Everything Electrical
The electrical system of the bus is set up similar to an RV and though its a little complicated I will do my best here to make it super simple!
Our main power supply consists of two 12V deep cycle marine batteries connected in parallel. This means that the wattage is doubled but the voltage remains the same. Some people use 6V batteries and in that case you would want to cross the battery connection to increase the voltage to 12V.
Our batteries are stored under our bed in a tight-sealed box with a vent that leads out the side of the bus. When the batteries are in-use they release a gas so its important to have a way for the batteries to safely release it if you as well are keeping your batteries actually inside. Most RVs have their batteries accessible from the outside because of this.
Our batteries are also connected to a fuse that will prevent them from being overloaded and potentially setting fire. You can see this on the wall above the battery box.
Our batteries are stored under our bed in a tight-sealed box with a vent that leads out the side of the bus. When the batteries are in-use they release a gas so its important to have a way for the batteries to safely release it if you as well are keeping your batteries actually inside. Most RVs have their batteries accessible from the outside because of this.
Our batteries are also connected to a fuse that will prevent them from being overloaded and potentially setting fire. You can see this on the wall above the battery box.
 |  To the left you can see the fuse switch connected to the batteries. And above you can see the whole box, sealed. Still missing in these photos in the black flexible hose connecting the vent on top of the box to the section leading out of the bus. |
The battery cables are connected to both the inverter (12V to 120V) and the converter/charger (120V to 12V). This allows us two power supply options, plugging into an an external source (like at an RV park or a friend's house), or running entirely off of our batteries.
To run the whole bus off of the batteries we simply plug the 120V fuse panel into the inverter. This changes the 12V into 120V and makes our receptacles active.
To run everything off of shore power we run an RV 30W extension cord from the receptacle you can see in the photo above to an external power source. Then we plug both the 120V fuse box and the converter into the receptacle. The converter/charger trickle charges the batteries as well as powers the outlets in the bus.
To run everything off of shore power we run an RV 30W extension cord from the receptacle you can see in the photo above to an external power source. Then we plug both the 120V fuse box and the converter into the receptacle. The converter/charger trickle charges the batteries as well as powers the outlets in the bus.
The whole electrical system took a lot of planning. We spent hours talking to different people and doing research to make sure we, first of all hooked everything up right, but also had the proper pieces of the puzzle to handle the load we had in mind and for everything to work well together. Keep in mind we don't have any large appliances running off 120V like microwaves or electric blenders. As well, our TV and record player will be used as luxury items, only run when we are on shore power. The internet can be pretty confusing for piecing things like this together so I definitely encourage you to stop by an RV or battery shop and talk to people who really know whats going on.
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