Sounds like a good weekend for sure Juergen, good choice of TV show as well. Did you catch any trout, you didn't mention.

Yes it was a good weekend..

- I sat down and worked out the mileage for the bus..

Work's out to be about 7- 10k's Per Litre so I'm think'n I'm getting good mileage..

The issue on the Trout was Me None, but then I did not drop a Line in.. I used the trip for the purpose of see how the bus handled..
- Solar for winter is OK.. I need to hook up the last set of 400w's..
- The Bus handled ok, up via the mountain Roads, but I think I upset a few People With My SLOW speeds..

The Guy's got a few bites at Thredbo River.. No fish landed here..

- We packed up camp at the Thredbo diggings camp site and moved on to Eucumbene River. Found a nice Spot just passed the Town of Adaminaby, went over the Gang Gang creek and down a side road, the Dam is Low and the area near the river was nice and Flat.. We Parked right near the river.. I did a bit of tinkering on the Bus and they went out and tried their Luck..

They got a few nice Bite But failed to land the Fish..

The Monday Morning they made plans to go back up the river and try again..

Well they went out early and got to their spot..

They found a Bloody good spot, it was such that the guy's that usually fished the spot got put out..

They Landed a few fish.. Steve Got a nice Large Brown Trout Over 50cm and Full of Egg's..

Rob fished a Smaller Brown 46cm, Less than 50cm[Which is the size Limit] 1 per person per day..

The Bus Works a treat..

I'll post a few Photo's once I've downloaded them..

Juergen

Hey, I love your bus!

Yes it can be a mother ship from which other campers can recharge.. in exchange for a meal or two... hehehe what an asset.

The Bus preformed well..
- I'm still to hook up the last 2 Solar Panels to the system.. That would take me to a grand total of 1600w of Solar..
-- allowing for Loss's etc... [ Angle of attack, seasonal loss's ]
as an estimate we only get about 25-30% from the sun...
That is why I opted for such a large system..
Plus the simple fact it gives me a Tropical Roof over the Bus..
Which if I do plan to go to QLD for nationals I will need..



RE: the MotherShip idea.. I'm going to try floating the idea that the club I'm involved with Look at a Solar/Lithium System especially as we are looking a possible $15-30k cost a of hooking up to mains cable..



David you Know that I will not tell you my final max voltage reading here..
-- > Have not checked out the cell status but they are doing ok..

Hey Over All What would you think of a Paint Job that Look's like...

Only if you don't mind standing out in a crowd Juergen.

Just looking at the photo.

That's a short wheelbase model.

What size motor is in it.

As I have the long wheelbase model with the 4.2 lt 6 cyl and only get about 5ks/l and 4ks/l towing my trailer.

Also who made the roofrack.

Cheers Barry.

aussie_paul wrote:

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Oh yeah, There is NO BMS in the system at all.. 

 

What is BMS? Might need a slang dictionary for GNs...

 

Aussie Paul. 

---

 Paul if you have to make your remark's you know exactly what it is..

 

For the Lay people..

-- BMS   --- Battery Management System..

Most retailer's of Lithium Battery RECOMMEND THEIR version of a BMS..

I'm using a system[stage 1] that has been proven after 10,000's of hour of testing.. I have to THANK the BRAIN trust for all their hard work, They know who they are..

-- 1 system that I'm modelling my systemafter has been in constant operation for over 28,000hr's with no major hiccup's..

Stage 2 is in the near future where I push to the limit's of my system. I think I'm running my batteries at about 90-93% of full charge, still has plenty of Power for what I use..

 

Juergen

 

 

 

I like it..

One little issue that I see thou.. the side Panels need to be at the same lvl of the top panels so that you don't get any shading..

-- I was think'n of modifying a 7x5 trailer I have to mount 4 @ 200w Panels on the main section and have 2 wings fold out to give a 1600w total wattage.. Make it so it can be set to face/tilt towards the sun and have 3 position's.. so you can get morning/noon/mid-afternoon..

A set of Lithium's Plus the added Gear and you have a fairly powerful charging system..

Juergen

The bus is doing good..

The Power system is humming away.. yes there is a slight hum... when the fridge Kick's in..

-- Even over winter I'm finding that if I get 2 days of straight sun, I have to do something with the extra Energy...

I'm running the system at a far higher setting than what I had over the initial weekend away and I find it is doing great..

-- In July I offered the Bus system to run out club rooms for the weekend, as we are investigating the possibility of having a smaller system in the club room's.. [we have a guesstimated install cost of over 20k for power into the room's..]
the bus handled the expected load well.. will most probably do the same over November event and will put a higher load on the system..

-- The system held up well over the Adelaide trip even thou we had 2days of cloudy sky's.. would I recommend a similar system to others, yes.. especially if they are starting from scratch.. The initial cost is Higher but if you expect to run the same van/bus/rv for an extended time frame.. then yes you will get the benefit from not having to replace the Batteries..


Ok that is it for my system..
A Further update when I have more of the high end goods in place..


Juergen