Finishing my basic campervan build - Sage on Wheels ?

[mmKay]

I've spent about 2 hours researching fridges, Air conditioning and the principles of thermodynamics lol

I'll take that as indirect progress.

Vanlife teaches you lots of cool stuff. Mechanics, woodwork, plumbing, electric work, design, etc.

Too bad I'm not very passionate about these things. It's interesting nevertheless but sometimes it really makes me feel like a loser for not being competent in these domains and struggling with the most basic stuff.

I try not to take it personal whenever I notice myself having these boderline intrusive thoughts .

[mmKay]

Uhhh there is no way around it. It's a slow process and I struggle with making decisions, taking action , staying motivated and investing cash.

For tomorrow: fix floor carpet, window covers, plan installing 24 v converter

[MuadDib]

I've been researching and documenting ways to cool and heat vans or dongas without relying heavily on electricity. This is important because electrical power is often the main limiting factor in van builds, especially in hotter climates.

One method I'm particularly interested in is creating a highly emissive paint using barium sulphate. I'd like to make my own mixture of this paint and apply it to a van to test its effectiveness one day. Your persistence is so inspiring to me. Maybe one day I could own a home too.

The goal is to find energy-efficient cooling and heating solutions that don't require much electricity, making them more practical for van life and mobile living spaces.

 

[mmKay]

@MuadDib the main limiting factor for van builds is not electricity but money

But Lifepo4 batteries and solar panels are getting cheaper and cheaper by the year. investing  about 2k into a proper electrical system would make you off grid for the next 10+ years if not more, with more energy than a single person could use.  Lifepo4 batteries are very reliable, and so are the solar panels.
 

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Yeah i've seen that video as well. I'm no scientist but from my understanding that paint is only somewhat effective on very large surfaces like huge buildings. I've got similar paint on my roof but it's neglegible



For cooling small spaces, a mini split is the only real way to do it. You need to respect the lawsw of thermodynamics, specifically the second one.  Move heat from the inside to the outside,  and leverage the principles "adiabatic cooling and heating" ( gasses cool or heat as they condense or expand ) If you're serious about this, research the technology behind AC, 


The gold standard for heating is a diesel heater. cost effective and pretty cheap and pretty easy instalation

The gold standard for cooling is a 12v mini split. It's an expensive unit and the instalation is expensive as well, and I'm not sure about maintanance.

My current best idea is to buy one or two 12v compressor fridges. they literally work with the same principles as an AC. They are about 130€ per unit. the thing is you NEED a heat exhaust. You cant cool the room if the fridge is pumping heat from the other side.

 

So you either have to do a hole in one of the walls, or build it into floor compartments with a heat vent like I'm planning on doing. I have not seen a single person doing it this way, so i don't know if its obviously stupid inefficient or there are some other drawbacks like the unit not being used to run for longer periods of time, but in theory this is the way of keeping your space cool AF for dirt cheap and DIY friendly compared with a real 12 V mini split.

This may just be revolutionary for the vanlife community . Or maybe im a fool

what I'm describing here is literally a hobo mini mini split unit though

 

Edited August 28 by mmKay

[mmKay]

Anyways, I'm struggling AF with the van build. I basically haven't touched it in the last 7 months, which is a shame because now it would be a great time to travel to Madrid for one or two months before the extreme cold, with the purpose of further polishing my socialization skills.

Perfectionism is a B^tch. At this point it feels like the sole purpose of my soul is to overcome perfectionism and procrastination lmfao, no joke. It keeps coming up and it's one lesson I've not been able to work through.


I want to do this experiment where I openly tell people that I'm homeless and see how people react, how many judge / ghost / reject me and how many find it cool and want to stick around. Last time I've kept it  mostly for myself, but I'm so curious what would happen if I socialize for 30 to 60 days and I tell most girls and people overall that I'm actually homeless ( technically i'm not because I just moved from my parents house to this van again, but it's a dramatic way of putting it  and explaining my lifestyle ) 

Last time that  I was in valencia for 6 months  I did hide it from most people, which made me actually pretty insecure, but I'm working throught . It can really affect your self esteem and make you feel less worthy, specially as a man .


I'm thinking about actually vlogging my life this time. I have now the energy and mental clarity. Last time was a disaster because of heavy metal toxicity and my inexperience/inmaturity

the bottleneck would be motivation and consistency, but I feel I got this. If 9 people tell me clearly they want to see this happening, I swear on my left nut I'll do it.

my destiny is in your hands

 

Edited August 28 by mmKay

[MuadDib]

Bro, I can't afford batteries once, let alone once every ten years.

I was also thinking of getting damp towels and wrapping them over my feet at night, and then just having a USB-powered fan blow over them for some concentrated evaporative cooling on one of the body's primary heat radiation centres.
If a towel is too clumsy, I also thought of just dumping a pair of fluffy slippers in water and using that as an alternative.

I thought a garden hand pump sprayer like this could be an excellent makeshift shower. I could use it over a large tote with some rainwater sheets I have from a tent I slept in for months. I could also use the neat tent poles to make a structure over it that could all collapse down when needed.