Battery bank in 35' 5th wheel

It is physically possible to use the 6-8pm time. Don't want to be out there freezing in the dark doing chores. Set things up so didn't have to. The OP didn't say if his camping trips are in the dark half of the year. I just threw in that part in case.

It is harder to heat a 5er than a Class C. We had a 28 ft 5er that was like a barn with the slide out. OP has a 35 ft to heat. Probably needs to recharge every day instead of every second day. I even took six batts along when I had that many. The 500AH the OP might have is down by 10-15% at near freezing so fewer AH just when you need them the most! :(

Hi BFL13,

I think the 6 to 8 pm generator time is to accommodate cooking supper, water heating, electric heating and the like. While not much charging is going to be done--yet there will be some.

I don't understand why you can not run the generator and charge in the dark.

We camp up-Island for weeks at a time off-grid in the open in summer so we get solar, pigging out on 12v with lots of inverter use too.

With the 5er we had same thing. Two batteries with lots of solar was plenty, only needing the gen a few times. We had four batts anyway for use in the winter, no solar, but didn't need all four in the summer.

In winter at Rathtrevor in the trees, no solar lots of furnace time it takes four batteries. Recharge with generator every second day. (every day with a lower amp charger) Gen hours are limited if you don't cheat. 9-11am . ( the 6-8pm time allowed was in the dark, so useless for us with a portable gen--be different with installed gen maybe) How many AH can you restore in two hours?

Your 1600 gen (Honda 2000?) can run a 55 amp converter. So less than 100AH in two hours allowing for tapering amps for the second hour. Furnace alone can use over 100AH in one day in Jan or Feb .

We have a higher amp charger for that reason, to get more done in the two hours, but that takes more of a gen to run it. We had a Honda 3000 to run a 100 amp charger and four batts to get by ok for a few days at Rathtrevor in Jan -Feb with temps just above freezing.

You only charge to 80 or 90% SOC by generator and stay above 50% so you operate between 50-90 say. Takes many hours to get from 90-100%, so no gen time for that! With a 500AH bank of four of those 6s, that means using 40% of your AH, so 200AH. With the 5er barn, it would sometimes take over 100AH a day just for the furnace. No way with just the two batts.

So if you only go out in the sunny, warmer half of the year and park in the open to get solar, two batts is enough. How much solar is enough depends. Two 130s would work for us most of the time. Wegosolar in Chemainus is where we get solar when needed.

“Will my 1600 watt generator be enough to charge all 4 batteries from 70% to 100%, or will I need a larger generator?”

Plenty! And once you enter the absorption phase the batteries will accept less and less. Another reason solar works so well and avoids wasteful long generator runs.

Merry Christmas!

I’ll watch from the sidelines. There is chance I might learn something if I pay attention.

Steve,

I agree. However with hybrid inverter/chargers and load support my preference changed.

If one could get a huge (3600 watt) converter and then do double conversion--it would still not be as good as a hybrid system.

ssthrd wrote:
The inverter/charger sounds like the logical choice. I'll check around to see what's out there.

I have never liked getting the all in one combos. not sure if it is me just being pesimistic but if one part fails you have to replace the whole thing and they are not cheep. I always buy a quality converter then go get an deicent inverter.

Steve

ssthrd wrote:
The inverter/charger sounds like the logical choice. I'll check around to see what's out there.

Hi ssthrd,

I have a Magnum hybrid 3000 inverter/charger.

I recommend Victron or Outback.

The inverter/charger sounds like the logical choice. I'll check around to see what's out there.

So is the plan a new inverter/charger, or a new converter?