop over a length of 4m, 4mm2 is standard cable to use for solar panels and 6mm2 is even better

FreelanderUK wrote:At 1.5mm2 your getting nearly a 1volt drop over a length of 4m, 4mm2 is standard cable to use for solar panels and 6mm2 is even better

Absolutely 6mm2 would be my choice if I wanted to pull a new cable, but given the hassle of doing it and the not immediate necessity, I went for what works according to calculations.
The inside portion of the wiring (from the DC MCB to the Solar Controller and to the Battery) is done with 6mm2
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I use the Victron cable calculator tool for solar installation and this shows below, it’s good your using 6mm2 from controller to battery,I used 10mm2 
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FreelanderUK wrote:I use the Victron cable calculator tool for solar installation and this shows below, it’s good your using 6mm2 from controller to battery,I used 10mm2 

The Victron Calculator unfortunately did not allow me to specify the amp of my system, 6,3. The minimum allowed is 10, That is why I used another tool.
I used only 6mm2 from the Controller to the battery since our controller is a 75/15 and the specifications for the power terminal is 6mm2 and the cable is fine for 15 amp current
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What model of SmartSolar are you using?

I am using a 100/20 controller , but I terminated the ends of the cable with bootlace ferrules

IMO 1.5mm2 is a reasonable compromise, given the setup and the fact that the panels are in series.

Ok, you might squeeze a percent or two extra by ripping out the old wiring and putting in 4mm2. But it sounds like that's going to take hours of work, and maybe there are more important things in life than that percent or two!

We had to make similar compromises on solar cabling (because big cables are hard to get into small spaces) and it hasn't caused us any problems.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I don't mess with the electrics in my Warwick

FreelanderUK wrote:I am using a 100/20 controller , but I terminated the ends of the cable with bootlace ferrules

Ok, now it makes sense why you could use 10mm2, the terminals in your model are probably a little bigger and also you need to deal with a slightly higher Amp output
I do too terminate my cables with ferrules and when I fitted those for 6 mm2 they could hardly be inserted into the terminals of the 75/15

Roopert wrote:IMO 1.5mm2 is a reasonable compromise, given the setup and the fact that the panels are in series.

Ok, you might squeeze a percent or two extra by ripping out the old wiring and putting in 4mm2. But it sounds like that's going to take hours of work, and maybe there are more important things in life than that percent or two!

We had to make similar compromises on solar cabling (because big cables are hard to get into small spaces) and it hasn't caused us any problems.

Exactly my point. And worse case, or if I want to spend time doing it, or I need to remove the internal furniture for other reasons, I can always pull I new cable.

Bilbobaggins wrote:And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I don't mess with the electrics in my Warwick

It sounds more complicated than it is.
The bottom line is that if you don't have a need for doing it, don't get started.
We are going little by little to circumvent all parts of the EC500 that do not fit our needs, and by updating this thread I hope that others that have the same need will find usable information and not need to start from scratch :-)