Need ideas/input on 2nd battery
My van has this battery installed in a rack underneath - I know that it's a group 31 battery - think I found it here: http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx/Battery-Automot...
Forum Discussion
I would think that if you are boondocking, for the most part, your generator noise isn't really going to bother anyone, so you can run enough to make some hot water.
It will stay hot for a few hours, at least hot enough for a shower.
If you are in close quarters with other people, then if you don't have shore power, or can run your generator, then you have a problem - most likely heating water in the kettle. I guess part of this depends on your routine - are you a morning shower person, or an evening shower person. I think in environments where generator use is an issue, evening showers would be more courteous to your neighbors - so maybe run as late as you can get away with and still have hot water near bedtime.
For dish washing, I almost always heat water in the kettle for the wash basin, and rinse with cold water.
In my old tag-along, I had a 12 volt, 3 liter water heater that worked really well - super hot water in about 20 mins. Didn't use a tremendous amount of juice - but I had 2 group 31 batteries and my portable solar panel. If hot water becomes a big problem, I may look into retrofitting this German water heater into my Travato.
For the laptop, I have a car charger for my Macbook Air. Ipad and Iphone have their own car chargers, but the van also has usb ports to charge with on the automotive side, and the stereo system has a usb port on the house side for charging. If you have a big juice hungry laptop, then you'd probably need a small inverter - I've seen those pocket ones that will do 200-300 watts for $20.
But if you think about it, using an inverter is a silly way to power a laptop. You're coverting dc to ac to then covert it back to dc. A car charger is available for most laptops which usually run 12 to 19 volts.
It will stay hot for a few hours, at least hot enough for a shower.
If you are in close quarters with other people, then if you don't have shore power, or can run your generator, then you have a problem - most likely heating water in the kettle. I guess part of this depends on your routine - are you a morning shower person, or an evening shower person. I think in environments where generator use is an issue, evening showers would be more courteous to your neighbors - so maybe run as late as you can get away with and still have hot water near bedtime.
For dish washing, I almost always heat water in the kettle for the wash basin, and rinse with cold water.
In my old tag-along, I had a 12 volt, 3 liter water heater that worked really well - super hot water in about 20 mins. Didn't use a tremendous amount of juice - but I had 2 group 31 batteries and my portable solar panel. If hot water becomes a big problem, I may look into retrofitting this German water heater into my Travato.
For the laptop, I have a car charger for my Macbook Air. Ipad and Iphone have their own car chargers, but the van also has usb ports to charge with on the automotive side, and the stereo system has a usb port on the house side for charging. If you have a big juice hungry laptop, then you'd probably need a small inverter - I've seen those pocket ones that will do 200-300 watts for $20.
But if you think about it, using an inverter is a silly way to power a laptop. You're coverting dc to ac to then covert it back to dc. A car charger is available for most laptops which usually run 12 to 19 volts.
