bluwtr49
Green Valley, AZ
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Joined: 09/12/2005
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Currently my MH has a house battery bank with 4 interstate 6V deep cycle batteries of indeterminate age. Chassis batteries are 2 new 12v batteries. The house batteries are charged by a Heart 2000 watt inverter and with an echo charger keeping the chassis batteries topped off. In addition, I have a single 100W Siemens solar panel that (I believe) charges the house battery. The inverter has the Heart monitor panel with status display and is also use to program the inverter function. Of course I also have a 7.5 kw Onan. In addition the coach monitor panel gives voltage read outs of each battery bank and solar panel output.
OK, that's the set up, now the questions.
First, I need someway to get a rough idea of the house battery condition. I can tell they don't have any shorted cells as the solar panel keeps them at 12.9 to 13.1 Volts and the chassis batteries about 0.2 volts higher with the coach power turned off. With coach power on the house bank is maintained at 12.6V. I figure the normal parasitic drains hold the voltage down a bit.
I'm looking at a 4-5 day dry camping trip and would like to get some idea on others manage their power. I figure that the generator needs to run a bit in the morning to power coffee maker, microwave, heaters and etc. Than again late PM to charge batteries for the evening power needs such as lighting and etc.
Hot water and coach heat is supplied by a Hurricane system so the 12V drain is petty stiff I figure.
I may or may not use the inverter function. Can't quite come to grips on where that fits into my needs. Lot's of power draw there and the efficiency is suspect. I figure they waste about 5% of the power consumed.
Anyway, curious as to how others with similiar setups operate while dry camping. Thanks for any input.
Dick
2000 40" DP Beaver Patriot Thunder Cat C-12 425 HP, 1550 Tq
1997 Jeep GC Limited ---toad
2008 Toyota Tundra Crew Max Limited TRD (Retired)
2009 Cougar 268 RLS ~8700 lbs road wt (Retrired)
2006 Jeep Liberty Turbo Diesel.....TV in Training
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2oldman
Moses Lake
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Joined: 04/15/2001
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bluwtr49 wrote: 4 interstate 6V deep cycle batteries
an echo charger keeping the chassis batteries topped off
single 100W Siemens solar panel that (I believe) charges the house battery.
I need someway to get a rough idea of the house battery condition.
I'm looking at a 4-5 day dry camping trip
Than again late PM to charge batteries for the evening power needs such as lighting and etc.
hot water and coach heat is supplied by a Hurricane system so the 12V drain is petty stiff I figure.
I may or may not use the inverter function.. I'm a 5er owner so I may be unfamiliar with some of your terms. I don't know what an 'echo' charger is.
A 100w panel is about 1/3 of what you should have for boondocking.
Your inverter panel should have a voltage readout for the battery condition. Was there some other concern about them?
If your batteries are properly charged you shouldn't have to run the genny again in the evening.
I don't know what a Hurricane system is or how much power it draws.
Your inverter is very handy for nighttime use. It's there so you don't have to run a big loud genny to watch tv.
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Big Katuna
Deland, FL
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I would buy a hydrometer if you don't have one and measure the specific gravity of each cell. If there are some low cells, your charger might have a equalize function. My Xantex does. Or you can disconnect the low ones and equalize them with a booster type charger.
My Kharma ran over my Dogma.
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karead7
Wherever we happen to be
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A previous comment was correct that you need to buy a hydrometer in order to correctly determine if each battery cell is operating correctly. With no load, your solar panel should be maintaining your fully charged batteries at about 13.5v, not "12.9 to 13.1", so maybe there is a problem with the batteries.
Also correct was a previous comment that said that a 100W solar panel is not enough for four 6v batteries, however it sounds like you don't do much dry camping anyhow so not worth upgrading unless you decide to do more.
Now, how to manage your power needs?....fairly simple, just don't use as much of it! We dry camp a lot and we don't use the microwave or the coffee maker, we just use the gas stove and gas oven, you know the way they used to in the "olden" days! 
When you don't have an unlimited supply of electricity, you have to conserve it! Unless of course you like to listen to the sound of your generator, which in our opinion ruins the dry camping experience.
www.travelwithkevinandruth.com
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bluwtr49
Green Valley, AZ
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Thanks for the response.
No I don't do any dry camping and this will be a one time adventure when we go to Quartzsite.
As far as the solar panel goes, it really charges 6 batteries through the echo charger to the chassis batteries. Just for giggles, I went out and disconnected the echo charger so only the house batteries are in play. Two other variables on this is that I have no idea what the solar panel regulator is set for....might only be 13.1V. Also, I'm only getting about 4-5 hours of direct sun and the 13.1V reading was at the peak. Early AM the batteries seem to be at 12.6V.
You're right, I need to pick up a hydrometer and check each cell. An equalizing charge is probably a good idea.
As far as the generator goes, running it in the AM is a better choice than not having my fresh ground coffee. I'll probably need it anyway to warm the coach. The Hurricane is a power hog with the recirc pump and 6 fans in the air handlers...bet it draws 15-20 amps.
Perhaps tomorrow, I'll turn on some 12V lights, measure the current draw an watch the voltage. Perhaps figure out how to disable the solar panel. Kind of a rudimentary load test.
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2oldman
Moses Lake
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Joined: 04/15/2001
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bluwtr49 wrote:As far as the generator goes, running it in the AM is a better choice than not having my fresh ground coffee. I'll probably need it anyway to warm the coach. The Hurricane is a power hog with the recirc pump and 6 fans in the air handlers...bet it draws 15-20 amps. That's not such a bad battery draw for the morning. You're not going to need a lot of heat (usually) at the Q. 4-6v batteries should serve you well if they can stay charged. I wouldn't worry about lighting, unless you're running 10 incans.bluwtr49 wrote:inverter.. Lot's of power draw there and the efficiency is suspect. I figure they waste about 5% of the power consumed.
Don't write off the inverter because it needs a tiny bit of power to run itself. Convenience is what you're after. Generators are hardly 'efficient.' Heck, that solar panel is the least efficient thing you have...but the energy source is free so who cares?
* This post was
edited 10/15/11 05:28pm by 2oldman *
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John339
Clyde Ca. USA
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Joined: 01/24/2002
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You'll be fine with your setup.
When we run the gen set in the am we run for an hour and set the two ac electric heaters on. One in the bathroom so it'll be warm for later and one in the living room so it is warm for breakfast.The batts get topped off after the nights use at the same time.
We use the microwave while the gen set is running.
We don't use the furnace because it wastes so much propane and electricity when running.
John and Cindy and Misty Rain and Senor Paco(Chihuahuas)
1994 Coachmen Catalina 300 MB RD
in sunny Clyde, Calif. KE6IDM
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Monaco Montclair
Virginia
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Joined: 08/01/2008
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caint give u much info on any of the things u talked about,but to cut down on power drainage for us in the am for the coffee pot we use a gas stove coffey pot. works for us. i-m 68years old and still learning. --happy-camping
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