AmboLander

[FDM2012]

Plenty of room! Next to the sink, I will have some sort of stovetop.
And, the microwave will be up top. I will also have a flip up/fold down counter just
above where the freezer is sitting, and maybe somewhere else.



The seats are out of an Aerostar. They are normally flush mount, and will be in my rig. I was in a
hurry before a trip when I put them in my black van.......... They latch in/out quite easily.
Most likely, I will take a torch or my sawsall to the junkyard and cut out the actual mounts, and
use them. Preferably, anyways.....

 

[patoz]

OK, that'll work! :26_7_2:

 

[FDM2012]

Did the boots and crush sleeves today. No apparent problem with them, but my turbo wheel is
definitely whistling a lot louder. Sometimes, when I am getting on it a little, it acts as though it
is waste gating, but as we all know, these things don't have waste gates.... It doesn't always do
it and if I back off a but and nail it again, it will boost over 25 or better, and I let off. Strange.....
But overall, it is peppy and feels strong.




Maybe it is fuel pressure related? I with a reasonably new filter, and the screens removed from my tank,
not sure why it is only at 58 and 54 under heavy load. It should be in the 60's.....right?
I also got my coolant temp and fuel pressure gauges in today, and with the 203 degree thermostat, I am only getting up to
around 180 degrees. (Sensor is on water pump housing)
However, my engine oil has gone from mid 190's to around 207, so I know it has indeed raised my engine temp.
The rep I talked to at DieselSite said they routinely run theirs up to around 220 degrees. I will call them Monday
to touch base.
And, my tranny is around 160 while driving, and up to 180 at idle, but no hotter. My cooler sensor is a 180-165,
but it has never kicked it on. So I feel good about all of that. I think.....


I also redid my lower drivers panel. My first go around was pretty shotty, so I grabbed another one at the junkyard
last week ($10), painted it, and used some of the new plug ends that I recently ordered, to help with neatness a bit.

 

[FDM2012]

Scored 4 x 150 watt panels yesterday for $75 each. They are about 7 years old, but had solid outputs,
even on a gray and rainy day. I will use 3 on top, and keep one around the house to play with.



Will soon look at re-enforcing the side box that the batteries will be going in. As well as
adding a couple of vents and a fan, to ward off the gassing.

 

[patoz]

Man, I need to follow you around. You're finding all the good stuff! :agree:

 

[lockedwheels]

What kinda volts output are they? Do you have to run a charge controller to drop the volts?


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[tgreening]

Man, I need to follow you around. You're finding all the good stuff! :agree:

I hear that! I NEVER find those good deals and what's worse it seems like as soon as I decide I want something like say, a diesel heater, someone pops on the board with the "man I just bought a brand new in box never opened Espar D-something heater at a garage sale for 10 bucks" story.

 

[FDM2012]

At max voltage, each panel will be at around 34 volts, which will be fed into a 40amp 12 volt charge controller
with a disconnect, breaker, diode, and 4ea 6 volt 530 amp hour batteries. The batteries will be series/parallel,
to make roughly 1000-ish amp hour/12 volt system, based on their age and depending on state of charge.
So, if I set things up to run no more than 125-ish amp hours per day, that will/should only drain me to roughly 80-90%.
Figuring 450 watts charging at about 75% for a conservative 5 hours per day (weather dependent) that will have me charged
back up going into the night.
The system will be to support a fan or 2, various led's, my 12 volt fridge/freezers, and the occasional microwave (on an inverter)
usage for burritos, hot pockets, 90 second rice, and popcorn. My 700 watt microwave actually consumes 900 watts of AC, and
adding that inefficiency to inverting, the amp hours get sucked out pretty quick. I will eventually get a pure sine to help out a bit,
but that is down the road a ways.
Next spring summer, I am going to do some sort of A/C, and I will most likely use a Honda eu3000i, and plug it in as shore power,
for nighttime sleeping. Depending on outside temps.

Again, these are all rough numbers, and figuring things very conservatively, so as not to over expect on things.

I claim to know enough to be dangerous, having gained most of my solar knowledge from forums and youtube.

However, 2 years ago, I built this portable/expandable solar generator from scratch, and it has worked flawlessly!

 

[lockedwheels]

Nice!! Sounds like you have a solid game plan.


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[Bikersmurf]

Man, I need to follow you around. You're finding all the good stuff! :agree:

Following him won't do you any good... you'll arrive just in time to see all the great deals he finds.

I'd sure like to get enough of those panels to cover my roof without breaking the bank.

 

[patoz]

Following him won't do you any good... you'll arrive just in time to see all the great deals he finds.

I'd sure like to get enough of those panels to cover my roof without breaking the bank.

Same here, I need four of them. We need a hookup, maybe someone who's in the business or something.

I have heard rumors that the DOT gets rid of the ones used on those portable traffic warning signs on a regular basis. Apparently, the signs are leased and anytime one is damaged, all the components are replaced and the old panels are trashed. I don't know if this is true or not, or how you would go about getting any of these panels, but it might be worth looking into.

 

[Bikersmurf]

I've seen small panels and batteries from similar applications sold on the government surplus auction... no bigger ones yet.

 

[gtbensley]

Same here, I need four of them. We need a hookup, maybe someone who's in the business or something.

I have heard rumors that the DOT gets rid of the ones used on those portable traffic warning signs on a regular basis. Apparently, the signs are leased and anytime one is damaged, all the components are replaced and the old panels are trashed. I don't know if this is true or not, or how you would go about getting any of these panels, but it might be worth looking into.

I have heard the same thing but dont know where to source them from.

 

[Abitibi]

You guys know of Solarblvd right? You can get a brand new 100w 12v panel for $80.

https://www.solarblvd.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_269&products_id=2666

Or 160w for $115, not too bad...

https://www.solarblvd.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_269&products_id=2868

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[tgreening]

You guys know of Solarblvd right? You can get a brand new 100w 12v panel for $80.

https://www.solarblvd.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_269&products_id=2666

Or 160w for $115, not too bad...

https://www.solarblvd.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_269&products_id=2868

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The upfront pricing doesn't seem too bad, and I know less than squat about solar resellers so this might be standard, but shipping from them to me (OH) for 4 panels is $500.00. Shipping 1 panel is $250.00.

I shipped an entire Jeep to Utah for less than that $500.00.