Strolling Amok

Pops goes on tour.

Archive for the tag “deep cycle batteries”

22 Oct 2015
23 Comments

Intrepid Solar Solutions

This 100W panel offered by Windy Nation appears to be identical, but comes with additional connectors.

This 100W panel offered by Windy Nation appears to be identical to Renogy’s, but comes with additional connectors. Its 20% efficiency is considered pretty good.

When it comes to angst in planning mods to the Four Wheel Granby, AKA Intrepid, fitting it out for solar comes right behind dealing with its lack of interior space. On the face of it, adding solar to the Granby is unusually easy: it comes prewired for solar whether you want it or not. There’s an SAE socket installed on the roof, and another on the back wall for plugging in ground-based solar panels. Order Four Wheel’s battery option, and you get your choice of one or two 80Ah (amp-hour) AGM batteries, as well as a battery separator to keep you from running down your truck’s starting battery. You can order their solar panels, whether roof-mounted, ground, or both, with a charge controller that comes along. It’s easy, it works well, and you’re rolling the instant you take delivery.

Four Wheel's 100W roof panel is one option that's light enough to cause no issues.

Four Wheel’s 100W roof panel is one option that’s light enough to cause no issues.

Heck, with 240 watts of panels available from the factory powering an optional 160-some Ah of batteries, it’s all anyone could want. I mean, it’s enough to run the compressor fridge and a laptop, as long as weather conditions are decent and you don’t overdo it. And, it’s a “top-heavy” system: there’s enough Read more…

Posted in Mod Squad, The Intrepid and tagged , , ,
13 Mar 2015
4 Comments

When a Good Battery Goes Bad

These look like a party is going on in my battery tray.

These look like a party is going on in my battery tray. Notice the old black rechargeable looking up anxiously, and for good reason.

“Well, I’m disappointed in your performance, frankly. I have to say it. We’ve been together almost two and a half years now, and that isn’t a very long time for a deep-cycle battery. You attracted me with your flashy 210 amp-hours of  capacity, and the price was right at about $75 for each of you. Things went well for awhile, but I noticed that your output was fine for a year and then slowly started dropping off. Now, it’s gotten so that your voltage drops from 12.8 to 12.7 right away after charging, and then with very little load, drops to 12.6. Then when I wake up in the morning, often as not you’re at 12.4, and that just shouldn’t be! How is it that I’m going to be able to stay for more than one or two nights on the road, without you needing a recharge? Does that sound like 210 amp-hours to you?”

“And now these two little AGM deep-cycles, just 55 amp-hours apiece, come along and show just how much you’ve been slacking off. They’re half your rated capacity, and they’re outdoing you! And that’s not the worst of it! They’re older than you, and never had the Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, The Defiant and tagged , , ,

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