Charging a Battery Bank

You just need enough battery to get the four days done and recharge them when you get home with a simple 10 amp charger cost maybe $50.

Usual rule is one battery gets used per day. Or you can recharge the two batts half way through. Get the WFCO running and take the gen and your 10 amp charger just in case, and do a small recharge every day with them when convenient not to interfere with camping fun.

make sure the batts get fully recharged as soon as possible after getting home.

Do have a voltmeter display somewhere. BTW the range hood lights monitor is a voltmeter. You can tell as it drops through green to yellow to red how that is going close enough to know if you need a recharge.

Don't forget it will drop a colour when you run something and then bounce back up after that stops running (loaded voltage effect) When it doesn't bounce back up and stays at that colour, now you are there at that level.

Tim Horton's eh? :)

It is not a science lab. Just get a PD9260 and you are good to go for any wet cell or AGM.

Let me ask this...Are all of the thoughts and recommendations about which battery brand, which battery type, which charger, what features it should have, what amp output and voltage etc., solar, traditional portable charger or deck mount.... really explaining to me your thoughts on how to get the most life out of the batteries (1-3 years vs. 6-7 years)? If it is, I'm having a hard time justifying spending a ton of money on all of these gadgets to make things better when I'll have $360 invested in a pair of Duracell batteries. Help me connect those dots. I mean, if I have to spend $360 every couple of years on batteries, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I spend more money than that at Tim Hortons every year!

BFL13 wrote:
Before I got the Trimetric it was hard to know when to stop the generator at the desired battery SOC, with only a voltmeter to go by. It was really guessing. That was a big problem for me.

No one, certainly not me, is arguing against the value of a Trimetric but I do disagree that ALL this stuff is required as part of the OP's initial requirement so he can go dry camping for a few days. IMO, it's not - all he needs is a couple of GC-2s, a charger suitable for caring for those batts, along with the genset he's already purchased, and there's no reason he can't survive just fine. With one set of GC-2s his likely routine will be to charge those batts once a day, as may be allowed by campground rules. Who cares whether the genset runs 2 hrs or 2.5 or 3 hrs? ... for the limited number of times he's going to be doing this run time is irrelevant. In some situations run time won't matter anyway as it will be dictated by campground rules, regardless of his battery state of charge. A Trimetric, while "nice to have" is IMO not the necessity for many of us that it is for you. ;)

red31 wrote:
Regret solar may not be in your future.
Seems the easiest way to get a battery to FULL by holding the battery at a constant voltage LONG ENOUGH. A small system to top off / maintain at minimum.

Almost any big charger will charge you batteries to 80% or better on a daily limited generator time. morning generator time shouldn't be over 90F so 14.4v is fine.

To me what is important that after days of undercharging that ya FULLY charge, and then maintain till the next session of daily undercharge. Solar makes sense for that.

Hope your new setup draws you out to more dry camping as life events change.

Solar is certainly intriguing but to spend the money on solar now doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Our dry camping trip is at the end of September through the first couple of days in October in the Northeast. In ideal conditions I would have 2-3 hours of good charge time where any significant amps would be sent to the batteries. More likely, it will be cloudy or there will be a lot of foliage which will decrease further the amps created. It's a great idea if we do a lot more dry camping in the future at different times of the year that are better for creating amps but for now, charging the batteries the more traditional way seems like the best solution.

Before I got the Trimetric it was hard to know when to stop the generator at the desired battery SOC, with only a voltmeter to go by. It was really guessing. That was a big problem for me. I don't know how others can tell, if they even can. The Vector portable with the ammeter on it was a blessing for that. Converters don't have ammeter displays.

With the Trimetric you can see when you get the batts to Vabs, observe the start of tapering amps, and when you are down to the amps per battery that 'goes with' the desired SOC (if you know that number!)

Even better, you can see how many AH are back in to know if your 50-90 is done. No sense running the gen any more after that.

Big problem solved! :)

RobWNY wrote:
I just want to go camping and have enough power at the end of my stay to bring in my slide and roll up my awning.

And therein describes most of us ;) in which case I'm not at all convinced that an "all at one time" expense of four AGM GC-2s, a large manually adjustable charger suitable for maintaining those batteries, a Trimetic for monitoring the state of those batteries, and a significantly sized solar system, etc, are in any way justified for the vast majority of us. All we want to do is occasionally camp for a few days when shore power may not be available for one reason or another and not be stuck part way through our stay without the means to keep warm, or keep our fridge running, or pull in our awning. Pretty simple really. ;)

You've now got a genset, no solar yet, BUT once you install a pair of GC-2s you will still have your original flooded battery (probably a G24 installed by the dealer) which you can use as a spare by simply switching off your GC-2s and connecting the G24 to the trailer's umbilical. Stick it in a battery box, wire a 7-pin Bargman to it with 8 gauge or 6 gauge wire, throw it in the back of your truck when you go camping, and bingo - even at 50% DOD you'll have another 40 AH or so at your disposal. :B Who cares if you eventually draw it down? - it's paid for, it owes you nothing, so rather than turning it in for a core charge rebate just keep it and use it ... that's what I'm doing with my current G27 when I upgrade. Heck, you could even stick an inexpensive 100 watt portable solar panel on it during the day and recover most if not all of what you pull out of it. Lean the panel against the trailer or if it's in shade stick the panel on the truck and park IT in the sun - other than the cost of a small panel like this whatever you get out of it is all FREE. :B In addition, you also have your truck so even if on the day you leave your GC-2s and G24 spare are all drawn down you can still easily power you slide(s) and awning with your truck - just plug the trailer into it and with the truck running it will load support the trailer and for the brief time needed will serve the purpose just fine. :B

Oh, and one other thing I think I mentioned previously, perhaps in another thread. Many talk about how astute they are about conservation when running on battery, the most obvious improvement being to convert to LED lighting, but few consider how much power the fridge climate control system is needlessly sucking out of their battery reserve. :E Many if not most fridges these days have one but quite a few now don't offer any way to turn it off. :) The key therefore is to find out if you can with yours and if not add a switch to it so you can, just as I've done. Pics are in my gallery. :)

Regret solar may not be in your future.
Seems the easiest way to get a battery to FULL by holding the battery at a constant voltage LONG ENOUGH. A small system to top off / maintain at minimum.

Almost any big charger will charge you batteries to 80% or better on a daily limited generator time. morning generator time shouldn't be over 90F so 14.4v is fine.

To me what is important that after days of undercharging that ya FULLY charge, and then maintain till the next session of daily undercharge. Solar makes sense for that.

Hope your new setup draws you out to more dry camping as life events change.

SoundGuy wrote:
OP - still with us?! :W

Yep, I'm still with ya. I had some Non-Internet stuff to do.

SoundGuy wrote:


Sure, I understand how those much more fully educated about and interested in battery technology may insist that manually adjustable chargers are the ultimate in battery maintenance BUT do you really expect the average RV owner to have the same level of interest in battery maintenance?! The reality is, most of us don't, we just want to go camping, so in fact your quoted statement above is closer to reality than one might think. ;)

In this particular case the OP has the option of choosing readily available GC-2 East Penn Dekas wearing the Duracell label that would certainly represent a good start for the task he has in mind, plus a Parllax ParaMode charger that offers the correct charging profile for this battery and does offer temp compensated charging as REQUIRED by East Penn, so although neither may be "the best of the best" both are IMO certainly a reasonable solution for an average RV owner who just wants to do a few days of dry camping from time to time. If he later decides after being out a few times with this combination that he needs even more reserve he still has the choice to then add a couple more of the same batteries, perhaps add a solar system to augment his charging capability. This graduated approach for the average user to me makes a lot more sense than simply throwing one's wallet at a perceived problem without a clear understanding of all of the intricate issues involved in building an effective battery / charging system.

While I too appreciate the commentary offered by those much better versed in this subject sometimes "ultimate", although desirable in it's own right, just isn't necessary. ;)

I couldn't have said this better myself. I want to go camping off grid for a few days! I recognize I will be doing that more in the future and I do have interest in Solar down the road. Not in 2017, probably not in 2018 and maybe never. The generator I bought is overkill if it was only going to be used to charge camper batteries but I plan on using it for other things as well. I have a wood shop and do carpentry on the side and can see many uses for it there. Please don't assume my decision on a generator size was ignorance and overkill. Heck, I should of had a generator for many years but put it off because I could borrow one from a friend. This camping trip I have planned made me make a decision and although for my other needs a construction grade generator would have sufficed and I would have saved some money, it wouldn't serve my camping needs so I compromised by buying what was reasonably priced that would get the job done for all of my needs. A little under powered for some needs but still serviceable and overkill for camping needs. When camping, am I going to spend 2 hours or more keeping an eye on volts and amps? Not likely. I go camping to relieve stress and enjoy life. My everyday job has a ton of stress. Try being a Police Officer in today's world. You're loved by some and hated by most. You have a target on your back and where I work, it's a drug infested nightmare where most would rather end your life than appreciate your presence. So when I go camping, I want to relax. I want to laugh and have fun. I want to eat more than I should and have a couple of beers around a campfire. I don't want to spend my camping trip worrying about camping and voltage and amps and doohicky's. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that there are people like yourselves that enjoy having the knowledge in the area of batteries. Laymen like myself would be completely blind without you but keep in mind, I just want to go camping and have enough power at the end of my stay to bring in my slide and roll up my awning.