BIG MEET - 9th to 11th June, 2023

Thats a shame mate :confused: look forward to a drag race next year

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I have one of those Bestek inverters for charging my laptop while i’m out in the van.

If you couple your leisure battery with a cheap 100w solar panel and a cheap PWM charge controller it will probably stay topped up enough to use for the weekend. Or alternatively a VSR from your car battery to the leisure battery.

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Kinda gone the other way. Moved most of 4 & 5 inch to digital and have a couple of cinewhoops now.

Gonna focus on cinematic this year

Fairplay, cinematic fpv is pretty awesome :star_struck:

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Got a go pro 11 so need to make the most of it

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Got any recommendations?

Also I sent you a message on fb.

Sorry, you would have probably discovered that I don’t go there very often. :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ll login and reply.

As to what panel. i use full size framed panels, but honestly for the times you might use it, a cheap semi flexible might do the job and will be substantially cheaper (and lighter) than the aluminium framed ones. Cheapest i saw on Ebay was about £30 for a panel and controller, but the longevity of such a panel is unknown. The ones i bought were £70 each, bought for my transit when i had it.

So your best bet is a rigid one if you want to keep using it every time you go away. Cost varies. you could also get something bigger than 100w. Say you found a 160w or 200w for a decent price, or even something bigger. The best big but small panel is the Perlight 290w, measures in at roughly 1x1.6m. Needs a 20-30A controller, but would give you enough power generation for most things.

For something fairly cheap, but useful.
100w Panel - £65

10A PWM Charge Controller - £6

30A Circuit breaker - £7

Basically wire the positive cable from the solar panel to the breaker to the charge controller and only power up when it’s connected to a 12V battery. You will also want a fused battery cable. Can’t seem to find any reasonably priced ones on ebay. You only need to handle a maximum of 5A, so maybe use 4-6mm cable and put an inline blade fuse holder somewhere towards the battery terminal on the positive lead. Something like below, but you don’t need 5m of cable, like maybe 2m tops. My own harness cable is 1m.

Everything beyond that I would leave to you. Personally i use a 12V distribution box connected to my leisure battery and run all inputs and outputs from it.

Then breakout from there to two smaller fuse boards. But I run mine in my van. So the battery is connected to both a VSR, charge controller, two fuse boards and potentially an inverter. It seemed a better idea to use mega/midi fuses for those. The secondary fuse boards are for the other circuits (lights, usb sockets, etc).

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Cheap and cheerful would be good. I won’t use it often at all.

Most of my camping is for reenactment and then electrics are hardly used at all and solar panels are not an option.

Might be better to not bother. Also since you are only coming for a single day, it’s maybe not worth it?

Another possibility would be to run a split charge relay from your car battery. Doesn’t work on cars with regen braking, etc, but older cars will be fine. Basically you run a fused wire to your car battery, connect that to the VSR and send another cable from the VSR to the leisure battery and then connect the leisure battery to chassis/GND. When you are driving, the alternator charges the leisure battery as well as the car battery. A VSR is about £13. You would want some 10mm or 16mm cable to connect them up depending on how much juice your alternator puts out.

But if you are still after the solar panel, you want one that outputs 18V. Charge voltage has to be higher than the battery voltage or it won’t charge. A 12V panel will not charge a 12V battery. Most small panels are 18V output.

If not I will have a panel with me and you can connect into that if you need charging capability. How big is your battery?

Just had time to take a look at this link as I’ve been very busy recently,
As I’m not sure which day I’m attending etc, I’m playing it by ear my end so to speak, am I allowed to turn up & pay on the gate ?
Thanks sorry to ask, I see there’s lots of posts here, sorry if the question has been asked already ….

Hey Richard thats absolutely fine. Turn up when you want, just let Lance @Njoro know when you arrive as he is keeping track of attendance and payment. Look forward to meeting you :+1:t2:

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Thank you mate, I’ll message lance an ETA nearer the time :+1:t2:

Like wise, once again thanks ……

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This will be fun

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Will you be joining us @Sawavy ?

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Just fill out the form and put attending the most likely day
No payments are taken till you arrive

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Ah ok, cheers Wayne

Edit : completed form, I guess if I want to come earlier like the Friday that’s ok, or do I re do a form, or will that confuse things, thankyou

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Also worth pointing out to others who may be thinking of attending but are unsure of if they will make it or which day/days they will attend, filling out the attendance form is not binding. If you fill it out and cant make it on the day for some reason or you can only make 1 day and not the 2 you originally put on the form you wont get charged for it. The form is more a way of figuring potential attendance numbers so we know roughly how many people to expect each day. Likewise dont think you cant attend if you didnt fill out the form. If you get to the weekend of the Big Meet and your plans have changed and now youre available to attend, just turn up, its no drama :smiley:

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Great advice above,
sorry for being a bit late to the party here & having to ask this, food & drinks, is there anywhere local to buy or is it best to bring or is there maybe a possible stall for refreshments, thanks !

No problem Richard, if youre asking it then there are probably more thinking it

No stall for refreshments Im afraid but there is a fresh water tap for topping up water bottles etc

There are shops locally to by supplies and there are a couple of bigger supermarkets along with a McDonalds and various takeaway options within a 10-15min drive of our location

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:point_up: This

And a link to the form for ease

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