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Old 10-27-2018, 06:10 PM   #1
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Self Sufficient Skoolie

I am running ideas though my head and not sure what is working. I want to have a fully self sufficient skoolie that everything will run off its diesel, solar and generator run to the diesel tank so all I ever have to do is add diesel.

Can you hook things up so when there is no sun to recharge the solar banks, they will charge from the engine running either sitting or driving? Can a generator and solar be run simultaneously if the load is to much for the solar bank? We are a family of four and will have ac (we live in Florida but plan to travel everywhere), refrigerator, probably an electric stove, lights, etc. When it is hot, I would need the ac running at all times including when driving.

After moving around here, I am shipping it to Europe to travel visiting family for a few years which is why I also want it down to filling diesel, changing oil and fresh water. Thanks.

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Old 10-27-2018, 06:29 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amiblue View Post
I am running ideas though my head and not sure what is working. I want to have a fully self sufficient skoolie that everything will run off its diesel, solar and generator run to the diesel tank so all I ever have to do is add diesel.

Can you hook things up so when there is no sun to recharge the solar banks, they will charge from the engine running either sitting or driving? Can a generator and solar be run simultaneously if the load is to much for the solar bank? We are a family of four and will have ac (we live in Florida but plan to travel everywhere), refrigerator, probably an electric stove, lights, etc. When it is hot, I would need the ac running at all times including when driving.

After moving around here, I am shipping it to Europe to travel visiting family for a few years which is why I also want it down to filling diesel, changing oil and fresh water. Thanks.
You can run your whole skoolie from just diesel and solar. It just depends on how deep your pockets are.

My 350 watt panels are roughly 3.5' x 6'. On a 40 foot bus flat front bus you could fit roughly 8-9 panels and 2 rooftop a/c units. Minisplits would be more efficient and add space for more panels. That's about 2800 watts of panels.

You could do an electric oven and a convection microwave to skip the propane. There may be a way to cook with diesel but I don't know about that.

https://www.powertechgenerators.com makes diesel generators that are made to mount under a van or bus. They are not cheap. I believe the smallest one, 3k watts is over $6k.

Heating can also be done with diesel or electric or both.

The solar will run to a bank of batteries. Appliances do not run directly from the panels but from the energy stored in the batteries. You can run the generator and have solar going at the same time if you like. However to design a system where that is efficient is above my pay grade.

Get yourself a bus with a built in a/c for driving. Mount panels above it.

Anything is possible enough time, skill, and money.
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Old 10-28-2018, 10:35 AM   #3
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Recommendations on who to contact who is super knowledgeable in this area who won't pad themselves an obscene amount?
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Old 10-28-2018, 10:42 AM   #4
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why does no one consider small wind turbines? are they just not nearly efficient enough to be of any use? it seems like haveing a 15 or 20 foot mast that you can put up with a 700 or 1000 watt wind turbine on wouldnt be too hard... similar to the guys that have foldable masts for their HAM antennas on their trucks and rigs that go out..



with the likes of many people travelling out west where mountain winds, santa ana of the winter, tradewinds near florida beaches, etc.. you could gain back at least some of used power even at night or on days with mediocre sunlight.. (or a combo of both)..



-Christopher
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Old 10-28-2018, 11:01 AM   #5
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From hearing boaters complain about the noise and vibration caused by bladed wind turbines I'd guess they wouldn't make for happy skoolies. I have heard of some sort of cone within a cone design for a wind genny with reports of silent, vibration free operation. Maybe there are discussions of this on boating forums.
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Old 10-29-2018, 08:05 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
why does no one consider small wind turbines? are they just not nearly efficient enough to be of any use? it seems like haveing a 15 or 20 foot mast that you can put up with a 700 or 1000 watt wind turbine on wouldnt be too hard... similar to the guys that have foldable masts for their HAM antennas on their trucks and rigs that go out..



with the likes of many people travelling out west where mountain winds, santa ana of the winter, tradewinds near florida beaches, etc.. you could gain back at least some of used power even at night or on days with mediocre sunlight.. (or a combo of both)..



-Christopher
I had considered installing one, they are affordable, but had not really found much on the subject. The extendable mast is exactly what i had imagined.
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Old 11-21-2021, 09:26 PM   #7
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Wind turbines

Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
why does no one consider small wind turbines? are they just not nearly efficient enough to be of any use? it seems like haveing a 15 or 20 foot mast that you can put up with a 700 or 1000 watt wind turbine on wouldnt be too hard... similar to the guys that have foldable masts for their HAM antennas on their trucks and rigs that go out..



with the likes of many people travelling out west where mountain winds, santa ana of the winter, tradewinds near florida beaches, etc.. you could gain back at least some of used power even at night or on days with mediocre sunlight.. (or a combo of both)..



-Christopher
I've been thinking the same. Wind turbines could supply power on cloudy days. If no one else is willing to give it a shot, I will when I get to that phase.
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Old 11-22-2021, 09:47 AM   #8
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I'm on the same mission. It sounds like you are going the route of having a massive electrical setup with solar and a generator for support. There are plenty of places to help you calculate your electrical needs, so I'm going to discuss the diesel route instead. I'm going the other way with no 120VAC loads, and diesel everywhere possible instead of 12vdc in the few places I need it. Here's what I've found and what I'm doing. It's not a cheap endeavor. Can you do it cheaper than I am. Sure, you can buy Chinese goods. I'm not going to go in depth about the electrical options because those are the same for everyone.

1. Heating:
a. Diesel coolant heater piped to hydronic heaters. I bought a Webasto Scholastic NIB for $1600 Ebay, I've seen some other deals if you know where to look. There are other brands of course (Espar, Planar, ProHeat, etc...), or you can fork out the cash for a truck APU that includes heat, power, and AC.
b. Diesel foreced air heater. Webasto, Espar, Wallas, Chinese... People seem to love these.
c. There are also some small diesel boat heaters/stoves like the Dickinson Newport, and tons of freestanding models like the Refleks. These can be really beautiful.

2. Water heating: Diesel coolant heater. As above. Look into water heaters designed for marine applications. Many include an engine coolant heat exchanger. Some brands are IsoTemp, Whale Seaward, Kuuma, etc... Most of these include an 120VAC electrical heating coil. I'm swapping mine to 12VDC so I can run it sans inverter. $300 for the water heater.

3. Fridge: Obviously you can't go propane. So you can spend as much or as little as you want. You can even buy marine refrigeration components and build the box yourself if you want. I'm going with a R134a chest freezer (harder to find now), and replacing the 120VAC compressor with a 12VDC Danfoss. Again so I can run it sans inverter. Some modification to the thermostat, and I'll have a 12VDC efficient fridge. $100 for the used freezer, $300 for the compressor

4. AC: Like I said above you can get an APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) from a semi truck that has a small diesel motor that runs AC, or if you have enough electricity (solar/generator/nuclear/etc...) you can run whatever AC you want. No AC for me until/unless I find it necessary. I do have hope though with some of these newer efficient units... Used APUs run about $2000 depending on features. New are $10-15k.

5. Cooking: There are plenty of options for electrical cooking but again you need the electrical capacity and generation to run those. For diesel, there are very few.
a. Natural draft diesel stoves. These operate like wood stoves, except they have a pot burner. They are almost exclusively designed for boats. There are styles that have ovens (Dickinson), there are styles that only have room for a pot (Refleks). These like to be lit once and run all out for the entire season, you're not going to bust out a quick lunch with one of these.
b. Forced air diesel stoves. These look like induction stoves, but are burners with a ceramic top. Wallas makes them for boats and Webasto licenses them for RVs. Still has to heat up, but not the same extent as above thanks to the forced air burner.
Diesel will cost you. A new Dickinson/Wallas/Webasto will run you $2000. I found a used Dickinson in Washington for $500, and had it freighted to NM for an additional $400.
c. Diesel camp stove. Very few models that advertise they can run diesel, and from my discussions with the stove gurus over at classiccampstoves.com it is not recommended. Hard to light, hard to clean, smokes like crazy. They recommend just sticking with Kerosene, white gas, etc... A few MSR models advertise diesel, one Coleman, a couple BRS, and some older British, Swedish, German military stoves. There are only a few other options that I've found and they are obscure. $100 - $500 depending on model.

Happy Hunting
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Old 11-22-2021, 12:44 PM   #9
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Check Out This Beast

Lots of potential here. It's in the UK.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185167593...81-19255-0%2F1


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