Solar Score! Facebook Marketplace Comes Through

[wrenchtech]

I am trying to get my diesel fueled parking heater up and running. I need 12 V to run the thing, but I loathe the idea of running anything like this off my starting batteries. So I thought I should probably start building a battery bank for this kind of stuff. A few calls placed locally confirmed that I would have to pay about $600 to get two, 12 volt, group 31, AGM, deep cycle batteries. So I decided to take a quick look at Facebook Marketplace, which is where I ran across this deal.










My price, out the door, $960. How did I do?

[wrenchtech]

There are (4) 100 W Renogy Solar panels, (4) 120 ah 6 volt Interstate golf cart batteries, two charge controllers, a 2000 W pure sine wave inverter, an 1100 W modified wave inverter, marine grade main switch, and a $200 dollar digital battery charger.

[Drew Bru]

Looks like ya did alright to me, man. Everything's set up and ready to transfer into the bus. If you find you need to add some solar or battery capacity then you might just be able to add components. Also possible that this will be enough of a setup for you....in which case, less than 1000 bucks seems pretty good!

[wrenchtech]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

Looks like ya did alright to me, man. Everything's set up and ready to transfer into the bus. If you find you need to add some solar or battery capacity then you might just be able to add components. Also possible that this will be enough of a setup for you....in which case, less than 1000 bucks seems pretty good!

Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to mount the panels to the roof, and where I am going to put the batteries and the controller. I don't really even have a floorplan yet. I have to do something though, even if it's just temporary, because winter has arrived in Wisconsin and I need to get that heater going. I think I might lug two of those batteries up into the passenger compartment and just set them on the floor and hook them up to the heater. I will make up the drain with the battery charger for now.

[wrenchtech]

As soon as I get the solar system working, I want to create some kind of charging circuit for the starting batteries. I want to protect the starting batteries at all costs. I don't want overcharge them and I don't want to end up drawing any current from them for the house use.

[musigenesis]

I'm interested in seeing how this works out for you. I was thinking of buying and setting up a diesel air heater (I assume that's what you have, and not a coolant heater) while I'm still working on the bus this winter, but I was looking at the same problem of providing electricity to the thing.

Your gear here seems like a great way to bypass a lot of setup hassle.

[wrenchtech]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I'm interested in seeing how this works out for you. I was thinking of buying and setting up a diesel air heater (I assume that's what you have, and not a coolant heater) while I'm still working on the bus this winter, but I was looking at the same problem of providing electricity to the thing.

Your gear here seems like a great way to bypass a lot of setup hassle.

I unpacked my diesel air heater two days ago and got to thinking that with minimal insulation, at the moment, and Wisconsin winter upon us, I was going to be running this thing hard. I decided that I needed a source of 12 V other than my starting batteries. I put aside the heater and started to tackle the electrical. I think I have enough capacity now to run a couple of the diesel heaters, a water pump to supply my sink, some lighting, charge my laptop and my wifi hotspot and do some maintenance charging on my starting batteries.

As far as the heaters go, I joined the Facebook Chinese diesel heater group and I watched a YouTube video on installation that left me feeling like it was going to be pretty easy. I feel fairly good about what I see in the box too.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/146837062640024/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpYL5HlDFxQ

[Doktari]

A diesel heater is tempting as my engine runs on diesel. However my generator and stove runs on propane so think I’ll go with a catalytic propane heater. The propane heater will run without electricity is another factor.