Quite an eventful couple of days.
To start with I was very pleased with the little remote display and decided to fit that first. I choose to fit it without the big box and put the unit flush into the wall above the cooker burners. The wall is 25mm thick with 2mm PVC on both sides. I only wanted a small exit hole on the inside. Just large enough to get the ethernet type connector through. The front face needed a 75mm hole for the display to sink in. I marked both sides for drilling. Large hole first, with the back Pvc taken off, I drilled through both Pvc and 25mm Celotex. Deburred the hole, fitted the display, marked and drilled the fixing holes, and screwed it in position. After a small pause, I returned to put the hole for the plug through the inside Pvc. My aim and positioning were perfect, dead center. I thought the relatively blunt pilot drill would easily go through a 2mm Pvc sheet. It did, all of a sudden, and to my dismay, and cost, drilled most of the wiring out of the connector socket
A new one should arrive on Monday
Fitting the Controller.
The controller is smart. Smarter than me as it seems. It can work with a 12-volt system or a 24 volt one. It then decides what to do with the power available. To work this out you have to connect the battery to it first so that it knows what it is working with. I did then connected the solar panel to the controller but being paranoid about overvoltage I checked the battery voltage with my multimeter. It said it was 16 volts but the lights on the controller said the battery was only just over half full. I gave it time to stabilize then checked again. 18 volts!!
I emailed Bimble solar and told them my concerns They suggested I disconnect everything, try to draw some power out of the battery then try again. They were as confused as I was. After putting a 55-watt headlamp bulb on the battery for an hour the voltage had only dropped to 15.7 volts I took pictures of the setup and sent them to Bimble solar. They then recommended I tried a different multimeter. You know just the sort of thing you carry a spare.
I did have a voltmeter in the "control panel" so I took that out and wired it to the battery. !2.3 volts!
That's more like I expected to see. I never expected to have a duff multimeter. I've been using it for years
So it was reconnect everything. Battery first then solar and the system is charging up on bulk as it should.
The controller in its new position in what used to be the wardrobe. I think part of it will be again for a bit of hanging room and as long as I can keep the controller cool enough the extra warmth might be useful for cold clothes.
The battery was moved from the foot box under the table to the storage box under the seat. With a matching one the other side I will need to get a matched pair of batteries to work best with them connected in parallel. The boxes will have to have dropouts in them. The box from which the battery came from and its smaller footrest will need to be rejigged to accept a water container, later.
I had always intended to keep the workboxes it the top cupboard area as being vertically challenged I cant see to the back of the cupboard unless I'm on a box
I saw a friend's VW camper that had Tambour doors on the cupboards. Like a roll-top desk (I didn't know what they were called)
Two to go on this side
One on the other and just to have things matching I might fit a vertical one for a wardrobe door.
Plans are at early stages for the framework to fix the solar panel down, still looking to be able to tip it up(when stationary and keep it down when moving
)
I need more aluminium angle to complete that.