PV Gap

Leslie Said:

Can anyone give me approximate costs for converting an old school bus to an RV?

We Answered:

Who can tell? There's too much to figure. Things usually cost more when time comes to getting the work done.
Maybe you should consider another route.

Jeremy Said:

What type of solar panel is this?

We Answered:

these are older panels, but should be equivalent to current productions with a slight degrading for their age. a solar panel, after all, is only an unregulated battery (when the sun is out). the 110 probably refers to the panel wattage rating. most panels of this sort put out slightly more than 12-14 vdc which makes them ideally suited to charge standard 12 volt batteries. you need some sort of regulator, but again, you should be able to adapt something.

Dennis Said:

What can you do if you can't use rv generator before 10am and not after 8pm to use any electric appliance?

We Answered:

You can use an inverter if you really want to. Unfortunately, converting 12 VDC to 110 VAC consumes a lot of battery charge. You're increasing the voltage by a factor of 10 and to do so you also increase the current draw by a factor of 10. An item that takes 100 watts or about 1 amp from 110 volts will take the same 100 watts but this means about 9 amps from the battery. A 900 watt microwave would take more than 75 amps from your battery. A TV will take more than 10 amps. If you have a couple of good sized, deep cycle batteries to run the inverter you can do the basics. A TV, stereo, DVD player, that sort of thing. You could run a microwave but a propane powered oven would work better in this situation. It might take a little longer but it won't drain your batteries. I'm sure your RV has propane tanks for a furnace and stove. Just run your generater during the day to recharge the batteries and don't expect to have the use of all electrical your appliances at night. If your RV doesn't have 12 volt lights and maybe other 12 volt options then it was simply meant to be parked at an RV park or site where shore power was available.

Amy Said:

have solar panel and it's hooked up to two marine batts ?

We Answered:

Deep discharge marine batteries are fine.

The solar charger will only slowly charge the batteries, but cost nothing. The generator will quickly charge them, but at high cost. Use the solar panel when the sun is shining, and only use the generator to top up the batteries when needed. You may find the solar charger does little, because it charges so slowly.