I like to do a lot of untethered camping with my Class C. I'm often parked in a forest service campground, a parking lot in some small town or on some street parked in front of a friend's house. My rig has a single Interstate battery (less than a year old) to power the coach. Unfortunately, the battery will run down pretty quickly especially now that it's cold and I'm running the forced air heater. Worst, it doesn't put out enough power to keep my Macbook Pro charged when in use (which I use constantly). How can I get more juice? My battery compartment is big enough for only a single battery. I was thinking of somehow jury rigging a multiple battery setup to the bumper. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Someone suggested to 6 volt batteries. Wouldn't two 12 volts be better? Is there any sort of kit out there for this? All suggestions welcome!

A second or even third AGM battery, which you could put anyplace or even inside because of it's venting requirements. Some solar on the roof would also help.

Just curious, but, by what method are you using to charge the battery ?Are you currently using an AGM ?

Go with 2 6Volts get more Amp hours.(I have 4 6volts = 440 amp hours) Google 12volt side of life, read and learn. JMO

Dakota98 wrote:Just curious, but, by what method are you using to charge the battery ?Are you currently using an AGM ?I usually just charge it off the alternator from the engine. If I'm parked in one spot for a long time, I'll either run the house generator or use a Honda 2000 that I'll bring along. 90% of the time I'm charging it off the alternator.My battery is an Insterstate SRM-27 with 600 CCA and 750MCA. Not sure if it's an AGM.

Insterstate SRM-27 is a lead acid.Using the alternator with the amount of power consumption your using won't get it. You're drawing more amps than what is being put back in.The house generator or Honda, running through your convertor won't either, assuming the convertor is original. A second battery will help, but doesn't solve the real problem. If you don't have enough power to run / charge the Mac Book that is bad.The Honda in conjunction with a portable battery charger, connected directly to the battery is much better.As mentioned above, venting lead acid is mandatory, no matter what you decide. I lean towards two 6 volts in series & using the Interstae as a back-up, depending on the distance of cable runs, 6-8 gauge wire

Not Enough Juice! (Need Help with Coach Battery)

reed_cundiff
Explorer
Dec 17, 2014
Read the article on Dry Camping suggested by Tree Seeker. It was fairly good but the price of solar has really dropped since 2005-2006 when that article was published".

Fortunately, my wife likes the cabin fairly cool and we let it get down into the 40's at night. We only leave the forced air heater on if it gets into the teens (and then it was long past time to head south) so that the tanks/valves don't freeze. Always turn off the water and open the valves at night when it gets below freezing so the pipes don't freeze.

We have plenty of battery to run the forced air heater (9.6 kW-hr), it just wastes to much propane.

Reed and Elaine
reed_cundiff
Explorer
Dec 17, 2014
Read the article on Dry Camping suggested by Tree Seeker. It was fairly good but the price of solar has really dropped since 2005-2006 when that article was published".

Fortunately, my wife likes the cabin fairly cool and we let it get down into the 40's at night. We only leave the forced air heater on if it gets into the teens (and then it was long past time to head south) so that the tanks/valves don't freeze. Always turn off the water and open the valves at night when it gets below freezing so the pipes don't freeze.

We have plenty of battery to run the forced air heater (9.6 kW-hr), it just wastes to much propane.

Reed and Elaine
pnichols
Explorer II
Dec 13, 2014
Bobbo wrote:
Parallax/Magnatek is horrible.

That depends.

Modern 13.8 fixed voltage Parallax RV converters are just fine if expected and used to do only what they are designed to do ... provide up to 45 amps of DC current at around 13.8 DC volts.

For example, we use dry AGM batteries in our RV. They charge fast at any charging voltage because of their internal resistance being lower than the internal resistance of regular wet lead-acid batteries. Our particular brand of AGM batteries also are to be floated at 13.5 to 13.8 volts (their manufacturer says so). So .... our AGM batteries both float and charge well enough at around the 13.8 volts from our Parallax converter such that I see no need to not use the Parallax unit for everything. I never bought another "charger" just to take care of RV battery charging. FWIW, our RV's AGM batteries are now 8 years old.
TreeSeeker
Explorer
Dec 09, 2014
Hmm, the converter only charges when either the generator is running or you are plugged into shore power. The engine alternator is doing the charging while driving. So, upgrading the converter is not going to increase charging while driving.
Bobbo
Explorer II
Dec 09, 2014
Two to avoid, Parallax/Magnatek and WFCO.

Parallax/Magnatek is horrible.

WFCO is merely bad. (Many people can't get it into boost mode.)

Personally, I like Progressive Dynamics, but there are other quality brands out there.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 08, 2014
Hi John,

I'd find out which converter they used. You really don't want any surprizes.
Johnny_Dearborn
Explorer
Dec 08, 2014
pianotuna wrote:
Hi John,

I would have gone solar myself--particularly for $450.

What converter did you have installed?
Not sure... just whatever one my RV shop uses. Didn't think to ask.

I suspect that I'll be back before long to install solar panels. RV's are like boats... you just pour money into them.

John
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 08, 2014
Hi John,

I would have gone solar myself--particularly for $450.

What converter did you have installed?
Johnny_Dearborn
Explorer
Dec 08, 2014
I was all set to pick up my RV from the shop when I got to talking to one of the owners about my setup. We decided that he would test the converter that charges the battery from engine/generator. Turns out that it converts 5 amps per hour. Assuming that I completely discharge my new 200 plus amp system, it would take 40 hours to recharge it. Ugh.

So not only did I have low capacity to begin with, I didn't have enough charging power to catch up once I started to get low. Even a full day of driving wasn't enough to get me back up to full capacity. Once I got behind on the charging, there was no way for me to catch up.

Instead of picking the RV up today, I'm having them put in a new converter which will charge 45 amps per hour. That's another $450 out the door... worth it though if I can maintain power.

John
ron_dittmer
Explorer II
Dec 05, 2014
Phil/pnichols,

I assumed John's problem was that his furnace ran continuously during the night because the outside temp was so cold and his rig has a huge interior volume along with poor insulation & leaking in outside air through tired window & slide-in gaskets. But I see his pic and his rig is not that big, so I don't know what to say now in regards to his furnace running continuously.

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