Heading away for a couple of weeks in October and I will need to power an Engle and some camping lights.
Been eyeing out an XTM setup including a battery box with various outlets, 160 foldable solar panels including controller and misc cables , and an AGM battery. All up this will set me back approx. $550.
Anyone's got any experience the XTM brand?
No but.... sometimes the panels smash in transit so look on ebay and gumtree, the shops will sell half a folding panel realllllllly cheap. Controllers on there too.
I can run engel continuous and the setup was $100 (free battery) and that with expensive big thick cable to run some distance around the site
I have that setup. XTM box with AGM deep cycle battery. From memory without recharge I can get about 3 to 4 days out of a fully charged battery... but it really depends on how warm the ambient temperature is and at what temperature you are running you fridge at.
Get an Anderson plug installed in the car and ideally a charge controller that way you can charge the battery while driving your car. RE solar panels, the two panel frames which fold together are better for stability in wind but I have seen plenty smashed up after something flew through the campground and hit the panel. The soft folding panels are a bit better in that regard but quality and power output vary greatly between brands. Plus they are a bit tricky to setup to get maximum power output.
I just ordered a 100ah Lithium Battery and pv blanket combo from Outbax. $599. Thats all you need.
The good thing about lithium is that you can disharge all the way to empty so you get the full 100ah (100hours of 1ah fridge draw).
AGM batteries should only be drawn down to 50% otherwise they are stuffed.Many other benefits to lithium over AGM.
@Shadow. You get what you pay for. Seems pretty darn cheap. I'd Like to know how it all works out. I ordered battery n setup from Outbax 12months ago. Nothing but dramas. Battery nor panel not capacity it was supposed to be.
Many emails...Eventually gave up. Did my $$$. Chose a local real world supplier instead.
try Battery World. Local experts, if something goes wrong they back it up with warranty and you can go to the shop to sort it out. I've replaced a number of car and boat batteries with them and their service (here in Nedlands anyway) has been great
I use an XTM 200 blanket with 2 x 110 batteries in my Ulti Camper and it works a treat - had them for a few years - they say they aren't water proof but haven't had a problem.
I also have a 110 projecta that I link in with the 200 or just use on the car second fridge battery - a 110 with battery box from Kings - had it for 8+ years and still works fine - the battery for 2.
The only problem is getting a good angle on the double panel fold out blanket - and they blow off the car easily
For 10 years our hilux has had a 200w panel bolted on roof of car (lays flat) + 120ah deep cycle battery (agm) which runs an engel 40L fridge/freezer. There have been times it's left running for a few months continuously because of forgetting to turn off the fridge, or storing stuff in it because house fridge is full. It's usually parked out in the sun.
While camping, we can run the fridge, camper lights and charge phones & laptop etc no problem. The way we use it, it will be fine for 2 cloudy days, then there's problems. If there's at least a third of a day of sun every day on the panel, it's no problem.
Generally the battery life is about 3 - 3.5 years. We get 2 years of reliable capacity and after that we've got to be careful on cloudy days. We're on the 3rd battery which is a agm/gel hybrid. It's the first time I've tried one so will be interesting if it lasts any longer as it's supposed to tolerate deeper discharges.
I have a 40 litre waeco fridge freezer, i have a kings battery box with a 120 ah deep cycle battery, runs full time on a 3 day weekend trip no worries, even froze my left over beers on the last night. I also have a 120 solar blanket but haven't needed to recharge on the go yet, but have topped up the battery at home on it and its pretty fast. The battery box has usb ports and a ciggi lighter socket so can charge most things.
The kings Battery, Battery Box and Solar blanket come as a package, i also got a longer cord so i can leave the battery in the car if i want to take to fridge out, also the battery is freaking heavy..
