The battery that came with my travel trailer THE battery?

Heelshock wrote:
Will it, in the least, slow the discharge down? As I said, we only go dry camping 2 or 3 nights at a time.

It will slow it very little and with 2 batts and 2 days of camping you can live without it.

25W will collect up to 8 AH a day, let's say 7 Ah after covering self-discharge. Your needs, with those minimal items listed above, are around 30-40 AH a day. So the battery is losing charge at the rate of 23-33 AH on a good sunny day, and 30-40 AH on a rainy day. 2*100 AH batts will give you 100 AH of usable energy.

So you can camp 2 days in the worst rainy season without solar, or 3-4 days with 25W solar IF it's nice and sunny

Good info. TYVM.

Almot wrote:

Heelshock wrote:
Will it, in the least, slow the discharge down? As I said, we only go dry camping 2 or 3 nights at a time.

It will slow it very little and with 2 batts and 2 days of camping you can live without it.

25W will collect up to 8 AH a day, let's say 7 Ah after covering self-discharge. Your needs, with those minimal items listed above, are around 30-40 AH a day. So the battery is losing charge at the rate of 23-33 AH on a good sunny day, and 30-40 AH on a rainy day. 2*100 AH batts will give you 100 AH of usable energy.

So you can camp 2 days in the worst rainy season without solar, or 3-4 days with 25W solar IF it's nice and sunny

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

It may give you about 10 amp-hours per day. Parasitic loads are generally in the 36 amp-hours per day range.

It may be, that in bright sunshine with perfect solar conditions the unit will power the parasitic loads for perhaps 3 hours a day. That may provide a "rest" period for the battery bank.

You have some big parasites on your rig. Our trailer pulls a little less than 0.7A with fridge and water heater on so that is about 17 AH for 24 hours.

Dick

dclark1946 wrote:

You have some big parasites on your rig. Our trailer pulls a little less than 0.7A with fridge and water heater on so that is about 17 AH for 24 hours.

Dick

MH's have more parasitic draws than trailers generally. Does your CO detector have its own battery? You have to figure that draw in too.

Hi,

Not to mention the propane detector. There is also the inverter if one is in use.

Pianotuna, it doesn't sound like the OP was planning on using inverter - I understood that he only wanted very few and very low-current 12V devices. A small 100W-150W inverter for a few minutes of electric shaver and/or a few hours of cell phone charging should still fit into that scenario, if he makes sure to turn the inverter off when not in use.

Yes, some propane detectors draw 0.3A, this is 8 Ah a day - unacceptable high draw for a minimalist setup. If this is the case, he should get a better unit. There are dual propane/CO detectors that draw 0.1A, i.e. 2.4 AH a day.

He has a travel trailer, not a MH, and I don't see how parasitic draws - not including fridge which I consider a useful load, not a parasite - can exceed 10 AH even with the worst detectors. Radio on standby or separate radio clock is another "bad guy" that he should keep an eye on - this one can draw 4-5 AH a day, and if this is the case, he should turn the radio off for the night completely, just pull the fuse - or again, replace it with AA battery device.

Good points. When in storage I had no idea how many Ah I was drawing per day with that car stereo being on standby and the CO2 detector. I recall the camper dealer telling me it would be no problem (but, of course, that's their standard answer to just about anything).

I ended up going with 2 new group 24's. I'm going to pull them when the camper goes in storage, and charge and maintain them. With or without my little 25 watt solar panel (which I've now learned will do close to Jack Squat) I think this will be more than enough to get us 3 days of dry camping with spit showers and minimal led lighting.

Almot wrote:
Pianotuna, it doesn't sound like the OP was planning on using inverter - I understood that he only wanted very few and very low-current 12V devices. A small 100W-150W inverter for a few minutes of electric shaver and/or a few hours of cell phone charging should still fit into that scenario, if he makes sure to turn the inverter off when not in use.

Yes, some propane detectors draw 0.3A, this is 8 Ah a day - unacceptable high draw for a minimalist setup. If this is the case, he should get a better unit. There are dual propane/CO detectors that draw 0.1A, i.e. 2.4 AH a day.

He has a travel trailer, not a MH, and I don't see how parasitic draws - not including fridge which I consider a useful load, not a parasite - can exceed 10 AH even with the worst detectors. Radio on standby or separate radio clock is another "bad guy" that he should keep an eye on - this one can draw 4-5 AH a day, and if this is the case, he should turn the radio off for the night completely, just pull the fuse - or again, replace it with AA battery device.

Shower pumps don't take much, though you'll have to be quick. Mostly fridge will eat up the energy.

Another thing that people sometimes "discover" is that with truck connected to the trailer while on the camp, the trailer is draining that poor old starter battery...

Heelshock wrote:

I ended up going with 2 new group 24's.

Did you go stick with Exicde's dual purpose (70 ah) or their 80ah battery.

Almot wrote:
Whatever fits and whatever you can lift. I wouldn't go over 62-63 lb.

Gee, a common sense answer! And short and to the point. :)