Green Technology is Overdue for RV’s

Vast majority of RV’s are poor examples of sustainable living:

• 3 Way fridges still dominate – 19% efficiency and use over 4kWh/day – environmentally criminal.
• Chemical toilets require emptying at environmentally non-friendly “dump stations”. These are cess pools of pollution.
• Very limited solar panels installed at typically 200W/person. Compare that to the average household of 3,000W/person.
• If caravans are off-grid, portable generators are still popular for air-conditioners. They have the highest carbon output/kW plus high noise pollution
• Lighting is generally controlled by wireless switch and each one is non-dimmable, consuming excessive power
• LPG cooking and hot water operates around 40% energy efficiency. Whilst it still has a place in camping, it should be minimized with alternative 94% efficient and safe induction cooking. Transporting LPG to remote camping areas uses even more energy.

NO Pillar that addresses these issues with the Peak Industry Body

Caravan Industry Association of Australia is the peak national body for the caravanning and camping industry in Australia. The organisation’s vision is,?“To lead and champion a safe, compliant and sustainable caravanning and camping industry in Australia”?while working under our operation pillars.

Why no Leadership?

The top 3 producing RV manufacturers, unfortunately, can tick nearly all the boxes in the opening list. They are major funders of the Caravan Industry Association of Australia and would resist a change to green technology standards. Australia lags the world in adopting new standards in environmental compliance by RV's.

Consumers are demanding Sustainability & NO LPG

At Safiery, we have developed choices for caravan users at every level. However, we educate users on:

• Replenishment energy is the key to sustainability not battery size – therefore have an appropriately sized solar system to match daily demand.
• RV roof spaces have odd shaped "empty spaces" for solar. Safiery developed "DC DC for Solar" that allows totally different sized panels to combine for maximum power. As a result, 1600W to 2200W is now the goal. This is enough to replenish lithium batteries to run aircon all night. Eliminates the need for gensets.
• Induction cooktops sourced from “home suppliers” are not matched to the common inverter sizes in RV’s. Safiery developed products with 2000W and 3000W limits so inverters don’t trip out.
• Instant Electric hot waters systems from “home suppliers” are trigged by temperature and assume a high flow rate. RV’s are different. Water needs to be conserved and inverters are limited. Safiery developed instant hot water system that suit RV’s with inverters from 3000W to 6000W.
• Composting toilets require heating to get to the safe zone quickly. Some dominant suppliers don’t have this ability. Safiery developed heating and auto-turning to make these toilets more acceptable by users.

?Safiery invested in the Fun side of Green Technology

Behaviour change, similar to the introduction of recycling household garbage is required. To support and encourage this, Safiery developed an Integrated Display that provides:

• Digital Switching of lights, pumps, and other 12V devices. Can also be 240V devices.
• Dimming of lights that reduces power consumption.
• Lights auto-brighten slowly at sunset to minimize power consumption.
• Compost toilet automation to accelerate safety zone condition – reduces unwanted dumping
• Auto levelling automation - convenience
• Auto temperature control with fans and hatches - reduces need for aircon saving power
• Auto hot water – “on” when solar of vehicle charging exceeds battery requirements - saves power
• Auto-arrival mode – auto-level, steps out, outside lights on (only if dark), water pump on, 240V inverter on - convenience
• Auto-depart mode – all lights off, water pumps off, 240V inverter off - convenience
• User configurable modes - convenience
• Sustainable days forecast from renewable energy (Solar and Scotty) balanced with energy usage in last 24 hours – rolling forecast for 3 days ahead - gives confidence on energy use
• Time to go till batteries full - gives confidence on energy use
• Bluetooth temperature and humidity measurement of fridge/freezer/interior on display - gives confidence on
• Accelerometer measuring G force from off-road corrugations gives suggests reducing tyre pressures to pro-long shock absorber life - a safety feature
• And of course the energy flows and power flows to/from batteries and inverter/charger operation.

?In our next post, we will describe the technical aspects of this system.

Safiery has 2 business divisions: Mobile Energy and Stationary Energy.

Mobile Energy is centred around 1) Superior Solar performance on RV and Marine using proprietary DC DC for solar. This allows for mixed panel sizes and technologies to give maximum yield in a defined space. 2) Scotty extracting maximum alternator power without a significant increase in fuel consumption. Scotty is bi-directional, CAN controlled and simplifies multiple voltage solutions. Scotty II has patent pending around optimisation using complex mathematical models of the power source. and 3) Safiery Integrated Display - a mini SCADA for RV and Marine that pulls together digital switching, energy flows, IP cameras and other technology into a portable tablet.

Stationary Energy is centred around 2 & 3 Port DC DC transferring Solar, High Voltage Battery, Flow Battery to a high voltage DC bus. Bi-directional applications are high density flow batteries, High Power EV Charging and V2G/V2L/V2B. Coupled to this is the CAN based optimization controllers that are a parallel to the patent pending Scotty II using complex mathematical models of the power source(s).