Newbie here again. Busy getting ready for our first cross-country trip and a bit perplexed about having enough power to dry-camp for 3-4 days at a time. We have a 36ft 5th wheel. We are planning to get additional batteries but not sure how many. Have read about solar trickle chargers as well. Have also considered a small generator but not sure. We have cats that will be in the RV while we are out enjoying the days' activities and want there to be enough power to run the vent fans so they won't get too hot. So many options but too many for the new guy to figure out.
Please help.
Thanks
The Bear II said
09:24 AM Apr 18, 2011
Louie,
Here's our experience. We have 4 batteries. We also have 2 - 2000i Honda generators that can be hooked up parallel to provide enough power to run our air conditioner (A/C) and other heavy load appliances if needed.
If you don't need A/C and only need power to run the microwave or coffe pot, then a 2000 watt generator would provide enough power plus you can use it to charge your batteries. A Honda 2000i will cost about $900 - $1100 depending on where you buy it and your negotiating skills.
With 4 batteries we can go for about 5 days if we are real conservative with power use. We use lanterns and flashlights for lighting and use the water pump sparingly. Mostly we use a one gallon jug for water needs and refill it. We use a very small TV/VCR combo and watch one movie per night. We do have a 3000 watt inverter so we can use the microwave for cooking if needed. But most cooking while boondocking is on the stove, oven or BBQ grill.
If we use power as normal, we can get by for a couple of days with the 4 batteries.
By using one of the 2000 watt generators we can go for about 2 weeks before we need to break camp and go dump the holding tanks and refill the fresh water.
One of the 2000 watt generators will run all day on a single tank of gas.
The solar chargers are nice but won't build up the charge fast enough to replace any heavy power use like a typical night of lights, TV, microwave and computer use.
flyone said
11:45 AM Apr 18, 2011
Bear, to clearifiy things, when you say 4 batteries do you have 4 12v all wired together in parallel? Or is there another way? I'm thinking when you say 4 they must be 12v, but with my little pea brain--I sometimes really get into trouble when I start thinking.
Flyone
Bill Adams said
02:06 PM Apr 18, 2011
My best guess was that he meant 4 6-volts batteries. 2 pairs would be configured in series to produce 12 volt power and then those 2 pair would be connected in parallel with the final result of 12V power and lots of amp hours (AH).
flyone said
11:56 AM Apr 19, 2011
Thanks Bill, the more I thought about it, I had come to the conclusion thats probably what Bear is talking about. It would make a lot more sense than 4 12V's.
-- Edited by bjoyce on Tuesday 19th of April 2011 06:22:25 PM
Bill Adams said
06:29 AM Apr 20, 2011
I said that I suspect that this is what he meant as I actually do have 4 12V batteries wired in parallel so that is also a possibility. However, these are 4 huge 8D batteries which take up a lot of storage area and weigh 160# each!
Jack Mayer said
07:33 AM Apr 20, 2011
Nothing wrong with 4x12-volt batteries. As long as the batteries are of good quality. Iwould not use starting batteries in this application, but you can find heavier deeper-cycle batteries that are 12 volts.
The Bear II said
09:45 AM Apr 21, 2011
I have 4 - 12V batteries.
2 are the original house batteries to power lights, refrig, water pump and few other original 12v accessories.
The other 2 are for the inverter to power the 110V stuff like the microwave, TV, Sat box and small appliances when we boondock.
Originally we had installed an Onan generator to charge everything back up. It died and we bought the two Honda 2000s with parallel kit.
Newbie here again. Busy getting ready for our first cross-country trip and a bit perplexed about having enough power to dry-camp for 3-4 days at a time. We have a 36ft 5th wheel. We are planning to get additional batteries but not sure how many. Have read about solar trickle chargers as well. Have also considered a small generator but not sure. We have cats that will be in the RV while we are out enjoying the days' activities and want there to be enough power to run the vent fans so they won't get too hot. So many options but too many for the new guy to figure out.
Please help.
Thanks
Here's our experience. We have 4 batteries. We also have 2 - 2000i Honda generators that can be hooked up parallel to provide enough power to run our air conditioner (A/C) and other heavy load appliances if needed.
If you don't need A/C and only need power to run the microwave or coffe pot, then a 2000 watt generator would provide enough power plus you can use it to charge your batteries. A Honda 2000i will cost about $900 - $1100 depending on where you buy it and your negotiating skills.
With 4 batteries we can go for about 5 days if we are real conservative with power use. We use lanterns and flashlights for lighting and use the water pump sparingly. Mostly we use a one gallon jug for water needs and refill it. We use a very small TV/VCR combo and watch one movie per night. We do have a 3000 watt inverter so we can use the microwave for cooking if needed. But most cooking while boondocking is on the stove, oven or BBQ grill.
If we use power as normal, we can get by for a couple of days with the 4 batteries.
By using one of the 2000 watt generators we can go for about 2 weeks before we need to break camp and go dump the holding tanks and refill the fresh water.
One of the 2000 watt generators will run all day on a single tank of gas.
The solar chargers are nice but won't build up the charge fast enough to replace any heavy power use like a typical night of lights, TV, microwave and computer use.
Bear, to clearifiy things, when you say 4 batteries do you have 4 12v all wired together in parallel? Or is there another way? I'm thinking when you say 4 they must be 12v, but with my little pea brain--I sometimes really get into trouble when I start thinking.
Flyone
Thanks Bill, the more I thought about it, I had come to the conclusion thats probably what Bear is talking about. It would make a lot more sense than 4 12V's.
Flyone
I was expecting Jack to list his website here, but I guess he missed this since it wasn't in the Boondocking and Solar area - http://jackdanmayer.com/rv_electrical_and_solar.htm . It should help you understand the subjects. Another useful site is http://www.amsolar.com/education.html.
-- Edited by bjoyce on Tuesday 19th of April 2011 06:22:25 PM
I said that I suspect that this is what he meant as I actually do have 4 12V batteries wired in parallel so that is also a possibility. However, these are 4 huge 8D batteries which take up a lot of storage area and weigh 160# each!
2 are the original house batteries to power lights, refrig, water pump and few other original 12v accessories.
The other 2 are for the inverter to power the 110V stuff like the microwave, TV, Sat box and small appliances when we boondock.
Originally we had installed an Onan generator to charge everything back up. It died and we bought the two Honda 2000s with parallel kit.