Solar Power

Solar Power

This is the solar power system I intend to start with.

After the system is installed and tested I plan to add 2 additional batteries, connected in parallel to the first 2, for a total output of 12V 420Ah.

The charge controller and inverter that I selected can support up to 4 additional 120W 12V 8A solar panels, which would be connected in parallel to the first panel, for a total output of 600W 12V 40A.





COST EACH QTY Solar Power
$300.00 $300.00 1 120W 12V 8A Solar Panel
$398.00 $398.00 1 40A 12V Charge Controller & Digital Display
$294.00 $147.00 2 6V 210Ah; 2S; 12V 210Ah
$40.00 $40.00 1 Battery Temperature Sensor Cable
$10.00 $10.00 1 Hydrometer
$150.00 $150.00 1 Pure Sine Wave Inverter 600W
$25.00 $25.00 1 SW Inverter Remote




TOTAL


$1,217.00



Sunday, July 25, 2010

and on the third day...

The once golden carpet is gone, never to return! There was a filthy cloud of shite in the air most of the day, and I really should have been wearing a dust mask more often than I was... Maybe that's a good reason to get a sweet mask that I would want to wear... like a gas mask from the army surplus...

Removed the wardrobe, which housed a Coleman furnace in its base, and the seats on either side of the wardrobe, which contained the duct work and vents coming from the furnace. If what I'm reading is correct the old furnace is extremely inefficient when compared to modern electric heaters, so the Coleman will most likely get uninstalled tomorrow night and tossed up on craigslist.

The lounge has also been removed. The passenger side of the lounge was supported by the housing for the generator, while the driver side of the lounge was supported by the propane tank housing. Beneath the seat of the lounge and between the two housings sits the fresh water holding tank.

At some point today I realized that by the time I'm finished with this project I should be able to design a kit to turn a box truck into an RV... because I'm pretty sure that I'm turning an RV into a box truck to then turn it back into an RV...

and on the second day...


Removed all inactive wasp nests, formulating plan of attack for the one active nest located in the 4" steel tube that is the back bumper.


So the lower half of the grille, which is normally installed between the headlights, was stashed in the back bunk... Based on the dent in it, I would suspect that it had been involved in the rear-ending of something with a trailer hitch. Hammered it back into shape and reinstalled.


Moving on to the rear hatch, which is the access to the fresh water holding tank and the back side of the breaker box. This one is in fine shape, aside from needing minor repair to one of the chains that supports the hatch when it is sitting open. Cleaned out some more odds-and-ends from here as well, quickcrete, several exploded tubes of some sort of adhesive, a pair of unsafe looking safety goggles, etc...

Replaced all external occurrences of bent-up-rusted-old-coat-hanger with actual fasteners... this includes both license plates, passenger side mirror, and several sections of the grille.


Began removing odds-and-ends from the bathroom, random towel hooks, medicine cabinet, odd little baskets mounted on the walls. Now all that remains is the toilet, sink, and shower drain.

The external hatch for the generator housing was tweaked pretty bad, so I removed it and bent it back into a shape. As the previous owners had sold the generator, this area apparently became storage for old 5 gallon buckets of paint (pink & blue), a rusty old saw, several large tarps that had seen better days, and a large pot one might boil crabs in... The hatch still needs a lot of work, but at least it sits flush on all sides when closed, and the housing is cleaned out and ready for a new generator.

Friday, July 23, 2010

and on the first day...


Removed all miscellanea from the internal nooks and crannies.

Removed all the screws, nails, hooks, curtain rod mounts, etc that had collected on the walls over the last 40 years.

Repaired the latch on the front grille that gives access to the coolant tank...

Installed the propane tank.

Reinstalled the external hatch for the battery compartment.

Removed the carpeting from the dog house and reinstalled the latches.


Started removing the light fixtures... the bulbs for them ran so hot that they melted or burned every fixture... The one above the sink managed to burn a half inch hole through the base of the cabinet that it was mounted under.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

and in the beginning...

I found a 1971 Winnebago Brave D-20 in Addy, Washington... Don't feel bad, I didn't know where that was either.