Improving the solar panel efficiency on an Autosleeper Broadway EB

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Getting new solar panels on Bryony

One of the great frustrations about Bryony has been the solar panels and the EC 700 Sargant system parasitic drain. During the winter months there is insufficient solar charge coming in to overcome the various parasitic drains on the leisure battery. The result? We have to bring Bryony home every twelve days or so to plug her in and charge her up. Immensely frustrating.

 A second frustration is her lack of off grid capacity. We can go around two days off grid max before we need to either take her for a drive or plug her into the EHU. In summer the 80w solar panel down in the south of France or Spain does a good job. Then we can go three or four days easily. The battery is topped up quickly. Not the case so much in the UK though.

 And so, to cut a very, very long story short, we have modified Bryony to increase her off grid capabilities. The following has been added

 

• ·        A 175w solar panel
• ·        The moving of the 80w original panel to allow the above to fit on the roof
• ·        The bypassing of the Sargant system controller 
• ·        Both solar panels linked directly to the leisure battery via a Victron MPPT 100/30 controller
• ·        A battery master fitted to trickle charge the vehicle battery
• ·        A Victron Shunt monitor to show us accurately what is happening regarding solar charge input and battery voltage output
• ·        The replacement of the one battery with two new 115MaH leisure batteries

So, we now have 255w of solar panel up top and 230maH capacity onboard.

All the work was done by Vanbitz at Taunton. The whole system bypasses the Sargant system and is at least 30% more efficient than the old one. All that remains is to find and fit a 600w inverter so that we can charge the E bike batteries off grid and we will be done.

With rising prices for campsites in the UK, we should now be able to pay the £10 per night for a grass only pitch and thus save ourselves some money over the long term. On the continent, we can make better use of all the free wild camp places.

Before the new panel was added 

As a summary then, since having Bryony in 2020, we have now modified her in the following ways

1.   Increased solar power capacity
2.  Increased leisure battery capacity
3. Bypassed the Sargant system
4. Added semi air suspension
5. Added a tow bar
6.  Up-plated her to 4090 kg
7. Added some extra carpeting
8. Created some simple coat and towel elasticated restraints on various doors and walls
9. Installed a new alarm system
10. Installed a bike rack alarm system 

 

The old panel was removed from the left and in its place went the new large one. The old one then slotted very nicely and fortuitously between kitchen and bathroom skylights and exterior awning rail. 

As we have been finding out, so far, it has all been worth it!