Reality Check for Buying a Bus

[jjaj823]

Sounds like about what Ruth and I have in the whole build at this time. We bought our current bus at auction last July for 1800. 1998 International Amtrans pusher with about 142000 miles on it at the time. We've been living in it and driving it while we do our hill Billy build. Oursolar system has 12 327watt panels, three solar controllers, 400 AH LifePo bank, 300AH AGM bank, 2 5KW inverters and a 12v backup system. We've got our deep freeze, kitchen, dog beds, people beds, air conditioning, and 55 inch tv, lotsa 2" poly foam insulation and great hillbilly plywood siding. We are a long ways from spending ten grand.
To each his own for sure but you can get into a really nice bus for a lot less than ten grand if you are patient.

After seeing some other replies like yours, I agree! Seems like the used bus market can be quite the racket...

Out of curiosity, what brand solar panel and inverters are you using?

 

[Rock-N-Ruth]

After seeing some other replies like yours, I agree! Seems like the used bus market can be quite the racket...

Out of curiosity, what brand solar panel and inverters are you using?

I am using Sunpower 327w panels. I bought the first round from a seller in Albuquerque. They are new-old stock. I paid $150/ea for 8 of them. I bought the next a seller in Phoenix for .30/watt. The inverter is Rock solid for the nearly invisible price. We have been working it hard since 2017 this guy has been selling them for a while https://www.ebay.com/itm/8000W-LF-S...553370&hash=item3b1d6c5ca0:g:U2EAAOSwPeRd-Cq4 . Three makeskyblue 60A solar controllers make sure I get the most out of my panels. We built the AGM battery bank in 2019 and moved it into the bus in July. Then we got this deal https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-matched-...9?pageci=47bad0f0-6037-4103-acf4-56261a07bfb8 they are awesome. Up till now I would only dream about LiFePo4 batteries. Even though they say matched the one was at 25.5 and the other at 25.2 when we got them. I measured all the cells an the batteries were balanced to themselves. So I balanced the pair. Put them on four panels. Let them charge for a day then fired up the air. Ran a 15000 BTU portable for several hours and didn't put a dent in their capacity.

 

[jjaj823]

I am using Sunpower 327w panels. I bought the first round from a seller in Albuquerque. They are new-old stock. I paid $150/ea for 8 of them. I bought the next a seller in Phoenix for .30/watt. The inverter is Rock solid for the nearly invisible price. We have been working it hard since 2017 this guy has been selling them for a while https://www.ebay.com/itm/8000W-LF-S...553370&hash=item3b1d6c5ca0:g:U2EAAOSwPeRd-Cq4 . Three makeskyblue 60A solar controllers make sure I get the most out of my panels. We built the AGM battery bank in 2019 and moved it into the bus in July. Then we got this deal https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-matched-...9?pageci=47bad0f0-6037-4103-acf4-56261a07bfb8 they are awesome. Up till now I would only dream about LiFePo4 batteries. Even though they say matched the one was at 25.5 and the other at 25.2 when we got them. I measured all the cells an the batteries were balanced to themselves. So I balanced the pair. Put them on four panels. Let them charge for a day then fired up the air. Ran a 15000 BTU portable for several hours and didn't put a dent in their capacity.

That's fantastic!!! Thanks for the links, I'm going to check them out.