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Anybody on DC own an RV/Campervan, or completed a conversion?
KynloStephen66515:
Hey guys,
Me and my partner are going to be purchasing a vehicle which will be converted into a small campervan (motorhome) - We have a lot of the details worked out, but I have a few things I still need answering.
The van itself is going to be run mainly off-grid, for which I plan to have a bank of 4x 135aH Leisure Batteries which will be charged using 2x 200W Solar Charging Units with Lead-Calcium Batteries (and the option to hookup to mains powered electric, if we need to - British weather doesn't allow for much sun...).
I'd mainly like to know if any of you have experience with power solutions in a motorhome, and if so, what could you suggest for keeping the vehicle running (full time) for a long period of time (This van is where we plan to be living for around 12 months or so, and we want to keep costs to an absolute minimum after the conversion is complete).
I have done a quick 3D design of the van (in Sketchup) here: http://imgur.com/a/2pbBh (The images are not in any sort of order, sorry!).
On top of the above question about power, I'm also curious as to things such as Thermoelectric generators in order to provide more power - I have had a quick look on Google but it didn't really come up with much...is this a route worth bothering with? Is it even possible? Would I generate enough power for it to be worth it? :tellme:
I do have more questions, but I'll save them until I know there is somebody here who could answer them ;D
Shades:
Get one where the walls have piping and a pump to push the centrally heated fluids through those. I have spent several days in winter with ice and snow outside (12h a day in the toy expo in Nuremberg, Germany, the rest of the time in the RV) en it was actually very comfortable inside the RV. It used a RV-sized small gas tank and we refilled it once a week. Shower, cooking plate and fridge could be powered by either gas or electricity in that RV, which could handle a max of 6 people sleeping (3x2person bed) in it
Solar energy did cause a problem though. During the day it kept the battery charged, but at night the voltage level dropped, tripping the car alarm, which wouldn't shut off at all. The next day we were rather urgently asked to leave the camping spot and pay a fine for disturbing the rest of the other people staying the night there. Better find out if you have that kind of problem with your RV before you embark on your 12 month journey.
You have different types of solar panels. While most still generate power with daylight alone, some panels are generating more than others. There are even panels that can generate a small amount of power when it rains on them. Those are much more useful in the UK, I would assume. :P
Depending on the size of the RV/motorhome you will reduce your energy consumption. Mainly because there is much less room to even have big appliances. Or computers. Laptops won't be that big of a deal, energy-wise or space-wise.
Good insulation and electric devices that only use the infra-red spectrum (instead of the common radiating units) help a lot with keeping the RV warm in winter too. These spend much less energy to keep you comfortable, are much more durable than the standard electric heater and you won't wake up with a major headache afterwards. Consider those if you have an RV without plumbing to heat you in winter.
If you must use a fuel powered generator, get an external one and forgo the use of the engine in the RV. External ones are build for the task and are much easier/cheaper to replace if something does go wrong. And make sure you ventilate, day and night if possible.
Last, but not least...keep your spirits up. Living in rather cramped space requires a certain mindset, which a lot of people think they have or can work on. Two/three weeks everyone can handle, but longer periods, such as 12 months in your case, that is much, much harder. Do not underestimate this, the money you'll be saving by living this way, could easily be spent on divorce settlements afterwards.
KynloStephen66515:
Get one where the walls have piping and a pump to push the centrally heated fluids through those. I have spent several days in winter with ice and snow outside (12h a day in the toy expo in Nuremberg, Germany, the rest of the time in the RV) en it was actually very comfortable inside the RV. It used a RV-sized small gas tank and we refilled it once a week. Shower, cooking plate and fridge could be powered by either gas or electricity in that RV, which could handle a max of 6 people sleeping (3x2person bed) in it
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As this will be an entirely self--built project (Using a Long Wheel Base Luton Box Van, as the conversion vehicle), I already plan to have underfloor heating which uses hot water being pumped through them. Seeing as it will be a closed system, I'm not concerned too much about the water needed for this as it will be a "fill once and ignore" system. The walls themselves will be insulated (Not thick enough for heating pipes running through them though) - Snow and Ice are not too much of a problem on the South East Coast of the UK, so I'm not overly worried about this.
Solar energy did cause a problem though. During the day it kept the battery charged, but at night the voltage level dropped, tripping the car alarm, which wouldn't shut off at all. The next day we were rather urgently asked to leave the camping spot and pay a fine for disturbing the rest of the other people staying the night there. Better find out if you have that kind of problem with your RV before you embark on your 12 month journey.
You have different types of solar panels. While most still generate power with daylight alone, some panels are generating more than others. There are even panels that can generate a small amount of power when it rains on them. Those are much more useful in the UK, I would assume. :P
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I will have a total of 540aH via a bank of 4x 135aH batteries to keep the van running overnight (plus the lead-calcium batteries from the solar charging system), so I would assume this would keep the van powered during the night, and have the panels charge them during the day/provide enough power to run other things during the day.
Depending on the size of the RV/motorhome you will reduce your energy consumption. Mainly because there is much less room to even have big appliances. Or computers. Laptops won't be that big of a deal, energy-wise or space-wise.
Good insulation and electric devices that only use the infra-red spectrum (instead of the common radiating units) help a lot with keeping the RV warm in winter too. These spend much less energy to keep you comfortable, are much more durable than the standard electric heater and you won't wake up with a major headache afterwards. Consider those if you have an RV without plumbing to heat you in winter.
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As I mentioned above, I will have the van completely insulated, and a small underfloor heating system to keep us warm, and I am also installing extractor fans to keep us cool during war days.
If you must use a fuel powered generator, get an external one and forgo the use of the engine in the RV. External ones are build for the task and are much easier/cheaper to replace if something does go wrong. And make sure you ventilate, day and night if possible.
--- End quote ---
The "home" part of the van will be on an optional "one-way" circuit from the engine - this will give me a way to open the circuit to charge the batteries when the vehicle is moving, but disconnect once the engine is switched off. The rest of the circuits will be via the batteries, solar charging system and LPG tank. The LPG tank will only be connected to the water heater, fridge/freezer, and cooker - I hope to be able to redirect heat from the oven to the water heater as well, in order to lower the costs even more (No point wasting all that heat!!!). The vehicles engine battery will be (when the van is not moving, and the engine is off) completely removed from the homes circuit, so could never be drained of power due to the systems in use.
In terms of appliances being used, it will be basically typical of a motorhome. Things such as the Fridge/Freezer will be on 24/7 (via LPG). The electricals will be powered via the batteries/solar using a Pure Sine Inverter for the outlets. I intend to also repurpose an old laptop for use as the vehicles TV (Add a USB TV Tuner so I can have normal live (digital) TV, and also have on-demand services via the internet) - I'm thinking of doing it this way as I could have the laptop battery power up to 100%, then disconnect the charging cycle until it gets below 20%. That way, the TV system isn't pulling power from the main electrical system, every minute it is turned on.
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In terms of living in a small, confined space, it really wouldn't be too much different from our current situation, except where we are moving, we have places we can go, and all of my partners family who we can visit, so we will really only be in the van when we choose to be (even when we had our own place where we are moving back to, we spent 90% of our time, out of the house, only really returning to eat/sleep, or if it was a miserable day which we didn't want to leave the house because of ;D
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Did you have any thoughts regarding Thermoelectric Generators, and whether they are worth spending time looking into/installing?
Shades:
To be honest, I wasn't aware of such devices. Heat exchangers/heat engines I did know about, but efficiency of such devices is pretty poor (when not in a controlled lab environment).
After skimming over this document (pdf) it says that the efficiency of thermoelectric generators is even worse. Apparently these cost very little, but if the energy returned by these these devices is relatively little, seems to me like a waste of money.
The document also includes a concept from BMW where they their exhaust system in combination with these generators to generate power. Waste heat from an oven or small kitchen device seems to me hardly worth the effort. Besides, whatever waste heat is coming off these devices will indirectly help with heating the inside of the RV. And that goes a long way when the RV is well insulated, as it will help with the expenditure of LPG to keep your RV on the temperature you have set on your thermostat.
Perhaps you would better spend the money you would set aside for those generators om buying thermal underwear. Retaining the heat your own body generates is the most efficient way of keeping yourself comfortable. Your body has no problem heating the extremities (hands/feet) when the torso remains heated. As a bonus, such underwear doesn't get in the way when you move around in the RV. Parking the RV out of the wind will make you spend much less energy than you could ever hope to regain with the use of thermoelectric generators.
KynloStephen66515:
Honestly, the Thermoelectric generator idea was just a thought that didn't have to lead to anywhere, so knowing they are fairly useless, isn't much of a loss ;D
I'm now at the stage of thinking the heating system will be more than enough to warm us up even on the coldest of days - and especially with being able to control thermostats via the internet, it means that when we are out, I can set the thing to turn on when we are on the way back to the van so it's nice and warm for our return. That coupled with the small size, I think it will be nice and cosy most of the time :D
Below is the closed loop underfloor heating system - Underneath this will be an insulated floor, and above will be hardboard flooring which will be carpeted. The walls will be insulated (maybe double insulated) and the windows are double glazed, so I think heat retention may now be much to worry about..I'm starting to worry it might get TOO hot too quickly and am actually looking at ways to keep that temperature at a more moderate level (I already have extractor fans and such, so that might be enough).
Anybody on DC own an RV/Campervan, or completed a conversion?
I have also learned that the Solar Charging System will generate more than enough power to basically keep us off-grid as long as we need to be off-grid - The only things we will need to take from a "grid" (for lack of a better word) is clean water for the tank, but that will be simple anyway as we can fill that from the same place we will have to fill the LPG tank.
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