gait
Explorer
Just an example of some of the options and a bit of comparison. I'm in Aus.
I designed my truck around 12v about 6+ years ago. A lot of the thinking prior to that. AGMs, 12v DC only, no shore power, alternator backup, diesel cooking, diesel heating / hot water, 12v diy fridge. 12v power supplies for computers. 12v tv. Worked well for 34 countries.
The AGMs eventually reached end of life, shortly before return home. The cooker was a bit slow, took a lot of space for the exhaust, had a glow plug failure, and magically failed on our return home from trip. I had to rebuild the sub-frame.
Between original design and now there have been some useful developments.
I'm partway through conversion - modifying is always a bit harder than starting fresh. So far batteries installed, about 5 months ago, about 2 1/2 x more usable capacity for small increase in physical size / weight. Solar doubled with all new panels (old to daughter's new off-grid where real estate doesn't matter) about a month ago. 240v Induction cooktop through 2.8kW inverter at same time as battery change.
I've invested a bit of time in Arduino for control. I found it relatively difficult to integrate off the shelf electronics at reasonable price.
This weeks task is hook the hot water up to solar. A separate 1kW inverter into the existing 240v 800W heating element in the calorifier. Control system to turn the inverter on with appropriate duty cycle when batteries reasonably charged and excess solar available.
On the agenda is domestic 240v inverter aircon for heating / cooling. Easier to control temperature than diesel hot water heater for space heating. And replacing under bench drawers to recover cooker exhaust space - food / kitchen storage space increase about 30%.
A minor side issue is the slipping belt drive to the alternator!
Dual V-belts, Mitsubishi don't seem to know about serpentine.
Depends where in the world of course. Aus is reasonably well sited. Norway in summer was good for solar, but I'd need to think differently for their winter.
I designed my truck around 12v about 6+ years ago. A lot of the thinking prior to that. AGMs, 12v DC only, no shore power, alternator backup, diesel cooking, diesel heating / hot water, 12v diy fridge. 12v power supplies for computers. 12v tv. Worked well for 34 countries.
The AGMs eventually reached end of life, shortly before return home. The cooker was a bit slow, took a lot of space for the exhaust, had a glow plug failure, and magically failed on our return home from trip. I had to rebuild the sub-frame.
Between original design and now there have been some useful developments.
- Lithium batteries have become readily available - higher energy and power density - at reasonable price.
- Inverters have become more reliable, cheaper and bigger.
- Solar panels have become cheaper, about 25% more efficient, and lower temperature coefficients.
- Domestic inverter fridges are available at reasonable price and very much higher efficiency than 12v RV units.
- Inverter air conditioners are available at reasonable price and much improved COP - constant load rather than on/off. Finding small enough aircon and fridge is still a bit of a problem for me.
I'm partway through conversion - modifying is always a bit harder than starting fresh. So far batteries installed, about 5 months ago, about 2 1/2 x more usable capacity for small increase in physical size / weight. Solar doubled with all new panels (old to daughter's new off-grid where real estate doesn't matter) about a month ago. 240v Induction cooktop through 2.8kW inverter at same time as battery change.
I've invested a bit of time in Arduino for control. I found it relatively difficult to integrate off the shelf electronics at reasonable price.
This weeks task is hook the hot water up to solar. A separate 1kW inverter into the existing 240v 800W heating element in the calorifier. Control system to turn the inverter on with appropriate duty cycle when batteries reasonably charged and excess solar available.
On the agenda is domestic 240v inverter aircon for heating / cooling. Easier to control temperature than diesel hot water heater for space heating. And replacing under bench drawers to recover cooker exhaust space - food / kitchen storage space increase about 30%.
A minor side issue is the slipping belt drive to the alternator!
Dual V-belts, Mitsubishi don't seem to know about serpentine.Depends where in the world of course. Aus is reasonably well sited. Norway in summer was good for solar, but I'd need to think differently for their winter.
