Noob

[Mr&MrsK]

Hello, everyone. Origin story to follow. The missus & I are in Alaska. We have pulled 8 years in a tiny cabin, did a winter in a tent, & have lived for 2 years in a Subaru Outback. I have quite a bit of camping experience, & used to nomad on a motorcycle, albeit down south. We are about to move to a Chevy express 1500 cargo. We are interested in insulation & power, especially solar & inverters. We currently have a 2k watt inverter & a woefully inadequate 200w goal zero. We want a bluetty or ecoflow, but neither will ship to AK, so we are subject to the mercy of the local hardware stores. For small electronics we have been using Milwaukee batteries & a topper. The Ego & Nature's Generator are the only other larger portable power sources we have found up here. Hope to eventually upgrade to solar with marine deep cycle batteries.

Any advice or suggestions is welcome.

 

[bullfrog !]

First thing as far as solar is to determine your needs. How many watts how many hours a day? Insulation is pretty much determined by the outside temps and how much of a heat source you will have verses how much space you are willing to loose to insulating. By the way welcome to the site!

 

[Carla618]

Hello, everyone. Origin story to follow. The missus & I are in Alaska. We have pulled 8 years in a tiny cabin, did a winter in a tent, & have lived for 2 years in a Subaru Outback. I have quite a bit of camping experience, & used to nomad on a motorcycle, albeit down south. We are about to move to a Chevy express 1500 cargo. We are interested in insulation & power, especially solar & inverters. We currently have a 2k watt inverter & a woefully inadequate 200w goal zero. We want a bluetty or ecoflow, but neither will ship to AK, so we are subject to the mercy of the local hardware stores. For small electronics we have been using Milwaukee batteries & a topper. The Ego & Nature's Generator are the only other larger portable power sources we have found up here. Hope to eventually upgrade to solar with marine deep cycle batteries.

Any advice or suggestions is welcome.

Welcome to the Forum Mr&MrsK

 

[Mr&MrsK]

First thing as far as solar is to determine your needs. How many watts how many hours a day? Insulation is pretty much determined by the outside temps and how much of a heat source you will have verses how much space you are willing to loose to insulating. By the way welcome to the site!

Thanks. There is so much useful info here it is hard to know where to start.

 

[Mr&MrsK]

Welcome to the Forum Mr&MrsK

Thank you.

 

[maki2]

You will not have enough solar input, except in the summer months, to make a solar system installation viable as a power source in Alaska. You are going to need a generator or else stay where you have hookups to mains power in the winter.

Bob Wells of Cheap RV living is the person to talk to about trying to live in a van in Alaska. In fact he has a few videos and some articles where he discussed how difficult it was. He is from Anchorage and after divorcing he wanted to stay near his son so the only way he could afford to was to do Van life. A lithium battery can’t be charged when the temperature is below freezing. Your drinking water will freeze. No amount of insulation will keep things from freezing in an Alaska winter unless you have reliable 24/7 heat. A Van simply can’t be insulated adequately for housing in an Alaskan winter.

I spent 7 years in Alaska, it only took about 6 weeks that first October of being in a travel trailer with a lean-to and I knew that was never going to work.

 

[Mr&MrsK]

You will not have enough solar input, except in the summer months, to make a solar system installation viable as a power source in Alaska. You are going to need a generator or else stay where you have hookups to mains power in the winter.

Bob Wells of Cheap RV living is the person to talk to about trying to live in a van in Alaska. In fact he has a few videos and some articles where he discussed how difficult it was. He is from Anchorage and after divorcing he wanted to stay near his son so the only way he could afford to was to do Van life. A lithium battery can’t be charged when the temperature is below freezing. Your drinking water will freeze. No amount of insulation will keep things from freezing in an Alaska winter unless you have reliable 24/7 heat. A Van simply can’t be insulated adequately for housing in an Alaskan winter.

I spent 7 years in Alaska, it only took about 6 weeks that first October of being in a travel trailer with a lean-to and I knew that was never going to work.

Thanks. We have already wintered in Alaska in a tent & have done 2 years here in a Subaru outback. Have used a gas genny for aux power. Had a larger Yeti at the time but it finally died. When we first came up 16 years ago we spent 3 years above the Arctic circle where we picked up a few tricks like keeping the water elevated to keep it liquid with rising heat. We aren't going in blind & clueless, but are always seeking to learn.

Thanks for your suggestion. Will look up Bob Wells.

 

[INTJohn]

Yes to most of the above and I will echo: LiFePo4 batteries cannot be subjected to freezing temperatures.
Also; if you already have a 2000 watt inverter why go with a power station like bluetti or echoflo? Just get stand alone LiFePo4 battery(s) and hook the inverter to it. You can get 200 amp LiFePo4 batts now for around 600-700$. I paid 350ish for a 100amp.

intjohnny

 

[Mr&MrsK]

Yes to most of the above and I will echo: LiFePo4 batteries cannot be subjected to freezing temperatures.
Also; if you already have a 2000 watt inverter why go with a power station like bluetti or echoflo? Just get stand alone LiFePo4 battery(s) and hook the inverter to it. You can get 200 amp LiFePo4 batts now for around 600-700$. I paid 350ish for a 100amp.

intjohnny

Keeping the battery charged is my main concern. We run the inverter off the car battery & let the alternator charge it while running. We can't run a genny inside the van, & there isn't anywhere to put one outside it. But the deep cycle batteries do sound like a good idea. I've read some things about people using them for solar & hybrid systems.

 

[INTJohn]

Keeping the battery charged is my main concern. We run the inverter off the car battery & let the alternator charge it while running. We can't run a genny inside the van, & there isn't anywhere to put one outside it. But the deep cycle batteries do sound like a good idea. I've read some things about people using them for solar & hybrid systems

Ummmm do not equate a LiFePo4 to a car starting battery. The only similarity is that they are both 12v batteries and that is basically where it ends. Think apples & oranges . Yeah they’re both fruits but that’s where it ends.

You need to do ALOT of studying on the differences as well as the manner of charging or you’ll find yourself in trouble in a hurry.

INTJohn

 

[Mr&MrsK]

Ummmm do not equate a LiFePo4 to a car starting battery. The only similarity is that they are both 12v batteries and that is basically where it ends. Think apples & oranges . Yeah they’re both fruits but that’s where it ends.

You need to do ALOT of studying on the differences as well as the manner of charging or you’ll find yourself in trouble in a hurry.

INTJohn

Other than knowing to charge them with a trickle charger, I'm not terribly familiar with them.

 

[DLTooley]

LiFePo4 batteries need to be above freezing to charge, discharge is much lower. I don’t worry about it but you should.

The easiest thing to do is keep them in a heated living space, which you may not have. There are heating pads, some designed specifically for the application.

LiFePo4 can overload an alternator. I’m not an expert, but I think dc-dc chargers are the preferred solution.

The power stations are convenient, at a price. It would be much easier to charge one in a workplace, for example.

 

[LargeMarge]

First thing as far as solar is to determine your needs. How many watts how many hours a day? Insulation is pretty much determined by the outside temps and how much of a heat source you will have verses how much space you are willing to loose to insulating...

.
a)
First thing, I think -- eliminate a bunch of First Worlder stuff.
Evaluate your need for:
* dual wine-chillers and electric fireplace in the 'entertainment center'
* hair-dryer
* earthquake-car loudspeakers
* second galley and 'entertainment center' with big-screen on the patio
* can you somehow struggle along without a 14,647cf side-by-side fridge-freezer with room for decades of left-overs?
.
I think insulation ought to be excessively obsessive.
We start with:
* adhesive-back acoustic against the outside wall, a gap, then
* one-inch pink-board, another air-gap, then
* two-inch foil-side poly.
.
A peripheral aspect of insulation is windows.
In our ExpeditionVehicle, we mounted 3010 (three feet wide by a foot tall) dual-pane sliders designed for a stand-still house.
.
Our cab is separate from our quarters, so those yuge single-pane windows up-front are less of a concern.
.
We rarely operate our heater -- one Wave 3 catalytic heater set on 'LOW' -- above about 40°f.
.
Reduce humidity and fungus with open windows on opposite walls.
For us, this's a quarter-inch on one side, a half-inch on the other.
.
Are you over-wintering in Alaska?
If I was me, I might have a Plan B, Plan C, and maps for Baja beaches.
.
.
b)
Although certainly adequate as a shelter, your 1500 offers a very limited GVWR.
I can easily see a ton of canned goods, water, tools, batteries, propane, cook-gear.
And security... for the frontier.
.
Riding -- or exceeding -- the GVWR is one of my nightmares.
For your next rig, we think you could avoid it by choosing a stouter commercial truck with excessively obsessive cargo capacity.
And a place to walk upright on your hind legs.