Looks like the Novacool power consumption is less at 2.2 Amps max. Of course, the actual power consumption is all about the duty cycle in real world use.
I’m confused though. In Mike’s article, it says”
“Personally, I’ve found that having a 340 watt solar power system and a 220 amp hour battery bank is more than large enough to run my compressor refrigerator and meet all of our other electrical needs.”
But in this post it says:
“you can’t rely solely on solar to keep your batteries charged”
So I assume the cold hand of reality has shown more power consumption than was originally expected. I would love to hear more details regarding average consumption (both overnight and 24hr) and how many days Mike can go before having to supplement the solar.
I thought I would be good with my 200 watts of panel and 240 amp hours of battery, but now I’m not so sure.
I’ve also learned more since my post and responses to Mike. Namely, I’m now concerned that my alternator won’t get my 260 Ah battery bank up to full charge. Because my alternator is about 13.5 to 13.6 at the house battery bank (through the solenoid putting the house and chassis batts in parallel) while driving, that’s not enough to ever get out of bulk and into absorption, because my battery spec is 14.8 on that set point. Even worse, my solar system will “see” the 13.5ish voltage coming from the alternator at the house battery terminals and just go to sleep, because it will think the house bank is full.
Because I’ll be in South America for 14 months in often overcast, wet conditions, plus I like to stay in one spot for 6-10 days, I’m concerned. I’m currently evaluating installing a 12V Battery to 12V Battery (B2B) charger in the form of either the Sterling BB1230 or BB1260 – 30 and 60 amp chargers. I wish there were more options, but the only ones seem to charge multiple banks, whereas I want to charge only one 260 Ah bank.
Anyone have experience with battery to battery chargers to get the voltage up coming from the alternator, plus provide a staged and custom charge profile?
