So I’ve got this pile of batteries, and I’d like to carry them around wherever we travel to. In a previous post I touched about some of the design requirements, and those ultimately go back to staying safe, and making things usable. This post is about the process of putting together some sticks of metal […]
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Leaf pack modules and thoughts

So at this point, I have a bunch of potentially dangerous sardine cans that I’ve extracted from a Nissan leaf “battery”. Sometimes all this disassembly reminds me how everything in the world can be considered objects and classes of objects. Car Battery enclosure Battery group Battery module Parallel cell group Pouch cell Lithium plate […]
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Nissan Leaf battery pack disassembly

A week or two ago, the time was finally right to try and purchase a lithium battery pack for our bus. I’ve been planning on this for several years now, and in fact our whole project revolves around the energy density afforded by lithium power storage. I don’t think I’m doing anything particularly novel here […]
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Big lithium bus battery design criteria

I’ve been thinking over various design ideas on the big battery pack. This might sound sort of obsessive but really this conceptualizes the core of the ability to live off-grid, and it presents so many positive opportunities it would be a disservice to not consider them. Some of them major concerns I had, and perhaps […]
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Water tank assembly
So the water tanks that need to go into the luggage bay are huge – I suppose my eyes were larger than my appetite, because after I got the tanks I realized that they were about an inch higher than the gap between the deck of the bay and the frame rails. After a little […]
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Gluing surfaces together
My asbstract shapes. Lots of gluing plastic to ply backing going on. This stuff never ends it seems. The finished panels seem to take the temperature swing and durability test when done though.
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Panel finishing and struggle.
Feels like every panel and finish piece is a struggle. It looks good enough so I’m happy with the result. Carpet/ply panels in riding cabin area keep noise down. I have picked the hardest panels to complete first, naturally. Stairwell entrance gets the same sorta thing. Preview of the other areas. Birch with teak oil […]
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Door latch assembly
Got the final design for the pneumatic door latch actuator. Tomorrow I’ll add the inside handle. Its neat having a latching, locking pneumatic swing door.
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Entry/starwell wall
Got the stairwell wall and handrail thing built. I’ll cover with an upholstery panel soon. This frame was difficult, because of all the little connectors and features it needed.
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Forgotten Rust
So if you recognize what movie scene this is, you’ll know how I felt tonight about my entry steps… I am now working on the entry and the kneeboard/barrier/thing that keeps passengers up front from falling into the stairwell and also something to bolt the handrail onto. Since I’ve had the bus I have left […]