Looking good in the van. It always helps to have extra space. Deb did Good sharing the extras u don't need. Gives me an idea what I'll b doing next weekend. B safe in u travels. Keep Living the Life.
There are DC to DC chargers with solar panel controller. You probably already are aware of that. I have plans to put a 20 kWh battery pack in the back bed of my pickup truck. Intended for the trailer or emergency home service. Looking to see ya’ll in Greenville.
Good morning friends! We too are so looking forward to the rendezvous n see ya’ll n the other friends we have made at our first event at Pickensville, Alabama. Another good video as well.
Sorry your knee is still hurting Deb. Thankfully you are not cleaning out a 2200 sq ft home! Ohhhh you probably did that, chuckles! Blessings as you travel.
I love your can do attitude. And I love the practical things you have done in the van. We have a commercial travel trailer but enjoy your walk throughs. My son has an older class C and I would love to help him build out a cargo trailer conversion. You guys have shown us we could do it. Woodworking is a hobby for me and my son has good skills he is constantly learning. Wishing you two all the best always!
We are looking forward to attend one of your meetups. We just started building our second cargo trailer and live close to pigeon forge Tennessee. If you’re ever in our area we have full hookups. We could probably exchange some ideas and have some good fellowship. I met your wife in a Florida van show but haven’t been able to hook up. I think you are from Rodger’s Arkansas and I went to school in Siloam Springs.
The weight thing has been thoroughly thought out. We've actually done videos in the past about weight. We know exactly what the van weighs and are reasonably certain it will not be too heavy. In this very video, we discussed the items which we will no longer carry, after the battery bank is completed. There's a good chance it will weigh even less, but definitely not more than it weighs now. Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries weigh quite a bit less than traditional lead acid batteries. The standard battery under the hood, weighs about as much as that one very powerful 200 amp hour Lithium Iron Phosphate battery.
Hello Bill and Deb .i really enjoy your videos. i am in the process of building my own trailer, and i was wondering do you use a tankless water heater for your shower if, so what kind? Thank you, and stay safe .
It’s so hard to keep a tiny home in order, especially since there’s always a project going on. 😂 at least that’s my experience. I have a 2013 Nissan envy 2500 high top cargo van.
What do you do to keep your fresh water tank from having bacteria or algae inside the tank? I would put those 3 batteries on a shelf that can slid out so you can reach them easily.
When not in continuous use, we periodically fill the auxiliary fresh water tank about 1/2 full, then squirt in a generous amount of bleach. Then, we drive the van around for a few days, letting the water slosh around in the tank, and then pump it dry. We'll be doing that this week since our very next destination does not have water at the site. We also utilize a Berky water filter for ALL of our drinking and cooking water.
That's a good idea. My only thought is, the 3000 watt inverter in the van will be outputting 120 volts AC current, which will consist of a hot, a neutral and a ground. The only Anderson connectors I'm familiar with only carry a positive and a negative cable. The van will have its own 3000 watt inverter. It really won't be much different than plugging in to 30 amp shore power.
@@billanddeb I agree with that approach. It's simply easier to move ac around rather than dc. Direct current has loss in the wire length, ac doesn't. Of course you probably know this and are preparing for it.
My thought was about the DC charging . I remember seeing one where the guy had most of his batteries in the van and ran a welding cable to the trailer with a lot of solar on the van and like 900amp hours ( before lithium was affordable). Since going with AC put a 30 amp plug for van then you can just use a regular 30 amp RV extension cord and have spare for when parking farther away from a pole.
I know your smart and you have thought this out. I just want offer: Disclaimer I have a jackery 1000 in the left rear about midway up in my 07 Chevy g2500. A few years ago "from the internet" I learned that lithium a is used in nuclear weapons because it is an "UNstable" heavy medal which helps the weapons to go kaboom. Now we know we have a 38gal. Fuel tank...is it close to that area? Anyway I'm a solar fan other than the panel manufacturing. Cause it's free. When electric cars burn because of thier batteries they usually burn to the ground. Sorry love you guys I just had to say it. Respectfully jbman
Most electric cars have lithium ion batteries (like your cell phone you're probably using right now). The system we will be building will utilize lithium iron phosphate batteries, which, by most is considered more stable. Battery fires are usually caused by overcharging. This system will incorporate built-in features to prevent overcharging or what is referred to as runaway charging. Our system in the trailer incorporates the very same system, and it has been operating as expected for 3 years with absolutely zero issues. Of course, we periodically inspect the system, double-checking connections etc. The main cause of ebike fires, again, is usually, over charging. Consumers don't want to wait for the proper charger to bring their battery back up, so they go out and buy more powerful chargers and then, they have a fire and it's all the bikes fault. Another cause of battery fires is damage. Like, if the battery or batteries have been abused or dropped. To use utilize battery power, a good bit of basic knowledge and understanding of this technology is required. It's not simply "plug, play and forget it".
No. Google a typical 200 watt panel. Look at the photo. You will most likely see 5 rectangles in each square "cell". Then Google bouge rv 9bb 200 watt panels. Again, look closely at the photo. You will see 9 rectangles in one big square "cell". The 200 watt Bouge RV 9BB panel captures more "power" per cell due to 9 bus bars pee cell, rather than 5 bus bars per cell on a typical solar panel. That equates to a physically smaller panel with the same potential output.
