Another battery question

RDMueller wrote:

BillyW wrote:
Maybe I missed something, but talking about spending all this money here and there, why aren't you considering at least a small solar setup? They're pretty cheap now days. I have just 150 watts of panels that keeps my batteries topped off and maintained virtually ALL the time I'm not camping, and keeps up with my occasional weekends off grid easily. Aside from air conditioning or microwave use, it's rare that I use my generator at all. Even when my wasteful kids camped with us, and we didn't have LED lights, etc, we still had plenty of power for a movie every night, above and beyond the daily requirements. My 35 amp WFCO has been more than enough backup. My two 6 volt batteries have thrived this way, and I haven't had to think (or worry) about it very much.

Although not discussed in this thread, I'm definitely considering solar as well! In fact, if I could get away with no generator at all, I'd go that route. Problem is, the sun doesn't always shine and even if it's totally clear, we tend to favor campgrounds that are heavily wooded and shady - not exactly the ideal place for solar. Still, I'm sure I'd get at least some benefit and combined with conservation and an adequate battery bank, I could probably get by with very little if any generator run time on many trips.

But... I haven't come up with a way to avoid buying the generator. If I head out on a trip with no gen and due to shade/clouds get very little solar charging, the batteries will die and I'll have no way to charge them.

Part of the issue is that we don't really dry camp that often, maybe once or twice a year on average. It's hard to want to invest in batteries/solar/chargers/generator etc. that won't be used on 75% of our trips. But for that 25%, it really does matter!

A generator is great to have! All I'm saying is that if you're really considering buying a separate charger or new converter, I think it makes more sense to add some solar. By the way, my trailer lives in my back yard between my house and a row of tall trees, so it only gets partial sun, and that's enough to maintain the batteries and even equalize them periodically (even over a snowy, overcast northwest winter). Almost all of my camping is in mountain valleys amongst tall evergreens, and I still get enough sun. In my case, the solar has paid for itself several times over in just electrical savings.