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I would always have power for the 'automotive system': ignition, vehicule lights, horn, etc. If I don't have power in the main battery bank but I do have some in the automotive one, I can drive somewhere. If I don't have gas, I'll eventually lose all power..

The only solution to that is to have plenty of gas on hand, which in this day and age is slowly becoming undoable. The only other solution would be to make your vehicle completely electrical as earlier mentioned and just make sure there's always a way to make power, even if its a human hamster wheel or something! =P And if you were to connect up some alternators to your vehicles electric motor they could charge a surplus bank of batteries that you could use when the main ones run dead from turning the motor. If you eventually plan to have this vehicle semi static you could just set it up so that every time you stop somewhere for a long time you can disengage the drive from the vehicle and just have it turning the alternators to reduce load. I don't think this is gonna be any over-unity type stuff but if you could perfect that kind of design you'd be laughing. Just don't tell the gas companies. Also a few banks of solar cells would do the trick to just give the charging batteries that extra boost to push them to full. Now I guess we are kinda getting into completely renewable energy but at the same time a set up like this won't be cheap. You could even add a few 'mini' wind turbines to the top of your vehicle to add even more charge as you're going along. Every little helps man, if you've got three power sources charging 1 bank of batteries while the other does all the work running the motor you'll be able to switch em over and then charge the dead ones to full before the replacements even run out! Interesting stuff!

I already built a bicycle with an alternator hooked up (total Jamie rip off) and that's kinda a human hamster wheel

If it could be done, it would be awesome. Maybe in the long run, I'll let you know But it does kind of sound like an over-unity thingy.. There would be far less power coming in through alternators, solar panels and wind turbines on the roof that there would be put in the electric motor, 300 horsepower is like over 200kW. Every hour.


If I could get some ideas on this, muchos gracias!

I'm considering buying a 5V charge controller (with a 15V maximum) with my 12V batteries that would feed 5V DC in usb-sockets (otherwise: 12V DC -> 230V AC - 5V DC, inefficient). And maybe even using 24V DC batteries as main batteries. That way I could power an inverter at half the amps. And then power the 12V DC and 5V DC through charge controllers. Any opinions?

I'm watching the Colony right now so I only half read your post.

But it's EXTREMELY EASY to convert 12V to 5V. You would simply have to build a simple circuit. 12 to 5V switching regulator (rated for whatever power you needed), a couple of capacitors, and some wire.

Sounds logical, although I was thinking, if you were to create a flat box with an inlet pipe that fed into a huge fan (Or 2 x 10 along the entire roof) and cover all of them in solar panels I reckon you'd be close to creating enough power, coupled with those alternators. Imagine if your entire roof was like a mini power plant. 20 mini turbines each with their own pipe so they get a good air flow, and an external vent so the air had somewhere to go. I'd love to do something like this for the super bus but I just don't have the funds, that set up would power what we need for ages! =P

But it's EXTREMELY EASY to convert 12V to 5V. You would simply have to build a simple circuit. 12 to 5V switching regulator (rated for whatever power you needed), a couple of capacitors, and some wire.

And the same for 24V DC? If so, having 24 volt for the main battery bank would be the best way, no?

I think 24V to 5V is just as easy. If not you can step it down from 24V to 12V to 5V, then you have your choice and can run automotive things as well. Just make sure they are switching regulators and not regular ones or else you're just wasting power as heat. I'm sure you can just google 12V (or24V) to 5V switching regulator and find some things.

Read this page on switching vs. linear regulators. (Yes they are trying to promote their product, but I've bought one, and it works really well.)

http://www.dimensionengineering.com/swi ... lators.htm

They have a 3 amp adjustable switching regulator on there for 25 bucks. I don't know if it's a good price or not, but it doesn't seem that bad...

Thanks, you saved me a lot of headache and probably some money too! The 3 amp one is exactly what I need for recharging phones, an iPod and maybe a laptop (but not at the same time) and it's only 1,25 bucks for international shipping. I'm also going to check out The Colony. I love this forum

Thanks to this forum and some further research, my electric plans get an overhaul.

I'm going to wire my main battery bank @ 24V (maybe 48???), the higher the voltage, the lower the losses in heat. This way I can expand the 12V system and that system can be recharged by the alternator when the bus moves without fancy stuff (altough it will not be moving much in the beginning). From my 12V system I will use the switching regulator, showed by corrado33, to power small electronics. An iPod takes about 500mA, a relatively new laptop shouldn't go over 1.6A, so I'll be safe. But this way I lose my seperate automotive battery, hope I never get stranded or something!

Note: There are switching regulator's... uh... chips that are only a buck. But I believe the one from the site I showed you has a couple of capacitors to keep it stable. I'm sure you could build a few for a lot cheaper than you could buy one. But like you said, it's not that expensive. And you can use a few of them to get more power if you need.

The LM2576 is a 3A switching regulator (without the frills). It's a buck on one website I found. You'd need to put it in a circuit though.

EDIT: Hey don't overhaul your systems based on only what I say. Do your own research and figure out the best course of action. I'm only a hobbyist, I actually don't know a lot of stuff. I usually just show people other ways of doing stuff. I'm SURE there are better regulators out there.