Forum Discussion
RoyB
Mar 07, 2016Explorer II
It is not easy to just go purchase an older RV setup and then jump right into so called street boondocking and be successful.
It took me a couple of years to get somewhat successful camping in my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer setup just living a week off of the batteries without shore power.
You have to decide what you want to run off the batteries and then have a big enough battery bank to sustain this. My plan ended up being camping off my batteries for one night with my 255AH Battery bank and then have a re-charge capability the next morning using my 2KW Honda Generator to run my trailer on-board PD9260C 60AMP Smart Mode converter/charger setup to get my batteries back up to a usable charge state again.
The batteries will want to not get discharged below the 50% charge state overnite which is roughly around 12.0VDC and then they need to be re-charged as soon as possible back up to their 90% charge state. Not following this routine will end doing harm to the batteries and they will need to be replaced.
In my setup I only had a 600WATT Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter and I would use around 300Watts of 12VDC Power mainly between 6PM and 11Pm watching TV and keeping a few working lights along with computers/tablets etc functional. No way can I even think of running the Air Conditioner or Microwave off my 255AH Battery setup...
Stovetop and outside grill would runoff of propane. Hot water for us was usually heated up on the stove top to wash dishes etc. Washups was standing in front of the kitchen sink - not much privacy here haha...
In your case your description of your CLASS C is vague in addition to your battery bank description. Most of us understand AH ratings not MA rating... I'm think your class C is 15-foot or so in length. Might look something like this...
In my opinion you are going to need a 2KW generator for sure to keep your battery bank charged up each day of use. The 2000WATT Power Inverter will want to see 12VDC @ 165AMPS DC current if loaded down to full load. Thats a long way from my 20AMPS draw on my 300WATT battery drain on my three 85AH 12V batteries in parallel. You are going to need a very large AH rated battery bank to support 165AMPS 'PLUS' DC Current drain.
If you make it through the one night then you will need to re-charge your battery system with something... Each battery in your system will want to see 17-20AMPS DC current when first hit with 14.4VDC Charge voltage if you want them charged in a three hour time frame. You can get from the 50% charge state to the 90% charge in a three hour generator run time doing this. Three batteries in your battery bank will be much like my setup whereas when I first hit my battery bank with 14.4VDC I immediately see a 53AMP DC Current demand from the batteries. After an hour of charging at 14.4VDC this current demand will have tapered back to around 8AMPS or so for the whole bank and will get to the 90% charge state in about three hours time. Then and only then can you use the batteries again and expect good performance for the next day/night off them. Also you can only do about 12-14 charge cycles from the 50% to 90% charge cycles before you have to fully charge your battery bank to 100% charge. If you don't do this then the batteries will will be harmed and eventually have to be replaced. A 100% charge on my three 85AH 12V Batteries in parallel will take a good 12-13 hours of charging starting out with 14.4VDC. That's a long time to be running a Generator non stop.
Here on the East side of the US we always run into generator run time restrictions at the public camp grounds. I guess where you will be doing your street boondocking it will be a hit and miss being able to run your generator... A typical truck start battery (90-100AHs) alternator setup would run a 2000WATT POWER Inverter full loaded for maybe 5-10 minutes before draining down the start battery. It may also damage your truck alternator as well.
Just passing all of this along to get your thinking going and what you might expect to overcome. IMO it's not going to be an easy task keeping your batteries charged-up without shore power, solar panels, or generator... Most folks will think heck I can just run the truck motor a hour or so each day and all will be fine...
Good luck with those thoughts...
Just my thoughts here - I'm sure others have their different plans to accomplish this...
Roy Ken
It took me a couple of years to get somewhat successful camping in my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer setup just living a week off of the batteries without shore power.
You have to decide what you want to run off the batteries and then have a big enough battery bank to sustain this. My plan ended up being camping off my batteries for one night with my 255AH Battery bank and then have a re-charge capability the next morning using my 2KW Honda Generator to run my trailer on-board PD9260C 60AMP Smart Mode converter/charger setup to get my batteries back up to a usable charge state again.
The batteries will want to not get discharged below the 50% charge state overnite which is roughly around 12.0VDC and then they need to be re-charged as soon as possible back up to their 90% charge state. Not following this routine will end doing harm to the batteries and they will need to be replaced.
In my setup I only had a 600WATT Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter and I would use around 300Watts of 12VDC Power mainly between 6PM and 11Pm watching TV and keeping a few working lights along with computers/tablets etc functional. No way can I even think of running the Air Conditioner or Microwave off my 255AH Battery setup...
Stovetop and outside grill would runoff of propane. Hot water for us was usually heated up on the stove top to wash dishes etc. Washups was standing in front of the kitchen sink - not much privacy here haha...
In your case your description of your CLASS C is vague in addition to your battery bank description. Most of us understand AH ratings not MA rating... I'm think your class C is 15-foot or so in length. Might look something like this...
In my opinion you are going to need a 2KW generator for sure to keep your battery bank charged up each day of use. The 2000WATT Power Inverter will want to see 12VDC @ 165AMPS DC current if loaded down to full load. Thats a long way from my 20AMPS draw on my 300WATT battery drain on my three 85AH 12V batteries in parallel. You are going to need a very large AH rated battery bank to support 165AMPS 'PLUS' DC Current drain.
If you make it through the one night then you will need to re-charge your battery system with something... Each battery in your system will want to see 17-20AMPS DC current when first hit with 14.4VDC Charge voltage if you want them charged in a three hour time frame. You can get from the 50% charge state to the 90% charge in a three hour generator run time doing this. Three batteries in your battery bank will be much like my setup whereas when I first hit my battery bank with 14.4VDC I immediately see a 53AMP DC Current demand from the batteries. After an hour of charging at 14.4VDC this current demand will have tapered back to around 8AMPS or so for the whole bank and will get to the 90% charge state in about three hours time. Then and only then can you use the batteries again and expect good performance for the next day/night off them. Also you can only do about 12-14 charge cycles from the 50% to 90% charge cycles before you have to fully charge your battery bank to 100% charge. If you don't do this then the batteries will will be harmed and eventually have to be replaced. A 100% charge on my three 85AH 12V Batteries in parallel will take a good 12-13 hours of charging starting out with 14.4VDC. That's a long time to be running a Generator non stop.
Here on the East side of the US we always run into generator run time restrictions at the public camp grounds. I guess where you will be doing your street boondocking it will be a hit and miss being able to run your generator... A typical truck start battery (90-100AHs) alternator setup would run a 2000WATT POWER Inverter full loaded for maybe 5-10 minutes before draining down the start battery. It may also damage your truck alternator as well.
Just passing all of this along to get your thinking going and what you might expect to overcome. IMO it's not going to be an easy task keeping your batteries charged-up without shore power, solar panels, or generator... Most folks will think heck I can just run the truck motor a hour or so each day and all will be fine...
Good luck with those thoughts...
Just my thoughts here - I'm sure others have their different plans to accomplish this...
Roy Ken
About Technical Issues
Having RV issues? Connect with others who have been in your shoes.24,189 PostsLatest Activity: Jan 19, 2025