Overnight battery drain
I'm trying to determine if the overnight drain on my batteries seems reasonable. My 2008 Tiffen Class A coach came with 2 house batteries and an Onan generator. I want to dry camp at times, so I had 2...
Forum Discussion
fotodog wrote:
Thanks for all the quick responses. On this trip, I ran my generator for 2 - 2 1/2 hours per day. Being a former tent camper, I still try to limit the amount of time I run it. I will definitely turn off the inverter from now on when not in use.
We normally camp with electrical hookups, so I would think the batteries have been fully charged before. But it sounds like I may not be charging the batteries enough between trips, which are sometimes 4 to 5 months apart. I normally try to take the coach out for an hour drive with the generator running under load every month, but I admit that when work is busy, it might be 2 months between charges. My storage facility doesn't have electricity to keep the batteries charged.
2.5 hours might be fine. May need that in the morning and another hour in the evening. If you run the generator at high load time (microwave, hair dryer, coffee pot) you can take a lot of load off the battery.
100w solar would make a huge difference in storage. Probably enough that I would reduce or eliminate the excercise routine.
For me the installation of LED lights had the effect of doubling the battery capacity. Price has now dropped significantly to make LED a slam dunk for boondocking.
