I want to start off by saying - yes i have searched and yes there is a ton, but really there is not a conversation about it. Let me explain. I own a 2011 Coachman Catalina 21 BH and we love it, just the right size and all the perks we have need so far. The other day i had a guy walk over to me and start to ask me questions about my Gennies (Set of Honda EU2000i's linked together so i can run the A/C is needed) Where am i going with this - I am not an Electrician so I don't understand much about watts and amps. Some of the questions that came up - Do i need 1 or both to charge up my batteries so i can run over night? I don't know....I have 2 - 6Volt batteries and thats all. I have seem them sit at 13.0 and as low as 11.9 I have no clue what is what is and what is not fully charges - I just go off the little push button gauge...also I have a Solar Panel (two Boulder 30's from Goal Zero 60 Watts with a Guardian 12 V converter... I throw it on to keep things topped off when running the Generator is pointless. not using the A/C, TV, Fan or Sat Dish.I am really new at this and wanted to strike up a conversation. Please POST your thoughts....

GooberGuz wrote:I want to start off by saying - yes i have searched and yes there is a ton, but really there is not a conversation about it. Let me explain. I own a 2011 Coachman Catalina 21 BH and we love it, just the right size and all the perks we have need so far. The other day i had a guy walk over to me and start to ask me questions about my Gennies (Set of Honda EU2000i's linked together so i can run the A/C is needed) Where am i going with this - I am not an Electrician so I don't understand much about watts and amps. Some of the questions that came up - Do i need 1 or both to charge up my batteries so i can run over night? I don't know....I have 2 - 6Volt batteries and thats all. I have seem them sit at 13.0 and as low as 11.9 I have no clue what is what is and what is not fully charges - I just go off the little push button gauge...also I have a Solar Panel (two Boulder 30's from Goal Zero 60 Watts with a Guardian 12 V converter... I throw it on to keep things topped off when running the Generator is pointless. not using the A/C, TV, Fan or Sat Dish.I am really new at this and wanted to strike up a conversation. Please POST your thoughts....You would only need one generator running to charge your batteries.A set up of 6v batteries is the way to go. What you're looking at is the actual voltage of the batteries while hooked up to produce 12v power.) Voltage Explanation

This is my take on it....It seems like everyone wants to be able to run everything in their trailers including the air conditioners and high wattage microwaves. I too was thinking about this as well. Then reality sits in when traveling around the East side of the US camp grounds we figured out not many places would allow us to run our generators during the day when we needed the air conditioners running. Let alone after dark. The public camp grounds all have some generator run restrictions in place it seems. With this in mind I started beefing up my trailer to be able run all the 120VAC items from a an inverter and the 12VDC items we wanted to run direct connected to the batteries for the one day/one night run camping off the power grid.This included making sure we have a smart-mode converter/charger unit on board, changed out the automotive high current lights for LED lights, added more batteries to sustain what we wanted to run in the trailer, beefed up the battery cables etc... I ended up with a three battery hookup of the standard issue Interstate batteries that came with the trailer. This gives me around 255AHs battery capacity which will run all the toys we wanted to have running when camping. This of course does not include the AIR CONDITIONER or the HIGH WATTAGE MICROWAVE UNIT. With all of this planned out we normally draw the most current from the batteries from 8PM to 11PM running the home entertainment items and lighting etc. This is a 20AMP drain on the battery bank during this time. In addition to other 12VDC drain on the batteries that are always on all the time this drained down our batteries to around 12.0VDC by 8AM the next morning.This is when I then connect the 30AMP Trailer shore power cable to the 2KW Honda Generator 120VAC front panel connection using a RV30A-15A long adapter (WALMART) which will alow the on-board PD9260C Converter/Charger re-charge my three Interstate GP24 12VDC batteries back up to their 90% charge state state in as little as three hours of generator run time. This usually fits into the public camp ground generator run time restrictions. Once my batteries are back to their 90% charge state I can do all of this all over again for the next day/night run off the batteries. We can do this 50% to 90% charge cycle thing for a couple of weeks without doing harm to our batteries. After that however we must do a full 100% charge on the batteries which takes around 11-12 hours of generator run time or this will start doing damage to our batteries.Of course running a generator for 12 hours continuous is not allowed at many public camp grounds so you are out of luck being able to do this. This is when we head back for the house...I am now very successful for doing this when camping off the power grid. I can really enhance on this by adding solar panels to the trailer to be able to recharge my batteries during the day when the strong sun is out. This extra recharge just makes the batteries go longer before recharging with the generator. However usually I would think you might run into the generator run time restrictions and without a lot of solar panels you may not be able to do a full day or so just keeping the batteries charged up without running the generator. Your batteries must attain the 90% charge state when you recharge or you will not get the required battery performance to make it thru the next day/night battery run.Going with just SOLAR PANELS only to me is a risky situation unless you go real big panels. You have to have the batteries anyway to store the solar energy because the solar panels only put out energy when the sun is out. I haven't added solar yet but really think just adding 120WATTS or maybe double that will really help me out. Sometimes you might end up going for several days of real cloudy skies where the solar panels won't keep the batteries charged up. Then you need the generator setup. SO my plan was to get very successful using the generator first within all of the camp ground rules in place and then think about adding solar panels to enhance my generator operations... Just some of my thoughts on the subject. It takes some planning but we have been very successful doing this method of camping off the power grid over the past five years. We do just about everything we do at a regular camp ground with electric hookup except no air conditioner. I have a small low wattage manual operated microwave ($35 WALMART) I bring along when camping off the power grid and it does great off my 600WATT PSW Inverter setup for the few minutes I need to use it.Its all in the planning and having good PLAN Bs in place.Roy ken

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have a nice setup.Except for AC we are all solar now. We run a 230 watt panel and have another 220w available, a few small inverters (bigger one coming ) and a 3500/4000 generator. We also use led lighting to reduce the load at night.My suggestion for you is after you run the generator for charging to put your panels on. The generator is great at getting the battery up to 90% but the last 10% takes forever at low power. Your panels give low power all day long getting you closer to full and that's great for your batteries. My solar off sets any loads we have during the day,even the furnace.

Thank you all for the feedback! This is great!I am slowly switch out the normal bulbs for LED's also. My wife like the warm not cold look. I have a few questions - Can I have my panels charging my battery at the same time as the generator? How can I measure (figure) out what my panels are doing for me. I wish I could figure out how long it would take them to get me to 90%Should I run my Hondas on Eco drive or full power?

On the LEDs you can find ones listed as Warm White color that are not as blue and harsh. Check out www.superbrightleds.com We bought one of several types/colors to help us decide what we wanted before buying the balance.

Let's talk - Batteries, Generators, & Solar Power

GooberGuz
Explorer
Jul 24, 2013
smkettner wrote:
I quit using my generator. I never liked running it a couple hours for charging batteries let alone all day or night to run the air conditioner. Solar/battery/inverter/propane runs everything but the air. If it is that hot I go looking for hookups or do like the tent campers and sweat it out.

BTW you only need one Honda 2000 for charging batteries. For best results verify your converter is charging at 14.2+ volts or upgrade so it will. Guardian is probably a slow fixed 13.6 volt converter.

The 12 Volt Side of Life
great info on this site!!!
Peg_Leg
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
I have the voltage chart that RoyB shows printed and one copy taped near my batteries and a second inside near a volt meter.

I bought a DC and a AC meter on ebay for $5 each including shipping. They have a blue light to them. I mounted them just inside my entry door because I had a 12v source from the O2 alarm and a 120v receptacle to power the AC meter. I wired in on/off switches. I now leave the DC on all the time. After 10 days my batt were still at 12.68 volts with the only draws being the radio's memory and the DC meter.

I have my battery status right in my face, every time I enter the rig.
westend
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
GooberGuz wrote:
Ok - now another question if I plug my trailer into shore power "my house " in this case the converter in the trailer will charge my batteries!! Is there a better way to do this? How can I find out how long this would take?

And when you say 90% - 100% what voltage would that be representing?
You can reference RoyB's chat in his post for nominal voltages at 90-100% state of charge. A more accurate reference can be had using a hydrometer and checking individual cell specific gravity.

For most folks, leaving the trailer plugged into shorepower and using the onboard converter is the easiest and most effective charge routine. A fou stage battery charger may be somewhat faster than your onboard converter and may offer an equalization regimen that would improve battery longevity.
time2roll
Nomad
Jul 23, 2013
I quit using my generator. I never liked running it a couple hours for charging batteries let alone all day or night to run the air conditioner. Solar/battery/inverter/propane runs everything but the air. If it is that hot I go looking for hookups or do like the tent campers and sweat it out.

BTW you only need one Honda 2000 for charging batteries. For best results verify your converter is charging at 14.2+ volts or upgrade so it will. Guardian is probably a slow fixed 13.6 volt converter.

The 12 Volt Side of Life
GooberGuz
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
Ok - now another question if I plug my trailer into shore power "my house " in this case the converter in the trailer will charge my batteries!! Is there a better way to do this? How can I find out how long this would take?

And when you say 90% - 100% what voltage would that be representing?
RoyB
Explorer II
Jul 23, 2013
You can re-charge your deep cycle batteries in three hours time to the 90% charge state if you run 14.4VDC to them with around 20AMPs of capacity for each battery being charged.

Your solar panels will have a controller to do this for you.

I also have a nice home made battery monitoring panel on the inside of my off-road POPUP that will monitor my DC Voltages and DC Current that is either going into the batteries or being drawn from the batteries.

This is the only way to know for sure what is happening to your batteries.

my monitor panel looks like this but you can buy a nice battery monitor panel as well.

I go by this handy DC VOLTAGE verses STATE OF CHARGE chart...
It is not absolute but will get you close enough. You have to stop your charging and let the batteries set for a few minutes and then read the DC VOLTAGES...

Looks like "JIM IN DENVER" and I learned from the same expert haha... We do almost the same tricks...

It doesnt matter where you get your voltage from SOLAR or BATTERIES but follow this progressive dynamic report on how long it takes to charge up a deep cycle battery. This is battery science so no short cuts will help...

"Progressive Dynamics ran this test on the amount of time it took a PD9155 (55-amp) converter/charger set to three different output voltages to recharge a 125 AH (Amp Hour) battery after it was fully discharged to 10.5-volts.

14.4-VOLTS (Boost Mode) – Returned the battery to 90% of full charge in approximately 3-hours. The battery reached full charge in approximately 11 hours.

13.6-VOLTS (Normal Mode) – Required 40-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 78-hours to reach full charge.

13.2-VOLTS (Storage Mode) – Required 60-hours to return the battery to 90% of full charge and 100-hours to reach full charge."

Once you get all setup then its OLD HAT when camping off the power grid.

Roy Ken
JiminDenver
Explorer II
Jul 23, 2013
Unless you are running the Microwave you should be fine in eco mode.
since we never have hook ups we do well with the non regulated eBay lights, they cost less
Drippin
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
On the LEDs you can find ones listed as Warm White color that are not as blue and harsh. Check out www.superbrightleds.com We bought one of several types/colors to help us decide what we wanted before buying the balance.
GooberGuz
Explorer
Jul 23, 2013
Thank you all for the feedback! This is great!

I am slowly switch out the normal bulbs for LED's also. My wife like the warm not cold look.

I have a few questions -
Can I have my panels charging my battery at the same time as the generator?
How can I measure (figure) out what my panels are doing for me. I wish I could figure out how long it would take them to get me to 90%
Should I run my Hondas on Eco drive or full power?
JiminDenver
Explorer II
Jul 23, 2013
Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have a nice setup.
Except for AC we are all solar now. We run a 230 watt panel and have another 220w available, a few small inverters (bigger one coming ) and a 3500/4000 generator. We also use led lighting to reduce the load at night.

My suggestion for you is after you run the generator for charging to put your panels on. The generator is great at getting the battery up to 90% but the last 10% takes forever at low power. Your panels give low power all day long getting you closer to full and that's great for your batteries. My solar off sets any loads we have during the day,even the furnace.