Leaving my office behind was weird. I had already arranged with my company that I’d be working remote. I know it’s a bit exploratory – working full remote is uncommon in our organization, but I feel like what I’ve been doing for a while now is to help teams communicate effectively with tools and processes […]
Sold House, Have To Go Somewhere Else
We sold the house that was (sort of) purposely bought to finish the bus mid September. For a bit, we bummed around in front of our friends houses for a few days to get some things sorted, but eventually we found it was time to go. It’s crazy how our stuff kept following us around […]
Front Axle Spring Bushings
Something that had been wrong on our bus since we bought it was a funny clunk when turning corners, usually at an intersection. It was coming from the front end, and after a little investigation I determined that the spring pins and bushings were completely trashed, especially the passenger side ones. There was a large […]
Washer and Dryer
The other reason for the 230 volt power system was to select the most efficient washer and dryer combo I could stand to afford. They are made by Blomberg, which is actually a sub-brand of Arçelik A.Ş., a Turkish appliance company. The dryer is clever – it’s basically a fancy dehumidifier. The heat pump vents […]
Air Conditioner Install
This was another “big moment” for the bus. The primary reason for the enormous battery is to be able to power everything without care, but also operate the air conditioner for many hours after solar harvest has stopped for the night. The location shown here was just a big open hole in the engine bay, […]
Solar Panel Farings
I was planning on installing panel farings to keep the wind away. I’m pretty sure that strong side wind loads could behave as if entering a venturi and damage the panels with overpressure. Also it won’t look as much like a space ship.
Electrical Cabinet Commissioning
So as it sits at this point, the electrical system is fully functional. In this photo all the major components are hooked up and programmed. I had gotten a good day’s worth of solar, shore power is functional, and all the circuits in the bus are energized. I’m pleased with the arrangement of equipment. If […]
Victron Programming
This was a pretty great moment. After figuring out Victron’s nomenclature for configuring inverter virtual groups, I got this display from the Venus GX. Not shown is the programming software screens, but you get the idea. This was the first time that the batteries had taken on electrical charge since I had disassembled them from […]
Victron Inverter Connection
Wiring the inverter pair up was pretty satisfying. It’s interesting to see how Victron specified 2x 2/0 lugs for the power connection. I tried to make all the DC cabling exactly the same length. For the AC cabling, crimp ferells were used to keep the terminals clean and neat. The terminals with the orange tape […]
Solar Interconnect Panel
The solar interconnect panel was built next, which provided the critical connection from the panels installed a little while ago. The panel provides electrical safety isolation for the 150VDC potential coming from the roof. The roof panels are wired in a 4S2P arrangement. Each panel with an open circuit voltage of about 42 volts. Inside […]