recharging while driving
I'm winding my way south and boondocking. Last power was in Regina, SK I used a heating pad and lots of computer time last night, powering them from a 400 watt MSW inverter. Batteries were at...
Forum Discussion
pianotuna wrote:
The first two hours, very little in the way of charging happened as I was using the head lights, running the heater fan on high and running the laptop with Microsoft Streets and trips. In fact, at first I was concerned that the alternator was not sending any energy to the house bank.
I stopped about 5 p.m. in Fargo, ND and voltage was back up to 12.9 (under load from the fridge and attempting to recharge a tablet, using a 12 volt adapter.)
I am quite surprised you got that much charging done from your TV !
TV charging systems are optimized to charge ONE non-deep discharge battery. There are many assumptions made by the charging system about the this type of battery and its location.
Voltage drop through the wire from the alternator to your house batteries is significant. If you really want to charge your house batteries I suggest you get a dc input battery charger. They typically accept input voltages as low as 10V and do proper charging of your house battery.
