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Question about Battery life


TheDoverGuppy

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Greetings

This is probably a stupid question that I was actually planning on asking the guy at the RV place when we got our Coachman checked out, but they rescheduled us. Anyway, we hope to take it out this weekend and I'm wondering that if we stay someplace without electrical that doesn't allow generators, how long will the battery last if we only use interior lights and the air conditioner? These things use the same battery as the truck, right? Should I just start the truck from time to time to keep it charged?

Thanks!

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You A/C is going to be non-op on batteries. Lighting will depend on how many you switch on. Converting the most often used ones to LED will greatly extend your battery life. You should have a 2nd 'deep cycle' coach battery, as well as the truck's 'starting battery'. Battery life will also depend on the age and condition of your batteries. Yes, starting and running the engine should (if everything's working properly) will recharge the coach battery..

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As Derek said, your A/C unit does not run on the battery. You need 110Vac ( shore power or generator) to run the A/C

Your Coach should have its own battery. This should be a "Deep Cycle" type, as it will survive the discharge / charge cycles a lot better than a conventional battery. Deep Cycle marine type batteries are available from Walmart for about $70.

If I just run lights (they are all converted to LEDs) and occational TV (13 inch LCD), my battery will last several days to a week before re-charging is needed. If I start running the furnace or the high power inverter (microwave oven / coffee pot) It will last about a day.

I installed a remote starter for the truck, so if I want to start the truck to re-charge the coach battery, I just hit the button, truck starts and runs for 15 minutes, then shuts down.

See the simplified electrical drawing to get an idea how your 12 volt and 110 volt systems interact.

post-4544-0-87276900-1332426066_thumb.jp

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

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Battery Capacity is measured in AMP hours( Ah )

An average deep cycle battery may have 100 Ah ( This Ah should be stamped on the battery )

rough numbers

19" colour TV 100watts thats 10h of run time with 100 Ah batteries

WATTS = AMPS x VOLTS

your inverter at idle (no load ) is also going to chew through battery life. Any transformer, converter or inverter will use power at idle and is not 100% efficient when transforming power so you'll have loss here as well.

Get a clamp-on amp meter that measures amps dc and your will be able to figure out your load at any given time

Like Derrek said your are not running your AC with the batteries unless you have a huge bank and a very large inverter. I have seen it done on boat though but those heat pumps are naively DC.

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Battery Capacity is measured in AMP hours( Ah )

An average deep cycle battery may have 100 Ah ( This Ah should be stamped on the battery )

rough numbers

19" colour TV 100watts thats 10h of run time with 100 Ah batteries

WATTS = AMPS x VOLTS

your inverter at idle (no load ) is also going to chew through battery life. Any transformer, converter or inverter will use power at idle and is not 100% efficient when transforming power so you'll have loss here as well.

Get a clamp-on amp meter that measures amps dc and your will be able to figure out your load at any given time

Like Derrek said your are not running your AC with the batteries unless you have a huge bank and a very large inverter. I have seen it done on boat though but those heat pumps are naively DC.

Yeah and they use water to cool the condenser very efficient system.

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Find that coach battery before you go out and check the water in it. It has to be replenished from time to time and it may be low.

Add distilled water only

LS

That's good to know, and hopefully everything is working properly! :) I've seen discussions on the LED lighting and have definitely added that to the to do list.

Thanks for the reply.

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Another thing to think about if there's a no generator policy is a solar panel. I use a little 5 watt panel which was $20 at harbor tool and if I only run lights (all led) and water pump it will keep my coach battery full without a problem.

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