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 […]
lithium
Tour of our Boat’s Electrical System – Solar, Lithium & Inverters!
As technomads – our mobile electrical systems are the lifeblood of our various nomadic homes. After all – we need to keep all this technology powered up somehow. And while stock RV and boat electrical systems are often perfectly useable (if somewhat limited) – whenever we embrace a technomadic home we just can’t resist diving […]
Y-Not Upgrades & Modifications: Two Year Update and Bayliner 4788 Tour
It is hard to believe we’ve been (mostly) living on Y-Not for over two years now – wow! In that time, we’ve tackled some pretty big upgrades and maintenance projects. Some long planned, others scheduled by serendipity. And in the course of the past two years, we have managed to transform Y-Not into an incredibly […]
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 […]
Promise of Lithium #2: Lithium Ion Battery Advantages
In the first post of this series, I explained the chief downsides of lead acid batteries, the type found powering the house bank in 99.999% of all RV’s you have ever seen. It is a depressingly long list. As you will soon see, on paper lithium ion batteries seem to be superior in almost every […]
Promise of Lithium #1: Lead Acid Battery Downsides
We’ve made a few teaser posts showing off our new lithium ion battery bank, but we’ve yet to properly explain why on earth we decided to venture off into such uncharted electrical territory instead of installing a more traditional flooded lead acid or AGM battery bank. This post is the start of a series explaining […]