Taking the solar plunge

[mulwyk]

x

[WME]

I'm installing a new system on my MH. A 200w panel, fixed mount with a MPPT controller. I have a total of 200AH in batteries.

Its sorta overkill but my wife uses a CPAP and I wanted to keep the batteries up while boon docking without running the genset.

[Totem]

Sweet setups!

I suction cup my 45 watt frame and panels to the roof of my sunrader pointing at noon sun also. The suction cups held up in 43 mph winds this past Nov , but again its a Harbor freight amorphous setup that's fairly heavy having 3 panels.

I would still encourage use of a controller though as they can protect a battery from too much discharge, too much charge and sulphation and also last but not least reverse discharge;

I would recommend a diode if not using a controller for sure; clouds and forgetting to switch off happen...

Every panel manufacturer claims to put block diodes in; personally I would still put one inline in addition to what may or may not be inside the panel for extra assurance..

[DyllonGreen]

Awesome thread,

i'm in the process of trying to set up a solar panel in my 78 Sunrader.

[bajadulce]

That looks like a good place to mount your panel. Easy to clean, out of the wind, and will still pick up sun even if campers not pointed in the right direction. That control panel has a mariner look to it. Very nice.

32#'s of unused electrical gear is almost 4 more gallons of your favorite beverage!

Your average consumption is pretty close to your regain but that's where storage comes into play. Some days you use less others more. Have you had to dip into your storage much? How long do you camp for? How much storage?

Agree on the fixed mount. I played around with adjustable panels myself. The gain is definitely worth it compared to a fixed flat mount (especially in the winter months) but wasn't worth the stress of potentially breaking a panel I agree.

Mine (2x75w panels with room for 1 more) are mounted flat atop the roof. The redesigned/rebuilt roof is the exact size of the panels (Maybe by design and planning or just dumb luck). One thing that is nice about roof mounted panels is they shade the roof and reflect sunlight. I chopped the panels' control boxes so they sit a lot closer to the roof, but hopefully there's enough room for some air circulation to keep them cooler. Tho doubt this matters much. I imagine they get pretty hot regardless.

@Terry:

Wow that's a big panel. Expensive? Wind might put quite a bit of flex on that so might want to secure it in a few more places than a smaller one. 6 mounts maybe? How many batteries are 200AH? Adding 200W to your existing system or using the old panels elsewhere? If adding 200W, what's your total? That's a lot of juice!

Totem:

45 watt frame? So your 3 panels add up to 45watts? And so you store them on your bed or elsewhere when you're traveling? Sounds like a good system. Portable has its advantages to be sure. This frame is adjustable? And do you have to clean the roof where the suction cups attach? 45 mph winds are pretty strong. You deal with a lot of 45's!

[Totem]

That looks like a good place to mount your panel. Easy to clean, out of the wind, and will still pick up sun even if campers not pointed in the right direction. That control panel has a mariner look to it. Very nice.

32#'s of unused electrical gear is almost 4 more gallons of your favorite beverage!

Your average consumption is pretty close to your regain but that's where storage comes into play. Some days you use less others more. Have you had to dip into your storage much? How long do you camp for? How much storage?

Agree on the fixed mount. I played around with adjustable panels myself. The gain is definitely worth it compared to a fixed flat mount (especially in the winter months) but wasn't worth the stress of potentially breaking a panel I agree.

Mine (2x75w panels with room for 1 more) are mounted flat atop the roof. The redesigned/rebuilt roof is the exact size of the panels (Maybe by design and planning or just dumb luck). One thing that is nice about roof mounted panels is they shade the roof and reflect sunlight. I chopped the panels' control boxes so they sit a lot closer to the roof, but hopefully there's enough room for some air circulation to keep them cooler. Tho doubt this matters much. I imagine they get pretty hot regardless.

@Terry:

Wow that's a big panel. Expensive? Wind might put quite a bit of flex on that so might want to secure it in a few more places than a smaller one. 6 mounts maybe? How many batteries are 200AH? Adding 200W to your existing system or using the old panels elsewhere? If adding 200W, what's your total? That's a lot of juice!

Totem:

45 watt frame? So your 3 panels add up to 45watts? And so you store them on your bed or elsewhere when you're traveling? Sounds like a good system. Portable has its advantages to be sure. This frame is adjustable? And do you have to clean the roof where the suction cups attach? 45 mph winds are pretty strong. You deal with a lot of 45's!

Yep, Harbor Freight 3 x 15 watts...(intended for 1 marine grade battery which it more than handles nicely.) I don't see any point in using more than one battery as it does what I need it to; run the blower and the LED lights all night. If I need high power for stuff I run the engine and go endless loop off of the 30 amp/inverter . I store them in a hard gun case actually; so if I'm on a non boon docking trip they stay at home and don't add to rig weight, same as the small wind turbine (which i only use for deer camp). Had 45 MPH wind gusts in Cadillac/Mesick State hunting lands last season for sure; panels and frame didn't even flinch. My roof as a sunrader is always clean; its like a boat. I spit shine the areas real quick but no worries. (I clean and wax my roof regularly so it has a chick-let like appearance.) My next gun will be a 45. Right now its an XD 40, not everything is a 45 yet. speacking of which, the Stack on QAS 1000 mounts nice under the couch and using the seatbelt bolt you end up with a mount that cannot be removed. a nice upgrade. My 40 rides. Something of note: all solar panels output degrade over time in the sunlight. That's an expensive Item to lose to Sun-rot if you aren't making use of it all the time. Hence why I case mine when not in use.

[Jeffrey]

I'm in the process of adding a "solar system" to my Warrior. At this point I've mounted, on 2x6 frame, 7-50w panels (350 total). The frame is on hinges (on the driver side) and the panels are on hinges on the opposite side. That way the panels can tilt up from either side. However, the preferred side is tilting the panels (lighter that way) up towards the door side of the rig (entry door-south aspect).

I've mounted panels (12-50 watt- 12volt system) on a '63 Airstream (I'll try and download a picture of that) and, two systems (12 volt 600 watts)/(24 volt 1620 watts) on a cargo trailer (which I will also try and download some pictures).

I've just mounted the frame and the panels. Next I will attach cables from panels to combiner box (circuit breaker) followed by connecting combiner box to charge controller (Solar Boost 50) then to Inverter (Powerstar)/ 4 Batteries (Trojan 105's). Other than fewer panels and fewer batteries, this is the same system that I had on the Airstream.

The cargo trailer is a 24 volt system with the 9 - 180 volt panels, an Outback combiner box, an Outback MX 60 Charge Controller, a very large battery bank (Trojan 105's) and the Inverter (Magnum 4024 pure sine wave).

I wanted the 2x6 frame under the panels so as to give room to raise and lower, somewhat, the center vent. The weight of each panel is around 12 pounds (12 x 7 = 84 pounds) plus the weight of the 2x6's keep the total weight (combiner box, cables and hinges and various attachment screws/rivets not included) around 100 plus pounds. My RV manual says 100 pounds max up top. I tend to fudge knowing that a few extra pounds is generally okay. Anyway, as one can tell by the Airstream and Cargo trailers, I tend to push the limit and have been fortunate thus far. I tend to live my life on the edge (for the obvious advantages) so I'm will to take a chance, now and then.

I have a few options for the next step. PV cables to a combiner box that will be situated inside the 2x6 frame. Then two cables from combiner box to Charge Controller. THis is the tricky one. Over the side, which means trying keep the lovely lines of the Warrior aesthetically pleasing by following (which direction?), or straight over the side directly towards where the batteries and charger "might" be installed, the locker under couch/behind driver, or actually under the couch, or down the fridge vent to batteries/charge controller/inverter under dinette seat. One way or another, I'll show how this progresses after each step is accomplished.

I don't care for gas generators and having lived off the grid for many years, I prefer a "silent" energy source. Whereas most people calculate the size of their system based on their needs, my approach is to max out on panels and batteries so I have the option to add amenities along the way. I want to keep the fridge going 24/7 and not be on propane, necessarily. We don't like nuke your food boxes (microwave cooking) so that's not needed. Not sure on what it will take to keep the heater fan going at night, but that's where the propane will be used along with cooking. I do have a new Bergy XL.1 wind turbine ready to be mounted "somewhere", but that's a bit large for this RV. Maybe, someday, an "Air Breeze" turbine on a folding tower?

Until I figure out how to upload photos, for those that might be interested, I hope that the pictures (RV/Cargo trailer/Airstream) can be seen here...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54175126@N06/7882673910/in/photostream/lightbox/

[stamar]

I started off my journey thinking that I had enough power to power a laptop daily and read some books.

I have a 100 amp hour deep cell thats new.

charge the phone cells maybe. turn on the furnace when it gets cold.

NO WAY. NONE OF THAT. I cannot even make it through 12 hours of charging up my phone batteries and leaving a light on and the batteries dead.

The laptop can make it 4 hours or so before the inverter starts to shreik, then another hour on its own battery ( basically a strong case for making a 12 to 19v step upper and skipping inverting completely.)

to make a long story short, my deep cell cannot even keep up with charging my phone batteries. The cost of recharging the battery, which is just gas, is reaching at least 1-2 a day, thats litterally going nowhere.

I can see I literally need 100-150watt panel just to try to keep pace with lights and phone charging. Im still stuck going to internet cafes.

Heres my first investment.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0038026Y2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&smid=AU5MW0P13QZ5V

Im super detailed in shopping and this came across as the best deal.

The reason is... well truth be told I dont think I need to have a charge controller with a 10w panel at this point, overcharging is not a possibility.

However the included charger is a 3 amp which basically covers adding 5 more panels in parallel

or 9 more of these http://www.amazon.com/Instapark%C2%AE-Black-High-Efficiency-Mono-Crystalline-Solar/dp/B004FWXWGS/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1349492712&sr=8-16&keywords=10+watt+solar+panel

1 at a time, or a 50 watt panel in parralel.

http://www.amazon.com/LiteFuze%C2%AE-Mono-crystalline-Solar-Panel-Watt/dp/B0079OEPI8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1349492837&sr=8-3&keywords=50+watt+solar+panel

Ill be the first to tell you that this is not the wisest use of money because you can get a 150 watt panel with a good controller for 200$ and triple the capacity of this... 180$ system im showing.

But because Im strapped for cash it seems the 50$ investment will help, and then I can add on to it 5W at a time.

anybody have me beat as far as finding a better deal

[Eve "n" Stephen]

You can get a 20 watt, 12 volt panel from solar blvd for $29 or a 40 watt for $58, although you'd still have to get a charge controller. I've dealt with them often and been very pleased. They are knowledgeable and will help on the phone also.

What type of light? A 12V tail light bulb uses a lot of power, it's a pretty fair heater though! Even it should only use a bit over an amp, so should drain at most 15 amp/hours from your battery in 12 hours. If LED, it should use so little it won't even matter. The same with the phone battery, it should use a tiny amount of power.

You should never drain your battery more than 50% of it's capacity, so you really have about 50 amp hours available, more and you shorten the life of the battery quite a lot. It sounds like something else is draining things badly. The laptop, running of the inverter (what size?) is a bigger power drain, maybe 80 watts or so, call it 7 to 8 amps and the inverter loses some power also. You should be good for at least 6 hours of use before the battery is down much.

Steve

[stamar]

I also desperately need at least 2 led lights, probably 4.

for the overheads or the 2 den lights, or the kitchen whichever. I dont need to replace them all I can live with.... just 2.

If anyone whos a dolphin owner can just direct link me to led lights that are cheap and work im down.

My whole interior is filled with incadescent lights kind of like were in cars in the 60s. not working out for me its like leaving your parking lights on.

[stamar]

I am not even bothering to use the laptop at this point it has a 300 watt inverter.

It is a large gamer laptop with a 90w power supply. Im at the point where im burning gas to recharge the battery, its not worth it, Im back at coffee shops for the internet.

when i get my ideal laptop set up, I want to leave it on... 8 hours a day minimum. Id buy clear.com so I want to download. basically 24 hours a day, 12 hours or forget about it.

I will buy an ultrabook within a few months, no budget for it now.

it is just not useful. this battery is not even covering charging my phone batteries. I have the phone itself, and a external charger.

im looking at your panels.

the panels themselves would be addable on to my 50$ 10w system which also has all the cables necessary so unless i source the charger and cables for cheap

so your 20w panel seems to be the best deal for just a panel, at 30+ 10.50 for shipping or about 40. If I can get the cables and a controller for 10$ its a better deal

but im looking at it definitely.

[stamar]

I thank you for your link.

It still looks like my best bet is the 50 set up.

And then down the road buying two of the 20 watt panels you listed ( cuts down on the shipping too)

for a 50 watt system. two payments. sun blvd doesnt seem to have cheap cables and controllers just the panels

i think the parasitic draw was either from the inverter turned off , or for some reason the burner light just uses lots of juice.

[b987]

I also desperately need at least 2 led lights, probably 4.

for the overheads or the 2 den lights, or the kitchen whichever. I dont need to replace them all I can live with.... just 2.

If anyone whos a dolphin owner can just direct link me to led lights that are cheap and work im down.

My whole interior is filled with incadescent lights kind of like were in cars in the 60s. not working out for me its like leaving your parking lights on.

I use these in my Travelmaster. Not sure what fixtures you have in your Dolphin, but these are bayonet base, single contact. Hope this helps.

http://www.amazon.com/Ledwholesalers-Waterproof-Bayonet-Single-Contact/dp/B003TKI4VU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340137610&sr=8-1&keywords=led+bayonet+warm+white

[stamar]

thats it thanks

actually i have both kinds of rv bulbs ive got the bigs ones like you listed and ive got little ones too

but I want two of the big ones like that thanks thats it.

[stamar]

Im going to get the 20watt panel and no controller.

I went ahead and did a non scientific draw comparison.

with one phone battery plugged into the 12 volt recepticle, adn my phone plugged into power at the 300 watt inverter, and two or three lights.

the 3 amp battery charger in the converter could not keep up. it was losing charge and everntually the inverter whined.

Using the full sunlight numbers, thats a 120 watt solar panel, easy.

Putting a 20 watt solar panel is not going to overcharge my battery

Now if any expert could direct link me to the cables Ill need I would appreciate it

to connect this to my battery

http://www.solarblvd.com/Solar-Panels-&-Systems-Individual-Solar-Panels-20---50-Watt-(6)/c1_25_40/index.html

thanks so much

[Maineah]

The light bulbs are energy hogs 2.4 amps each you can run 12 LED's for the energy cost of one 1157. Laptops run around 3.5 amps plus about 10%-15% for inverter loss. An inverter left powered will draw power some worse then others it best to switch it or unplug it when not in use. The furnace is a huge energy hog at about 7 amps and so is a fridge on 12 volts as much as 12 amps. Water pumps with out acculators running too often drawing power there are many things to reduce power consumption. I use a pair of 80 amp group 27's that gives me 160 amps and using power saving tricks I can go a week with out a recharge. I am going to use a 65 watt panel and a controller next year on my annual outing to Canada it will be portable mounted so I can steer it during the day for max output because I intend so stay at least 2 weeks. Wiring losses increase with length so the shorter the better and if you think a #12 wire is good spend the extra money and buy #10

[waiter]

LED lamps and a Catalyst heater (i.e. WAVE3) will go a long way to conserve battery power. In the next three years, home electrical rates will be skyrocketing as most of the Coal fired power plants are taken off line. What we learn hear will pay off at home.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

[stamar]

I've got two led bulbs I'm going to get. I figure I can rely mostly on them and fire up the other ones later for short terms.

And then the 20 watt panel should help. I'm trying for a cheap fix I can expand.

I'm boondocked permanently. Even trying to throw in some plug in time adds no help, just doesn't charge up the battery fast enough.

I want to get another 100 amp hour battery because capacity will help, seeing as if you have to run the engine every day for power might as well get two charged.

Running my laptop in the rv isn't going to work at all I practically get an hour a day and the rest the engine has to be running. That will be the big expansion, an ultrabook with low power usage.

I've never even used the heater yet and the fridge is off I hope.u

[stamar]

Ya my goal is to run a laptop 24 hours a day.

Even your numbers of 3:5 amps which isn't my laptop

Needs a 120 watt panel in tuscon arizona just for daylight hours. So I'm a long long way off.

First thing is just to reach functional lights and phone battery and car stereo. Getting into 200 to 300 watts of solar is a far off thing

[Gary_M]

You really need to plan ahead before you take the plunge. There are sacrifices in trying to eat the whole enchilada when it comes to solar. Being a full timer compromise or supplement the solar setup you have and find places like local library to jack in with the laptop and charge a phone at the same time. Get a good book or magazine and relax. ;-)

I would do a load evaluation of what you want to run and for how long.

- Watts= (Volts x Amps) Multiply 1.15 for AC x hours per day x days per week. This should give you avg watt hours per day.

-Calculate the size of the solar array needed. This changes based on season. I factor by winter months because that is the least day of sun.

-Calculate the size of battery bank. You can have a kilowatt of watt hours but if you have small storage, you'll top off and the rest goes to air.

Consider a system based on your needs and factor/compromise where you can. You can start small and eventually get to your goal.

Note: Definitely get a solar controller. Some have a nice 12v connection feature where you can put a cigarette lighter adapter. Kind of like your own AC/DC box. Run only AC appliances off the inverter run DC appliances like phones from the DC connection from the controller. Going from DC to AC and back to DC off the inverter is very inefficient

Here is my set-up to give you an idea. I have 2/80 watt panels that charge this system.

Cheers,

[stamar]

The 10 watt kit from amazon comes with a controller that goes for 15 and a cable that goes for at least 15: assuming you do need both to start I think it can't be beat.

I don't have the money to set up 160watts anytime soon. I think throwing on 10 watts will work help something. Then expand the system with two of the 30 plus 10 shipping 20 watt panels.

50 watt solar set up. For now its that or nothing

Then more batterys and potentially better funded 150 watt panel and hdpq controller( goes for 35)

I just got another 12 volt phone charger, so I can charge my droid 2 and external battery from the 12 volt receptacle in back. That means I've. Unplugged the inverter and use it for nothing at the moment and it makes a huge difference

Once I get the 2 led lights and the 10 watt thing I might have electricity for the phone and light for days. Laptop is now just charge its own battery when the toy home is running, and used at coffee shops and librarys

[stamar]

For what it matters the capacity of one new deep cycle to run a stereo lights and charge phones greatly disapointed me or I greatly overestimated it.

But that's fine.

On the other hand a propane tank seems to hold enough to cook for an entire year. I have cooked once a day for weeks and haven't used any

[stamar]

Actually I don't think there is any device that a solar panel can keep pace with, even recharging phone batteries. I have six and can be charging 2 at a time. With the new more efficient method of 12 volt only chargers, and 3 lights, 3 amps does not cover it. That's a 120 watt solar panel during the day.

A laptop. Needs to be less than one third of my 90watts or like a ultrabook or netbooks with a 15 watt power supply, and 720 watts of panels just to run it during the day.

My whole dream is almost ridiculous looking at the reality.

[Eve "n" Stephen]

Has your battery ever had a full charge? Something's not right here! It sounds more like you got the battery and it either wasn't fully charged to begin with or you ran it down and then never got it back up very far, so it drained rapidly. Running the truck for an hour or 2 won't fully charge it from dead. I believe that from dead, 100 AH battery will take something like 8 hours of driving to fully charge from dead. Keeping the battery at low levels of charge is a quick way to ruin it.

I have a 100 watt panel and 105 A/H battery. It is not hooked into the Sunrader's charging system at all. I run all my electricals from this. 400 watt inverter for the coffee grinder, charging 2 digital SLR camera batteries and running my laptop, 12 V direct to the LED lights, water pump and stereo. I use the laptop from 1-3 hours a day doing Photoshop work and writing, the lights anywhere from 2-8 hours a day and the stereo 2-4 hours a day. We've never run low on power, even in cloudy weather. We've never run the heater for long periods , but sometimes it sees 1 or 2 hours of intermittent use as well.

Steve

[stamar]

Well if my battery needs 8 hours to fully charge it, it will never be fully recharged ever.

lol.

fortunately its a costco and I can turn it in.however i just turned it in last month might as well let it die some more.

I was commenting on how plugged in and recharging with my converters 3 amp charger the battery still is losing ground.

I have charged it for an hour and the battery monitor says it is 3/4 full. It never says its 4/4 full even when it was new or after an 8 hour drive.

I am pretty sure the inverter was what was making the thing die. Im not sure what the capacity is if it has lessened but it was 100 and its only been um a month.

discharged twice though.

I dont actually see that it matters what its capacity is yet If I doubled my capacity I still have to recharge it with the trucks alternator which costs a lot of money, only twice as long.

Theres really no purpose to more batteries at this point.

A car battery should be fully charged after an hour though.

Definitely sounds good though, 100 watts keeping pace with some of that. Ill see what 10 watts keeps pace with first.

And definitely eliminate as much electrical use as I can, as Im definitely not putting out much to generate any.

at first i just left the overhead lights on when i slept and sometimes even the fan. Thats done until i get my led bulbs.

[Maineah]

Guess you have to figure the duty cycle most phone batteries will charge in an hour or less and how long do you use the computer? I put a watt meter on my laptop and in use charging it uses 45 watts again maybe an hour charge time. It maybe more effective to use the laptop battery then recharge. it At some point unless you sit inside on the computer your solar panel is winning and the battery is charging. With no charging of my batteries (160 amps) during 7 days the voltage dropped to 12.4 volts. During that time I used my 100 watt ham radio (max time maybe 1 hour transmit) a Fantastic fan (when the thermostat said it was too hot) my water pump, radio with sub woofer and my LED lighting granted except for the fan most of my use was at night for maybe 2 hours tops. There is a great little gadget called Kill-A-Watt it is a meter that reads AC usage it displays watts, KW hours voltage, amps and a few other things they are around $20 on sale it maybe a good start to see just how much your plug in stuff really is using. The max sun light is rated 1000 watts per square meter and that is directly over head at the equator this is why I intend to steer my 65 watt panel with a volt meter to take advantage of the relatively small amount of power.

[Eve "n" Stephen]

Batteries are not all the same! A battery designed to start your vehicle has lots of thin plates inside that are set up to send out a huge amount of power (possibly 300 or more amps for a few seconds) for a very short time, starting the vehicle. Normally, this discharges the battery around 5% and the rest of the time, as you drive, it stays full, or as it is called at float voltage, which is around 14 volts. This type battery is very poor at being discharged more than 10% and then only for short times.

A deep cycle battery is more on the order of a slow discharge over a long period of time. It too, needs to reach full charge somewhat regularily, but works well if not discharged more than 50%. This type should not be drawn on at more than about 20% of it's capacity max. So if it's a 12V, 100 AH battery, the load really shouldn't be more than 20 amps at the max, if you want the battery to last. The internal chemistry will be damaged if it doesn't get back up to full a couple times a month, this shortens the lifespan a lot! Running it dead also is very bad for the battery.

If it is the type you add water to, use only distilled water. Most water has impurities that are "poison" to the internal chemistry. Be aware also that batteries give off highly flammable/explosive gas, hydrogen, when charging, so make sure it is well vented!

Steve

[stamar]

Ya Im trying to definitely cut down on the amount of miles the toyhome is moving at the moment, also.

As the reality sinks in I dont want to be burning more gas just for lights that are low on the necessary part at the moment.

down the road Ill look into a more powerful alternator as well.

[stamar]

my deep cell has its own compartment . vented out someway and lockable.

I dont know what the onboard battery thing detects as far as charge because I doubt it does a load test.

If it does its at as close to max as its ever been. It doesnt show full max even when the cars running.

I dont think there is anything wrong with it actually. 8-10 hours of a light, a stereo and a inverter take it down from 50% to 0

But currently as you just pointed out I have no way at all to fully recharge it. I will not be running my car for 8 hours to recharge it when it goes down.

[stamar]

I looked it up and oreilly and autozone charge your battery for free.

Going to take it there tommorow.

Having no way other than the onboard thing to test it, which says its 3/4th full might as well have a point of reference

Ive ran my car idling for an hour a few times this week and cut my electricity to low.

But it could be 60-75% full I wouldnt know. I may go to them regularly until I have some better solution.

[Maineah]

Don't know what you have for a charging system old converter/chargers were very poor chargers low amp output and poor voltage regulation newer converter/chargers charge at 45 amps as compared to the stock one at about 3 amps. Charging your battery with the camper is not real effective unless you are driving it at speed. The loss in the wiring run makes it even worse. While you drive the amount of power charging the battery is not a factor as far as fuel use but sitting still charging it is. Idling produces zero mile per gallon.

[stamar]

I have an old one. It says 3 amps on its inside cover.

Ive seen ones older than mine on the site.

Mine has glass fuses going to each 12 volt distribution.

In my situation, taking my rv to where I can plug in and waiting for it to charge is pointless because I use more power using the lights and using my smart phone plugged in than its adding.

So if it were up to me...... I think id throw it away. Quite heavy and with a huge thick long cord and worth about nothing at all to me.

actually buying a better one doesnt really interest me a better one would be marginally useful though.

right now Im eyeing the place where the long cable is stored to put in 2 more cells....

im just not feeling the converter boxes usefulness it seems very worthless.

In the event Im stuck in a spot with shore power, which I wont be often, ill actually buy a a long extension cord and a power strip to plug in.

in the event i want to charge my batteries at a plug in, an actual battery charger that i could leave there at the plug in with the battery seems about 100 times more useful than one attached to a 21 foot motorhome.

[Eve "n" Stephen]

Charging at 3 amps would take at least 35 hours from dead, probably longer as none of this is 100% efficient. You might pick up a plug in battery charger, I found a nice one that will charge at up to 12 amps at a yard sale for $5, plugged in somewhere, that will still take overnight though. If you are plugged in and run everything off the 110V circuit, a table light, your laptop, etc., an overnight stay might charge you up. There's a limit as to how fast you can charge a battery, before doing major damage though. The charge can start pretty heavy, but needs to taper off as the battery charges.

There's a thing that defines the charge/discharge rate. If you have a 100 AH battery, C10 would be the rate that would charge it at 10% of it's capacity per hour (10amps). Most batteries can take this charge rate even unregulated without damage as long as they are disconnected after they get a full charge. Generally, anything over that needs careful regulation. Charging really fast, like an hour or 2 from dead is really bad for most batteries of the deep cycle type.

Steve

[stamar]

ya man i hear you its totally worthless. If it wasnt screwed in i would have thrown it away already just to make

room. I dont suppose it has much resale value does it? Im definitely thinking of just throwing it away when i have time.

[Derek up North]

I looked it up and oreilly and autozone charge your battery for free.

They'll do a fast charge before testing a 'starter' battery. I'm no expert, but I'm not sure how complete a charge this would do to a deep-cycle battery and if 'forcing' it would damage it. I wouldn't expect the 'counter monkeys' at O'Reileys or AutoZone to be 'Experts' either.