Help with ideas about designing a system

We do dog agility and herding events. As newbies 14 years ago, got the Honda 3000 to run the A/C in case the dogs over-heated. Never needed that. In fact at these events they have a dog water pool to toss them in if they over-heat. Works way better!

Then it is just a matter of RVing for a few days with or without shore power. Various folks show up in various RVs who have a clue or not about batteries. Some who do not need help getting their batteries recharged half way through. They soon learn. You will too.

The good news it is not rocket science. If you have a Honda 2000 you should be good for most things, and won't need air conditioning if you have a fan or two. If you want A/C the gen will run out of gas anyway before you finish needing A/C if it is that bad.

If you are in Death Valley with the dogs in August, that might be different. :)

jrrichar wrote:
Weighing all the pros and cons I'm considering the following:

1. 2x GC-2 6V Trojan or Interstate FLA batteries
2. A battery charger of some kind (IDEAS PLEASE)
3. Bogart Trimetric Battery Monitor (so I know exactly what's going on)
4. Anything else not mentioned/known that could provide advantage for electric system

All of this being said I DO want to upgrade in the next year or so to solar because I don't want to have to rely on the generator when the weather is good. Turning on a generator and listening to it just to charge batteries is not ideal. However, I'm not made of money and do to my concerns about heat/cold my priority has to go towards spending good $$ on the generator and forgoing solar in the present.

If someone has thoughts to the contrary or items they have found of use please list them

You should, at a minimum, either monitor your battery system use or calculate closely. A solar charging system is tailored to your use. With an upgrade "path" you will know how many panels are needed to recharge your batteries since you will have a monitor to give you those measurements. Depending on where you are located, a good rule of thumb is to install 1 watt of module for every 1 AH of capacity.

If you haven't visited these sites, it is good education about 12 V systems: 12 V side of life,
Battery University

jrrichar wrote:
Weighing all the pros and cons I'm considering the following:

1. 2x GC-2 6V Trojan or Interstate FLA batteries
2. A battery charger of some kind (IDEAS PLEASE)
3. Bogart Trimetric Battery Monitor (so I know exactly what's going on)
4. Anything else not mentioned/known that could provide advantage for electric system

All of this being said I DO want to upgrade in the next year or so to solar because I don't want to have to rely on the generator when the weather is good. Turning on a generator and listening to it just to charge batteries is not ideal. However, I'm not made of money and do to my concerns about heat/cold my priority has to go towards spending good $$ on the generator and forgoing solar in the present.

If someone has thoughts to the contrary or items they have found of use please list them

I would suggest getting the Trimetric TM 2030. Then look into the SC2030 solar charge controller when you go solar. It's a great setup.

jrrichar wrote:
1. 2x GC-2 6V Trojan or Interstate FLA batteries
2. A battery charger of some kind (IDEAS PLEASE)

The key is to match an appropriate charger to the batteries you prefer ... some require bulk charging @ 14.4 volts, others prefer 14.8, some require temperature compensation, some of the battery manufacturers don't say. Although most of us would probably prefer an automatic charger some feel strongly that the only way to maximize battery life is to use a manually adjustable charger but that obviously requires extra attention you may not be interested in providing. Some prefer the advantages of AGMs despite their higher cost, others are happy with flooded. These issues all need to be considered together if you expect to maximize the performance of your battery system.

Weighing all the pros and cons I'm considering the following:

1. 2x GC-2 6V Trojan or Interstate FLA batteries
2. A battery charger of some kind (IDEAS PLEASE)
3. Bogart Trimetric Battery Monitor (so I know exactly what's going on)
4. Anything else not mentioned/known that could provide advantage for electric system

All of this being said I DO want to upgrade in the next year or so to solar because I don't want to have to rely on the generator when the weather is good. Turning on a generator and listening to it just to charge batteries is not ideal. However, I'm not made of money and do to my concerns about heat/cold my priority has to go towards spending good $$ on the generator and forgoing solar in the present.

If someone has thoughts to the contrary or items they have found of use please list them

You need LED lighting if the RV did not come with them.

mbopp wrote:
Here's my setup:
No solar since most of our dry sites are shaded. 200W of portable panels may be in the future.
2-12V G29 batteries. When they die I'll go with 2-6V golf cart batteries.
Generator is a Honda 2000i. It runs the microwave and DW's hair dryer, but won't run the AC.

Just a suggestion you may or may not be aware of ......

Several rv.net forum members have invested in a Micro-Air Easy Start Soft Starter Kit and have found that it actually does do what the manufacturer claims - easily allows starting & running a 13,500 BTU A/C with a 2K genset such as your EU2000i. Had I known about this product at the time I'd have kept my own EU2000i and used it just for this purpose. :)

jrrichar wrote:
A/C during the summer is a MUST, it certainly helps both dogs and us humans considering we can be out in the heat all day.

Refrigerator has an LP option, I will take out the electric kettle and just boil water, all lights are LED, and the ONLY time the microwave/TV/satellite are on is when the generator is on because I'm back at the trailer.

Phone and iPad are charged in my truck because that is what I'm near throughout the majority of the day.

A/C is likely much more of a possibility during the 90+ days of dry camping then the furnace.

As you further detail how you expect to use your new camper I'm getting the distinct impression that with your need for a genset capable of running A/C that you really don't need all that much in terms of battery reserve after all. Since it looks like you'd be running the genset at least once each day or evening, perhaps through the evening, you're really not going to be relying solely on battery power as much as you may have thought. Regarding your fridge - yes, it runs on gas when you're dry camping but you still need 12 vdc to power the circuit board that controls all the fridge functions and obviously when you're dry camping that 12 volts has to come from the battery. Also, most fridges these days have a climate control circuit but quite a few no longer have a switch that allows you to turn this power sucking heating element off when you're dry camping. Since you do plan to be running on battery for part of each day it would be worth your while to figure out whether your particular fridge has this switch and if not add one yourself ... no sense wasting battery reserve when you don't have to. ;)

Given the above I really don't see the need for any more than two GC-2 6 volt batteries, at least to start. The question then is whether you're just going to leave it to that less than adequate WFCO to charge those batteries or whether you want to invest in a better charger and wire it properly yourself.

I'd suggest to buy a better converter, a Progressive Dynamics model and install that close to the batteries. You can keep the WFCO in place. You will be operating the generator daily, I'd assume, and will only need enough battery power to overnight. 2 6V GC2 batteries is a good choice. With a smallish inverter (600W?), you can charge a laptop, watch TV, and have all the other 12V needs covered without a generator running.

Solar is a whole different charging system and although I think it's good to have, if you're running the Honda every day, you won't need it.

I could completely be wrong on the 12V battery capacity but know for certain that the battery rack on this model of trailer is capable of holding 4 6V batteries.

Our trailer also comes with a frame welded side-pivot generator rack capable of holding up to a 4000W unit.

The A/C is the 11.5K BTU Coleman and the furnace is a 25K BTU.