No solar needed???
M. Hey, I just wanted to mention my experience with Trojan T105's after a 3 night camping trip for those of you who are wondering about solar power. We camped in Idaho mountains at about 7400 feet. It was colder than we hoped. In mornings the Creek edges were frozen with very thin layer of ice wherever there was very little current. I didn't have thermometer but that proves definitely below 32 F. I have 2 t105's.
I have spent hours on this forum reading up on solar power and just can't decide if I need it or I just want it, but no generator and no solar on this trip. I have a 25,000btu furnace, Atwood I think, don't know model but it draws 6.5 Amps when batteries are at full charge. I set thermostat to 60 degrees each night, ran lights very little and water pump pumped about 65 gallons. Used fridge on propane and water heater is DSI type. Listened to CD radio for about 45 minutes. I have never checked current draw on those units since I suspect it is very little. Also have propane detector drawing 50 MA.
I have read many posts about people noting furnace really uses a lot of power. Same with that little propane detector. We were a little worried about hurting our new batteries--running them too low, but cannot afford solar so we just went camping, tried to be easy on electrical needs and figured we would just see what happens.
Got home Sunday afternoon. Batteries sat for 24 hrs unused in any way. This afternoon I measured open circuit voltage at 12.22VOLTS. I do not have a hydrometer, but as per Trojan website this 12.22V indicates these batteries are sitting at 60% charge remaining.
I found this very interesting. As long as open circuit voltage is accurate, the idea that the furnace will just drain the batteries real fast appears not to be true in every case. If any of you are on the fence about solar power, and are weekend campers like us, I would say go camping as you normally do and see what kind of charge your batteries have left. Maybe that furnace isn't so bad after all. Maybe solar isn't needed.
I have spent hours on this forum reading up on solar power and just can't decide if I need it or I just want it, but no generator and no solar on this trip. I have a 25,000btu furnace, Atwood I think, don't know model but it draws 6.5 Amps when batteries are at full charge. I set thermostat to 60 degrees each night, ran lights very little and water pump pumped about 65 gallons. Used fridge on propane and water heater is DSI type. Listened to CD radio for about 45 minutes. I have never checked current draw on those units since I suspect it is very little. Also have propane detector drawing 50 MA.
I have read many posts about people noting furnace really uses a lot of power. Same with that little propane detector. We were a little worried about hurting our new batteries--running them too low, but cannot afford solar so we just went camping, tried to be easy on electrical needs and figured we would just see what happens.
Got home Sunday afternoon. Batteries sat for 24 hrs unused in any way. This afternoon I measured open circuit voltage at 12.22VOLTS. I do not have a hydrometer, but as per Trojan website this 12.22V indicates these batteries are sitting at 60% charge remaining.
I found this very interesting. As long as open circuit voltage is accurate, the idea that the furnace will just drain the batteries real fast appears not to be true in every case. If any of you are on the fence about solar power, and are weekend campers like us, I would say go camping as you normally do and see what kind of charge your batteries have left. Maybe that furnace isn't so bad after all. Maybe solar isn't needed.
