2014 forza 34t dry docking questions

pcracer · 10-24-2022, 06:08 PM

1st time here, hello all. 4th rv, 2nd diesel pusher. This has residential fridge. I have magnum 2000 watt inverter. I am used to an rv setup, propane option, or gen, or shore. i could easily figure and monitor propane use to keep fridge going. With the winnie setup, i am a bit blind. the manual for the inverter is waay too much for me.

I am going on a trial run, 3 days at a road race without power. Is there a way to understand when I need to kick in the gen to resupply the batteries to power the fridge. Also, how long do I need to run it. Are there voltage readings from the display that will tell me that I need to start the gen or even turn engine on to restore engine battery drop?

It was easier with other rv's but I am confident this unit kicks butt on what I've previously owned. Any help is appreciated. Thanks all.

deckape · 10-24-2022, 06:25 PM

There in a auto start on the gen when you get to a certain battery voltage . Look thru your manual on how to set it up . You should be able to run the frig for a couple of days before you need to charge batteries . I just run gen 2 hours in morning while we do breakfast , then 2 hours at night while doing dinner . That amount of time keeps everything up and charged . Go thru gen section in your manual . Have a 2018 34T Forza also .

pcracer · 10-24-2022, 06:53 PM

Thank you for the reply. It became apparent to me, I need to call Magnum. I saw auto start was off but did not see how to set that up. I am confident this unit can last for a week with every component up to spec. I will log info I see. Beauty is Daytona is 40 miles from home. HSR 24 hour race will be fun regardless. Cheers and thanks.

**creativepart** · 10-24-2022, 07:38 PM

Here’s some info based on my similar experiences. On pure battery power alone assuming you have the same 400 amp hours of house battery bank you can only make it overnight or about 12 hrs before getting close to 50% depth of discharge. Especially if you’re running the LP heater, as well.

When we dry camped with that setup we ran the generator an hour or so first thing in the morning during breakfast prep for the coffee maker and microwave. We also have 300w of solar. So many days the sun topped up my batteries to 90%. But any time we needed to use a high draw appliance, like the microwave, we’d run the generator for a few minutes.

Then during dinner prep and after dinner TV watching we’d run the generator for 1-2 hours.

That would take care of us till the next day. Usually a total of 2 to 3 hours of generator time spread out during the day was all we needed.

I hope this helps.

**creativepart** · 10-24-2022, 08:07 PM

About the auto start… it definitely works but it is more difficult to setup and get all the various details correct. You can find it starting up in the middle of the night waking everyone up. Or not starting when you expect it will. The Onan EC30 has lots of options that seem straight forward but we found it unreliable. I’m sure it was that we didn’t set it up correctly but running the generator manually always did exactly as we wanted.