recharging while driving

[pianotuna]

I'm winding my way south and boondocking.

Last power was in Regina, SK

I used a heating pad and lots of computer time last night, powering them from a 400 watt MSW inverter.

Batteries were at 12.3 in the morning.

I drove for about 8 hours in total.

The first two hours, very little in the way of charging happened as I was using the head lights, running the heater fan on high and running the laptop with Microsoft Streets and trips. In fact, at first I was concerned that the alternator was not sending any energy to the house bank.

I stopped about 5 p.m. in Fargo, ND and voltage was back up to 12.9 (under load from the fridge and attempting to recharge a tablet, using a 12 volt adapter.)

I will be using the heating pad and perhaps the tablet tonight. The Tablet is supposed to be able to tether--but it won't. Nor will it do a hotspot. I'm too exhausted to deal with this tonight.

I may or may not have power tomorrow night.

[pianotuna]

Hi Huntindog,

I did not say the house batteries were not getting sufficiently charged. I said the house batteries were sending power to the engine when I was running the head lights and other loads.

If you read the entire thread, yesterday the house batteries actually got into float mode--from the solar panels.

I think the issue is the AGM jars having a higher voltage than the Marine battery that I'm currently using as a starter battery. It is old and tired.

It may be the alternator is starting to fail.

Huntindog wrote:
Certainly I hate dragging around a generator--but since I normally have one, upgrading the alternator is way way way down my priorities list.A 7 page thread on your batteries not getting sufficiently charged while driving.... at night. But your choice is to not invest in an alternator upgrade.. Solar instead.:h

[Huntindog]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Huntingdog,

It is a matter of having sufficient storage. I started out with 875 amp-hours of Marine jars. That gave me 175 amp-hours of usable capacity. I did not bother with a generator when I was part time, so I went 5 years and never had a power problem

I've upgraded to 556 amp-hours of AGM telecom jars giving me a usable capacity of 278 amp-hours. Since I full time, I did give into getting a generator. I hate it and it ran less than 50 hours in the last year.

The panels I chose produce 3 amps of charging in the rain, and 21 amp-hours on December 21, when I am north of 49.

In an ideal world I'd move up to carbon foam jars, dump the generator, build a rack that covered the entire roof of the rv and be totally off the grid.

Unfortunately, my addictions (having food to eat, and a roof over my head) do not allow me to budget for this.

Certainly I hate dragging around a generator--but since I normally have one, upgrading the alternator is way way way down my priorities list.

A 7 page thread on your batteries not getting sufficiently charged while driving.... at night. But your choice is to not invest in an alternator upgrade.. Solar instead.:h

[pianotuna]

Hi Mex,

I'm south of Birmingham, AL. The ambient temperature is 26 F--the coldest it has been on the trip. So much for going south. (I admit, SK is now well below those temperatures.)

[pianotuna]

Hi Huntingdog,

It is a matter of having sufficient storage. I started out with 875 amp-hours of Marine jars. That gave me 175 amp-hours of usable capacity. I did not bother with a generator when I was part time, so I went 5 years and never had a power problem

I've upgraded to 556 amp-hours of AGM telecom jars giving me a usable capacity of 278 amp-hours. Since I full time, I did give into getting a generator. I hate it and it ran less than 50 hours in the last year.

The panels I chose produce 3 amps of charging in the rain, and 21 amp-hours on December 21, when I am north of 49.

In an ideal world I'd move up to carbon foam jars, dump the generator, build a rack that covered the entire roof of the rv and be totally off the grid.

Unfortunately, my addictions (having food to eat, and a roof over my head) do not allow me to budget for this.

Certainly I hate dragging around a generator--but since I normally have one, upgrading the alternator is way way way down my priorities list.

[westend]

Ha, good stuff Mex.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Another smile...the ability of choice. It wasn't that long ago that BW Magnatek dominated the market and the converter meant a buzzing 30 amp potential to power lights while a massive wire wound bleed resistor allowed a whopping 5 amps to recharge a house battery all the way to 15+ volts. The vehicle alternator offered a staggering 60 amps recharge potential, 1156 bulbs sucked 3 amps and melted interior lamp covers, sinks had hand pumps and RV owners were utterly convinced they were rolling in clover. Even going for ice every 3rd day to jam into a tiny ice box did not dampen spirits. Campers gathered roung campfires to hear bragging about "new fully automatic electronic battery isolators". Wire the 3 studs and no more switches.

Be Grateful Is All I Can Urge 🙂

[Huntindog]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

It is an E-450. Not really interested in spending a grand on a 2nd alternator. Would rather upgrade the solar.

The alternator upgrade WILL work when YOU want it to.
The Solar upgrade will NOT work in bad weather or at night.

Your money, your choice.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Good on you PT. Let the heaters rust I mean rest, awhile. A good warm hideout is Naples, Florida. Lots of sun and shirt sleeve evenings. Not very pricey either.

[MrWizard]

PT
thats good news on both fronts

whats the charge routine on the solar
i changed mine to 14.7v and 300mins, to keep that solar pumping instead of shutting down and going to float too soon

[pianotuna]

Hi,

It is an E-450. Not really interested in spending a grand on a 2nd alternator. Would rather upgrade the solar.

JaxDad wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Phil,

No, they are not in parallel. I have twin banks and I wished to be able to charge one while using the other.

If you used two old school NO solenoids with a switch to close which ever one (or both) you want alternator output to go to and a marine style battery selector it seems like that wouldn't be tough to achieve.

Or if you have a Ford chassis they are all set up for twin alternators, just choose which bank you want to feed the house with. The other will just charge as normal with no load drawing on them.

[pianotuna]

Hi MrWizard,

I was a day ahead! I am in Birmingham AL for the night.

btw today when I shut off the RV for lunch about 2 p.m. the solar system said jars were in float mode.

MrWizard wrote:
PT
are you stuck in the snow
or did you make your getaway south

[JaxDad]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi Phil,

No, they are not in parallel. I have twin banks and I wished to be able to charge one while using the other.

If you used two old school NO solenoids with a switch to close which ever one (or both) you want alternator output to go to and a marine style battery selector it seems like that wouldn't be tough to achieve.

Or if you have a Ford chassis they are all set up for twin alternators, just choose which bank you want to feed the house with. The other will just charge as normal with no load drawing on them.

[MrWizard]

QUOTE
(my old-fashioned terminology has a solenoid as being a mechanical actuator)

Yes!!

[pianotuna]

Hi Phil,

No, they are not in parallel. I have twin banks and I wished to be able to charge one while using the other.

[MrWizard]

PT
are you stuck in the snow
or did you make your getaway south