Previously I had build the AC distribution panel from DIN rail components – but it was set up for a single AC source. This means that it had a set of continuous duty contactors wired in a “transfer switch” arrangement. This transfer switch arrangement is typical of standard inverter power supply systems in RVs. That […]
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Solar Panel Install
So on father’s day my friends from work came over and gave me a hand lifting all the panels onto the roof of the bus. It took basically all day to do this. We had to determine the right mounting points on the panel and re-drill new holes for the mounting bushings. When it was […]
Removing Old Electrical
After pulling through the new battery cables it was pretty obvious it was time to remove the old “power panel” that I had set up for use for about a year. It was basically a couple large junction boxes that I got from home depot to route some of the DC wiring for water pumps […]
Power Interconnect
The power interconnect that joins the battery enclosure to the power systems was a big deal for me to get right. I used two large conduit runs for the cabling. One run carries the negative conductors and the other the positive. The 4/0 cable is the 200 Amp power bus, and the 2/0 cable is […]
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 […]
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Leaf pack modules and thoughts
So at this point, I have a bunch of potentially dangerous sardine cans that I’ve extracted from a Nissan leaf “battery”. Sometimes all this disassembly reminds me how everything in the world can be considered objects and classes of objects. Car Battery enclosure Battery group Battery module Parallel cell group Pouch cell Lithium plate stack […]
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Nissan Leaf battery pack disassembly
A week or two ago, the time was finally right to try and purchase a lithium battery pack for our bus. I’ve been planning on this for several years now, and in fact our whole project revolves around the energy density afforded by lithium power storage. I don’t think I’m doing anything particularly novel here […]
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Big lithium bus battery design criteria
I’ve been thinking over various design ideas on the big battery pack. This might sound sort of obsessive but really this conceptualizes the core of the ability to live off-grid, and it presents so many positive opportunities it would be a disservice to not consider them. Some of them major concerns I had, and perhaps […]
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/
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 […]