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 Topic: Solar panel for festival
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06/4/2024 at 8:12pm
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Looks like the OP could do with a Jackery 500, only 6kg and packs OK capacity, but rubbish cycle life.
I decided to build my own Jackery 500 using a 50ah LiFeP04 battery pack & 50amp BMS.
Got an Epever 12v 500w 220v ac Pure Sine Wave Inverter, and dropped that lot into a TREM Group 24 battery box, which is about the same size as the Jackery 500.
Also added pre-charge resistor circuit (overkill) & battery isolator switch.
Added 12v cigarette outlet, 12v 45amp PowerPole outlet, USB C & A outlets.
Charging port is via Anderson SB50 (overkill).
AC outlets are Euro, UK & Chinese all 220v 50hz.
Unit is 9kg but 50ah 650wh so double the capacity of the Jackery 500.
Also my unit has ten times the cycle life of the Jackery as the Jackery uses Lithium iON Cells and not LiFeP04 cells.
Total build cost was £150 although I got the battery pack & BMS for free (another story), but even if I had to buy the battery & BMS that would have only added £100 to the build, so still better than half the price of the Jackery 500.
The OP's solar panel would be ideal for of grid charging, if no solar controller built in then a 10amp MPPT solar controller would be fine.
I use a LiFeP04 specific mains charger £30, 20amp takes just 2.5hours to fully charge from zero at 14.60v.
Not sure all that helps, but thought I had to share.
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07/4/2024 at 8:44pm
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Thanks Fiona, my post may seem techy, but to be fair anyone that can wire a plug can make there own solar generator like I have, it's all plug & play these days with the kit that is out there, paying more than double the price for an of the shelf solar generator just saves time, and some would argue that is worth the price.
To be fair solar generator is not really the correct term, but it has become the defacto terminology for such units, the correct term should be power bank, with extra features.
Thanks to to the advent of EV's LiFeP04 cells have become widely available, and prices have plummeted, 5 years ago a 100ah Lithium leisure battery would have cost over £1000 and today that same battery can be had for £250, these battery's use the same Cells as EV's.
Anyone with a Caravan or Motorhome, should really be moving over from SLA Batteries to LiFeP04, it's a total no brainer unlike a few years back when they were cost prohibitive.
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08/4/2024 at 12:45pm
Location: London
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Maybe not quite so straightforward Francais, and maybe a little 'brain' worthwhile in the decision to swap!
The Ecoworthy LiFePO4 needs a dedicated Lithium charger, or so they say, so standard caravan charger would likely need replacing at some extra cost and inconvenience.
The Ecoworthy LiFePO4 is not maintenance free, in as much as they say it needs monthly top up charges if generally unused - not so convenient for those of us with vans stored remote from home and without a solar panel or EHU option, maybe more expense and inconvenience to have a solar panel fitted then! My SLA gets a check and charge about every 2-3 months, a couple of checks gets me through the winter 'caravan laid up' period, it has to be left on the van to power the alarm which my insurers insist upon being functional!
Comparing budget Lithium with premium SLA! - really!!! I'm rarely inclined to go for either extremes of the market as both usually poor investments, so for quality mid-range batteries the huge price differential remains!
10x the life! My current SLA is 6 years old and still in fine fettle (regularly analysed by a sophisticated battery condition meter, not just a volt check), so can probably expect a year or two more life as a minimum, a 'midling' £110 SLA replacement on same terms would take me to 10-12 years or more into the future, probably not going to be too bothered about the caravan by then, or possibly anything else!! Had plenty of SLA batteries last best part of 10 years in usable condition when not abused!
Safer? Not sure I see huge safety issues with SLA! Arguably the huge power surge capability of a Lithium battery is a greater risk!
Can't argue about power density per Kg, but I'm not carrying it about, it's fixed in my caravan, not desperate for an extra 10kg payload (work out the cost per Kg to achieve that!!!!!), so I don't really give a damn!
For portable power, without doubt the LiFePO4 makes a very good case for itself, albeit at some financial cost, but as a swap out on a caravan/MH for normal use, pretty poor case with a number of potential auxiliary costs to even further drive it out of being a 'no brainer' swap IMHO! If you want a serious off grid setup, then it's beginning to lend itself to that where you benefit from greater storage capacity by physical size, but most of us don't do that, done a couple of 4 day off grid stays with my modest SLA, and it was fine.
One day, perhaps when the price falls significantly lower, then maybe it'll be a good choice to upgrade to, but certainly not yet for me anyway!
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08/4/2024 at 5:07pm
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Yep Monty15, you make some good points for sticking with SLA, but I am a convert, I have a 50ah LiFeP04 battery, which I turned into a power bank for camping duties, it replaces a similar 120ah SLA unit that I had, the old SLA unit weighed 26kg and the new unit weighs just 9kg, so for me as a camper that is a no brainer, also charging is now superfast, the old unit would take around 8 hours to charge using a 5amp intelligent battery charger, and of course I would have to monitor the SLA battery so not to let it fall below 50% capacity as doing so shortens the life of SLA batteries.
With LiFeP04 you have none of that to be concerned about, as the BMS ensures the battery is not over discharged, or over charged, and using my specific 14.60v 20AMP LiFeP04 charger, it only takes 2.5 hours to charge from zero to full capacity.
SLA has definitely had it's day, over 100 years worth to be fair, the future is here now with LiFeP04, OK it's still early days, but prices are good now at £200 or less for a 100ah LiFeP04, compared to five years ago when they were asking £1000.
I get the bit about chargers & charging for MH & caravans, upgrading a system that is geared for SLA to LiFeP04, is only small compared to the value of such vehicles, so in my mind that would be a worthy investment, but I agree not for everyone like yourself, but plenty are going the way of LiFeP04 as an upgrade, lots of footage on youtube about that subject.
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