In our previous installment of our bus automation system, we space planned and installed most of the major components for controlling our lights as well as wired and tested the outputs for the lights. It is now time to share the input side (buttons to control the lights) as well
Bus Automation Wiring for Lights Part 1
In our previous installment on bus automation, we had figured out how we were going to dim and control our lights using the ESP32 processors and some MOSFET boards we sourced from Amazon. We couldn't really use anything "off the shelf" (designed for home use at 120V AC) because we
A Solar Day: Flagstaff, Arizona - June 2022
One of the most common questions we receive is, “How are your solar and batteries working out now that you are traveling?” They worked awesome when we were doing our build in the middle of the desert in the Phoenix area. Traveling is different though. There are many more variables
Nissan Leaf Battery 3 Year Post Install Checkup and Capacity Testing
The time had come to do a little maintenance on our Nissan Leaf battery. We slid our battery into the bay on October 22, 2017 - well over 3 years ago! I am happy to report that the performance of the battery and solar system has exceeded our expectations. That
Charging the Bus Batteries with the House Batteries
Today, we are sharing a quick project that took one “To-Do” off our mental checklist. The original bus wiring had all the battery systems were wired together. The batteries would drain rapidly only lasting about 3 or 4 days. We got in the habit of always unplugging the batteries ... until
More Power for a HOT Summer
When we were building the bus at our house, power was never an issue. Even in the ridiculously hot summers of Phoenix at over 110℉. We plugged in all of our power tools to the house and ran our bus air conditioners off of the solar and battery all day
Wiring for Overhead Lights
We finished the first part of the insulation (Ceratex) and the furring strips. Before we could move onto the rest of the insulation (Roxul) or putting up any structure, we had to get the wiring in place for all of the overhead lighting.
When we last shared our progress with
Bus Automation: Testing Out What We've Learned So Far
Warning: Seriously nerdy stuff lies ahead. Proceed with caution.
This week we have an update on our "bus automation" project. Last time we introduced the technologies that we were exploring as well as some of the hardware we intended to use for experimentation.
I spent some time configuring and learning
Paint Update and Bus Automation Intro
Paint Update
As many of you recall, we dropped the bus off to our painter in Mexico in mid-June to get painted. Mexico has had very heavy rain in this last monsoon season. This is very good for Mexico - very bad if you want to get a bus painted.
DC Power Part 2: Testing, Running Cable, Generator Hook-Up
Last week, we put the converters, relays, and fuses on our board and got it wired into the supply side. We did some preliminary testing to ensure that everything was connected correctly.
This week, we finished wiring everything up. We ran the control wire for the "backup" system power, ran
DC Power Part 1: 48V to 12V Converters, Relays, and Fuses
After getting the A/C power mostly squared away and tested, it was time to tackle the 12V DC "house" power side of things. Most modern motorhomes actually have three discrete electrical systems powered by two separate sets of batteries. The first electrical system is to power the vehicle part
Victron Quattro 48/5000/70 Inverter Part 2: Charging & Testing with Our Air Conditioner
In our last post, we went over our process for selecting the Victron Quattro inverter. We discussed a few of the benefits offered by this inverter as well as gave an overview of how we wired everything. Now we finally have enough of our system hooked up to run a