/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>I can plug my electronics, or even a mini, portable stove into to cook, charge stuff, etc. etc.

You are fail. 1300 watts of solar on your car... good luck with that.

>>693887

most "musicians" on tour stay in hotels OP. are you allergic to hotels? or are you one of those "Musicians" that performs at the entrance to Walmart and people hand you $1 bills from there car on the way by??

is this another poorly disguised "how do I into being homeless, live out of my car thread?

>>693917
Partially, but the main difference being we know of places that will let us play AND that we're both prodigies. I just don't really know much about how to hook up a plug like that to a car, or how that would work.

>>693928
Calling yourself a prodigy sounds kinda pretentious.

>>693931
I think he meant autists.

I guess this isn't really relevant to the actual question, but in my experience, the best way is to find friends you can stay with for free, or throw down on a cheap hotel or something. You can even build the tour around places to stay- even if you can't find a place to book, busking can be a good alternative. I went on a tour recently where we made much more busking than we would have in a venue, and in half the time (though we were in fairly large cities with good foot traffic). We even had one venue pay for a night at a motel on another one. It all depends on whether you're trying to pull a profit on the tour. I like the solar idea, but I'm not qualified to give any advice in that department.

Or, you could just live in your car, charge your shit at the venue, and be unwashed musicians for a while. That works too.

>>693931
>>693937

Doubting me makes you sound like an asshole. So what? I'm good at what I do. There's no need to validate myself to you either way.

>>693953
Yeah, we're planning on doing that occasionally. But when we visit larger cities that are much more costly to live in, we're generally going to be stuck in our cars.

>>693928
I think you meant 'autistic savant' because if you were a 'prodigy' you wouldn't be paying for your own damn van.

>>693958
This is 4chan. You have to provide some sort of proof that you aren't some little shit who thinks he's better than he is. Guess what, most prodigious children are amazing for their age and that's it. You grow up and then you're suddenly in the middle of the pack. If you're genuinely THE BIG SHIT you'd easily be able to get a sponsor or something.

There's really no need. This is beside the point. If a solar option isn't a good investment, than how do I use my vehicle for powering a laptop or griddle or something like that?

>>693976
>There's really no need. This is beside the point. If a solar option isn't a good investment, than how do I use my vehicle for powering a laptop or griddle or something like that?

http://amzn.to/1tjg2Sk

Also using an electric griddle is a bad idea, you will overtax your alternator and battery.

You can get butane or propane cook-tops for $20 or so but if your using it frequently it would be worth it to pay a bit more and get a gasoline fueled one.

http://amzn.to/1tjhaFD

i was a shit-tier touring musician for 7ish years. don't into solar. period.

"charge your phone" solar means your shitty old flip phone. you would not believe how little power comes off a sq ft panel, even at noon with no clouds and no trees or buildings.

get a decent inverter. best ones require a direct connection to the battery. if you spend less than $100 new then it will die in a month. did that twice before learning that its no different than buying the expensive guitar cables and not having them go crackly on stage.

if you need heat then use a camp stove.

>>693887
>>693917
>>693958
>>693961
everyone in here is mad as fuck, jelly of ops hardcore rock and roll lifestyle.

op
touring, youll be driving a majority of the time, then chilling, playing, partying, sleeping, driving again.

in the cities you want to go to, make sure you have a friend or buddys place to sleep at. hotels are pricey as fuck, so really, you just wanna be paying for gas only. at soemoens place you can charge your essentials, sleep better, shower maybe, and stay relatively comfy. chatrge on the road when yous top to eat. have a sit down to eat and take a moment. dont eat in the car, shits bad for you.

the panel idea is cool. idk about charging and powering electronics, but you could charge soem batteries, and make a giant electricity capacitor i suppose.

that being said, where are you touring, where are you playing, what do you play and how old are you.

richmond va has some good music hookups.

>>693961
> This is 4chan. You have to provide some sort of proof that you aren't some little shit who thinks he's better than he is.
If no one thought more of themselves than they felt they were capable of, we would have no innovation, and would still be living in caves. Now I demand from you some sort of proof that you are capable of contributing to this board and are worth listening to as opposed to being some little shit who thinks he's better than he is. Deliver or fuck off.

>>693958
>I'm good at what I do.
So that's why you're here asking for advice on how to do what you do huh? Touring is a part of being a musician and you obviously know nothing.

Going to do you a solid op.
When looking at solar panels and the rest of the system, Always remember 12V is the key, most systems will run 12V. Amp's are an important factor and Watts are not important as you always do maths to work Watts out to Amps. And one more: Amp hours, (Ah)
To the system there will be 4 main components, Panels, controllers, batteries and *.
Panels: usually measured in Watts, 80W is okay, 120W is good, you can get small pane;s at 120w and large panels at 80W which often makes no sense.
Controllers: used in line with the panel to control the current, usually smart enough to put 13.8V into batteries then keep them charged with a varied voltage.
Batteries: always want deep cycle, If inside the vehicle use Absorbed Glass Mat, or acid in Gel, DO NOT use regular batteries as they put off hydrogen < BOOM!!! deep cycle batteries will be measured in Ah, higher Ah the better,
*: every thing you will draw, try to keep it 12v, 12v fridge, 12v stove, 12v lights, 12v phone chargers,
now for math dependent on your space on the roof I'd sugest fit 2 120w panels on the roof, and 1 120w fold panel for moving around with the sun.
say you have 3 true 120w panels in 100% sun you will likely get 110w each which ends up at 330w
330w/12v = 27.5A then double 27.5 as a saftey net you will need a 60A charge controller,
now for some backwards math:
you have a 12V 2A tv, 3m of led strip light at 1A per meter and an engel 12v fridge at 3.5A.
8.5 amps total, a single 120ah battery will run all that for roughly 14 hours with out charge (will kill the battery)
during the day you run will want to run your fridge whilst charging the battery, the fridge will stay cool over night thanks to insulation you will only need the lights whilst moving around at night and the tv as a time waster, so night you will only use roughy 30Ah so you shouldnt need a night charge, also 2 panels should be more then enough and im tired,
sauce: I'm a battery and solar sales man.

>>693887
>charge our electronic gear, like our laptops and phones and such.

Charge off cigarette lighter. Or get an inverter. Just run engine enough to keep car battery charged.

>mini, portable stove into to cook,

No. Even the smallest stove is going to run your car battery dead in no time. Get a camp stove (propane, alcohol, etc.)

>>694822
> he thinks that being a touring musician automatically arms you with electrical knowledge
> laughinggirls.jpg

>>694834
Well it would make a bit of sense for a musician to have some sort of electrical school related background.
Even media schools teach enough fundamentals.

>>694837
didnt realise solar invert and control systems had much relevence in the music industry to be honest. might explain that one time I heard a sound guy ask a vocalist to realign his solar panels because his phantom line voltage kept sagging when clouds rolled over though..

>>693887
Why don't you just use a power inverter? Solar panels aren't going to have enough power to do anything but charge batteries, and they'll do it slowly unless you have a lot.

>>693887

>portable stove into to cook

Try gas or alcohol stoves.

Those are dirt cheap to run and you can get gas/fuel from most stores easily.

Also, even in Finland (a hellishy expensive, frozen place) gas is cheap: 4 € for 250 grams which will last for about a week.

Power inverter
Gas stove

The rest his guy that plus a cello and has a record label selling vinyl pressings of his music. He lives in. Converted ambulance with the bio fuel and other shit. The dudes name is cj Boyd off the joyful noise record label.
If you're gonna live on the road you gotta be prepared to live less but innovative.
Its possible. And lastly, keep on practicing.your life is music. Don't stop ever if you have the opportunity to travel. Bring self defense too.
Its very possible anon.

>>693887
>mini, portable stove into to cook
sunlight -> electric current -> heat

have fun with η close to 0

Been there done that. Its easier to crash on couches. There's lots of websites for it but I use couchsurfer.com


If you're not turning heads and you don't have crowds or mid level venue hookups with riders and pay you're wasting your time. Inexperienced kids that think they're better than everyone are a dime a dozen.

>>694837
>>694844
>>694834
Even though >>694837 is right in what he says, it is not what I meant. Being a touring musician means you know the stuff you need to know aka how to survive on the road. OP claims he knows his shit and then proceeds to ask a question about how to do something he should know how to do. My point is that OP is faggot, if he knew about touring he would know how viable of an option solar panels are.

>>693887

Let's hear your music, anon! Got anything on soundcloud?