Days to go : 124
The last few weekends have been full of activity meaning that I didn't have any time to work on the car. Unfortunately this also meant that I haven't been able to fix a problems that has occurred.
I measured the voltage generated by the solar panels and found this to only be about 2V. Further investigation showed that one of the panels was completely dead. This meant that I had to completely remove the passenger side 'blank' to remove it.
Once it was out I could see that the back of the panel was warped badly. It looks like the panel had overheated and melted! They are designed to work in, up to 80 degrees Celsius, and I'm sure that the inside of the car didn't reach that
.
I took the panel back to Wilco who offered to exchange it without any issue. Unfortunately they could only get the newer 7.75W model which is a different shape. They understood that I bought a pair, which I wanted to match and offered to replace both of them. Bear in mind that this has gone on over several weekends.
Initially I was disappointed because I didn't think that the new panels would fit. However, I have fitted one today and I actually prefer the look of the rectangular panels rather than the square
. The added bonus is an additional 0.5 W once they are both fitted. The second panel will be delivered during the week and I hope to fit it next weekend. I have added a picture here of the new panel.
I have also been trying out my new spot gps tracker and I will be writing a full review soon. We shall use this to allow registered users, friends and family to follow our progress during the Tunisia trip.
Today I also managed to run the wiring through from the rear 'relay box' through to the auxilliary battery and reroute some of the underbonnet wires. I will provide more details of the wiring later.
We are hoping to go away to a local campsite for the weekend for a trial run in a couple of weeks so next weekend I need to get on an wire in the freshwater pump amongst other things.
I am using the car to travel to London during the week so there will be more updates next weekend.
