There has been a lot of chat about the virtues of both types lately and just a week ago I had the perfect opportunity to see both sides of the story. Here is that story:
Camped off grid in Connondale Ranges from Monday 29th January to Monday 5th February.
Monday sunny and temp around 31 C in the shade. My gas fridge working hard notwithstanding the extra mods fitted. Campers with compressor fridges boasting that their warm beer will be cold by drinking time (dusk?). Good solar power weather. I produced 37ah. Most of the others were using only one panel but still getting good charging.
Tuesday more of the same but hotter - around 33 C. My fridge working even harder and now slowly getting warmer - beer not as cold but all perishables still okay. Compressor fridge owners still laughing and enjoying colder beer etc but also using more power. Good solar charging conditions for all.
Wednesday was a scorcher!!! When we got back at 1.30pm from a quick trip to Brisbane to attend a funeral, the temp had climbed to 36.8 C in the shade. I had taken in my solar panels for safety early that morning so had no charging until after 2.00pm. My outside gas fridge was really struggling even with mods and inside van fridge just holding at 7 C. Did 3 changes of fan thermostats that afternoon (field modifications possible as used machine screws and no rivets to hold thermos in position) from 45 to 50 to 55 C to stop fans running all the time trying to cool back of fridge. Fortunately had extra battery AGM 75ah with me to help with extra demand. See separate posting on how done. As solar panels had not been out , quickly placed both out (180W and 200W) connected in SERIES to MPPT controller. Initial reading was 19.6A at 29.9 volts (load 2.4A), then dropping to 18.9A after a few minutes before settling at 16.8A when I last looked. By 5.00pm, I had retrieved the batteries from 12.3 volts under load to reach the max charge/absorbe setting of 14.6 volts. Not enough into batteries to reach float status though. But at least I now had power to run my fans to keep fridges within the safe range. Beer still drinkable but not like the compressor fridge owners who were still grinning from ear to ear, but using lots of power to keep fridges going at 4 to 5 amps per hour doing so!!
Thursday, rainy with heavy cloud but around 20C. Solar production hardly possible. I just managed to produce 10ah. Compressor owners zilch!!
Friday, more rain and heavy cloud cover - even poorer for solar production. Temp only 20C. Some compressor fridge owners starting to worry and use tug's engine to produce power for battery/ies??. Me, gas fridge working well and easily keeping my drinks and food cold.
Saturday, more of the same as for Friday. All compressor fridge owners now running tug engines (no generators allowed!) frequently at dawn and through the day and for quite a while just before going to bed. Temp still only varying between 19C at night and 21C during the day under very thick cloud. Coldest February day time temps on record for many places!! Solar production virtually nil and my own batteries getting down to 12.2 volts under load too. BUT GAS FRIDGES WORKING WELL AND MY BEER NICE AND COLD.
Sunday dawned cloudy with occasional showers and most campers had given it away and packed up. Temp only reached 23C but at least I was able to get some power into my system. Compressor fridge campers (those that stayed to the end) had been running their tugs into town and other areas to charge up vehicle batteries to stay in the game.
Monday was clear and sunny with occasional showers - temp reached 27C. Packed up and went home , still with cold drinks in both gas fridges.
Who won?? Well if you looked at how things panned out, the hares (compressor fridges) bolted out of the gates when conditions were sunny and they had sufficient battery STORAGE power. When the storage (limited or not) got low, they had to slow down and seek alternative power. The tortoise (gas fridge operators) were left well behind when the heat was on, but continued to operate (albeit less than optimum). However, when conditions were "fowl", they came into their own and kept on with no change of power options. I have to admit that without the extra 75ah AGM connected in parallel with the van fridge (120ah AGM), I may have had to go on power rationing myself to maintain the efficiency of my gas fridges. @Drover once said, you can never have too much storage power. The trouble there is where to carry the extra weight?? My next posting will show how I got around that problem. Hope you liked my story. Tech Heads - note output of solar panels with MPPT controller. Best option I have ever made , even at the extra cost!
Camped off grid in Connondale Ranges from Monday 29th January to Monday 5th February.
Monday sunny and temp around 31 C in the shade. My gas fridge working hard notwithstanding the extra mods fitted. Campers with compressor fridges boasting that their warm beer will be cold by drinking time (dusk?). Good solar power weather. I produced 37ah. Most of the others were using only one panel but still getting good charging.
Tuesday more of the same but hotter - around 33 C. My fridge working even harder and now slowly getting warmer - beer not as cold but all perishables still okay. Compressor fridge owners still laughing and enjoying colder beer etc but also using more power. Good solar charging conditions for all.
Wednesday was a scorcher!!! When we got back at 1.30pm from a quick trip to Brisbane to attend a funeral, the temp had climbed to 36.8 C in the shade. I had taken in my solar panels for safety early that morning so had no charging until after 2.00pm. My outside gas fridge was really struggling even with mods and inside van fridge just holding at 7 C. Did 3 changes of fan thermostats that afternoon (field modifications possible as used machine screws and no rivets to hold thermos in position) from 45 to 50 to 55 C to stop fans running all the time trying to cool back of fridge. Fortunately had extra battery AGM 75ah with me to help with extra demand. See separate posting on how done. As solar panels had not been out , quickly placed both out (180W and 200W) connected in SERIES to MPPT controller. Initial reading was 19.6A at 29.9 volts (load 2.4A), then dropping to 18.9A after a few minutes before settling at 16.8A when I last looked. By 5.00pm, I had retrieved the batteries from 12.3 volts under load to reach the max charge/absorbe setting of 14.6 volts. Not enough into batteries to reach float status though. But at least I now had power to run my fans to keep fridges within the safe range. Beer still drinkable but not like the compressor fridge owners who were still grinning from ear to ear, but using lots of power to keep fridges going at 4 to 5 amps per hour doing so!!
Thursday, rainy with heavy cloud but around 20C. Solar production hardly possible. I just managed to produce 10ah. Compressor owners zilch!!
Friday, more rain and heavy cloud cover - even poorer for solar production. Temp only 20C. Some compressor fridge owners starting to worry and use tug's engine to produce power for battery/ies??. Me, gas fridge working well and easily keeping my drinks and food cold.
Saturday, more of the same as for Friday. All compressor fridge owners now running tug engines (no generators allowed!) frequently at dawn and through the day and for quite a while just before going to bed. Temp still only varying between 19C at night and 21C during the day under very thick cloud. Coldest February day time temps on record for many places!! Solar production virtually nil and my own batteries getting down to 12.2 volts under load too. BUT GAS FRIDGES WORKING WELL AND MY BEER NICE AND COLD.
Sunday dawned cloudy with occasional showers and most campers had given it away and packed up. Temp only reached 23C but at least I was able to get some power into my system. Compressor fridge campers (those that stayed to the end) had been running their tugs into town and other areas to charge up vehicle batteries to stay in the game.
Monday was clear and sunny with occasional showers - temp reached 27C. Packed up and went home , still with cold drinks in both gas fridges.
Who won?? Well if you looked at how things panned out, the hares (compressor fridges) bolted out of the gates when conditions were sunny and they had sufficient battery STORAGE power. When the storage (limited or not) got low, they had to slow down and seek alternative power. The tortoise (gas fridge operators) were left well behind when the heat was on, but continued to operate (albeit less than optimum). However, when conditions were "fowl", they came into their own and kept on with no change of power options. I have to admit that without the extra 75ah AGM connected in parallel with the van fridge (120ah AGM), I may have had to go on power rationing myself to maintain the efficiency of my gas fridges. @Drover once said, you can never have too much storage power. The trouble there is where to carry the extra weight?? My next posting will show how I got around that problem. Hope you liked my story. Tech Heads - note output of solar panels with MPPT controller. Best option I have ever made , even at the extra cost!
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