azloafer
USA
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Recently we attempted to get into a popular State Park and it was full. We were told that we could park in a waiting area and could have a site in the morning. There were no hookups in the waiting area and no generators allowed between 8pm and 8am. It was 40 degrees that night. We were afraid to run the LP heat with its fan for fear that the fan would drain the two AGM coach batteries before morning. Was this a valid fear or did we freeze for nothing? Joe
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Echo2
Wiggins, MS
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If you have good batteries, that should not be a problem. Even if the batteries got low, they would charge up again once you hooked to power or traveled. These are house batteries and being low would not cause a starting problem for your MH. Someone who does a lot of dry camping can likely give you a better idea on this. David
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garym114
Texas
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If you batteries were fully charged and in good condition you could have run your heater. My heater fan draws about 8 amps while running. Don't know the capacity of your batteries. If the furnace ran 50% of the time, probably a high estimate, during a 12 hour period the fan would draw 48 amps total.
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brobox
Sunny SW. Florida
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It is one of those things, you don't know until you try. The worst thing that could have happened is you would have had to charge your batteries after quite time. Yep, you froze for nothing, that's what the coach batteries are there for.
Several here will say they can run for 2 days without charging. I am not one of those, I have to charge every morning with 4, 6V, 240 AMP hour batteries.
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tomlang
Los Angeles area
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If the batteries are healthy and you minimize use of lights and other power users, you SHOULD make it through the night. It also pays to set the thermostat a little lower and use blankets.
The LP furnace does use a lot of 12 volt power, and may drain the batteries to the point where the furnace won't light. It will just blow cold air and continue to drain the batteries without creating any heat. Watch for this (the furnace on for a long time, check the vents for heat), and in the worst case bundle up until you can start the generator or engine. You may be unable to start the generator without first starting the engine if the batteries are really drained.
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Clieb
Carlsbad, NM
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Good batteries fully charged should be no problem running the fans all night. I often do this. I am careful that no other power is being used other than a light to find the head at night.
I have a meter that shows charge so I monitor it if I wake up at night (happens alot) and it is very low I kick on the Generator and will explain if asked that had no choice.
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tomlang
Los Angeles area
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azloafer doesn't mention the make/model/year of the RV, but if the rig is budget priced or older, the converter/charger is pretty worthless for charging a seriously drained battery from the generator. It might take upwards of two days running to fully charge the batteries. Look into getting a modern three-stage smart charger, preferably one where you can override the float charge mode for a fast charge with the generator running.
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smkettner
Southern California
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IMO you froze for nothing. Keep the inverter off and minimal lights to conserve battery power but leave the heat on. Nothing wrong with letting the batteries work a bit especially when you know you will get plugged in the next day.
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jim87vette
Arizona
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Like others have said being right there it would of been a good time to test the limits of your rig?I have done the heat all night in the same conditions,but I really just take the chill off and I have lots of blankets lol.
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azloafer
USA
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tomlang wrote:azloafer doesn't mention the make/model/year of the RV, but if the rig is budget priced or older, the converter/charger is pretty worthless for charging a seriously drained battery from the generator. It might take upwards of two days running to fully charge the batteries. Look into getting a modern three-stage smart charger, preferably one where you can override the float charge mode for a fast charge with the generator running.
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2 AGM batteries
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