100% solor energy for bus/and or wind

1 Posts
May 12, 2004 07:47 am
100% solor energy for bus/and or wind

Hello,
I'm new to this and about to convert a 86 gmc
school bus into a home with and addition.
I would like to be totally self contained.

I will be using wood and propane for heating
(I think LOL) I'm doing this on a very low budget and need my monies worth. I will also use oil lamps for some of my lighting as well.
I live in Iowa so we have high winds and lots of sun but snow and it can get very cold.

I'm a newbie and need all the help I can get!
Oh and the bus will be stationary!

Thank You

 
May 13, 2004 05:00 am
Home is where the heart is.

LAST EDITED ON May-16-04 AT 05:58 PM (EST)

For a time I lived in a 1956 Chevrolet school bus, abit smaller than your GMC, but built like a tank. Its now utilized as a storm shelter here in North Carolina during the huricane season. They just dont build them like they used too.
The first place to start is with figuring just how much electricity you will need in terms of watt hours. Once you have this convert it to amp hours by dividing it by a nominal battery voltage such as 12, 24, or 48. Once you know the amp hours you will need to figure what number that number is 20% of. This will be the battery storage in amp hours. From there its just finding a way to recharge the battery.
Example - If 100 amp hours is needed in a 24 hour period then: 100 is 20% of 500. So a 500 amp hour battery would be needed at the very least.


 
May 16, 2004 06:46 pm
Re: 100% solor energy for bus/and or wind

In addition to what I wrote in the example above, the 500 amp hour battery can be made up of of one or more batteries with various nominal voltages. Such as two 6 volt batteries wired in series to make 12 volts. If each 6 volt batt. has 220 amp hrs. then six batteries would be needed. Three sets of two in series and then those three sets wired in parallel. This would give a total of 660 amp hrs. at 12 volts nominal. When shopping for batteries always compare them by the amp hrs. at the 20 hour rates. I think its best to go a little higher with the batteriers amp hour storge than lower because so many thing can affect there performance such as; temperature, age, and actual usage just to name a few. If your planing on using photovoltaics to charge the battery then simply do the math. Consider the worst case which would be winter time typically. In Iowa you most likely will see about 3 hours of equivilant full rated charge from a PV array in the shortest days of winter assuming the sun shines all day and the PV array is where it is in full sunlight from 8:00 am. to 4:00pm. and perpendicular to the sun at noon time. So with the example of 100 amp hours from my previous post, divide 100 by 3= 33.3 this means the what ever the nominal voltage you will need at least a PV array with 35 amps of charge. The extra capacity of the battery should hold you through 2 to 3 nights/days of no sunshine if your conservative maybe more. This is where a battery monitor pays for itself by showing you just how much power comes and goes. As for wind I have no personal experience with wind genny's. Where I live a 100 foot tower would be required and since PV does so good here I would rather spend that money on more PV. General rules of thumb for wind genny's is that the bottom of the swept area of the prop be at least 30 foot higher than anything within a 500 foot radius and that daily wind speeds, averaged over the year, be at least 10 miles per hour. The one thing I found most valuble to me in becoming grid independent, is a subscription to HomePower magazine. Also I ordered quite a few catalogs from various dealers (even if I didnt like thier prices) because they do offer a lot of useful information on subjects like; wire sizing, the National Electric Code, and the like.  
 

Disclaimer and Disclosure

The Alternative Energy Store, Inc reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse or delete any posting or portion thereof, or terminate or block the access to this forum.

The opinions and statements posted on this forum are the opinions and statements of the person posting same, and do not constitute the opinion or act of the Alternative Energy Store, Inc (AltE). The Alternative Energy Store, Inc does not endorse or subscribe to any particular posting. No posting shall be construed as the act or opinion of the Alternative Energy Store, Inc.

Click here for BBB Business Review

McAfee SECURE sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams
Desktop Website | Mobile Website

Share

Click on an icon to share! If you don't see the method you want, hover over the orange "+".

Feedback

What can we do to help you?

Please enter a summary
Sorry, the copyright must be in the template.
Please notify this forum's administrator that this site is using an ILLEGAL copy of SMF!
Copyright removed!!