Latest Project

Ok, the task at hand is to have electricity on the bus. For those of you who don't have your electrician's license, let me give you the simple explanation of my dilemma. On a Motorhome electricity can be supplied by AC current (like your house) and DC current (like your car). I am currently using AC current powered by my generator to provide me with air conditioning. I want to take that same AC power and be able to use it to provide electricity to some wall outlets I am going to install. That means that whenever the generator is running I can plug something up and use it like laptop, microwave, vacuum cleaner, power tools. As I mentioned before the generator can get pretty pricey when used extensively not to mention that there is some noise pollution that others around me might not appreciate.
So after I am fully equipped to take fully advantage of my generator my bigger quest will be to get my DC system going. This will be my bread and butter of electricity when on the road. Basically, I will use power stored in Deep Cycle batteries (like car batteries but can be drained more and recharged). I will start off with two of these batteries, each providing 125 amp hrs when full. I will then hook up a nifty little device called an inverter that converts the battery power from DC to AC so I can plug in all my cool stuff and have lights. The interesting part is going to be how to charge those batteries. If I lived in a traditional house I would just plug a battery charger in the wall and hook it up to the batteries until fully charged. I have to be more creative now. I can use the alternator of my bus when I am driving to provide a charge to the batteries. I hook up a battery isolator that allows me charge starting battery (bus battery) and my house batteries (deep cycle battery) That is good, as long as I am driving somewhere. Not so good to run the diesel engine just to charge the batteries. I can plug a battery charger in whenever I am running generator and charge the batteries that way. Or I can do it my ideal way, which is a combination of both of those plus Solar power. In the context of living like I want Solar power is sweet, free, consistent power. They charge my batteries during the day and I deplete them at night. There will have to be some wattage monitoring on my part so I don't kill the batteries every night. But it isn't like I will be Tivo'ing Days of our Lives. I just need a little light and power for basic essentials. I won't be able to run the Air Conditioning off of the batteries, but with cooler months on the way and my ability in the future to drive up into the Colorado mountains for cooler temps I am not as worried about Air Conditioning.
So there, in a nutshell, is my current endeavor. After electricity comes plumbing, and after plumbing comes hitting the road. Plumbing will be easier than electricity but needs to be logistically thought out more.
Here are some photos of wiring for AC current off of generator that I started working on last night. Nothing sexy to you maybe, but a thing of beauty to me.