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I saw a makerspace video the other day that mentioned them converting a truck over to electric. They said they were using the electric motor out of a forklift. So, there are possibilities, but the size of bus you are talking about is much bigger. Even if you had the motor to do it, I don't want to even try to imagine how long it would take solar panels to store up enough energy for it and how many batteries that would be required to store the power. I think you are correct here.

MK500 wrote:Somehow all along I was thinking you were planning on trying to use electricity for the main drive motor also -- so were going to doing some sort of custom transmission and electric motor. I missed that you were still planning on keeping the diesel engine.

Indeed, solar panels would be impossible. I would have to continuously charge my batteries with a generator while I'm driving, and that generator would be running of gas. Not very smart. Not to mention, as sjvs mentioned, the batteries. Can you imagine designing a battery bank that would need to power an engine of say, 300 hp (223kW), for hours and hours? Maybe it'll be possible when I'm 60, but not right now

So I've been looking into the @20h-thing (previous page). I think it just means that it gives 200 amps tops for 20 hours long. 200Ah means the battery can deliver 200 Amps for an hour (or 100 amps for two hours). So, if you take 200 amps times one hour and divide it by 20 hours (which the @20h-thing does) you can lose the other 'hour' measurement. That's how I tried physics to solve it Trying to explain this with basic English is hard!

And I just discovered the solar radiation level in my region is just a 1000kW/m2 per year. One square meter is 10 square foot. So, presumably, 100kW per square foot per year? That doesn't sound much too me..

folypers wrote:And I just discovered the solar radiation level in my region is just a 1000kW/m2 per year. One square meter is 10 square foot. So, presumably, 100kW per square foot per year? That doesn't sound much too me..

Where do you live? That does not sound right, are you talking kWhr's per year? cause the per year suffix denotes a quantity not a jus kW's.

In the US I think the range is something like 1 kWhr's per day per m2 up to 10 kWhr's per day per m2 in the desert, not factoring in system losses of course.

I live in Belgium. It isn't kWh's, just plain kilowatts, thanks for pointing that out! Sheesh, got me scared for a second! 1500kWh per square meter sounds about right for a latitude of 50°.

Oh maaaan, this thread is 5 pages deep! I got a lot of reading to do, but I'm locked in now and I hope I can help and vice versa. We just threw our vehicle together so that we can get around, its nothing as magnificant as a whole bus conversion but if you want info on that sort of scale Nev from Ozco campers would be the perfect place to start. We made our bed out of a dis-used pallet etc etc, we were looking to be as 100% budget as possible so we can pour any money we make on our journey into food and savings for the building project at the end. We're slightly mechanically minded which helps to keep the vehicles running. I've got a few of my own diagrams relating to electrical diagrams and water storage etc but they're for the dome, the good thing about off the grid living is that your vehicle can basically become a generator/power supply for as long as you've got batteries until you get your building set up. This eventually means that any item that needs power (Lights/Power Inverters) can be taken out of the vehicle and used in the building. It is also highly possible that the same batteries that get you off the grid in the first place will be the same ones powering your home once you get there, make sure to choose a good battery, deep cycle marines(?) or a few DieHard batteries should do the trick for a while.
I'd be interested to know if you'd be up for joining our trip once we get on the road? Our convoy is currently 2 possibly 3 vehicles and we plan to travel across Europe, through Asia and on to America. Busking and Farming as well as millions of other travel jobs should earn us the income to keep the vehicles running, people fed and a little to put away for the future build. It'd be amazing to clash minds to see both our dreams become a reality.
Peace dude, best of luck.

Yeah, I've asked a lot of things already, so excuse the thread length. I've checked out some of your videos and I have the rest in a playlist somewhere on YouTube. Respect for replacing the engine, it is something I'm considering too. And you're absolutely right, generator capabilities for my vehicule are one of the many traits it's hopefully going to have! I'm going to go with a coach, it's a little bit on the overwhelmingly big side. Maybe I'll have to life like a hobo in a stripped bus for some periode but I don't mind. I'm actually a little excited! I have heard from a friend about someone who actually lived in his van that only had a bed. He went to the gym to have a shower, etc. Well, luckily I have friends where I can crash but hey, don't want to be a parasite all the time. I look forward to your experience and advice when I get more designs done. As I said, check back in the first post for superbasic electrical wiring plans in a few hours! And yeah man, that sounds totally awesome. Just the word 'Convoy' is enough to make me come along Doing a world trip with my bus and others is just beyond words, they'll make a movie about us

sjvsworldtour wrote:Current doesn't sum up like voltage. You would put the two 5000 mAh in series because they can handle that much current flowing through them. Basically, voltage sums up in series, while current sums up in parallel.

Yes, that's what I said... just in a lot more words.

I just didn't know if current sums up when the batteries don't have equal ratings. Like if one has a 1000mAh rating and one has a 5000mAh rating, if you put them in parallel would it be 6000mAh?

As for the current, when they batteries are in series you will likely only be able to draw the current of the lowest rated battery.

By the way, think vegetable oil as fuel if you have a diesel engine. I read about a bus converted to burn it. I think the biggest issue is the viscosity. Used vegetable oil is too think so they usually have to start the engine first using diesel and let it warm up prior to switching to vegetable oil. Also, when shutting down they first switch to diesel to get all the vegetable oil out of the engine.