Charging House Lithium Batts with Alternator

[luvrbus]

Our son lives off grid in Globe AZ his water pump is even solar,he has a 40ft container full of batterie,chagers and inverters and ton of solar panels,the weather this year in AZ has been strange to say the least he did fine last year, this year he had problems with keeping up because of the weather,talking to him today he bought a Kubota generator to catch up and said he is buying a windmill also. Me I am not into boodocking we do spend a night or 2 sometime but I bought my RV to travel from point A to point B in comfort,  we didn't do much last year now we are getting ready to hit the road this year we will probably do over 10,000 miles lol at 7.5 MPG. It is a power hog and I don't mind it people drive EV's and like it 

[buswarrior]

What the solar peeps never report is the conditions which they endure to fulfil their off grid ambitions, in particular, the temperature they put up with inside the unit.

Or the murderous treatment of their batteries.

Pretty rare to get a fair report, with repeatable observations.

The untold truth? A generator for the heavy hauling, solar to cruise and finish your batteries would be a better strategy if you don't like to sweat or freeze.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[luvrbus]

What the solar peeps never report is the conditions which they endure to fulfil their off grid ambitions, in particular, the temperature they put up with inside the unit.

Or the murderous treatment of their batteries.

Pretty rare to get a fair report, with repeatable observations.

The untold truth? A generator for the heavy hauling, solar to cruise and finish your batteries would be a better strategy if you don't like to sweat or freeze.

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

To me 85 degrees inside a bus when it is 105 degrees outside is not cool trying to save on power, last year when Yvan was here with solar panels and the battery bank of Lifepo batteries,his thermostat was set on 85 and in almost 2 days he had to plug in to power or run his generator and he cooked outside on his grill,hot water was not a problem it heated from the Oasis system 

[Glennman]

My plan with the solar panels is not necessarily to totally boondock, but to have supplemental power. I plan to purchase a generator for those days when needed. My water heater and furnace are propane (plus I have the diesel heater). When it was 110 degrees here last year, my 12k mini spliit held its own. I have yet to see what it will do on the battery bank, I'm thinking not nearly as well as being plugged in. My refrigerator will be a 10 cubic ft Magic Chef electric, but I may someday install a Dometic 12 volt unit. On the bus alternator system, I did some research on that last night. Apparently the Orion 12/24 270 amp setup that I plan to install toggles power in both directions to charge the bus batteries and/house, depending on need, basically floating the charge such that both are the same all the time (I believe that's how it works anyway). Purposely parking in the sun for solar power and then running the AC because it's too hot seems a little counterproductive, but I'll just have to wait and see how it all works out. That's part of the fun I guess! One thing that I definitely want to do is run the mini split AC while driving down the road. In all my years of driving half converted buses, that will be like being in heaven compared to what I've had!

[luvrbus]

Cooling a bus parked is a different story than cooling one under way for sure ,the 12k is not going to cut it driving add a dash air for comfort ,I would not leave home without my dash air and heat,27,000 for cooling and 30,000 btu for heat

[Glennman]

Yep, I agree that driving down the road is a whole different thing than being parked when it comes to heating and cooling.

[dtcerrato]

Yep, I agree that driving down the road is a whole different thing than being parked when it comes to heating and cooling.

Also when it comes to owning a bus. Imo When working on it -we serve it when otr living in it - it serves us.