Hpymils
Mazatlan/Marylandi
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Joined: 04/01/2008
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I have one 12v battery, a 75w solar panel and a 2000 Honda. We use the battery just for lights at night, but still have to charge the battery with the gen nearly every day. If I use the gen can I plug in to the camper cable to charge the battery and also use the 12v charging wire from the gen at the same time to put more amps into the battery while the gen is running?
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narcodog
Georgia
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Joined: 04/02/2006
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That's the way I do it.
If you are charging the battery that often you might want to look into getting one with more amps a group 31. At least 110 should do you for three or four days in the summer.
With that much solar, you really should have that battery checked.
OOps I don't use the 12v set up. I misunderstood I plug my three stag charger in along with the house system.
* This post was
edited 08/05/10 09:15am by narcodog *
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Mosandman
SE Missouri
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Joined: 08/03/2006
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I cut my light comsumption consideably by switching to the Led replacement blubs. Cost as much as a couple good batteries about 17 to 19 each.
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Joined: 12/18/2004
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Hi,
You do use the water pump and a fridge? Perhaps a water heater? I suspect you are never really getting the battery fully charged.
My generator included a warning to *NOT* use both the 12 volt outlet and the 120 volt outlet at the same time.
Regards, Don
Kustom Koach Class C 28'5" 256 watts solar, 875 amp hours in two battery banks 12 volt batteries 2500 watt inverter.
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mkirsch
Rochester, NY
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Joined: 04/09/2004
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The output of the 12V on the Honda 2000 is 8 Amps, IIRC.
At that rate it would take 12 hours to fully charge a typical Group 27 battery.
If you've got a 3-way converter it will be able to charge the battery in a fraction of the time.
However, if you're draining the battery just running lights, I would recommend that you check the condition of the battery. Also check for some other parasitic load from an appliance you thought was OFF for example.
2002 Chevy 3500 DRW 8.1L/Allison
2000 Palomino B1500
...and the reason why I need a DRW to haul a Palomino:
2004 United 7x14 tandem axle enclosed toy trailer
2011 PJ 8x20 7-ton deckover equipment trailer
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drhutch
Centennial, CO
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Joined: 04/19/2005
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You don't mention what make your converter/charger is. If it is an older Magnetek, they are notorious for killing batteries. When I still had mine, if the battery got low I could never get it charged using the genset as it's (the Magnetek) output was so low it never could catch up. Take a look at TC University, It has a wealth of info on this matter.
2003 Chevy 3500 EC Dually Dmax/Allison / Lance 980 11'3" camper
NRA Life Member
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The summer of 69 was NOT the best years of my life.
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J&S~B
Oceanside, CA
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Joined: 06/15/2007
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Double check to make sure your solar panel is really connected to your battery. Mine wasn't, and the solar panel monitor showed "charging" which threw me off for a while.
Check all your connections and make sure they are clean and tight.
How are you powering your fridge?
John
GMC Sierra 2500 HD 4X4; Lance 815;
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Hpymils
Mazatlan/Marylandi
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Thanks for all of the good suggestions. There is alot to follow up on and I will looked at the TC University as duhutch suggested to learn more. The lights and water pump are the only 12v used.
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Chuck and Di
Ontario, Canada
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Joined: 09/28/2008
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Hpymils wrote:Thanks for all of the good suggestions. There is alot to follow up on and I will looked at the TC University as duhutch suggested to learn more. The lights and water pump are the only 12v used.
Are you absolutely sure of this? My propane / CO detector will kill my battery over a weekend. Since I disabled them I can go a couple weeks using lights and water pump only. With 75W of solar, this would extend to pretty much forever. Also, depending on the brand, the fridge may draw a fair amount of current just to decide if it should be on 12V or propane.
One other thought... if your solar charge controller is not functioning properly, solar panels can consume electricity when the sun goes down.
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Hpymils
Mazatlan/Marylandi
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Thanks Chuck and Di. Never thought about the things you point out. I wonder if a battery disconnect would help when we don't need the water pump or lights? I'm going to work of this. Thanks.
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