Re: [OT] Power Shower Transformer/ way ot now, my electrical needs


"Simian" <simian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:YMKdnarl2-SDZMLUnZ2dnUVZ8rydnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Richard Wood wrote:

'boots@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' wrote...
>
> On Sat, 3 Jan 2009 20:07:14 -0000 in uk.rec.motorcycles, frag says:
>
> > 'gazz' wrote...
> >>
> >> i have 3 x 125 watt panels on the foor of my motorhome, paid
> under£300 >> each, first one from a bloke who bought a pallet of em
> from america, other 2 >> i bought in germany after i fitted a 12
> volt compressor fridge freezer and >> needed to keep up with the 80
> amp hours a day it used from my battery bank. >>
> >> add to that 100 euro's for a decent charge controller, and i'm
> at about a >> grand
> >
> > A grand to power a fridge/freezer that would take about £75 a
> > year to run from the mains?
>
> You missed the bit about camping
>
> Gazz wrote "they only make financial sense to me as i like to camp
> away from campsites"

Ah, indeed I did miss it.

Still seems a hell of a lot of money. A hundred or so on a quiet
genny to charge up the batteries as needed would be my choice.

Noisy.

On the other hand, last time I went properly camping, I didn't use any
electricity at all.

well i do have a fair bit of other stuff to power than the fridge freezer, used to have a 3 way fridge with small freezer box, but was useless running on gas above 25 degrees C, so the new much larger 12 volt fridge freezer allows me to do less shops for frozen food, but at the cost of needing more power.

Items that use power in my motorhome range from the almost essential, to the feckin silly and even my house dosent have one devises, most items run directly on 12 volts DC, but the odd high powered item runs on mains via an inverter.

lights: almost essential, especialy when were outside summer, i use cold cathodes as they provide me with the ammount of light i need for the least power,

Water pump, (not a shower type one) ok i went for one that gives near house style pressure, a flow of upto 10 litres a minute which it automaticaly adjusts, as we 'only' have 140 litres of fresh water onboard, you do have to adjust your showering style when camping, but the water pump is needed for washing up, flushing the shitter and providing water to the washing machine.

The heater is a diesel eberspacher, sort of the type found in modern diesels to pre-heat the engine and cabin before you get in, but larger (5Kw, and it runs 3 domestic radiators, a blower unit and one of the hot water tanks heater coil.. the other coil is fed from the engine to heat the tank as we drive) the heater pulls about 3 amps when running, 10 when starting up, and a litre of fuel an hour, luckily i can still find red diesel for it atm.

we have the sort of luxuary items that everyone in a modern motorhome/caravan uses, lcd TV, dvd player, sattelite system etc, but we do read a lot more than we do at home when out and about, partly 'cos i only have a free sat card in the box in the van, but we're not the type who travel 300 miles from home, pay 20 quid a night to sit in the van watching eastenders (happens a lot)

My inverter runs the mains items i cant run on 12 volts, which is my GF's hairdryer, i'd be dead if that didnt work :) but it also powers the microwave, centeral vacuum system and the washing machine, largest load is the vacuum which pulls 1500 watts mains, which is 150 amps from the batteries, washing machine pulls 30 amps on max spin so is pretty economical on power, i dont use the internal heater element tho, i feed it with warm water from the vans hot and cold water system via a thermostatic valve.

i also have a few portable charger/psu's that could be mains but i got 12 volt versions, laptop psu is one, it pulls less power using the 12 volt one than the mains one (inverter inaficiencies and all that) chargers for the radio controlled items i take with me (a 1/6th scale buggy, electric glider, electric boat) plus a small car battery that powers the electric outboard for my inflatable canoe (which is inflated up with a mains air bed type air blower, much faster than the 12 volt one)

i do have a generator onboard, but it's one i made my self, lawnmower engine driving a cars alternator, gives me 70 amps of DC power to charge the batteries directly, i run it on LPG as i have a large lpg tank that hardly gets used singe i switched to the diesel heater and electric fridge,
saving me a petrol tank, as i already have tanks for road diesel, red diesel, lpg, fresh water, grey water and black water (washing up water and *** respectively)

i like my solar array i have, it's paid for and gives me free power when ever the sun is out, i've written off the cost of buying the panels and associated bits, and appart from winter in england, they provide me with almost all the power i need, usually a fair bit more,

i'v been thinking about solar water heating in the van, but could prolly do similar with a small-ish shunt load in the form of a 300 watt, 12 volt heater element in the hot water cylinder, diverting the excess power made in summer rather than just not using it.

.

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