After wiring all the components together, it is time to program the BMS so it’s handing the battery properly. This involves mostly hooking it up and see that it’s operational, then setting the minimum and maximum per-cell voltage, setting the charge top balance window, and battery chemistry with the OEM software.
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Battery pack wiring
Wiring the battery pack took some time to get right. I had a rough plan in mind already, driven mostly from the way the pack has to be put together. I started with the geometry dictated by the bus bars. Those were set because of the layout of the frame itself. You can see on […]
Bus bars and battery interconnects
I’ve been drilling a lot of holes in copper bars – these bars are what connects the banks of battery cells to form the whole battery. I think there were 198 holes drilled. It was enough holes that it made sense to fix my drill press. Once the drillpress was fixed it was super fast […]
A brief off-grid solar primer
I wrote a post on a facebook forum about adding grid independent power to your RV. It seemed to be helpful enough for someone who’s new to the concept, so here it is for your reading. It would be nice to add some graphs and charts. https://broccolibus.com/off-grid-solar-kurz-gesagt-in-brief/
An actual trip to somewhere!
We took a trip a couple weekends ago, two passes in the PNW, I-90 and US-2 and stayed at a friend’s house in Cle Elum. I-90 pavement expansion joints are a bit of a boneshaker. I am going to try dropping tire pressure 10 psi in the front (100 right now) and replace shocks in […]
Electrical Components
It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update. We have onboard electrical, propane appliances, showers, and tv now. (the kids also play minecraft on it) If you have any questions about anything, please ask! GFCI/AFCI outlets (they do both types of protection) 50 Amp Main breaker panel with integral transfer switch. This is a […]
Propane and hot water
Propane and hot water work now, also I got the onboard water pump situation squared. I can cook things. Accumulator tank and instant hot water heater. Hot water is nice. Girard GSWH-2 Proof of concept for capactive tank level monitoring system. The cat has taken well to living on the bus.
More plumbing completion
Plumbing (expensive!) Propane (heavy!) Cats Working in the rain The water setup is complex because I have hot water preheat to each fixture with a temperature control, and I have a reversing valve shunt set up so I can connect a pick-up line to the water panel, and pump water out of fixed vessels and […]
Some more new stuff
Hello Internet Friends, It’s been a while. Here’s some pictures of the progress in the last few months. It feels like every win is really hard-wrought. Took a real drive somewhere in the bus last weekend, and aside from random screws and bits rolling out from crevices (they were ones I dropped, I swear!) it […]
Status update
I’ve been working mostly on electrical and lighting, some utility and improvements up front, and just trying my hardest to get the storage bay finished up down below. Crawling around on my knees in the gravel in December/January has not felt like the best use of my time, but here I am. In no particular […]