Very nice ideas, AZ. I had not thought of solar panels on big trucks. How many BTU's is your RV air cond.?

Hey rambler,
The A/C is a 13,700 btu basement model (116lbs). I wanted to use the cheaper lighter unit that goes on the roof, but the 3 solar panels take up most of the roof, so I had to go for the under vehicle unit.
The battery pack was the weight killer, at 600lbs, it sure was heavier than the apu's, but worth it in the long run. My water supply is 50 gals, so if I'm too heavy, I just water the lawn wherever I am, and then refill at the receiver, I haven't met one yet who won't let me hook up the garden hose.
I chose this system because it has the indefinite capacity, pretty much wherever I go, the sun charges the batteries (in conjuntion with the 65amp alternator), and when I park, I just flip a few switches, and I have all the power I need.
If the battery pack is running low, I get out the little genny, (only had to do it a few times, the rest of the time I just use it to keep it operational)
I would like to get a genny that turns itself on at a certain point, but I have not found one small enough, as you can imagine, both sides of my truck are pretty well filled up with batteries, and water tanks.

Drive safe

Wow AZ....that is really neat!! How big is your truck? I would love to see this set up. A visual would really help! :)

I know we will have to figure something out since neither one of us can sleep with the truck running :?

Yooper, I am going to check that system out too. Thanks

tootie

I believe ESPAR is German Engineered and if you want perfect heat(you can fine tune your temperature to what is right for you) it's the best.
no more too hot-too cold and no I don't have a vested interest in ESPAR :P
Also It's completely Quiet and economical.This system typically runs for about 21 - 23 hours on a gallon of diesel fuel

http://www.espar.com/htm/applies/trucks.htm

tootie,
There is really not much to look at, the truck height is 10' 9", with the panels on the roof (you can't see them from the ground).
The inside dimensions of the sleeper are 96"long by 96"wide and 75" high, so even though its got nice floor space, the roof seems a bit low, but I don't mind,...it feels kind of cozy.
I have to crawl through a small hole (30" wide by 40" high) from the cab into the sleeper.
All of the batteries are on the drivers side inside large aluminum boxes, and the fresh water and waste water tanks are on the other side in matching aluminum boxes.
Its a single stack exhaust exiting on the pass. side.
I have 2 100 gal fuel tanks, (would like to have been larger, but to make room for all the other stuff, I had to sacrifice fuel tank size).
I will dig up some photos of the truck as soon as I get my old computer back from the computer shop (they've had it for 2 months now).
It has the photos of the conversion from beginning to end.

Yoopar,

Thanks for the web site :lol: ....when we get home we are going to have the system installed in our truck. I think 2000.00 for heat and air is not bad at all.

tootie

welcome-I had ESPAR when it was still relatively new and I was used to that too hot-too cold in the bunk. Now they have a/c also plus lots of new features.
I think you'll love it-I did

http://duropower.com/item.asp?PID=120&FID=1&level=0

im looking at this one super cheap one year waranty. the only downfall is it runs o gas and fuel tank is fairly small.

espar is the best for ther heat
 

I have the large Espar heater and it works extremely well. I also have the largest rooftop AC unit made with the heat strip. The heat strip does not work worth a darn. The espar is the best value. I have a 10 kw Onan quiet diesel that works pretty good. the 10 kw is overkill. I wish I would have gotten the 7.5 kw. I think that the smallest diesel Onan you can get is a 5 kw unit. Onan makes a nice unit. You can get them serviced at almost all Cummins service centers (the own Onan). They are expensive to get serviced though. The hourly rate to work on the generator is more than the hourly rate to work on a Cummins engine. It is normally about $10.00 to $15.00 more an hour. Solar panels is a neat idea. I pursued that when I designed mine, but could not make everything work.

Good luck on your decision

OK, do you thihk something like this is safe to use in the truck?

http://www.mrheater.com/productdetai...catid=41&id=24

Do you think it would be safer to use the 20lb bottle and keep that outside.

I'm basically in the same boat as tootsie04; I want to be able to sleep without idling. I'm having some difficulty sleeping with the noise and vibration.

The thing is, i'm a company driver so the espar thing probably won't work. Great idea though.