solar panel?

for the last 25 years we mostly do camping without hookups
we do an annual 9 day campout in the boonies with our friends: no hookups : no gennies allowed .
we do not have solar or a generator
we use a pair of Heavy duty 12 foot long jumper cables
we turn our diesel pickup around after parking the trailer
we run the trailer from the 2 rv batts and the 2 pickup batts
the pickup moves every 2 or 3 days and the pickup batts get fully recharged
as soon as we return we reconnect the jumpers
the rv batts get some equalization from the pickup batts
i have found the most critical item for voltage drop is the refer
the refer controls need good voltage , even though we are in the propane mode.
after every trip , when i store my trailer , i disconnect the rv battery cables from the rv battery . i insure that my trailer batts are fully charged when i do this.
the day before a campout i hook up 120v at home and get the rv batts fully charged
i replaced my pickup batteries with AGM batteries ; Exide Edge AGM
i have 2 of the regular RV group 27 ? batts on my trailer .
for me what has worked is jumper cables first .
Good batteries (all 4 ) second .
making sure my rv batteries are fully charged before camping and then fully charged before diconnecting them for storage after EVERY campout .

thanks BBuchorn,we will work on this

It would seem that battery care is a bit of a black science.
What you need is a way to charge your battery between trips. What i use is a Solar powered Battery Minder desulfator charging system.
What I love about this system is that it will bring most old borderline batteries back to life by removing the sulfation on the plates. It will also make good batteries last 7 years or more. For your needs you would need a larger one. http://batteryminders.com/details.php?prod=SCC-180
This one needs you to supply the solar panels, but for set up at a remote camp would take care of several batteries, and help make them last. one thing for sure. Running 12 volt batteries all the way down will destroy them quick. The best thing is to keep them charged as much as possible. One note about the battery minders, they will charge a battery to its maximum capacity without boiling out the water. From my experience they do work. Good luck and great camping.
BBuchorn

I think you sold the H1000 a little too quick.

For solar you are looking at 100w or more + a $25 controller. Shop for 12v panels at about $1.50 per watt maybe less.

If the battery is in bad shape then replace it.

Thanks so much -I will try this

You need to get your battery system up to par before you start looking into solar. The solar is not going to power your items directly, it is going to charge the battery.

Step one would be a large 12V group 31 battery. Better yet is a pair of 6V golf cart batteries. We can make a 3 day weekend easily with our pair of 6V batteries, but for just the fridge, water pump, and moderate lights a single 12V will work for us as well.

Step two would be converting your lighting to LED bulbs. Available on ebay from China suppliers for less than $3/bulb. LED's use a small fraction of energy compared to incandescent bulbs that you currently have.

Step three would then be adding a solar system after the first two are complete if you still are wanting more. For weekend trips its probably easier and more cost effective to add additional battery capacity. I think solar comes into play when you are out for a week at a time and it is not feasible to carry a battery bank that will last that long.

As for charging with a generator, you want to plug the generator into the trailers shore power cord. Then the onboard converter/charger will charge the battery.

With the Honda the 12v charging is low amps and will take forever.

Plugging into the 7 pin on the truck is low power and takes forever.

Before we go on a trip I do use a stand alone charger at home at 12 amps for 2-3 days to fully charge a battery. Actually I do it as soon as we get home and then a day a month and right before we leave. It is a automatic charger.

When I use a generator while camping I plug the campers power cord into it and run it for 2 hours. That will let the campers on board converter charge the battery up to 90%.

We have also turned the truck around and connected heavy jumper cables to the battery and started the truck for a hour a day. That's gotten us thru a week of needing the furnace at night.

We also have solar but for a weekend we will leave the solar and generator home. A well charged battery will allow us 3 days of use including fridge, led lights, pump and furnace at night. I have left the fridge on in the lot for a week before and it was still cold when I returned.

So first have your battery checked to make sure it's good. Second make sure you are getting a full charge before you go. Third is a second battery. If the first one is new then you may be able to pair it up with a like battery. Otherwise two new 12v or even better two 6v should have no problem running your fridge for a week if properly charged.

You could get a solar power mounted and it not only can replace your daily needs but also have the battery nice and charged when you want to go camping. I'd think 120w mounted flat on the roof would do but others here are better with the specifics.

You don't huck op Jenny to battery but pluck van in to Jenny if your charger is working properly.

For just a weekend and only to keep fridge going, your battery should be able to handle that without needing to be re-charged. If the gen wouldn't re-charge the battery, I'm thinking the problem is your battery.
A weekend of fridge, lights in moderation, and water pump in moderation should be fine. Now if you start running a lot of things with motors - fans, furnaces, dvd, vcr, etc. - then you might drain your battery.

Hi Olivejuice,

Often the length of wire from the alternator to the "house" battery is too thin to allow much in the way of charging. Consider beefing it up to #4.

Here is a simple flow chart.

Budget-->Energy Audit-->Battery bank size-->number of watts-->PWM or MPPT.

Here is a link to the rather special spreadsheet that N8GS has created to help size solar battery charging systems!
Solar Spread Sheet N8GS