it was going to be an interior fan, not going on the roof, just the fantastic vent. And yes, speed control would be in the plans, even though it can do 12a that's not always going to be necessary.<br><br>Definitely not challenging the fantastic fans reputation either haha.
800W Solar Powered Sprinter Conversion. (pics)
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wrcsixeight
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I'd be interested to see how well a radiator fan could have its speed controlled. <br><br><br>Here is my Vanmade Interior fan. <br><br>
<br>The fan itself can draw 1 amp, is rated at 118 cfm and moves a narrow dense column of air across my van at 12 volts and I have many areas where i can clamp it. But on 12 volts is loud. But rarely do I need such airflow as it is excessive at 12 volts.<br><br>On 3 volts it is barely audible.<br><br>Mostly I keep it on 4.5, 6, 7.5 or 9 volts. On 9 volts it draws .56 amps.<br><br>The voltage controller can only handle 2 amps. I put a dial on it so it does not need a tool to change voltage settings.<br><br>Fantastic fan also makes an interior fan. A few weeks ago A neighbor of mine asked me to install a new fantastic fan in his class C ceiling. After testing, I found the little spring loaded toggle switch on his old one which deactivates the motor when the lid is lowered was stuck, and he was happy to return the new fan.
Zil
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You need a fuse on the battery cable before the DC bus bar. As close to the battery as you can, and sized to protect the wire (gauge and length).
@zil I think I had one there originally but it was removed when I took out the catastrophe fuses due to sizing issues. Still not super sure about what size it should be due to current flowing from the inverter and and current coming from the battery. <br><br>@wrc how cool does the fantastic fan get? the radiator fans were just for compact low energy ac alternatives but if the vent will do enough perhaps they're unnecessary, ventilation shouldn't be an issue with the fantastic fan installed I imagine.<br><br>also interested in that cigarette receptacle dc controller, what kind of range does it have?<br><br>speaking of those dc receptacles, I bought some of these <br><br><img rel="lightbox" src="http://i.ebayimg.com/t/New-12V-120W...==/$T2eC16J,!y0E9s2S5)-8BQgfpnStQQ~~60_12.JPG" class="bbc_img"><br><br>pretty happy with them, very easy to swap fuses as the image suggests. Have about 10 of them to plug devices into. If I still go with the radiator fans I'd like to go with something like what you did, where it can easily be plugged and unplugged, and even adjusted. <br>Started working on the LED tube lamps too, I'll try to post pictures as more components arrive.
Zil
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Fuse for current from the battery, in a short-circuit it can be catastrophic. Size the fuse to the size and length of your wire. Longer or smaller wires can carry less curent before heating. larger wire larger fuse. just something to consider when you get to fabrication.
wrcsixeight
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The RV I worked on with the fantastik fan was a pretty big class C. It was not a hot day when I was troubleshooting it, but once it turned on, on high , It was very obvious how much air it was exhausting, as there was an instant interior breeze.<br><br>The fantastic fan claims 920 cfm on high, at 2.1 amps.<br><br>Their free standing endless breeze fan for interior circulation lists up to 2.6 amps.<br><br>Ventilation is good, but summer in Florida, all the ventilation in the world might not cut it.<br><br>12.7 amps is a huge draw for a fan, and since a radiator fan would have to be enclosed and mounted and then need a way to be positioned, with a speed control added.......<br><br>The Voltage controller has detents at 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5, 9, and 12 volts<br><br>2 amps seems to be the limit on what current these can pass. I've had to resolder some joints on the circuit board<br><br><a href="http://www.amazon.com/12V-2A-DC-To-Converter/dp/B000KGIDOY/ref=pd_sxp_grid_i_1_2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/12V-2A-DC-To-Converter/dp/B000KGIDOY/ref=pd_sxp_grid_i_1_2</a>
the radiator fan is labeled 12v 80w - Right now in my apartment I have two small 90w fans I run at night to cool the room (ac set to room temp) so I doubt two 80w fans will be that far off. <br><br>12v @ 80w is 6a, and the listing is for two, so maybe that's where the 12A is coming from.<br><br>thanks for the link, I'd be interested to find one that does amps too.
ainley53
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Another fascinating read! Lots of great research and useful info. But what happened to ickkii? No updates since 02/2013.
jimindenver
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Old thread but nice system.
66788
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wrcsixeight said:
I have 205 watts and it is not hooked to the alternator. The solar charges the house battery period. No problems so far, but just in case I have a Honda EU1000 generator for those cloudy days. So far I have not had to use it.
My past conversions used 110VAC devices primarily and the batteries didn't last long before needing a charge. Now my focus is on 12VDC devices and the single gp 31 AGM handles the job quite well.
I have found from years of use that charging the house battery from the alternator tends to shorten the life of the battery by either under or over charging it. I now prefer the precise control that the Morningstar charge controller has over the house battery.
SternWake
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Voltage controls the amount of amps which can flow.
All vehicle platforms are different as to what voltages are allowed and when and for how long.
AGMs tend to like higher amperage charge rates, but some of the lesser$$ AGMS have a 30% limit. 30 amps per 100AH of capacity, and on these batteries, letting loose a well wired alternator on a battery depleted below 80% can greatly exceed this rate, which can cause the vents to open, and irretrievable loss of electrolyte, and premature battery death.
Higher$$ AGMS like Odyssey, Northstar and Lifeline do not have any restrictions placed on maximum amperage, and actually do better when charged at super high rate. Odyssey say no less than 40 amps per 100AH of capacity on a deeply cycled battery, Lifeline says no less than 20 amps. Northstar is more Wishywashy on their minimum charge rates, but in my experience with mine, the higher the better.
Odyssey also says that 40 amps must be applied until 14.7v is reached, then it is to be held for 4 hours. On an Odyssey battery, 14.2v held for an Hour is a recipe for unimpressive battery longevity, from a very expensive battery. On other forums there are lots of complaints about unimpressive battery longevity on Odysseys which are deep cycled and only alternator recharged over much too thin of cabling, for too short a drive. They blame the battery, when it is the improper recharging of it which is to blame for an unimpressive lifespan
I so Wish that an affordable plug in charger allowed the control that my Solar controller allows. Adjustable absorption voltage combined with adjustable duration at which absorption voltage is held is key to fully charging a battery and key to ultimate lifespan.
The more shallow the discharge, the less important it is that the high amp requirements are met. My 200 watts of solar is usually enough to replace the AH I use nightly, but it cannot do it at the rate which keeps my Northstar AGM happiest, not with discharges to 50% nightly. Not even close.
So my Strategy with my single and only battery, a Northstar group 27AGM is a well wired alternator, a 40 amp meanwell adjustable voltage power supply as a plug in charger, and 198 watts of Solar. All three. No way could solar alone keep this battery happy, not with ~50% discharges nightly.
I have a battery monitor right next to my throne and watch the voltage held under certain loads and AH removed and get a great Idea as to how my battery is performing, and after 4 cycles of a low and slow solar only recharge, even to a "100%" state daily, has voltage sagging under this load on night 4 compared to night one. One single high amp recharge restores this loss of performance.
The High Amp requirement of AGMS cannot be understated. Some AGMS are limited as to their maximum amps allowed during charging, but they still benefit from amperages upto these maximums and the deeper their discharge the more they benefit from it. If the discharges are shallow the high amp recharge necessity lessens greatly.
The 30% limited AGMS might very well be more tolerant of Low and slow solar only recharges compared to the higher $$ AGMS which have no upper limits on charging amps.
AGMS tend to get painted with the same brush but their requirements among various brands are Widely variable, and the wise AGM owner knows who actually makes their battery, and what the manufacturer recommended absorption voltage is, as well as how long to hold it and minimum and maximum recommended charging rates.
Ultimately it is the number and depth of cycles which defines how well a battery handles any given charging/discharging scenario.
'Just fine, so far' means nothing, compared to "just fine" for 400 cycles now to 50% depth of discharge.
With an unknown depth of discharge, unknown amount of cycles, and unknown amount of performance loss,......
Batteries lose capacity as they age. How quickly they lose it is determined by how well they are recharged. If a person does not have the tools or desire or Knowledge on how to judge performance/capacity loss, everything is 'just fine', until that one day it is not.
Whether the battery gave good enough service to the owner is subjective.
If the battery fails at an inconvenient time, with no warning to the 'just finers', then it can be more than inconvenient and expensive to replace it.
67888, Our Dodges have wacked out voltage regulation. Mine will seesaw between 13.7v and 14.9v, completely devoid of any Logic. Sometimes when the battery is depleted all it allows is 13.7v and few recharging amps flow, other times when I know the battery is as charged as it can get, the Dodge's VR allows 14.9v into a battery which does not need it. Northstar says at 77F, absorption voltage is to be 14.46v, so 14.9v is well outside this parameter, and significantly more alternator amps can flow at 14.9 vs 14.4v. Perhaps too much, though i have not noticed any significant degradation in performance from allowing it.
I have a solution for this, but I have not yet employed it. It requires tricking and bypassing the VR inside the engine computer, and employing an external one. Doing so without illuminatng the check engine light is the hard part. My goal is to have a potentiometer on My dashboard which allows me to control the voltage when driving from the driver's seat, as this wishy washy 13.7/ 14.9v habit is a bit infuriating to someone as anal retentive as myself. I will start a thread on this once I have employed it and made it functional.
I miss those ignorance was bliss days, but I don't miss replacing improperly recharged batteries every 6 to 12 months, and always worrying that the end might be near.
All vehicle platforms are different as to what voltages are allowed and when and for how long.
AGMs tend to like higher amperage charge rates, but some of the lesser$$ AGMS have a 30% limit. 30 amps per 100AH of capacity, and on these batteries, letting loose a well wired alternator on a battery depleted below 80% can greatly exceed this rate, which can cause the vents to open, and irretrievable loss of electrolyte, and premature battery death.
Higher$$ AGMS like Odyssey, Northstar and Lifeline do not have any restrictions placed on maximum amperage, and actually do better when charged at super high rate. Odyssey say no less than 40 amps per 100AH of capacity on a deeply cycled battery, Lifeline says no less than 20 amps. Northstar is more Wishywashy on their minimum charge rates, but in my experience with mine, the higher the better.
Odyssey also says that 40 amps must be applied until 14.7v is reached, then it is to be held for 4 hours. On an Odyssey battery, 14.2v held for an Hour is a recipe for unimpressive battery longevity, from a very expensive battery. On other forums there are lots of complaints about unimpressive battery longevity on Odysseys which are deep cycled and only alternator recharged over much too thin of cabling, for too short a drive. They blame the battery, when it is the improper recharging of it which is to blame for an unimpressive lifespan
I so Wish that an affordable plug in charger allowed the control that my Solar controller allows. Adjustable absorption voltage combined with adjustable duration at which absorption voltage is held is key to fully charging a battery and key to ultimate lifespan.
The more shallow the discharge, the less important it is that the high amp requirements are met. My 200 watts of solar is usually enough to replace the AH I use nightly, but it cannot do it at the rate which keeps my Northstar AGM happiest, not with discharges to 50% nightly. Not even close.
So my Strategy with my single and only battery, a Northstar group 27AGM is a well wired alternator, a 40 amp meanwell adjustable voltage power supply as a plug in charger, and 198 watts of Solar. All three. No way could solar alone keep this battery happy, not with ~50% discharges nightly.
I have a battery monitor right next to my throne and watch the voltage held under certain loads and AH removed and get a great Idea as to how my battery is performing, and after 4 cycles of a low and slow solar only recharge, even to a "100%" state daily, has voltage sagging under this load on night 4 compared to night one. One single high amp recharge restores this loss of performance.
The High Amp requirement of AGMS cannot be understated. Some AGMS are limited as to their maximum amps allowed during charging, but they still benefit from amperages upto these maximums and the deeper their discharge the more they benefit from it. If the discharges are shallow the high amp recharge necessity lessens greatly.
The 30% limited AGMS might very well be more tolerant of Low and slow solar only recharges compared to the higher $$ AGMS which have no upper limits on charging amps.
AGMS tend to get painted with the same brush but their requirements among various brands are Widely variable, and the wise AGM owner knows who actually makes their battery, and what the manufacturer recommended absorption voltage is, as well as how long to hold it and minimum and maximum recommended charging rates.
Ultimately it is the number and depth of cycles which defines how well a battery handles any given charging/discharging scenario.
'Just fine, so far' means nothing, compared to "just fine" for 400 cycles now to 50% depth of discharge.
With an unknown depth of discharge, unknown amount of cycles, and unknown amount of performance loss,......
Batteries lose capacity as they age. How quickly they lose it is determined by how well they are recharged. If a person does not have the tools or desire or Knowledge on how to judge performance/capacity loss, everything is 'just fine', until that one day it is not.
Whether the battery gave good enough service to the owner is subjective.
If the battery fails at an inconvenient time, with no warning to the 'just finers', then it can be more than inconvenient and expensive to replace it.
67888, Our Dodges have wacked out voltage regulation. Mine will seesaw between 13.7v and 14.9v, completely devoid of any Logic. Sometimes when the battery is depleted all it allows is 13.7v and few recharging amps flow, other times when I know the battery is as charged as it can get, the Dodge's VR allows 14.9v into a battery which does not need it. Northstar says at 77F, absorption voltage is to be 14.46v, so 14.9v is well outside this parameter, and significantly more alternator amps can flow at 14.9 vs 14.4v. Perhaps too much, though i have not noticed any significant degradation in performance from allowing it.
I have a solution for this, but I have not yet employed it. It requires tricking and bypassing the VR inside the engine computer, and employing an external one. Doing so without illuminatng the check engine light is the hard part. My goal is to have a potentiometer on My dashboard which allows me to control the voltage when driving from the driver's seat, as this wishy washy 13.7/ 14.9v habit is a bit infuriating to someone as anal retentive as myself. I will start a thread on this once I have employed it and made it functional.
I miss those ignorance was bliss days, but I don't miss replacing improperly recharged batteries every 6 to 12 months, and always worrying that the end might be near.
masterplumber
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Sternwake, have you done a post on your 40 amp power supply - how you hook it up? I have an Odyssey in my trailer, because I had one in my last camper that was going strong after 10 years. I'm not a heavy user, mainly just LED lights and sometimes running the Fantastic fan. I do have 10 gauge running from the truck to the trailer - not as good as 6 but that is the biggest wires going through the trailer to truck plug. I found a "smart charger" that says it will run up to 15.2 amps, but I've never seen more than 14.4 on the display. I was going to order Odyssey's own charger, but they discontinued them. I do have 8 gauge wired to my roof for future solar, but as you say that doesn't give a high enough charge to be the only source. I realized through reading about 2 years ago that I need something more - I just haven't been able to find the solution. Ignorance is definitely bliss - I never worried about it in my old camper. I'll probably be even more worried when I connect a Bogart Engineering meter to it and can actually see what is happening!
SternWake
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14.7volts is Odysseys recommended absorption voltage, at 77F. COlder battery temps require higher voltages, higher battery temps require lower voltages.
The Meanwell RSP-500-15 is the power supply I use. It was 129$ delivered 14 months ago, with delivery and tax.
https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-My-newest-electrical-toy
One thing I have recently found out is the original voltage trim pot included on these power supplies are only rated for 200 cycles or so. They do require a tiny screwdriver be placed in them for adjustment.
I desoldered this trim pot and added a 10 turn finger twist potentiometer, but it was stressful doing so as I imagined 129$ going up in smoke, and required complete disassembly of the unit. Reassembly required thermal grease be applied between transistors and casing, so what I did , is not for everyone.
To hook one up one needs to cut off a 3 prong 120vAC extension cord and run it to the Unit, and one must also provide the DC output cabling. One also needs to adjust the desired end voltage before hooking it to the battery. I use 45 amp anderson powerpoles for this.
Powermax Converters, have an Adjustable voltage unit out that has a voltmeter and an External potentiometer. One can get them indifferent amp ratings.
These too are MANUAL chargers, requiring an observant human be there to either turn them off, or lower the voltage when the battery is determined to be full. One could also employ a spring wound timer. The following link shows the pricing of the 45 amp Adjustable voltage powermax converter, but I recommend contacting Errin at Powermax.com directly and purchasing through him instead. Earlier this year there was an issue with 100 amp adjustable units being ordered and 75 amp units with 100 amp stickers arriving. The guy behind this link was basically telling consumers that 75=100 and to roll with it. They got it sorted out, but whether it was an honest mistake or simply a bait and switch is unknown to me, lets just say I remain suspicious. Errin got the correct product to my Friend, but the guy at this link was just stubborn, and insulting, and thought he was dealing with a battery newbie or something when telling me 2 group31 AGMS depleted to 50% could never accept 100 amps anyway, Which is Effing BS.
http://www.bestconverter.com/Boondo...ower-ConverterCharger_p_586.html#.VkpAttKrTUI
http://powermaxconverters.com/contact/
Battery monitors are great, however they need to be programmed correctly and re-zeroed occassionally:
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/battery_monitor
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/programming_a_battery_monitor
My battery monitor is responsible for a lot of my knowledge on the Subject of Lead acid batteries. My observtions of it and the batteries it was connected to led to a buynch of" why is this?" type of research.
I still prematurely killed the first set of batteries after getting it, by not knowing how to properly program my solar controller to stay at absorption voltage for long enough.
The Meanwell RSP-500-15 is the power supply I use. It was 129$ delivered 14 months ago, with delivery and tax.
https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-My-newest-electrical-toy
One thing I have recently found out is the original voltage trim pot included on these power supplies are only rated for 200 cycles or so. They do require a tiny screwdriver be placed in them for adjustment.
I desoldered this trim pot and added a 10 turn finger twist potentiometer, but it was stressful doing so as I imagined 129$ going up in smoke, and required complete disassembly of the unit. Reassembly required thermal grease be applied between transistors and casing, so what I did , is not for everyone.
To hook one up one needs to cut off a 3 prong 120vAC extension cord and run it to the Unit, and one must also provide the DC output cabling. One also needs to adjust the desired end voltage before hooking it to the battery. I use 45 amp anderson powerpoles for this.
Powermax Converters, have an Adjustable voltage unit out that has a voltmeter and an External potentiometer. One can get them indifferent amp ratings.
These too are MANUAL chargers, requiring an observant human be there to either turn them off, or lower the voltage when the battery is determined to be full. One could also employ a spring wound timer. The following link shows the pricing of the 45 amp Adjustable voltage powermax converter, but I recommend contacting Errin at Powermax.com directly and purchasing through him instead. Earlier this year there was an issue with 100 amp adjustable units being ordered and 75 amp units with 100 amp stickers arriving. The guy behind this link was basically telling consumers that 75=100 and to roll with it. They got it sorted out, but whether it was an honest mistake or simply a bait and switch is unknown to me, lets just say I remain suspicious. Errin got the correct product to my Friend, but the guy at this link was just stubborn, and insulting, and thought he was dealing with a battery newbie or something when telling me 2 group31 AGMS depleted to 50% could never accept 100 amps anyway, Which is Effing BS.
http://www.bestconverter.com/Boondo...ower-ConverterCharger_p_586.html#.VkpAttKrTUI
http://powermaxconverters.com/contact/
Battery monitors are great, however they need to be programmed correctly and re-zeroed occassionally:
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/battery_monitor
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/programming_a_battery_monitor
My battery monitor is responsible for a lot of my knowledge on the Subject of Lead acid batteries. My observtions of it and the batteries it was connected to led to a buynch of" why is this?" type of research.
I still prematurely killed the first set of batteries after getting it, by not knowing how to properly program my solar controller to stay at absorption voltage for long enough.
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