Black and Green Bongo

All about modifications, shiny alloys, chrome wheel nuts & mirrors, body skirts and much more!

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Yan
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Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by Yan » Thu Feb 02, 2017 4:47 pm

Hi redrocket,

That panel looks great, good choice to go with the black. Are you finding the 80w panel enough even with your fridge running full time?

I'm looking at doing this at some point.
redrocket
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Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by redrocket » Thu Feb 02, 2017 5:42 pm

Yan wrote:Hi redrocket,

That panel looks great, good choice to go with the black. Are you finding the 80w panel enough even with your fridge running full time?

I'm looking at doing this at some point.
If i was to go away this past week i would say no, purely based on the fact since ive had it which is only a week, its been mostly real thick cloud, which disperses all the suns rays so what you get from the panel is minimal anywhere between 0.15amp/hours to 1.5amp/hours. However there has been two times this past week where there has been sun without cloud for a short period and within that time i managed to generate a decent amount of energy, even in lite cloud i can get between 1 to 1.5 amphours being generated, this is with a MPPT controller, if i had a PWM controller it would be less.

In the height of summer when we get 16 hours of sun a day i should easily be able to keep that battery floating on 100% .
The panel coupled with an MPPT controller at max efficiency could see upto 6.6amps being delivered to the battery minus around 2% power loss through wiring, again at max input from the panel.

My waeco cr50 fridge uses at max inefficiency i think 1.7 amp/hours i am more than confident that the solar panel will regenerate the power used over night when the solar panels off and when it is being used in the day.

As a quick example my 110ah battery would take 16.6 hours to charge from flat if i could maintain 6.6amps from the MPPT, so if i got even half the amps average id atleast refill 50% without load,

with load of 1.7 per hour totalling 40.8 per 24 hours for fridge, with 3.3amps average over 16 hours id regenerate 52.8amps whilst sun is out


This is all guess work at the moment as i haven't seen a full proper summer sunny day and know charging is not 100% efficient, so only time will tell, still more room for another if i find it needs it.
Yan
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Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by Yan » Fri Feb 03, 2017 1:31 pm

Thanks for the info, very useful :)

Having never had a solar panel, you read about what they should be capable of and they all seem to suggest an 80w is more than capable. It's good to hear first hand experiences about certain makes and models of panel. As I don't have the AFT roof I think these flexible ones will look the best for me.

The write up on your panel seems to be good and of a higher quality than most.

Like you say it's early days yet, it will be interesting to see how it goes on mixed weather week with more sunny days. I think the idea of using solar for a spot of wild camping or just saving money at campsites is hard to resist.

I've been keeping my eye on this one, it's only got the PWM unit, but the price and look is good. http://www.beamled.com/biard-80w-flexib ... oller.html
redrocket
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Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by redrocket » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:25 am

I think you'll definitely want the MPPT controller, take a look at the image below, this is the status of power being generated from the solar panel and whats going into the battery

Image

This was on the partly sunny day we had Saturday, 19.56 volts being generated but only 1.18 amps, if you had a PWM type controller thats all youd get delivered to the battery after modulating the voltage down to 12.99V as per my battery. With the MPPT you convert the unused power above 12.99 into extra amps which instead of 1.18 amps i was getting 1.79 amps.

theoretically with a 80w panel and a pwm controller youd only ever be able to extract a maximum of 53watts compared to 79.2 watts from an mppt.

Deffo worth the extra cash
janandhamish
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Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by janandhamish » Fri Feb 17, 2017 11:59 pm

Looked so good I've bought the same but with a Lensun dual battery control unit. What did you use to bond the panel to the roof ? I'm thinking black sikoflex but am worried at the damage I'd do if I ever had to remove it.
Be sure Interested to hear your thoughts.
redrocket
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Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by redrocket » Tue Feb 21, 2017 3:45 pm

janandhamish wrote:Looked so good I've bought the same but with a Lensun dual battery control unit. What did you use to bond the panel to the roof ? I'm thinking black sikoflex but am worried at the damage I'd do if I ever had to remove it.
Be sure Interested to hear your thoughts.
Ahh good to know ive helped someone in their choosing, and if i ever happen to run flat on my starter battery, im gonna have to do the same as you and get the dual battery unit.

To stick the panel down i used this lavely stuff from toolstation
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Adhesiv ... 0ml/p67949

spec sheet avaialbe from the manufacturers website below
http://www.everbuild-tecnic.co.uk/product/puraflex-40/


Its black its adhesive and its a sealant made from Polyurethane which i hear is the thing to use, It has high mechanical resistance to vibrations which is obviously good considering wind.

I basically laid a track of PU around the edge of the entire solar panel an inch from the edge to stop it leaking out the sides when put in position and gently flattening down, then did several vertical tracks across the rest of the area.
This stuff is really thick and doesnt want to come out lightly and the roof does have a gentle curve which the adhesive held the panel down in place right away.

I have had the panel only for a few weeks but have driven at motorway speeds and in very windy conditions and all is hanging in there.

I couldnt comment on the removal, I would imagine unless you sliced through the silicon first you would break the panel unfortunately as they are not made to flex a lot.

You could bolt it down through the roof, which some do, which would improve removability, you just end up with visible nuts and bolts in the roof area which i wouldnt want to catch my head/feet on if you use the area to sleep in.

Hope this helps
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mikeonb4c
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Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by mikeonb4c » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:32 pm

I think the removable panel brigade use the existing threaded inserts (for roof racks etc) in the AFT for mounting their solar panels? You don't want to be drilling holes right through your roof if at all avoidable. I think the removable panel brigade also like the panel having ventilation around it as panel efficiency decreases as it gets hot, from what i read.
redrocket
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Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by redrocket » Wed Apr 05, 2017 9:06 pm

Just thought i would update this post regarding the i0w solar panel. Since the clocks went forward the sun has been out to play and i thot i would give the solar panel a test, so ive had the waeco cr50 fridge freezer on constantly since sunday to see how well the solar panel can keep the 120amph battery charged up. Previously after 3 days the battery voltage was below what would power the fridge.
Now its been on the same amount of time and the battery is reading a voltage of 12.7v right now with the sun down and the sun hasnt even been through that much the last couple of days.
So i can say if you havent got one and are wondering about getting one they are definetly worth it and you just know in the heart of summer itll only perform better.
Since the fridge is cold ill load in some beer ready for finishing work for the week tomorrow ;)
Bongolia
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Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by Bongolia » Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:00 am

redrocket wrote:Just thought i would update this post regarding the i0w solar panel. Since the clocks went forward the sun has been out to play and i thot i would give the solar panel a test, so ive had the waeco cr50 fridge freezer on constantly since sunday to see how well the solar panel can keep the 120amph battery charged up. Previously after 3 days the battery voltage was below what would power the fridge.
Now its been on the same amount of time and the battery is reading a voltage of 12.7v right now with the sun down and the sun hasnt even been through that much the last couple of days.
So i can say if you havent got one and are wondering about getting one they are definetly worth it and you just know in the heart of summer itll only perform better.
Since the fridge is cold ill load in some beer ready for finishing work for the week tomorrow ;)
Thanks for the update Redrocket useful info. Its is nice to know how these mods perform over time.
redrocket
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Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by redrocket » Thu Apr 06, 2017 8:45 am

Hows your conversion/plans coming along by the way? Keep looking out to see if youve posted an update...which i may have missed if you have.
Bongolia
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Re: Black and Green Bongo

Post by Bongolia » Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:44 am

redrocket wrote:Hows your conversion/plans coming along by the way? Keep looking out to see if youve posted an update...which i may have missed if you have.
Hi Redrocket
Slowly :D
I cannot complain I had a good 3 months more or less uninterrupted on the Wasp but now paying work has picked up big time I have been called out of semi retirement :( and am "back on the tools" for a bit consequently I cannot get as much time on it as I would like.
Next bit is to plumb in the Webasto and then get the engine started.

I have dummied out the interior using cardboard boxes and it will be a rear end with a wardrobe on the N/S like this
https://goo.gl/photos/wTtdQffhmUgSVWvQ6 :P :P
Well its a start! :D
I put any updates here http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/view ... &start=135
Keeps them all in one place although a bit higgledy–piggledy.
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