B+ motorhomes
I just bought a Trail Lite B+ 211s with 8.1 Chevy engine. This is my fifth motorhome (others range from an old 20' Vagabond, and three Winnegagos, from 19 to 32'. This vehicle is fantastic. I am...
Forum Discussion
rcwaz,
We had never owned a self contained motor home before. We took our first major road trip last September The 2nd night dry camping and we drained the twin batteries dead. Watching TV for hours, making 3 pots of coffee, lights, furnace, etc. and that did them in. We didn't realize the need to keep the batteries charged as full as possible all along the way. We never stayed long enough in 110v places to get the batteries back to full capacity. Now back at home, plugged in all the time, all is well again. But it seemed to take 96 straight hours on 110v to bring them back to a full charge. We'll never allow that to happen again.
Your approach to keep the batteries in shape is interesting. We are thinking a Sunforce 160 watt solar panel kit sold by Costco for under $1000 is our best choice, so the batteries get help all day long, driving or sitting. We typically dry camp in national parks. We are out and about every day in our towed car. We will have to pick camp sites without shade now for the sake of solar panel efficiency.
I will be ordering the Costco solar panel kit next month and have it installed before our first trip in 2008.
BTW: you and I are practically neighbors.
We had never owned a self contained motor home before. We took our first major road trip last September The 2nd night dry camping and we drained the twin batteries dead. Watching TV for hours, making 3 pots of coffee, lights, furnace, etc. and that did them in. We didn't realize the need to keep the batteries charged as full as possible all along the way. We never stayed long enough in 110v places to get the batteries back to full capacity. Now back at home, plugged in all the time, all is well again. But it seemed to take 96 straight hours on 110v to bring them back to a full charge. We'll never allow that to happen again.
Your approach to keep the batteries in shape is interesting. We are thinking a Sunforce 160 watt solar panel kit sold by Costco for under $1000 is our best choice, so the batteries get help all day long, driving or sitting. We typically dry camp in national parks. We are out and about every day in our towed car. We will have to pick camp sites without shade now for the sake of solar panel efficiency.
I will be ordering the Costco solar panel kit next month and have it installed before our first trip in 2008.
BTW: you and I are practically neighbors.
