My MPPT battery box

Triton14

Triton14

Well-Known Member
Hi guys, well after much procrastination I finally pulled my finger out while still not working due to CV19 & have almost completed my dual battery rear tray install, will post a new thread when its actually finished, hopefully by the end of this week.

Anyway while I was doing some research recently I happened apon a youtube of someone who did something similar for a customer of his(sounded like his business?).

I was ready to put the controller on my rear panel but I really liked the idea of making the battery box even more portable as sometimes I have access to shelters on properties that are unpowered & its nice to be able to have good lighting & use other gear inside.

So when needed I can take the battery box out of the rear of the ute & still have the solar blanket charging it.

Sounded like a good idea at the time so went for it & this is what it looks like.

I have a 140AH AGM Giant power in the box.

Battery box MPPT.jpg


Battery box MPPT2.jpg
 
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fattima

Member
Awesome timing. I have the same battery box and am about to do what you did this weekend! I'm using a PWM controller since that's what I've got here.
 
Triton14

Triton14

Well-Known Member
fattima said:
Awesome timing. I have the same battery box and am about to do what you did this weekend! I'm using a PWM controller since that's what I've got here.
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Personally Id reconsider on the PWM!

On all the research I did I came to the conclusion that the MPPT controllers are much more effiecient in pretty much every aspect but just more expensive.

There is plenty of material out there on the subject.
 
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MrPoopypants

Well-Known Member
Triton14 said:
Hi guys, well after much procrastination I finally pulled my finger out while still not working due to CV19 & have almost completed my dual battery rear tray install, will post a new thread when its actually finished, hopefully by the end of this week.

Anyway while I was doing some research recently I happened apon a youtube of someone who did something similar for a customer of his(sounded like his business?).

I was ready to put the controller on my rear panel but I really liked the idea of making the battery box even more portable as sometimes I have access to shelters on properties that are unpowered & its nice to be able to have good lighting & use other gear inside.

So when needed I can take the battery box out of the rear of the ute & still have the solar blanket charging it.

Sounded like a good idea at the time so went for it & this is what it looks like.

I have a 140AH AGM Giant power in the box.

View attachment 68888

View attachment 68889
Click to expand...
Nice. I've got a couple in my truck and camper. Did you stick a push button voltmeter on it?? Handy for an indication of how it's going, although I guess for solar one of the inline gadgets would show what's going in etc.?? I kinda like fiddling with 12v. Nice to end up with what you need.
Needs a personalised logo to replace the Kings stickers!:) PP
 
Triton14

Triton14

Well-Known Member
MrPoopypants said:
Nice. I've got a couple in my truck and camper. Did you stick a push button voltmeter on it?? Handy for an indication of how it's going, although I guess for solar one of the inline gadgets would show what's going in etc.?? I kinda like fiddling with 12v. Nice to end up with what you need.
Needs a personalised logo to replace the Kings stickers!:) PP
Click to expand...
Cheers, I have a inline Anderson plug volt meter on the way which will mainly be for when the fridge comes(when I can afford it). It's just a cheapy but then in looking at them there are many branded same generic versions & some over double the price that I paid!
It pays to let your finger do the work & Google helps.

I don't really care about the logo's, although if its anything like my toolbox's it will end up with fishing tackle stickers or similar all over it anyway :)
 
unko84

unko84

Well-Known Member
MPPT and PWM are both energy control method used by the charge controller to regulate the current flowing from solar panel to the battery. PWM has a cheap price and a 75% conversion rate, mppt ask a higher price, but, the latest MPPT can get a huge conversion rate improvement which up to 99%
*from google

In my opinion under 100w solar us a pwm as its not worth the extra $$$
 
M

MrPoopypants

Well-Known Member
Triton14 said:
Cheers, I have a inline Anderson plug volt meter on the way which will mainly be for when the fridge comes(when I can afford it). It's just a cheapy but then in looking at them there are many branded same generic versions & some over double the price that I paid!
It pays to let your finger do the work & Google helps.

I don't really care about the logo's, although if its anything like my toolbox's it will end up with fishing tackle stickers or similar all over it anyway :)
Click to expand...
Yeah, the cheapies seem to be pretty good, that's all I've got. I do like having a little dash style volt meter I can press to check how the battery is going. Only a few bucks and you can drill a hole in the box to fit it. You obviously don't have a young son to commandeer all your fishing stickers!! I found mine has even pinched most of my flies and they now reside in his favourite hat! We call him the water rat, if you don't watch your rods he'll even pinch your fish.
Post a report once you've used it in anger. Good luck with work re-opening. Hey, and aren't you a chef?? How's about some trout tips?
PP
 
Triton14

Triton14

Well-Known Member
MrPoopypants said:
Yeah, the cheapies seem to be pretty good, that's all I've got. I do like having a little dash style volt meter I can press to check how the battery is going. Only a few bucks and you can drill a hole in the box to fit it. You obviously don't have a young son to commandeer all your fishing stickers!!
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Thanks MrP.
There is a LED volt meter on the box, just need to push in the red button.
The Victron app also lets me know the status of the battery as well, I got that all set up on my phone yesterday.

Im hoping to get pretty close to completion today before the wet come is, I am just waiting on some special rubber grommets for where I have drilled into the canapy, becasue I have to feed the cable through it before putting the lugs on etc.
 
unko84

unko84

Well-Known Member
The original reason was a back up power for black out as where i use to live would loose power quite regularly, was handy for lights at night and to charge small appliances. Lol at sa power network. Now we have one of the biggest battery bank.

But now its pritty much a gimic or when i we base camp it a nice to have, Really not needed. Get used more when we have phone reception. My old man can use it as a big laptop /phone battery, when we a a few rest days hes the kind of person who cant do nothing eaven on a rest few days out bush. Hes on the computer working, lol
 
B

boobook

Well-Known Member
unko84 said:
MPPT and PWM are both energy control method used by the charge controller to regulate the current flowing from solar panel to the battery. PWM has a cheap price and a 75% conversion rate, mppt ask a higher price, but, the latest MPPT can get a huge conversion rate improvement which up to 99%
*from google

In my opinion under 100w solar us a pwm as its not worth the extra $$$
Click to expand...

100W of solar is useless anyway, especially if its paired with a PWM. it will barely keep up with a fridge on 8 hour sunny cold days.

You really need to size the controller for 250w+ and have around 160W with MPPT or 200W with PWM as a very very minimum if you have a fridge.

300W is preferably the minimum. Cloudy days or rain reduce a 100w panel's capacity to 20w. Paired with PWM gives you 15W. Bareley enough to keep up with a LED light on grey days.
 
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fattima

Member
In my case it is a 160W panel and the battery I'm charging is not under heavy load so I'm happy to stick with the PWM. The battery has to run a few LED lights, raise and lower the tent and charge a phone and tablet. Should be enough to top up the battery (100AH) I hope.
 
Triton14

Triton14

Well-Known Member
I'm aiming for 200 to 250W solar blanket to top up my 140Ah AGM.
That's about the max my controller will handle.
I'll still be driving around to some degree most days so think that would cover running a reasonable sized fridge, led's, charging etc.

Personally in most situations I would rather exceed my needs rather than struggle to meet them!
 
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Batts88

Batts88

Well-Known Member
fattima said:
In my case it is a 160W panel and the battery I'm charging is not under heavy load so I'm happy to stick with the PWM. The battery has to run a few LED lights, raise and lower the tent and charge a phone and tablet. Should be enough to top up the battery (100AH) I hope.
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In my 4wd I have a centre console fridge it's only small a Waeco CDF11 and runs fine fed by a cheap 110w solar panel mounted on the canopy through a cheap 20amp pwm regulator wired to the starter battery a 105ah Supercharge allrounder. It's been set up for over 2 1/2 yrs I use it regulary and haven't had any battery issues with the reduced sun the fixed panel gets.

I also have in my wifes car an 18Ltr Waeco a fixed 50w solar panel on the rear parcel shelf under a tinted window a pwm regulator 85ah aux battery which has been fine for nearly 2yrs. She usually runs the fridge for a few days at a time carrying her lunch for work only driving around town doing short distances. She has had it on for longer periods though up to 1 1/2 weeks then it was just below 12v so turned off the fridge at home and let it charge up via the solar panel it's a good set up for her needs. I don't see the big issue with pwm regulators I've ad no problems with power supply and don't find them much different to the MPPT BCDC40amp Redarc feeding my 4wd's aux batteries.
 
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RBJET

RBJET

Well-Known Member
boobook said:
100W of solar is useless anyway, especially if its paired with a PWM. it will barely keep up with a fridge on 8 hour sunny cold days.

You really need to size the controller for 250w+ and have around 160W with MPPT or 200W with PWM as a very very minimum if you have a fridge.

300W is preferably the minimum. Cloudy days or rain reduce a 100w panel's capacity to 20w. Paired with PWM gives you 15W. Bareley enough to keep up with a LED light on grey days.
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I dunno about that. I used to have a 60W panel on my roof that ran my fridge 24/7. I now run a 150W panel and never see the battery drop below 12.7V.
I went on holidays for 3 weeks with the car left in the driveway, fridge running and the battery still at 13V when I got home.
The fridge has been running for 2 years now without being turned off.
 
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