Our last post was on October 6 – just as we passed a previous record flood level from 1953 here at the waterfront in Downtown Sanford Lake Monroe ended up cresting at 8.96′ above normal on October 9th, and the waters have been slowly receding since then. We’ve been living in flood conditions for 20 days […]
RV Electrical Systems
Getting Back to Abundant Desert Boondocking
Earlier this year we returned to our boondocking roots for a month in the deserts of Arizona in our bus. It was oh so wonderful to be out in nature, on our own and feeling abundant in the systems we had long ago setup on Zephyr. From water management, tanks, solar and lithium – in […]
What Killed Our RV Lithium Batteries? 8.5 Years of LiFePo4
In what seems like another world now, last December we replaced our dead lithium batteries in our vintage bus, Zephyr. We originally installed our GBS lithium cells back in August 2011 – and as far as we can tell, we were amongst the first motorhomes to have a lithium house battery system, and we were […]
Running an RV AC off Solar, Batteries, and a Hybrid Boosting Inverter
We’re currently driveway surfing with friends in coastal Georgia, where it’s pretty darn hot (and crazy humid!) as the summer fast approaches. They only have a 15A power outlet on a front porch available for us to plug a long extension cord into, which for many RVs would mean blowing breakers or limping along without […]
The (Almost) Fantasy of Solar-Powered RV Air Conditioning
We see the questions all the time – people wondering: What will it take to run an RV air conditioner off of solar power? We get asked for advice in email regularly, and see the topic constantly coming up on various forums. (And now the Wynn’s are claiming they’re doing it – they’re not really, see […]
Back to Boondocking: Being Electrically Abundant in a Mostly Electric RV
We’ve seen it advised so many times on RVing groups and forums, if you want to boondock – you have to rely on propane for cooking, refrigeration, hot water heating and heating. If your coach is electrically dependent, don’t bother trying to boondock for long. We say.. phooey to that. It is entirely possible to feel […]
Living the Lithium Lifestyle – 3.5 Year Lithium RV Battery Update
One of the most unusual frequently asked questions we get asked out on the road: “How’s your lithium batteries working out?” We’ve even had strangers come up to ask, occasionally without even saying hi first! But I get the curiosity. That we are using lithium batteries for our RV house battery bank is one of […]
Solar Planning: Conducting An RV Electrical Consumption Audit
We get asked all the time: “How much solar power do I need?” But when I reply with – “Well, how much power do you use in a day?”, I almost always get a blank stare in response. We encounter only a handful of RVers who have any idea of just how much power various electrical devices […]
Zephyr is Solar Powered! – 800 Watt RV Bus Roof Solar Install
For those of you who have been paying close attention, you might have seen a little extra something perched on our roof in the last few photos we’ve shared online. Or you may have noticed that Cherie teased about leaving me behind visiting friends at AM Solar while she headed off to visit her mom in […]
Understanding Solar Panel Specifications
This is the second post in our series researching adding solar power to our bus. For an introduction to the project, click here. And for an index to all the articles in the series, click here. Before I dive into any geek project or major purchase, I like to do my homework and learn as […]
