Battery life while dry camping

[Jon]

I know this is a little oft the wall but does anyone have an idea how long a set
of new batterys should last while dry camping? I would just use the electrical
part of the coach very minimally. Jon

[Harold Prescott]

Jon,
That's not off the wall, it's a viable question
I'm very lucky to have 12volts after 24hrs without charging.
This would be accomplished only with nothing running, except the ghost 5amp?
draw inherent to all Wanderlodges I've heard of.
We run the gen-set at least 1.5-2hrs twice a day. This affords us minimal
lights and enough TV, and laptop time. To run like this it costs about a gallon
or less of Diesel a day.
My setup includes 6-6volt batteries[rated at 240ah-20hrs,or 195ah-5hrs], these
batteries are equivalent to Trojan 125's one size bigger than the Torjan 105's,
same footprint and 2"taller than the 105's. And 2-IOTA 45a chargers with an
iota smart controller in line.


Harold Prescott
1985 WLFC35
Joshua Tree np, CA.
Homeward Bound






--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Jon" wrote:
>
> I know this is a little oft the wall but does anyone have an idea how long a
set of new batterys should last while dry camping? I would just use the
electrical part of the coach very minimally. Jon
>

[Michael]

Way too many variables to answer that Jon. Number of batteries, battery type,
load type, etc... However, if you read through this ariticle (kind of a battery
bible) you will understand more than you ever wanted to know.

http://www.phrannie.org/battery.html

Basically, to give you and example, if you had a 100 ah lead-acid deep cycle
battery you'd first derate it 25% to 75 ah. A 75 amp hour battery means you can
draw 1 amp for 75 hours or 5 amps for 15 hours basically, but it is not that
simple as the ratings really are not linear. And you never want to discharge
beyound 50% of the battery's rating. So now your 75 ah is down to 37.5 ah. So
you could run a heater that draws 5 amps for about 6-7 hours continuously before
the battery needed to be recharged. But fortunately they usually don't run
continuously but just wanted to give some example of how to guestimate your
needs.

The best method is to work backwards. Figure out everything you'll be running,
get an amp draw, then caculate how many batteries you'll need for that
requirement. Read through the battery site and you'll learn a lot and have more
questions I'm sure...

Michael
78FC35
Mesa, Az


--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Jon" wrote:
>
> I know this is a little oft the wall but does anyone have an idea how long a
set of new batterys should last while dry camping? I would just use the
electrical part of the coach very minimally. Jon
>

[timvasqz]

Charge during times of high use. At Q FredH would run the genset just prior to
Margarita hour and after his morning shower (4frick'n:30am).
I don't drink stuff with chopped ice or blow dry so I can go 4 days
Greg ofTim&Greg
94ptca


--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Jon" wrote:
>
> I know this is a little oft the wall but does anyone have an idea how long a
set of new batterys should last while dry camping? I would just use the
electrical part of the coach very minimally. Jon
>

[Fred Hulse]

That's Pepsi hour Greg

And it was ( 5frick'n am)

FredH

of Fred & Jeanne

[Curt Sprenger]

Greg was on Calif. time...

Curt Sprenger

1987 PT38 8V92 "MacAttack Racing"

Anaheim Hills, CA
Read all about Southwest Bluebirds and Friends (SWBB) at http://www.SOUTHWEST-BLUEBIRDS.ORG ...Then Join us.

"Host of the Annual Bluebird Quartzsite Rally"

On Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 7:15 PM, Fred Hulse <"fhulse@wildblue.net"> wrote:

That's Pepsi hour  Greg

 

And it was ( 5frick'n am)

 

 

FredH

of Fred & Jeanne

[Fred Hulse]



Curt

You are so right,

I had forgotten about the time was an hour earlier 18 miles to the west and he was in that time period.

Geez!

My mistake.

(5 frickin30 it is)

Fred H

of Fred & Jeanne

On mountain standard time

[Eric Perplies]

If I am slightly careful I can get by with running the generator once a day for
2 hours +/-. I don't like being careful, so I usually charge the batteries
twice a day for 1 to 3 hours.

To determine how long you can go with your lifestyle and batteries you have you
must monitor the voltage on your batteries. In a hyper condensed summary: You
don't want to have the capacity drop below 50%. When you are dry camping
monitor your batteries several times a day with a digital voltmeter. When you
hit the 50% charge level it's time to recharge your batteries. (It's 12.05
volts on my AGM batteries.) If you keep doing this you will eventually learn
what your recharging point should be, which will depending on your lifestyle and
battery capacity.

Note: This issue is MUCH more complicated that this. You should research this
issue. It is quite uncomfortable to live on your batteries and not know if you
are abusing them. Here's a couple of links:

http://www.phrannie.org/battery.html
http://www.amplepower.com/primer/index.html

Incidentally, in the future it would be helpful if you sign your post along with
the year and type of coach you drive. Some people may know you but likely most
do not. It's often hard to respond without that information.

Eric Perplies
96' 42' WBWL
currently in Gallup, NM

[John Churchill]

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Eric Perplies" wrote:
>
> If I am slightly careful I can get by with running the generator once a day
for 2 hours +/-. I don't like being careful, so I usually charge the batteries
twice a day for 1 to 3 hours.
>
> To determine how long you can go with your lifestyle and batteries you have
you must monitor the voltage on your batteries. In a hyper condensed summary:
You don't want to have the capacity drop below 50%. When you are dry camping
monitor your batteries several times a day with a digital voltmeter. When you
hit the 50% charge level it's time to recharge your batteries. (It's 12.05
volts on my AGM batteries.) If you keep doing this you will eventually learn
what your recharging point should be, which will depending on your lifestyle and
battery capacity.
>
> Note: This issue is MUCH more complicated that this. You should research
this issue. It is quite uncomfortable to live on your batteries and not know if
you are abusing them. Here's a couple of links:
>
> http://www.phrannie.org/battery.html
> http://www.amplepower.com/primer/index.html
>
> Incidentally, in the future it would be helpful if you sign your post along
with the year and type of coach you drive. Some people may know you but likely
most do not. It's often hard to respond without that information.
>
> Eric Perplies
> 96' 42' WBWL
> currently in Gallup, NM

I always enjoy spending other people's money, so if you really wanrt to know
about your batteries, there are pretty high tech monitoring systems available
incorporating charger/inverter and monitor. Xantrex is one brand name.

John Churchill
1980 FC33
Sanibel FL
>