Solar battery charging

Everyone knows what happens to car batteries if the temperature is below freezing (0°C, 32°F). They don't give any power to the starter. From the scientific point of view their capacity drops a lot when it gets colder. For the driver it means one -- he can't start his engine and has to walk in the cold. It is especially difficult for diesel engines as they need to be warmed by glowplugs before they can be started and need a lot of torque in the starter (as they have high compression ratio).

Since I have my camping solar set, I wanted it to charge the battery that's used to start the engine.

My solar set consists of the solar photovoltaic panel, auxillary battery (under the passenger's seat) and a charge controller. This controller has three sets of connectors: source of power (to charge the battery), the battery and the devices to be powered from the battery. If the voltage in the battery is high enough, it allows the devices to use electricity. If not, the devices are disconnected.

I used the third set of connectors and attached a plug that's compatible with cigarette lighter sockets. If sun is shining, it charges the auxillary battery along with the standard one.

That's why when I leave my camper on the guarded parking near my apartment, I leave the solar panel under the windscreen. And why I chose a parking space with a lot of free sunlight.

From Volkswagen Transporter T3

Gettin ready for X-mas

The Christmas is on it's way, so I decided to add some christmas spirit to my VW T3.

I used the camping battery, the DC/AC inverter and a timeswitch. Ans a set of 50 lightbulbs. I connected the inverter to the battery and turned it on. Then I plugged the timeswitch and the lights to the switch. I set the switch to turn the lights on for half an hour between 8 PM and 8.30 PM. I set the whole thing at 1 PM.

I came back to the camper later, around 8 PM, to make a photo of the christmas decoration. But it wasn't lit. Why? Because the inverter drained the battery by just powering the time switch. So I connected the solar charge controller to the engine battery (just like the camping battery was charged by solar panel) and turned the lights on.

From Volkswagen Transporter T3

First summer holidays ideas

Do you remember the idea of making a trip around the Baltic Sea I mentioned over two years ago? This idea came up again. ;) I spoke with Tomek the other day and we thought that driving around the sea with two campers is a great way to spend summer holidays.

With two campers as Tomek is about to buy his own camper built on VW T3 (T25 / Vanagon). :)

The idea to drive over 7,000 km is a bit tricky. It's not like there are no roads and no repairs shops, but it'd be really expensive if something would go wrong and would need repairing. To save the money we'd have to take as much stuff as possible, with the three week supply of food being the last thing to worry about. An axle or two, two spare wheels each, fuel hoses, some wires, a small genset and a welding machine. And many nuts and bolts of various shapes and sizes. ;)

We decided to plan the trip for 17-19 days and spend an entire 3 weeks in the trip. So we would have two or more extra days in case anything went wrong. Of course we'll prepare some backup plans so we could get home sooner by a ferry of some sort.

The trip would be a bit more difficult because at the end of the february my wife should give a birth to my daughter (son?). The kid will of course come with us, but we'll have to take his needs into account. ;)