Battery Bank Charging Options

[Robin97396]

I’ll admit, if I found the right woman I’d be open to a relationship again. Especially if she’s a rich widow.

It’s always good when someone appreciates my sense of humor instead of taking it seriously and trying to make sense out of it. I often get in trouble for the things I put into written words because I don’t use emojies. Wrong generation. I come from the “round tuit” generation.

I completely agree on the fuel use of running during the winter. I’ve done that a lot on earlier winters and it took several months to get down to half a tank. In that one particular early winter I didn’t have antifreeze in my cooling system so I was cranking up at least twice a day to keep the block warm. Yeah I know, I should have drained it until I was ready to go to town since I was just sitting here anyway. The waterlines were froze solid so I kept my radiator full and stayed warm at the same time. The problem was I got snowed in, then it started freezing hard. My propane heater was only exacerbating the condensation issues. Yeah, actually I found out I’m not all that tough. It was a metal tent. If I didn’t move in I’d likely still be deliberating about how to get started.

Concerning the fridge, I’ve found I don’t like tall items that block the view out all these windows that I’ve kept. The freezerator eliminates the blocked view and gives me more counter space. And yes, it avoids splaying the fridge contents all over the floor like the upright fridge. I did make a latch for the fridge door, but if a cantelop or something rolls and hits the door just right it would pop open anyway. Somehow the stuff hits the floor and migrates to under the bed or the front stairwell.

I’ve been trying to talk myself into house batteries and a charge controller. It is an expensive proposition that I can easily afford, but I’m cheap. Plus electrical things don’t work well for me. I am planning on traveling so I suspect my need may change in the future. So I’m still learning from your build, or trying anyway.

[Ronnie]

I had an interesting fridge spill a while ago. I had built a teardrop shaped camper for my 47 Dodge truck. While going around a turn the fridge door opened and at the same time the camper door opened. out went the milk, saw it go in the mirror. when I straightened the door closed. After that I put a better latch on the fridge. This was a 12 volt mini fridge. Still have it, use it in the car sometimes.

I too am looking at solar for the bus. So it has been good to hear what people are saying on this.

[Robin97396]

Ronnie, that's hilarious.

Now I feel better because my contents never hit the blacktop. It's usually that jug of milk hitting the door that gets the ball rolling. Drink milk.

[roach711]

If you don't need a lot of capacity check out the Dometic CoolFreeze coolers. They run on AC and DC and don't draw all that much. Around 40 watts/hr if memory serves. They can be either a fridge or a freezer and the bigger ones have both. Pricey but nice units.

[weboughtabus]

Originally Posted by Robin97396

It hurts a lot of us on this site to see anyone tear out a factory AC system. Yes they are in the way during a build, but apparently you can swap out some of the klunky components when the opportunity arises later.

That is a very interesting point you bring up, Robin! You wouldn't happen to know of any builds in particular where they swapped out components, would you? Even just a keyword or two to help me on my search would be greatly appreciated!

[elkoskoolie]

Look into a chest freezer conversion. You put a temperature controller probe in the freezer and plug the freezer into the temp controller. Set controller to what temp you want, typically mid to upper 30's. Freezers are vastly more efficient than refrigerators. I ran my 3.1 cu. ft. fridge/freezer for three days on 3 Walmart RV batteries going to the eclipse last Aug. just fine, including lights and music with no re-charging of batteries (my solar is not installed yet). The 18 volts for solar is no-load, my understanding is that attaching a load lowers system voltage, and the charge controller takes care of the rest. In my last bus, I made morning coffee with a drip electric maker, used the microwave, lights laptop etc on 384 watts of solar and 4 Walmart group 29 RV batteries. By the time I finished my first 4 cups in the morning the batteries were already taking a small charge at 7:00 a.m. Are you folks local? I see Battle Born Batteries is in Reno; I'm in both Winnemucca and Reno. I still have my old bus, you can come look at my simple system if you want.

[Robin97396]

I don't know beans about AC systems. I try to follow Cadillac with his AC exploits in hopes that I'll learn something. I'd talk to them before I junked any AC system. Word is it's good to have AC while you're driving without using your generator. Depends on your climate though. Here in Oregon peak summer gets hot for about two weeks and it's over so we usually swim a lot during those weeks rather than deal with AC systems.