Not a Self-build, but a Tweaker

wildebus

Forum Member
Decided to get a pair of Mirror Protectors as they seem to be very popular for both protection and better visibility for oncoming traffic.

Fitted the passenger side one with a little bit of a fight.
It is certainly visible :)
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getting the drivers side proved much harder :( Just could not get the protector fully over on the inner side.
I gave up in the end and will try tomorrow. Maybe soak the protector in hot water to make it more malleable first?
 
Millie Master

Millie Master

Forum Member
I am not familiar with these Dave, although I have seen them and have always thought that they make the mirrors far more visible as well as actually improving the appearance of the van.

Are they a clip fit or are they an adhesive bond?

I agree with you about warming them up as it will make them far more pliable, however it will soon cool down in weather like we are having at the moment. If they are a clip fit, then might some kind of dissolving solvent such as possibly white spirit give the unit a bit more slip over the existing unit?

Phil
 

wildebus

Forum Member
Millie Master said:
I am not familiar with these Dave, although I have seen them and have always thought that they make the mirrors far more visible as well as actually improving the appearance of the van.

Are they a clip fit or are they an adhesive bond?

I agree with you about warming them up as it will make them far more pliable, however it will soon cool down in weather like we are having at the moment. If they are a clip fit, then might some kind of dissolving solvent such as possibly white spirit give the unit a bit more slip over the existing unit?

Phil
Click to expand...
They are a push on fit, with a little plate that screws onto the cover and goes over the frame on the glass side to secure.
I put the cover in very hot water and in fact it didn't make much difference at all. Will just have to see how it goes :)
Suggestion from the OPH this morning when she was looking at them .... adding a reflector on the front for even better visibility. Liked that idea

So will get either some like these - https://amzn.to/37umljx
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Or maybe Tape may be better? https://amzn.to/37y6gJU
1603377800734.png
 

wildebus

Forum Member
Doing a bit of weightlifting this afternoon ...

First this arrived from Photonic Universe ...
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P.S. If you are after anything from Photonic Universe, let me know and I will beat their price ;)


And another delivery from Alpha Batteries
1603380438893.png
 

wildebus

Forum Member
This may be interesting to see for some ... An internal view of the Victron EasyPlus 12/1600/70

1603403569470.png

It is essentially a Multiplus 1600 with extra Features which are very nice.
From Top to Bottom, there is a built in Consumer Unit at the top. So you have a master incoming switch that will cut the AC power into the Multiplus Electronics.
Next to that is an output RCD that heads to the MCBs. This section has an interesting feature that is only otherwise available on the 3000VA or bigger Multipluses ... between the RCD and the MCBs there is a little DIN-Rail mounted gizmo that is only activated when there is a live AC input.
This allows one of the MCBs to only be live when EHU is live - ideal for something like a Room Heater which you never want to run on batteries, but need to know about, especially on sites with limited current hookup.

Lower down are all the electronics and coil that makes the unit work.

And at the bottom are the connections. The EasyPlus is different to the normal Multipluses in that it comes pre-cabled with 35mm2 Welding Cable, and terminated at the end (see below). For basic installations you never actually have to take the cover off as all the connections bar a couple of optional ones are external.
1603404403209.png

This is the first time I have got an EasyPlus in, but I have to say I am impressed with it and can see myself specifying it again for some builds as it is very neat :D
 

wildebus

Forum Member
wildebus said:
Tell you guys what? I can't wait for those new batteries to arrive at Alpha Batteries!

Check out what my excessive power use is doing to the "200Ah" Battery Bank!!
View attachment 3048
Down from 12.33V to 11.23V after drawing a maximum current of 0.3A - that is just 3.6Ah in the last 12 hours!
Click to expand...
Decided to drop one of the new batteries into the battery compartment to be able to just have some power available!
Graph below shows the used Varta 75Ah Battery (put in as a slight improvment over the old AGMs that were fitted) on the left side and then - after a GAP when no reporting as voltage dropped too low to run RPi - the new AGM Lead-Carbon battery.
1603532011495.png

Actually more of a drop than I am used to seeing as it happens, as in the Campervan I have been spoiled with a 645Ah Battery Bank and right now the Motorhome is just a 100Ah Battery Bank (albeit an excellent 100Ah Battery). But so so nice to have some reliable power back in place :D

The Voltage vs State of Charge comparison is a very good match for the typical "battery voltage table" you can find from loads of source on-line, so all as expected :)
1603532747727.png

Got a pretty constant 1A draw, which will be from the Raspberry Pi, plus some USB Sockets being powered up and the MiFi connected, so that is the default 'baseline' for the van I guess - at a C100 use rate (1A constant drawn out out a 100Ah battery), it actually only gives you just over 2 days without any charging before you drop close to the 50% max discharge recommendation for the typical battery.


Anyways, will just have to make sure I get this battery recharged before I build the three-battery bank (I usually recharge each battery independently when building a bank anyway so all are at the same point)
 

wildebus

Forum Member
SquirrellCook said:
Most people would see a 1amp load as insignificant, but the hours add up.
Click to expand...
I just went in to have a look how I will be doing some wiring and spotted a "loadhog"! 🛵⚡

I left the TV booster and distributor switched on. After switching them off, the new "Baseline" current is down to 0.4A (and that includes a CCTV camera). Remarkably low, but does mean more than doubled the off-grid 'standby' time the battery will give a parked up motorhome, which is handy,
 

wildebus

Forum Member
Decided to do a little test on on of the new Lead-Carbon Batteries I got for the Motorhome....
It is permitted to take these down to 90%, so very similar to a Lithium battery - but a key difference is that the Lead battery, even the Lead-Carbon version, drops voltage as the charge drops, whereas the LiFePO4 battery has a small drop.
These means in practical terms that in a standard install you couldn't actually use the battery below around 20% anyway as the voltage will get too low to drive 12V devices.
On my test, I went to around 80% Depth of Discharge to see what kind of capacity I could get if there was an occasion I needed to.
1603909411582.png

93.60Ah taken out of this nominal 100Ah battery and still within the 80% DoD zone is pretty good I think.

Plus there is a note on the Datasheet for the battery that says "The battery must be fully charged before the capacity test.The C20 should reach 95% after the first cycle and 100% after the third cycle". So after a couple of cycles I can expect 5% more, so essentially get 100Ah out of this 100Ah battery at 80% DoD if needed.
So pretty pleased with that (bearing in mind it is possible to go to 80% DoD many many times with these batteries so an occasional visit that low will make bugger all difference (y) )

Something I am considering, maybe not immediately, but in the future, is to fit a Buck-Boost regulator in-between the battery and the 12V distribution unit, which could be set at a fixed 12.0V output regardless of the battery voltage. So when charging, can avoid the usual high of ~14.4V which is not great for some systems; and when the battery is low (like as described above), the voltage will be boosted upto a nice steady 12.0V as well.

One option is to actually use the Victron Smart-Tr B2B as a Power Supply, rather than a Battery Charger (You can choose which mode you want to use through the Victron Connect App)
1603910474954.png


In this mode, you set the output Voltage you want to deliver and what the minimum input voltage the battery will carry on outputing to.
1603910668643.png
1603910733417.png

Downside is the Orion Smart-Tr is not a cheap device so while it is perfect for the job, is it really neccessary? Hence the 'suck it and see' approach ;)
It is a shame that Victron don't do a simple 12V/12V DC-DC Converter in the same way they make the 12V/24V and 24V/12V Converters - that would be perfect!
 
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SquirrellCook

SquirrellCook

Forum Member
wildebus said:
Decided to do a little test on on of the new Lead-Carbon Batteries I got for the Motorhome....
It is permitted to take these down to 90%, so very similar to a Lithium battery - but a key difference is that the Lead battery, even the Lead-Carbon version, drops voltage as the charge drops, whereas the LiFePO4 battery has a small drop.
These means in practical terms that in a standard install you couldn't actually use the battery below around 20% anyway as the voltage will get too low to drive 12V devices.
On my test, I went to around 80% Depth of Discharge to see what kind of capacity I could get if there was an occasion I needed to.
View attachment 3150
93.60Ah taken out of this nominal 100Ah battery and still within the 80% DoD zone is pretty good I think.

Plus there is a note on the Datasheet for the battery that says "The battery must be fully charged before the capacity test.The C20 should reach 95% after the first cycle and 100% after the third cycle". So after a couple of cycles I can expect 5% more, so essentially get 100Ah out of this 100Ah battery at 80% DoD if needed.
So pretty pleased with that (bearing in mind it is possible to go to 80% DoD 2,000 times with these batteries so an occasional visit that low will make bugger all difference (y) )

Something I am considering, maybe not immediately, but in the future, is to fit a Buck-Boost regulator in-between the battery and the 12V distribution unit, which could be set at a fixed 12.0V output regardless of the battery voltage. So when charging, can avoid the usual high of ~14.4V which is not great for some systems; and when the battery is low (like as described above), the voltage will be boosted upto a nice steady 12.0V as well.

One option is to actually use the Victron Smart-Tr B2B as a Power Supply, rather than a Battery Charger (You can choose which mode you want to use through the Victron Connect App)
View attachment 3151

In this mode, you set the output Voltage you want to deliver and what the minimum input voltage the battery will carry on outputing to.
View attachment 3152 View attachment 3153
Downside is the Orion Smart-Tr is not a cheap device so while it is perfect for the job, is it really neccessary? Hence the 'suck it and see' approach ;)
It is a shame that Victron don't do a simple 12V/12V DC-DC Converter in the same way they make the 12V/24V and 24V/12V Converters - that would be perfect!
Click to expand...
I struggle to see that a 93.6Ah drain is 80% of 100Ah’s ?

With Betty being 24 volt I do get the luxury of stable 12 volts. One thing I have noticed on Murky is that because I keep the engine start batteries charged, I tend to blacken the small lighting bulbs faster than expected.
 

wildebus

Forum Member
SquirrellCook said:
I struggle to see that a 93.6Ah drain is 80% of 100Ah’s ?

With Betty being 24 volt I do get the luxury of stable 12 volts. One thing I have noticed on Murky is that because I keep the engine start batteries charged, I tend to blacken the small lighting bulbs faster than expected.
Click to expand...
That is the thing. It isn't! :D
It means the 100Ah Battery you buy is actually bigger than 100Ah :)

If you look at Battery Specs for Lead Acid, you see multiple capacities depending on the discharge rate (whereas a Lithium Battery is a straight xxAh whatever the rate). It means that one persons usable battery capacity is actually different to anothers even though they have identical batteries because they have different patterns of use.

The 100Ah quoted for the Ritar Lead Carbons are for the 'recommended' C20 discharge rate (so 5A for 20 hours = 100Ah).
However, if you have a C100 Discharge (1A x 100 hours), the capacity is 106Ah, and if C120 (so 0.83A x 120 hours) the capacity is 108Ah.
The drain I have had over the 5 days or so varies around the 0.5A-1.3A, so probably averages around the 0.8A, so the real capacity is around the number quoted for C120 = 108AH.

On a Wild Camping meet at the Green Frog in Moffat, I was there for the weekend, no hookup, rubbish Solar (was winter) and all electric of course. The Victron GX logged all current use on a minute by minute basis and I was able to see afterwards when analysing the data that despite using hot water (2kw heater), and occasional electric hob (around 1kw setting), my average discharge current rate was lower than C100 so the "real" battery capacity in that van was not just bigger than the default C20 but more than the larger C100 rating.

Not sure if I am explaining it that well?
Maybe think of the battery like a fuel tank in car... the car specs say that you can do 500 miles (Ah) on the tank. But if you drive slowly (less current) you will get further, but if you cane the engine (more current), you will not get as far.
 

wildebus

Forum Member
So after quite a bit of work and time (mostly spent sitting, staring and musing over where to put what and how to route things) I am on the final straight of the electrics update :D

A little (hah!) write-up will follow for anyone interested in the details, but right now I have 300Ah of Lead Acid Battery installed in the Motorhome alongside a EasyPlus 1600 (1300W inverter, 70A Charger) and while still a few bits to complete, it is a fully working system! Yay!!

Currently giving the EasyPlus and Battery Bank a little bit of work to do running the Fridge. Be interesting to see what the 3-Way fridge takes out the Batteries as it is so less efficient than the 240V Compressor Fridge I have in the Campervan (204W vs 34W - that is a hell of a difference!)
1604399750540.png

Also be interesting seeing what the Battery Monitor SOC in the screenshot reports as this is not the BMV-712 Monitor that is being reported (not made the extended cable yet to connect it up) but the Battery Monitor built into the EasyPlus (and other Multipluses).
PS. Whilst I have an MPPT connected, I have no PV Panels, so that will be 0W for quite a while!
 
Millie Master

Millie Master

Forum Member
Are you going to wait for warmer drier weather before putting the PV Panels up on the roof and will you have enough room for as many panels as you would like to have Dave?

Phil
 

wildebus

Forum Member
Millie Master said:
Are you going to wait for warmer drier weather before putting the PV Panels up on the roof and will you have enough room for as many panels as you would like to have Dave?

Phil
Click to expand...
Probably wait for nicer weather, but purely for my own comfort :) The panels will not be being stuck down so that aspect is not a factor weather-wise (y)

Never enough room for all the panels you want :D But I have come up with something that should be pretty nice and look pretty tidy as well (asthetics matter ;) ). I now have what I think will be everything I need for a very particular installation after a bit of brainstorming with Rae (streetsleeper) :geek:
 

wildebus

Forum Member
Just about finished installing the electrics update under the seat (see https://motorhomebuilder.com/threads/turbo-charging-motorhome-electrics.67127/page-2#post-876279).

Added an additional 240V AC Socket by the drivers side bench so I can use it with the Laptop Charger rather than having to have the lead strung across from another Socket.
1609613351613.png


Couple of days earlier installed a pair of Spurs for easier control of the AC Supply to the Boiler and the Fridge, plus a Twin USB Socket for in-cupboard use.
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Chose the locations of these sockets and spurs carefully so they are in-keeping with the factory style :)
 
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