Researching Solar and Electrical setups - Need guidance

[nomadic_archery187]

My wife and I are starting research on building our first skoolie.

We have yet to purchase a bus yet because this build will take a ton of research due to environment that we will be operating in.

while my wife is happy to focus on the living space and layout, I have been tasked researching the systems such as electrical, pumping, heating etc. So here I am.

I am looking for recommendations on electrical setups to power this build. I will explain what I am looking for and hopefully someone can help point me in the right direction.

First of all the enviroment that we will be operating in.

I will be operating in Alberta Canada. We will be primarily in and around Calgary, however trips as far north and Cold lake and Fort Mac will be common for us. For this reason we will be build backup systems for everything. Our heating will be wood burning, with either electric or propane heating/AC unit as a backup (we have a dog so this is a must for our safety as well as hers.

I want to add that we will be insulating the bus as well to save on energy cost

In terms of Electrical we want to run primarily off solar, but will have a generator setup as backup.

I will list some of the things that we must have on the bus in hopes that you all can point me in the right direction.

List of "must haves"
fridge
oven with cooktop
washer and dryer combo (we are hunters. washer and dryer is a must)
backup heating/AC to support the wood burning stove(prefer electric over propane)
as well as all the lighting, computers and various electrical needs.

I know it is bit of a task, but the benchmark I would like to hit is 4 weeks or longer off grid.

Basically what I am looking for is a complete solar set up with generator backup.

The goal is to not have to rely on carrying a lot of extra fuel as space for this build will be limited.

Money for this build is not an issue as we are willing to spend upwards of 100K CAD including the cost of the bus.

One more thing to mention. I would prefer that the electrical system for the living space is completely separate from the the buses alternator and battery. This is a safety precaution that I can not over look. For any reason if the solar and backup generator fails, and we are on Crown land. I have to be able to get out of dodge and the bus has to start.

will also need to be able to hook directly up to power sources in RV parks as well

I am curious to hear all of your thoughts as I will have more questions as my research continues

[Rwnielsen]

Washer, dryer, heat and A/C will in my opinion, require a generator or hookup. Lights, computers and smaller TVs would be OK. You would need an enormous bank of batteries to power electric heat or A/C and the requisite acreage of solar panels to recharge it.

[derekmichael02]

I found this to be a really helpful resource:

https://faroutride.com/conversion-planning/

It's for a van, but the schematic helped me visualize how it should all go together.

[nomadic_archery187]

Originally Posted by Rwnielsen

Washer, dryer, heat and A/C will in my opinion, require a generator or hookup. Lights, computers and smaller TVs would be OK. You would need an enormous bank of batteries to power electric heat or A/C and the requisite acreage of solar panels to recharge it.

I think you are right.

I am still very early in my reseach on this build so I am still looking for options. I am thinking that I could run washer/dryer off of a generator/hookup to save on the power draw from the solar system, and I could place the backup heating on diesel. While I have no intentions of chopping down live trees, given where we will typically be there should be plenty of fallen tree for fuel.

Also most of or trips during the winter will be weekend trips as Albertan winters are not nice. we will be close to Calgary as we still have to work until we can replace our incomes.

Propane is still very much an option as long as we can find the proper balance between wood and propane so we are not going through tanks too fast . We'll have to figure out A/c as there will be time that we are away from the bus for extended times and the dog will have to be comfortable as well.

We can not elimate the washer/dryer do to the fact that we hunt. While we can play the winds, it would really suck to be out in the bush chasing whitetail, elk or muley and have the wind change. The less we stink the less chance of getting busted

[TheHubbardBus]

It's nice to see you're already rethinking things, because I was going to second the impracticality of some of your wants / needs. Pretty much anything is possible if you throw enough $$ at a problem, but some problems are better addressed one way than the other. The general design methodology that seems to work best w/ solar, regardless of budget, is to aim to use as little electricity as possible

If I were you, I'd choose a generator that runs off the same fuel as your bus. You'll likely be needing it often in your off-grid pursuits. As per your description, you need something you can count on. Outside mechanical failure, a generator provides that assurance. A fickle sun does not.

Everything that can be operated on something other than electric should. Heater in your environment should absolutely be something else. Propane or diesel are both great options (like the gennie, if your bus is diesel, diesel makes real good sense). Washer & Dryer are doable off your battery bank since they don't run for extended periods and you won't die if your clothes are dirty, but you'll be able to reduce the magnitude, expense, & complexity of your system if you relegate them to shore / generator power only. Range / cooktop: propane. Refrigerator: Highly insulated DC fridges with Danfoss-style compressors are pretty much the best bet in terms of efficiency, by a long sight. Novakool is one brand example of these types of refrigerators. Speaking of DC, you should aim to power anything that has to be electric off DC as much as possible, to avoid the inefficiency of converting DC to AC as well as the power required to power the inverter itself (more than most think). Lighting at least should absolutely be DC.

As far as separation of house / bus batteries, you don't really have the option not to, so don't worry about that. Even w/ 12V systems it's not good practice to share banks. But w/ your needs, you'll be wanting a 24V (or maybe even 48V) bank anyway. One thing I think you might be interested in is a battery-to-battery charger, such as the models produced by Sterling. These effectively allow you to charge your house battery bank from your alternator (complete w/ proper charging algorithms for your given chemistry), as well as 'jump' your bus bank from the house bank, if ever required, but in normal operation, it prevents discharge of the house bank through the bus. And they make them in versions that don't require the voltage of the banks to be the same (so you can have a 12V bus bank, and a 24V house bank, for example).

[nomadic_archery187]

Thank you for the information.

We are definitely willing to adapt as I learn new Information. Given the environment that we will be operating in, and the current technology available. I have to as flexible as I can.

There are many things that I have to factor into this build and while we have things that we want, we understand the things we need will take precedence. Fortunately things like a washer/dryer is a need. Due to the amount of miles that we will be putting on the ground in the back country hunting, the ability to clean our camo will be paramount. Beyond that wearing a pair of pants a couple of days is already the norm for us, so running it directly off a generator once a week isn't much of a change for us.

Heating will also be a a double system. Definitely going to be running a wood stove in the bus and have a back up here that we want to kick in over night or for when we are not there (gotta remember we have a dog). Unfortunately due to the environment there has to be backups.

Typically we will be parked in areas during the winter closer or within Calgary. But the capacity has to be there if we decide to leave for a weekend in the back country in winter.

This will not be an easy build not only because these factors, but we also have to factor in wildlife detourtant, and security. Buy that is a whole other topic