jamius.com

folypers wrote:ONLY 9 000 euro! (8 000 pounds, 13 000 dollar)

Maybe find one with a dead engine for less? Seems like you could get an even better deal.

wow.. You could fit a lot of solar panels on that roof!

I've been thinking about buying one with a dead engine but since I know absolutely nothing about engines, I'm reluctant (or scared, if you want to call it that) to do it. But I'd really hate it if I'd get a bus with a bad 'fuel economy', knowing I'm wasting precious fossil fuel and moneys. Buying a bus with a dead engine and replacing it with a new, efficient engine would be supernice, but also superrisky..

And yeah, I'm gonna cram the roof with solar panels and solar heaters

As you are all well aware (hehe), we use +/- 230V AC in Europe for regular appliances instead of 120V AC as is used in the States. I've never thought about it and I'm still not sure, but isn't that like super-'beneficial' (sorry, I can't find another/easier word) if you want to live off of batteries? This would mean that if at the same power (Watts) I would only draw +/- half of the amps from my batteries if my system was designed to be compatible for 120V AC. (Current = Power/Voltage)

I'm absolutely sure there's a catch, isn't there?

I think it is a case of 6 of one of half a dozen of the other. Either way, you are taking the same amount of power out of your battery. You can convert the voltage levels easy enough if you want, but it doesn't buy you anything. Remember, you want to conserve your power usage, not your current usage.

Look at it this way. If you are using this to power a 60 watt light bulb, you still got to put 60 watts into it.

PS: Don't hook up a 60 watt bulb designed for 110V to 220V. The bubble will attempt to use 240 watts and bad things could happen. It was just a for instance.

I knew it was too good to be true It would be pure magic if it did work that way. I foolishly guessed the current usage would somehow affect the rate at which the batteries were drained (Ah) but it's indeed the power that matters. Thank you for responding so quickly, anyhow. Haha, hooking up a 110 V bulb to 230V would be stoopid, indeed. But don't worry, they aren't even available here.

Not a big deal. I even had a teacher in college once state the conservation of voltage law. Yea, he was a mechanical engineer and said you can't get out more voltage than you put in. Unfortunately for him his class had a lot of electrical engineers in it to correct him.

I actually really like this project. How do you plan on protecting your panels? Removable? Retractable? Removable cover? Retractable cover? Although this would be complicated (and heavy), it'd be awesome if you had the roof split in two and retracted to the side so it could then act as a shade/awning when the bus is sitting.

That would be awesome. But indeed, too heavy and complicated. That doesn't mean I'll do it, when I've got the skills!

I've thought about making them 'sink' into the roof, but I'll need every inch of headroom, and insulating those 'sinks' or 'bins' will be tricky. I think it best not to mess with the roof too much. Just to make things work, I'll build a temporary removable cover, I think. And use something else for shade purposes. I'm also selectively editing the first post for people who are in to the idea of a bus to RV conversion or living full time in a vehicule. If anyone would like more information, pictures or videos in that post, feel free to tell me

There is a benefit to that 230 volt thing - your wire can be half the size. So there's some cost and weight savings.