Got electrical questions? I have answers!

[jazty]

Originally Posted by family wagon

Thanks for showing that, jazty. I hadn't seen those before! Was it difficult to crack open and re-close after "fixing" the blue LED?

They're easy to open, but the clips that hold the back on broke during the process. After cutting the LED out I glued it back together with cyanoacrylate (super glue). The whole process only took a couple minutes.

Originally Posted by family wagon

Did you happen to check the quiescent (no-load/idle) power consumption..?

Oh, you better believe I did! It's negligible. I don't remember exactly, but I think the quiescent load was initially about double that of a small LED. Of course, after clipping the LED the load went down to about half. Mere milli-amps.

[ezark]

I was considering purchasing a eurovan but you cant power on the a/c without turning on the car. How would I go about doing this?

My other option is buying a e350 shuttle but again I would need to have the vehicle on to use the rear a/c. One particular e350 im looking at, the a/c doesn't work so if I had to purchase a different type of ac system, I guess it wouldn't be a big deal?

I would love to have additional power available for interior lights but I figure I'd just buy a LED roll and it'd hardly use any power.

Suggestions?

Thank you kindly!

[afiliault]

I have an 86' Thomas full size. I recently bought a brand new battery and the second battery is fairly new, but for some reason it won't start up. All my levels are fine, but it won't even crank. Under the hood there is a small white wire that is disconnected close to the starter. Should I reconnect and give it a try or is that risky?


-Abbey

[family wagon]

There should be a large wire and a small wire connecting to the starter (to its solenoid, really, but they're usually combined into a single unit). If there's no small wire connecting to the solenoid that's a good clue. If the length, routing, and residual bends in this mystery white wire look like they'd get it to the starter, and if it has a connector that fits an unused terminal on the starter, there's a good chance that's where it belongs.

[nat_ster]

Search, search and search some more gently on the forum.

Nat

[Mschoonmaker]

Hey Plasma, Have you done the math and stuff to figure out what it would cost to go solar in a bus ? I have 2 small 5000 btu window A/C units, an apt size refrigerator, a small microwave, an electric oven. Now I do live in Florida so 2 a/c's running 24/7 is normal but I can get buy with one if needed. Do I have enough space on the roof of a 40' bus to live comfortably understanding that all that stuff doesn't run all the time or at the same time. I have about 256 sqft of available space up on roof.

[bubb, the real one]

Just a few quick and dirty estimates

depending upon the panels you get you can fit about 2500 watts of panels on top of a long bus, the panels may cost about $3500,

charge controllers about $1000, wires/connectors/fuses/boxes about $1000,

I twill cost at least $2000 for the roof rack to hold the panels and yes it will cover the whole roof, more if you want them to tilt easily.

Your 5000btu unit probably pulls about 4.5 amps AC when running, this equals to about 45amps Dc,

You may need up to 3000 or 4000 amp hours of battery to run the AC when the sun is not shining, this of course can vary but plan on $2000 to $3000 for batteries,

All this stuff will add at least a ton of weight to your bus,

[Mschoonmaker]

That is about what I came with too. I think I am going to wait till the price gets more reasonable. I think I could run a good propane generator 24/7 or just pay to get regular electric and save a bunch of money. I would love to help with a clean environment I just cant afford it, I know that sounds stupid but Uncle Sam and GE have a deal.

[mplsdog]

I'm just now getting ready to install shore power. I have a base understanding of the differences between 50amp and 30amp circuits. Could you comment on why I wouldn't install 50amp? It doesn't look to be much more money, and if it's backwards compatible with 20 or 30amp stations, why wouldn't I? It seems the benefits of potentially adding additional appliances would be worth the minor cost increase?

Thanks!

Steven

[turf]

30A can run a single A/C unit, it takes 50A to run 2 - A/C units.

[Crozz]

I just posted for advice then this thread shows up in the list. What timing!

Time to dig through this thread. Thanks in advance for posting this.

[mplsdog]

So dumb question... why would anyone install a 30 amp instead of 50, knowing that you may want to eventually add appliances?

[Tango]

One consideration is the availability of 50 amp service. The Big Time, fancy schmancy RV parks usually have it, but most smaller ones and I believe all the state and national parks are only 30. But...you can set up a 50 with a 30 amp pigtail adapter so that you can use either.

[Rider]

Ok Plasma, I've got one for you.

I have 2002 GMC Thomas Minotour cutaway. 7.5l Diesel.

Making good progress on this thing as a weekend camper. Have installed 2 x deep cycle marine batteries, and inverter which runs a single AC outlet (all I'll need).

I've also tied in the whole bus safety system circuit into the house bank with a controller. Charged by alternator, and when key is off, overhead control panel with safety switches is isolated on house bank.

Now, what I want to do is repurpose the external 8 way amber and red flashers into spot lights for external lighting. I'm having trouble finding info on how to bypass the relay. I've traced some of the wiring, but with all the bus wiring intact in the overhead it's a little tricky. Ideally I'd eliminate the relay so switch just turns lights on and off. And ideally I'd have front and rears isolated from one another.

I have located the relay. I've also come across another controller which has some sort of magnetic bar that controls the different functions of the lighting system. Red flashing when doors are shut, when doors open this controller switches system to illuminate the amber flashers, then when doors shut it turns off the system.

Obviously I can simply cut lamp wires on the back of the switch, and post relay/controller and wire directly to switch. However tracking down the wires for the rear lights is a task with all the other wiring.

I'm looking for the easiest way to eliminate the flashing. Any ideas?

Thank you very much in advance.

[Goatherder]

Originally Posted by Rider

Ok Plasma, I've got one for you.....

Plasma: Last Activity: 11-28-2014 03:07 PM. The man went POOF almost two years ago.

[rossfree]

I am aware that this is an old thread but I want to add...

I have two 240 watt panels on my bus in parallel to an MPPT controller. One of the advantages of higher voltage panels is you can still be charging your batteries in very low lighting conditions! You need greater than 12 volts to charge a 12v battery bank. In low lighting conditions, an 18 volt solar panel may only produce 10-12 volts... not enough to even start charging your batteries. But I regularly see voltages high enough in the worst lighting conditions to charge my batteries with my higher voltage panels. This extends my hours of charging in the morning and evening hours. Even on rainy days I see 30 to 60 watts of charge going to my batteries.

Ross

[jazty]

I concur! Just this morning I was admiring the same thing. We took the bus out to a wedding this weekend and had it parked fully in the shade of a couple trees. Even with the tiniest bit of indirect light the panels were at ~30v and the MPPT charge controller was putting in ~2 amps @ 14.6 volts Of course, that's next to nothing for a 455Ah battery pack, but it's neat nonetheless!

[AlleyCat67]

So let me see if I understand this right.... the charge controller will step down the voltage of a panel to the appropriate voltage to charge the battery bank.... in other words take that 24v that the panel(s) are kicking out and feed the battery bank 14.x volts to charge?

That's been the primary reason I haven't been looking at higher voltage panels, afraid the 24 or 30v from the panels would cook the batteries.

[jazty]

Only an MPPT charge controller can utilize the higher voltage panels. Mine can take panel voltage from anything around ~16v to as high as 100v. My battery bank is 3x 12v deep cycle (not marine) batteries in parallel. You want the panel voltage high to reduce line loss. My two panels are both ~36v grid-tie panels. I put them in parallel instead of series so that if one is shaded the other still provides power.

[AlleyCat67]

My bank is going to be 4x 6v ~220ah connected in 2 parallel blocks of 2 in series which will give me 12v 440ah capacity to start. Further expansion will be done in blocks of 4 the same way, with each block having its own panels and charge controller; however all blocks will be connected in parallel to an inverter (or two).

I figure three blocks will give me all the power I could ever need or want (1320 ah, lots of juice). Would rather have too much than not enough.