QualitySnowman
Concord, Ohio
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Joined: 04/14/2006
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Hello,
I have a 2003 Lance Lite 835 Truck Camper. For the first time in 11 years I'm bringing my RV on a trip with 20 friends that's always been just tents.
The trip will be to a campground in Cook Forest, on the Aleghany Mountains in Pennsylvania. We'll be there eight nights. I plan to run my fridge on LP, and just my lights and maybe my roof vent fan on electric. Primarily, the RV will be for sleeping, with minimal light use, and only using water if I must go in the middle of the night, as portajons are at least a 30min walk throught the woods.
That said, I'm bringing my trusty little 500 watt Honda Genset. I don't want to run it anymore than I must to charge my batteries, as I just don't want the noise, or to have to babysit it.
Long winded explanation for this question: How long will it take to charge a medium sized deep-cell marine battery with a 500w generator?
Thanks for your input and time!
~82 Brian "QualitySnowman" Snowden 
~06 Ram 2500HD Quad 4x4 Laramie 8' Cummins 5.9 - 5" w/o Muffler or Cats, Quadzilla, 35's, Intake.
~03 Lance 835 Truck Camper
~07 Honda Rancher 420 EFI 4x4 - 2" Lift, ITP 212 Alloys & 26" MudLite XTR, 2.5k Winch, Camo
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christopherglenn
a little over an hour from Yosemite
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On a good day you may get 30 amps into the batteries off a 500 watt genset. The problem is the charger has no idea how much power it can pull, so depending on what you have it will either pop the braker, or take days to charge.
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Golden_HVAC
Fulltime, CA, USA
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Joined: 08/19/2003
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Hi,
You might want to take along a 15 amp basic battery charger, because the Lance built in charger might use more than 500 watts when starting to charge a battery.
If all else fails, you can start the truck, run the engine a bit, and recharge enough to get you though the next night. Or wile the engine is running, the battery voltage might be high enough that the Lance charger will not trip the circuit breaker on the 500 watt Honda generator. If it puts out 30 amps, then 2 hours will take a close to dead battery back to nearly full.
For the first 1/2 hour of run time, I would not be plugging in anything except the battery charger, even a cell phone charger, they are only about 5 - 8 watts, but then you can be the cell charger dude for the second hour, once the battery is more than 1/2 full.
You can also get a jumper cable, and hook up the +12 to the camper battery, from the engine battery. Wait about 10 minutes, then start the truck, it will quickly recharge both batteries - say run the truck for about 30 minutes. But the little honda will be quietier, and more energy efficient.
Do you plan any sightseeing? If so, take the truck, you can carry a dozen, if not going far or on the interstates, all will have a wonderful time in the back of the camper, and say take a 1/2 mile trip to the swimming beach, or boat launce, and this will also charge the battery, and keep your bathroom close by.
Normally you can refill with fresh water, and dump the gray if you need to on the short trips too.
Fred.
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Hi,
What converter is in the Lance? What do the specifications say it draws in watts?
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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RoyB
King George, VA
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Have you checked with the camp gorund to see what the rules are for using generators - some places have certain generator run times in place. You may be only allowed to run your generator for 4-5 hours day and only at certain time periods.
The trick I found for charging batteries in a short time frame is using the "smart mode" chargers either from your trailer on-board converter/charger or from a portable battery charger. I doubt your truck camper has the "smart mode" converter/charger installed so this will take many hours (prob 24 hours) to re-charge your 12VDc battery.
I would bring along as big of a "smart mode" battery charger that will run off the 500 watt generator. I have the Black-n-Decker model VEC 1093DBD which I dont think will run off a 500W generator. The B&D 20AMP "smart Mode" Charger VEC1087CBD (Walmart) probably will work from the 500W generator but will take longer to charge your battery.
The trick to charging the batteries is to get 14.4VDC at 40-50 AMPS into the batteries for a couple of hours and then drop back to 13.6VDC for another hour or so and this will will bring your battery back up in as little as 3-4 hours of generator run time.(This is what a "smart mode" charger will do automatically...) Just putting 12.6VDC on a battery to re-charge it will literally take days to work.
If you beef up your truck camper battery system with at least two batteries, a "smart mode" converter/charger, larger battery cables (#4GA), good Blue Sea battery switch and fuse block, change out interior lights to LEDs/CFL, install a 1500W PSW Inverter for your AC items you can survive a long time camping off the power grid as long as you can run a small 1KW or 2Kw Honda "quiet mode" generator every day for 3-4 hours to re-charge your batteries... Adding a 100W solar panel would help out even more being able to trickle charge your batteries during the daytime...
We watch HDTV/DVDs, Play with my ham radio gear, light up our corner of the campground every night but I will have to run my generator the next day to re-charge my batteries. Works for me anyway
My Posts are IMHO based on my experiences - PM/EMAIL me
Roy and Carolyn
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red31
Bryan
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an hour or so every day or every other day ought to be plenty for another day or two, depends on your fan usage and charger capability. It would take hours to get the battery fully charged but a partial charge will do.
* This post was
edited 08/16/11 06:00am by red31 *
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dclark1946
Richardson,TX,USA
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Joined: 10/05/2003
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Make sure your current battery is in good condition and really can hold a charge. A good way to check is to fully charge it and then monitor the unloaded volatge for a couple of days to see if it holds 12.7 to 12.6 VDC. If it will not hold that voltage then start with a fresh battery. A sulfated battery will charge up quickly but will not hold a charge. Been there and done that and had to buy a new one to replace the original trailer battery on the second day of a 7 day camping session. You will not be so dependent on your generator if your battery is performing properly. We do nicely on extended dry camping in the Smokies with a single Trojan Gr 27 battery and a EU1000 that I run every morning for a few hours. We run the vent fan all night, minimal lighting and normal water pump usage.
Good luck.
Dick
Dick & Karen
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Dave H M
IL
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I would fortget about all that converter stuff and go with what golded nentioned. Been there done that.
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kampinguru
Ontario
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I am taking my 5th wheel boondocking for 14 nights next week. I am taking a 2000 watt honda Eu and my battery charger. I run the genny for about 3-4 hours every 3 days to top up the battery and am fine. I have done this the past 3 summers without a problem. The fans will suck a lot of power so I would limit their use. Turn them on for a bit when you get back to the trailer to take the heat out and then turn them off.
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Tom N
Sarver, PA/Crystal River, FL/Hawthorn, PA
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If your battery charges from your truck I would just idle the truck for 15 minutes every day. You truck alternator puts out ~100 amps.
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