# 1986 Swift Kontiki 640



## Lindatilly (Sep 12, 2011)

Hi everybody, I've just joined the site so still feeling my way around!
I have a lovely 1986 Swift Kontiki 640 that I'd just like to make a bit more user friendly. Things I'm thinking of adding are - small solar trickle charger for leisure battery (about £20), Status 530 aerial and a 1000w inverter to be able to use the tv from the battery. Any advice on these additions would be greatly appreciated and anything else you think I can't live without!
Thanks everyone.
Linda


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## Mikemoss (Sep 5, 2005)

Hi Linda, and a very warm welcome to you too.

I'm clueless on solar panels I'm afraid, but if the Status 530 is the directional aerial (not the flying saucer one) then I can vouch for its effectiveness.

Somebody knowledgeable is bound to be along shortly to help you with the inverter questions. Our TV runs directly off either 12v or 240v so I've no experience there, either.

Enjoy your KonTiki - great choice, by the way!


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## satco (Jan 21, 2012)

hi Linda ,

welcome to MHF 

my piece of advice : think over your energy supply layout
thoroughly. an 1Kw inverter makes sense only , if you 
own a leisure battery with sufficient capacity. a 105 aH AGM
battery should do , better is two 80 aH AGM batteries .
accompany these batteries with a solar panel of 100 or 120 w,
and you should be able to survive at least 4-5 days fully 
independent. ( depending on consumption).

do not think too small when planning power supply of your MH.

Jan


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Hi Linda and welcome.

We used to have a small solar trickle charger to prevent the battery draining when the van was in store. It wasn't a great deal of use I'm afraid and didn't do the job. I suspect, if your van is 1986, then it is pre-CANBUS and so might not have the drain that ours does- even when all internal gadgets and gizmos are turned off so it might do the necessary. Fiat recommend disconnecting the battery if the van is going to be stored for longer than a month between trips but this means you can't have an alarm running. Ours used to drain in 2 weeks. 

If you're going to be camping in spring, winter or autumn then I'd strongly recommend a set of external silver screens to prevent condensation and keep the cab area warm. They're handy in summer to keep it cool too !

G


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## Lindatilly (Sep 12, 2011)

*Welcome*

Thank you so much for the quick replies and welcomes! I'll be back!!
Linda


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi, A 1000w inverter is a bit over the top just for a TV,a 300w plug in one should be more than enough.


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## Lindatilly (Sep 12, 2011)

Hi Kev n Liz, thanks for the advice. I may want to charge (& use) my laptop too and have read that a pure sine wave one is best for laptops. I'm trying to keep the costs down and have seen a 300w pure sine wave inverter for £45 and a 1000w modified sine wave for £23. I'm tempted to go for the 1000w but don't want to damage the laptop. 
Would the 300w one charge my mobile phone & laptop and run the tv?

Incidentally can anyone tell me what "Avatar" is, I've tried to put a photo on my profile but using the browser to upload a jpeg photo doesn't seem to work.
Thank you,
Linda


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Snap! Good choice of van!

You would be better off power wise getting a 12v telly. Invertors use a lot of battery power.

For the laptop I use a cigar type charger from Maplins, about £20 and again more efficient than and invertor.

What I tend to do is charge stuff up from the cab battery while I am driving.

For your avatar the photo needs to be just 160 pixels wide so it could be that you need to resize it.


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## ched999uk (Jan 31, 2011)

Beware of inverters at that price point. A 1000watt inverter can pull 100Amps from your battery at full load!!!! So even a 100Ah battery will be flat in well under an hour!!!!!!
A TV will probably only need 40-60 watts. A Laptop charger maybe 100Watts.
You can get a decent 150watt ring can (same shape as beer can) for about £25. Cheap inverters may not be very stable ways to provide 240vac and can cause damage to equipment plugged in to them.
Also inverters are probably only 80-90% efficient (OK some are better but normally very expensive). So if you can get a 12vdc tv you will be saving 10-20% battery life over a 240vac and inverter (assuming same wattage).

We have a 24" LED TV and have run it on the Ring Can type inverter no problem. Have also used it to charge netbook using normal mains charger. For mobile phone we have a 'universal' 12vdc one that was about £8.


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