compleatly independent motor home set up

milo · Guru

compleatly independent motor home set up

Oxley · Veteran Member

Yes, I would believe it is possible, but for me, it would be too expensive, and not just the initial outlay, but in maintence, repairs and replacement.

Yeoeleven summed it up, it is all about what you can afford balanced with what you can do without

For me, after a frustrating week of installing a battery and Engel fridge into my camper and spending a sum on wiring and other bits (and still havent got a way of charging yet), I then worked out I could have bought a top of the range Evakool ice box, I can live without perishable foods for a week or more.

I still will need to purchase either a solar system or a small generator, but Im still tossing up either buy cheap eBay, or spend the extra on a name brand, but Im currently bench testing and getting usage stats for the setup.

With other gadgets, I dont watch free to air TV at all, I think the last time I plugged the antenna in at home there was Big Brother or A Current Affair with a bogan neighbour story, so unplugged it again.

I watch maybe 1 hour of downloaded TV shows a day, which I could do with my laptop or tablet, I read mostly and listen to audiobooks, which I do on an Andriod tablet and a rechargeable external speaker, which I can charge from small foldable solar panel.

Lighting I have purchased some rechargeable LED work lights, which can be charge from 12v, but I use a hurricane lantern outside at home as well.

Shower wise I will modify a garden spray pump pack with a small shower head, this is a setup we used many years ago, when I was poor apprentice whenever we went bush.

Heating and cooling, is either put clothes or take them off, if its too cold, then I go to bed and read a book.

freehazzas · Senior Member

Yes it is possible to be powered up enough in battery to use solar. We have our new rig set up to do that. Even with a few cloudy days we will have enough in reserve. That also includes watching TV if we want, charging ipads, phones ect.
The one thing many forget is, yes its one thing to have enough power, but do you have enough water.
We had extra 100 lt water tanks installed under our truck so we have enough water for pretty much normal living for two weeks, longer if we ration. 300 lt all up.
It all comes down to how much you want to spend. So far i think it has cost us the equiv of a months park fees to set up, so it will pay as back in no time.
Solar and the biggest batteries you can have. We wont use a gen at all.

Shogun · Senior Member

As Oxley said, its all about what you can afford and what you can live without. I will be using my MH as a base for work, which involves a lot of internet and computer usage so need a bit of extra solar and batteries, which i have had added when it was being built.

I am at the stage of my life where i dont want to rough it, so i have the made the choices I have, to avoid doing that. I enjoy the luxuries I have in the MH but once again it comes down to what you can afford.

I have 300 watts of solar an 2 x 100 hour deep cycle batteries and a gennie just in case.

Brett

Plendo · Guru

I believe it is possible, we are in the process of having a van built, and have started with the concept that all facilities of the van should be usable regardless of where we are parked.

Thus this means we have designed the system so we can power the air con, washing machine, microwave, tv, lights, pumps, etc all from battery. We are starting with 400Ah of LifePo4 battery, but have provision for 800Ah if we find we need it. With LifePo4, we have about 70% usable capacity, unlike traditional batteries where it is unwise to use more than 50% consistently.

We will be charging the battery with solar, where we will have 1,000 watts for solar, being 10, 100W lightweight solar panels glued to the roof. We will also have the facility to plug in free standing panels (separate charger). For the days where the sun don't shine, we will have a 1,500w generator built in. We have gone with this size to get the lower noise levels, so we can make it as unobtrusive as possible.

We have modified the equipment in the van to the most efficient we can find, in that we have removed the roof top air con (5.9A running, 20A start), and replaced it with a Fujutsu split system (2.8A running, 6A cold start), this also creates more space for solar. The microwave will be replaced with a Panasonic inverter unit. The three way fridge is gone, to be replaced by a 230l Vitrifrigo.

The charging will be managed by an 80A MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) charger from MPP Solar, and the 12V/240V relationship will be managed by a 1,500w (4,500w surge) inverter charger from Tortech in Brisbane (connected to 240v so has to be Australian certified).

I am still working, and since most of this is swapping things out and replacing them with others at the planning stage the cost impact will not be too bad. We have also been very weight conscious, for example our 10 solar panels weight less than 25Kg, where 1 panel normally weighs over 10Kg. Our 400Ah of battery weighs 56Kg, about twice the weight of one 100Ah lead acid. Changing the air conditioner saves us 12Kg.

I doubt that we have worked everything out correctly, and for this reason we have built in provision to be able to expand aspects of the system, we will have wiring and space for more solar panels, we will have space to double the size of the battery, and the generator housing will be big enough to house a much larger generator. But we will not know what we really need until we are able to get t out and test it (next March).

redjcw · Veteran Member

Can I ask where you are getting the Lithium batteries and setup from please? We are also bhaving a van built and we want to include Lithium batteries.

Plendo · Guru

I used a site called EV Works in Perth to review the range of cells available, and eventually selected the 200Ah cells (I will have eight in my initial 400Ah battery), I am actually buying the cells from Trevor at Drive by Nature in Queensland (details below).

I have worked out the set up myself after a fair amount of investigation. Do not stumble in blind, please ask me any questions you have, and I will be happy to answer, if I know, if not then we can investigate together to find out. Please PM me rather than clutter up the forum.

Drive by Nature

www.thebackshed.com/basiclynatural

07 49540285

03_troopy · Guru

or better yet, start up a dedicated thread so we might all benefit from your findings.

T1 Terry · Guru

Plendo wrote:
I used a site called EV Works in Perth to review the range of cells available, and eventually selected the 200Ah cells (I will have eight in my initial 400Ah battery), I am actually buying the cells from Trevor at Drive by Nature in Queensland (details below).
I have worked out the set up myself after a fair amount of investigation. Do not stumble in blind, please ask me any questions you have, and I will be happy to answer, if I know, if not then we can investigate together to find out. Please PM me rather than clutter up the forum.
Not happy Jan, or in this case, David.
It might have been nicer to mention where you got all your information first rather than setting yourself up as the source of knowledge. Do you remember the agreement you signed before I put you on the private lithium forum? Seems to have slipped your mind. If you had actually done the research yourself and all the hands on work then you would have the base for the information, simply lifting it off a site where you were allow access to is not good form in anyone books.

T1 Terry

-- Edited by T1 Terry on Thursday 15th of August 2013 01:15:59 PM

Plendo · Guru

Sorry Terry,

I thought I was following your guidance of not advertising the Lithium forum, I am happy to give credit where credit is due and in this case it is certainly due to Terry and the band of VERY knowledgeable people on the Lithium forum.

While I say I have worked things out myself, I mean I have not used a business to help me. While I started with a small amount of knowledge, this was added to significantly once I was invited to join the Lithium forum (invitation only), I would not even be close to the knowledge I have now without learning from the experience of the forum. And while I have learned a lot, there is still a huge amount to learn.

I also do not want to set myself up as the expert, but I am happy to help people who are starting down the track to avoid them heading off in the wrong direction, and or being discouraged by people who do not understand. If anyone showed genuine interest then I would have thought that would be the time to talk about the forum.

To be absolutely clear, a significant part of the knowledge I have used to design our setup was gleaned from the Lithium Forum, and the setup I am using in our van is based on the work and experience of the pioneers who developed the ways to safely implement LifePo4 batteries in an RV environment.

T1 Terry · Guru

Hi David,
Ive had a coffee and a calm down, you were just at the end of a bad morning, Ive explained in a private email.
As you know, I don't sell anything, I'm not a business or anything, just set the forum to help others while I write the book... when ever that happens.
The reason I don't like other people trying to assist others outside the private forum is the Chinese whispers problem, if you don't quite have it fully sorted in your head the chances of giving someone a bum steer that could end up with expensive results giving this fledgling technology a bad rap. There are enough problems with people not understanding that LiFep04 batteries are very different from the model plane batteries that have a reputation of bursting into flames and different again from the ones at the seat of the Boeing lithium problem, a system being set up incorrectly due to misunderstood information is not good for anyone and part of the reason for me setting up the private forum, to try to keep the information correct.
People being people, is the reason Ive stopped telling where to buy the cells outside the forum. There is also a tendency for the "I know what I'm doing, just tell me where to buy them" group doing untold damage to these batteries reputation simply because they didn't know what they were doing but are far too pig headed to admit the problem was them, not the batteries at all.... I'm sure we all know a few like that eh :lol:

So, all is forgiven, there are reasons for the secret squirrel stuff :lol:

Now I will return you to your usual program.... sorry about that folks

T1 Terry

Plendo · Guru

No Harm done Terry, all is well.