Help With Power Needs Please (1 Viewer)

[dazzer]

After 3 months of toil and a lot of brain teasing I have finally completed the online course to teach me how to use Autocad 2010 :thumb: (which is by the way, quite simply the best bit of software ive ever seen but very tricky to learn oh

No doubt ive still got a hell of a lot to learn but i have the foundation to be able to finally get round to designing and building a demountable truck camper to go on the back of the Lightning to use when we go off diving in some pretty remote locations around this great nation of ours.

Having given it a lot of thought we require the following to be fitted (shoehorned!! ) into what is a very small space.

Petrol driven compressor for charging scuba tanks.

Rain water harvesting system to use any rain we get (should never run out of water again !! ) for the shower and the RV style toilet.

Reverse osmosis system to again use purified sea water for showers and toilet. (This system requires a high pressure pump to make it work but we can just use the many "empty" (for diving anyway but still have between 50-80 bar inside) tanks to pressurise the system and make it work.

A big battery bank (the 6 volt high a.h. submarine type batteries linked together) and solar charging.

We goto some pretty remote places and sometimes stay for up to 5 days and need to be totally self sufficient. When we had our RV water was always the biggest problem as we sometimes had up to 10 divers all freezing cold climbing out of the sea begging to use the RV shower to warm up and wash the saltwater off themselves hence the huge effort in being able to produce our own water for showering.oh:

What im really after is suggestions from the great and the good on here about rainwater harvesting, reverse osmosis and battery/solar charging systems for a ground up build. We need to keep weight to a minimum (obviously!!) and plan on using a void in the floor for battery storage and water tanks (as much as possible) to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible. :thumb:

Remember we need power to run all the systems on board and to also power an invertor so we can use a projector to watch Sky tv (the lads dont want to miss any football matches!!) under the awning and also to use the projector as a training aid for divers taking a diving course. A generator is the obvious choice but is something else we need to find a space and carrying capacity for and they are also bloody noisey/smelly things that we are trying to avoid.

Cost is obviously an issue but we have a reasonable budget and some very skilled people to actually build it, its the design around everything that is required that is the biggest headache and it is at this point I now find myself

All suggestions and help greatfully received as always

Thanks guys

For those not sure what im on about see photo :thumb:

 

[hilldweller]

All suggestions and help greatfully received as always

All that in a demountable - looks impossible to me.

You probably have a choice - solar to give you power OR harvest rain - probably can't have them simultaneously. Sods law says it will be cloudy and barely drizzles.

You've got your work cut out.

 

[dazzer]

All that in a demountable - looks impossible to me.

You probably have a choice - solar to give you power OR harvest rain - probably can't have them simultaneously. Sods law says it will be cloudy and barely drizzles.

You've got your work cut out.

Not sure why i cant have both :Sad:?? The roof area will remain unchanged whatever is on top of it and any rain landing on the solar panels will run off onto the roof below and be captured by the rain harvesting system :thumb:.

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[scotjimland]

Hi Dazzer ..

keep it simple, forget solar and a big battery bank, far too much weight .. and cost.

I would have a genny coupled to a decent charger / power supply unit ( Sterling do some good ones ) and an electric air compressor.

LPG for cooking and hot water..

Collect rain on the roof, gravity feed though a basic charcoal filter into the storage tank..

Wouldn't bother with a grey waste tank, no need when wilding, 10mt of waste pipe and into a hedge, the space can be utilised by a bigger fresh tank.

 

[pappajohn]

Not sure why i cant have both :Sad:?? The roof area will remain unchanged whatever is on top of it and any rain landing on the solar panels will run off onto the roof below and be captured by the rain harvesting system :thumb:.

if it rains its usually dull so little solar output.......
if its sunny its usually dry so no rain harvest.......

and its usually more of the prior and precious little of the latter....

 

[dazzer]

Hi Dazzer ..

keep it simple, forget solar and a big battery bank, far too much weight .. and cost.

I would have a genny coupled to a decent charger / power supply unit ( Sterling do some good ones ) and an electric air compressor.

LPG for cooking and hot water..

Collect rain on the roof, gravity feed though a basic charcoal filter into the storage tank..

Wouldn't bother with a grey waste tank, no need when wilding, 10mt of waste pipe and into a hedge, the space can be utilised by a bigger fresh tank.

Thanks for that Jim. We werent fitting grey tanks anyway

I have spoken to the lads about the power problem and one of them has come up with the idea of combining the compressor with a genny running off the same engine

He says it can be done quite easily but might be a bit heavy (but not as heavy as 2 separate units :thumb. We will fit 3 X 110ah batteries and a decent 3 stage charger with a solar panel on the roof.

Anyone got a Honda engine about 4-6 hp looking for a home

Will keep you posted as it progresses :thumb:

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[The Clangers]

Reverse Osmosis System - Used to sail and fullimers / long distance cruisers always had a problem with fresh water. "Spectra" watermakers seemed to be the favourite, ran off of 12v.

David