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Alexa's Bus

May 14, 2021 Posted by: Shopify API

Alexa From Texas

April 4,2021

Off-grid living has become more commonplace nowadays and, because of the pandemic, has now turned into a popular and viable option for permanent housing. There is a variety of different people involved in this tightly knit community ranging from off-road conversions to land-based solar systems.

Typically, when you think of a conversion, you think of the van-life trend, but there's more than just vans! Some people convert jeeps, trailers, and others convert whole school buses! Believe it or not, driving a school bus is legal as long as it's registered as a recreational vehicle (RV). Living in one? Not so much. Living in any kind of vehicle is a bit of a hit or miss across the nation as most cities have rules and regulations that tightly control things like health codes, parking, and minimum living conditions-- but you'll fine that these days it's become more mainstream for all sorts of people to be living on the road. There are entire communities and forums centered around how to make the most of your living off-grid.

About Alexa's Bus

Recently, Alexa Kelly of Texas came by to ExpertPower to fix some of her power issues and show us her nearly done bus conversion. Alexa is currently living in her converted school bus and serving others by being a 211 Crisis Line operator. There's a lot of appeal to her bus not just because it was essentially converted by hand but the fact that Alexa has truly made it her own-- a "safe-space" as she calls it. It's not just a mobile home, it's a place to get away, it's somewhere she can always be without feeling like she's far from anything.

What Did Alexa Need?

Most people don't really consider the fact that they are giving up a life of stability to endure being on the road and face the difficulties of being disconnected from stable electrical systems, watermains, dealing with vehicle repairs, and even the scarcity of things such as heaters and air conditioners-- but to be certain, there are those that truly feel at peace being able to get away from it at all and experience life from a more unconventional point of view.

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Winnebago Living

Mar 24, 2021 Posted by: Shopify API

Winnebago Living

Living On The Go

While most people are still adjusting to the pandemic, some have found a way to make it more comfortable. There has been considerable thought put into how to enhance the typical worker's remote experience, and considering how difficult it can be to be at home trapped for so long, one wonders how exactly it can be comfortable? This isn't really another typical "van-life" or "living in a vehicle" kind of situation, there's a bit more of an "entrepreneurial" touch to it.

About Tim and The Minnie Winnie

Meet Tim, a retiree who has been enjoying the wonder years by taking his family camping and around the nation. Tim hadn't used his camper in almost a year by the time the pandemic came around-- he'd noticed that with the pandemic altering so many lives, more and more people would look for a way to escape. Being the clever man he is, he decided to rent out his own camper to people who wanted to use it for quick getaways! It turned out to be an incredibly successful idea that generates passive income. Before he was able to make that possible, he had to get it up and running!

Before

After

Helping Out

Tim brought his camper to ExpertPower's own facility in Los Angeles to have us take a look at his current set up and ensure that none of his customers would run into power issues. The inspection process was straight forward and the batteries that were equipped in the camper were found to be dead-- within about 15 minutes, we replaced his two smaller lead-acid batteries with our 12V100Ah Deep Cycle AGM lead-acid battery, the battery that built ExpertPower from the ground up.

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Why the Van?

Mar 23, 2021 Posted by: Shopify API

Why The Van?

The Reason for the Build

Most people by now have some idea of what solar energy actually is, why it's used, and what makes it so important. Solar energy is becoming a more fundamental part of everyday living with developments in energy storage correlating directly to developments in capturing solar energy; finding ways to harness the power of the sun efficiently.

Batteries and solar panels are almost synonymous nowadays as you typically capture the sun's energy with a solar panel and store it in a battery to utilize it whenever you need it. More and more people are taking creative approaches to this, adding aspects of mobility and convenience to fulfill their needs. You'll find these systems setup on vans, RVs, campers, and even Tesla vehicles nowadays.

About Peter and his Wife

One man taking advantage of the pandemic's shift in job flexibility and economic volatility is Peter. After living in San Francisco working as an engineer and experiencing the overwhelming local housing market's toll, decided to sell his house and move into a converted sprinter van with his wife, and 2 pets-- a cat and a dog for those who are interested.

Peter's goal was to balance out working between NorCal and SoCal for his wife's job, and creating an affordable living situation as a whole-- naturally, the best option was to "get moving", van-life just made sense in the long-run and as an engineer, was enticing to gain a greater understanding in the energy field itself. Once Peter had gotten the van, he made necessary modifications to make it livable and "beefier". He upgraded the electrical system for new LiFePO4 batteries, the solar to a massive 600W which we helped provide, and the inverters to power everyday amenities like microwave, mini-fridge, coffee machine, and his work computer. It was a moving home that he didn't see himself in a few years prior.

The Necessities