Hennepin and Franklin, but weekends near Rush City.

Not sure anyone would stalk me, unless they wanted to die of boredom!

Made sure chains fit today, LoL

(10-14-2017, 03:15 PM)MN C Van Wrote: Hennepin and Franklin, but weekends near Rush City.

Not sure anyone would stalk me, unless they wanted to die of boredom!

Made sure chains fit today, LoL

Hey, crazies will stalk Anybuddy!    I digress.

Yup, knew the area back in the day. I used to bar tend on Lake St.  "oyvey!" 

(10-13-2017, 09:39 PM)Gary Wrote: If that a rusty caravan with 220k in the bank you're sitting pretty but if thats the mileage,you might want to start looking for a replacement

Scary

It now has 233k on it, LoL. It did those 13,000 miles with only a rusty e-brake issue.
Wrenched on it a bit more, but nothing that was critical- compelled by necessity.



I'll let you know when it made it another 10k without leaving me fodder for coyotes.

Hey, good to here its still ticking... hope you are finding places to camp and stay that are your liking.

I also appreciate your willingness to answer those PM questions I had about the van platform. For anyone wondering about using a minivan, he’s a good resource.

Do you have any concerns with the Engel (12v compressor fridg) power draw? I forget what kind of battery(ies) you have and the size/setting of the fridg. Perhaps you could let us know what your system is and how its performing. I think I remember that you had two 100 watt glass panels, but I dont remember what they were “feeding”.

Take care,
TWIH, still in a Prius

Thanks for the props,


Two 150 watts, an Indel B (Truckfrige) and 6 volt golf carts sitting between the seats.

Fridge doesn't really use anything- logs say lowest battery voltage, ever, was 12.39.
People don't want to hear it, but BW was right on about the batteries.

We have an Ingel, a roof vent fan, 200 solar watts and one marine battery. No issues.

Seems golf carts are still preferred unless you have deep pockets for a good AGM. 
Also sounds like at least 200 watts is better, and likely glass panels vs. flexible.

PWM controllers ok?

BW doesn’t have the corner on battery logic, all the other forums I read (boating, Expedition, Truck Camping) all say the same. Seems to me I remember some recent build video for his replacement van had AGM’s.

Thanks for the replies.

I don't know. People were freaking over PWMs so I got a MPPT.
Seemed to make sense due to high panel voltage- But the PWM would likely have worked near as good.

I can tell you with all confidence: that, with solar and 'experts' opinions:
The way you mount panels will always be wrong
The type or amount of panels will always be wrong
The controller will be wrong
The wiring will be wrong
The fusing will be wrong
The batteries will be wrong
Your settings will definitely be wrong

To justify, they swear they saw an entire campground electrocuted, then burned because they didn't do something their way, and you're definitely going to die, too. Imaginary doomsday scenarios seems to be the default way to pee in some one's Wheaties at CRVL.

And, of course, spending LOTS of money really seems to correlate with doing things right! LoL

So, PWM controller:

Ha, funny. 

BW and I agreed on one point, for the price difference, just fit another 100A panel on the roof if you have room, instead of buying MPPT. Also, the “true” MPPT controllers aren't so easy to determine it seems... lots of fakes and other than a low price, how to tell from an advert?

I am glad that J***61ct is gone or he’d have commented much like you said. Fortunately (or really not) he is spreading his misinformation over on CRVL, as well as other forums. 
Rant over.

(06-18-2018, 07:04 AM)We TWIH Wrote: Ha, funny. 

BW and I agreed on one point, for the price difference, just fit another 100A panel on the roof if you have room, instead of buying MPPT. Also, the “true” MPPT controllers aren't so easy to determine it seems... lots of fakes and other than a low price, how to tell from an advert?

I am glad that J***61ct is gone or he’d have commented much like you said. Fortunately (or really not) he is spreading his misinformation over on CRVL, as well as other forums. 
Rant over.

Hey, 61 is the reason this forum is going so well. No logic allowed on crvl