Battery Life and Low Temps
I have been having a ball up at Iris Meadow off of Rock Creek Road, Close to Mammoth Lakes, CA. It's the steeper side of the Sierras just East of Yosemite. It's a little known area comparably, but v...
Forum Discussion
waynefi wrote:
The OP was having trouble with the furnace when camped at Mammoth Lakes. What is the altitude there? It could be that high altitude is making it harder for the furnace fan to get enough flow. Combine that with a marginal battery charge...
On a trip in the Rockies last fall, I had an erratic furnace when camped at 7800 feet in Yellowstone. The rest of the trip it was fine.
I also have a Rockwood MiniLite, with a WFCO internal charger. As others have mentioned, it charges quite slowly. When I am recharging from a generator, I use an external charger (B&D 1093DBD) I have to connect it up each time, but I've avoided the work and expense of changing the internal converter. When I am on shore power I let the WFCO do the charging. It's slow. but it's gentler on the battery, and I do have all night.
Rock creek lake is around 8000 feet I believe.
Portable folding solar panel kits have been hard to get ahold of from Solar Blvd the whole year of 2014, much has been on back order. I think I paid $190 or thereabouts for my 120 Watt unit. They have since jumped in price a bit.
In the summer, I've had no problems harvesting 50 to 60 Amps per day. Not so much in the winter, at Quartzsite, maybe 30 to 35 amps. Nights are longer in winter, use more lights, so I may just add another 60 watt panel to the system.
