Best way to supplement battery bank?
Hi, We're heading out on an extended trip of about 10 days, battery power only. No plug-ins, although I do have 2 T-105's and 230 watt solar to keep us going. We've never had an issue keeping cha...
Forum Discussion
Jetta,
I personally believe that schlepping the other 12Vs along will be an exercise in futility. Unless those 12Vs are 4 or 8Ds (BIG HONKIN) batteries, they will have no where near the capacity of the T-105s. You are also talking about 10 days. With no way to recharge things but the tow vehicle or solar, if you end up power down it will be bad. If you plan on trying to recharge from the tow vehicle, remember that nothing good happens to an idling engine.
If you were to acquire a very small suitcase generator (the newer of these can be very quite) and a good smart battery charger, you could recover a depleted bank to a usable lever in a few hours. A charger that is charging a 12V bank at 40 Amperes is only drawing about 600 Watts, so any generator larger than that should be adequate.
I did a lot of boat work before the depression and this was the successful trick suggested and used by several Mackinac racers (sailboats) that could not use the engine to charge their batteries that were required for instruments and navigation.
Matt
I personally believe that schlepping the other 12Vs along will be an exercise in futility. Unless those 12Vs are 4 or 8Ds (BIG HONKIN) batteries, they will have no where near the capacity of the T-105s. You are also talking about 10 days. With no way to recharge things but the tow vehicle or solar, if you end up power down it will be bad. If you plan on trying to recharge from the tow vehicle, remember that nothing good happens to an idling engine.
If you were to acquire a very small suitcase generator (the newer of these can be very quite) and a good smart battery charger, you could recover a depleted bank to a usable lever in a few hours. A charger that is charging a 12V bank at 40 Amperes is only drawing about 600 Watts, so any generator larger than that should be adequate.
I did a lot of boat work before the depression and this was the successful trick suggested and used by several Mackinac racers (sailboats) that could not use the engine to charge their batteries that were required for instruments and navigation.
Matt
