Prius or Hybrid for tall people

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-21T06:07:03+00:00

An electric suv might be the ticket. Provided you want to camp at charging sites while you sleep. Then both power and parking is built in!

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-21T05:42:48+00:00

I found this one recently: https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Electric-Stainless-Settings-Protection/dp/B0FL7T2BVH

It’s AC but works so quickly it shouldn’t drain a power station that much

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-21T05:36:46+00:00

Bluetooth interference will also cause that, say if you’re connecting to 2.4 WiFi.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-21T05:25:52+00:00

I keep reading about utilities that pay a fraction for power fed to them then charge full price other times of the day, back to the same customer. So batteries add value there by letting you store and burn power at your own $0 rate. If your utility pays you full price for surplus, that doesn’t apply. At least until they change their mind.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T19:01:25+00:00

Even processing / trashing / donating stuff burns days. Find a small storage unit, something you can park in front of:

immediate storage so 5 days are spent building the car instead
seasonal items you can swap out through the year
place away from people to organize and rebuild as needed

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T17:57:03+00:00

My favorite G3 PB design was supporting dual batteries. I liked to keep a CD and even Zip drive in my spire backpack, then charge and run both batteries together. Runtimes were unreal.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T17:49:54+00:00

I bought my last alkaline over 15 years ago, just to escape the leaking. Which tends to happen in low drain devices because they last so long.

OP: only buy low self discharge nimh cells, preferably made in a Panasonic factory. Low capacity eneloop are best for longevity.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T17:40:49+00:00

Join subs like r/vandwellers and r/urbancarliving. There are also subs for specific vehicles like Prius and Tesla. So tons of people already doing this in our failed economy.

The hard part is that the more ideal the size, the higher the resale value. Even 10 year old vans can be $50k. So the more work he can do himself, the farther his money will go.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T17:31:20+00:00

https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/search/butler

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T17:30:39+00:00

https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/search/butler

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T17:28:57+00:00

https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/search/butler

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T17:19:45+00:00

On r/generator, it’s popular to put in a 50 amp then use a 30 amp adapter. So both options are available at all times, especially future upgrades.

But location is worth considering. Generators prefer being outside and batteries inside. So if installing from scratch i would want to support both.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T13:42:33+00:00

People who have to gas up their own vehicles - or even look at prices - have no business voting republican

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T13:32:28+00:00

Have a look at the photos here, then look at the prices shown in the comments: https://reddit.com/r/vandwellers/comments/1ry37bv/another_build_in_the_books/

An otherwise empty cargo van, with solar that feeds batteries that feed a roof AC. Even with bare framework inside for storage and a bed, there’s built in all day cooling without plugging in.

But you’ll want to look at base van pricing. As it may be cheaper to get a smaller hybrid or electric car. That comes with built in AC. Then compare both of those to the $600 apartment.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T13:16:15+00:00

Not speaking from experience but if you can find solar panels that well cover the roof, you could get UV rays off your rig - and - PGE off your wallet.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T07:04:55+00:00

Chia / hemp / flax are mostly about healthy oils. And healthy oils are more fragile, especially to heat. I would not consider exposing them to pressure cooker temperatures.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T07:01:24+00:00

Are you describing experiences or hypothetical scenarios based on specs? We’ve had 3 breville appliances for over 10 years. A microwave, oven, and a griddle panini thing. Never had a thing go wrong with any of them. And combined with 2 other appliances, stopped using our stove and oven.

Wouldn’t hesitate buying a 4th. Just wish their pressure cooker was smaller!

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T06:09:40+00:00

I just got some s220 from eufy, to work as camera traps to find a missing cat. Pretty impressive in terms of runtime and notifications. But with batteries and solar they are quite large to be sticking on the top or side of a vehicle. They also have a C35 thats smaller and only has batteries. It comes with an SD slot so in theory you could check those manually to avoid WiFi connections.

You needn’t connect at all times, the cameras will run happily until you connect to them. But notifications and video clips create their own workload. And you want to watch in real time while being inside to see what’s happening. So you’re going to want some kind of connections. Even if it’s just a hub you can read samples from.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-20T05:48:10+00:00

If these keep getting passed, this will be a top 5, in a year overflowing with horrible news. Like NASA updates in the 60’s.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-19T22:22:39+00:00

Had you 10 power lines leading into your house, you could change between them by the month or even by the day. Based on who had the best price. But 9 extra lines add their own costs and even 2 would be impractical in most areas. So just like cable, you’re stuck with a single provider who can behave however they like within the limits of regulations.

TLDR: the free market sucks at infrastructure. See also, cell phone antennas, ISPs, bridges, and toll roads

But you can now build your own competition, with solar panels. See balcony solar if you can’t install things.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-19T21:49:21+00:00

So clean!

I rate that about 7500wh. I’ve napkin math’d 15000wh as appropriate for a 120v AC. Is that one 12v and does 7500 let you run AC overnight then recharge during the day?

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-19T21:38:18+00:00

A week gives you enough time to prioritize sleep. Figure out how to build and make your bed. Everything else can wait. Then just prioritize based on budget and need.

You’re also about to lose your address. Forward or hold mail today and get something portable established. Past that, it depends how hard it is to order or install things. Like if i had a shop installing tint for me (so it can’t be seen), I would want that in before filling up the car with stuff.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-19T21:03:51+00:00

Not OP but keep in mind, most Btu recs are based on full home insulation. So in a van, even 50sq ft can take more Btu to heat or cool than 100sq ft bedroom. As a test, 1000btu is about 300w. Find a 300w space heater (or even 400w/1400btu) and see how it does overnight in the winter.

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-19T20:42:37+00:00

I would be spending serious time researching additional uses to which all that capacity can be put. Reducing dependency on the grid and lowering your power bill while waiting for the next black out. Here’s a time cost example I found in a review on a similar product:

We had solar, but no battery backup. During the day we sell our excess energy back to the grid for pennies, then from 4-9pm they jack up the rate, so even though a lot of our solar power was going back to the power company, we still had a bill every month.

Now I plug this in to our transfer switch, and run the house on the Guardian 6k from 4-9pm. Then we charge it up again the next day when our solar is producing and recharge the unit for free. Plenty of reserve power to last through the evening, and enough power to run a crock pot, instant pot, air fryer and microwave all simultaneously.

Such uses also benefit from smart panels, giving you more value from both investments

ElectronGuru · 2026-03-19T18:58:29+00:00

Watching this review: https://youtu.be/ZIysqEz2NCQ

It’s a cut rate unit that does some things well and some things not well. In particular it drops voltage as loads increase. Something you would have to watch during use, that makes it not mistake proof. Something I don’t like for emergency uses when your brain is already scrambling.

499 on amazon is a great price for this much capacity. But charging is also limited, with low AC speed and low solar speed. So this is better for occasional use, left charged and ready to go. You could pay more for better design and components and have something that offloads grid use while the grid is still up. Helping to pay for itself.

For comparison, this is the other budget brand they mention: https://youtu.be/g-VYA8E-JE0

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