Complete power idiot

[NomadicAlien]

So i know nothing! About power for inside our bus, and while we aren’t near needing power in it(just now workig on the walls. Had a few delays). I’d love to go solar. I am on a very very very tight budget but need to hear all options not just the cheapest i guess.

We were van living a lot before this and didnt really use much to charge phones when we were stationary. But now i would like to run a few things when we are camping, stationary, or just pulling over for the night. For now mostly just chargers for phones and laptops for work. Maybe a small window ac unit or standing one.

Eventually we will have a mini cast iron wood stove, so we wont need power for a heater. I’d like to be able to have a light or two that isn’t battery powered, and with the baby we like to have any kind of small source of power in case of any kind of emergency.

Now, I’ve scoured all over the forums and i just get really confused, call me an idiot . If someone could help me understand a little better or helpe me come up with a power set up plan i would be super grateful.

I have this posted on a few groups I’m in as well so i hope ill get some KIND help soon.

[ThunderstruckStudios]

Welcome!


A good first step is to make a list of all of the electrical things you anticipate using, including for each device:

power - how much energy it uses in Watts [W]
voltage - what "type" of electricity it needs in Volts [V] AC (alternating current) or DC (direct current). You're looking for a number and a "AC" or "DC" here (e.g. 24 V DC or 120 V AC).



Looks like you've already gotten started on this, and every device should have that information readily available.


Then you need to think about how much you will be using each device. The power in Watts is a rate of energy use. If you multiply that by the number of hours that you plan to use the device, you will get a number in Watt-hours (a unit of energy). This will help you determine how much energy you need per day (which helps to size your batteries) and how fast you need to refill your batteries (which helps size your solar panels).


Hope that helps!