Enough power to support dry camping? Tour 42AD - Page 2

LSU2MT · 08-09-2020, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by creativepart

Well, not necessarily.

A large diesel pusher motorhome is very likely to have an inverter charger.

Smaller travel trailers, 5th wheels and B and C vans/motorhomes with RV fridges are most likely to have a DC Converter/Charger because they only have one or two batteries for a house bank. The converter does just that, it converts 110v shore power/genset power into 12v to power all 12 appliances. Many times these smaller RVs will have a small (less than 1000w) inverter to convert 12v from the battery bank into 110v for limited needs - such as TV, bathroom receptacle or bedroom receptacle for a clock or a CPAP machine. The converter is paired with a battery charger so it does dual duty of providing 12v power to appliances and lights and acts as a battery charger, too.

On older less fully featured motorhomes that didn't come with a residential fridge it would be comon to have a Converter/Charger and again, a small inverter wired for limited usage.

Large 42' diesel pushers like yours have more complex electronics and if fairly new are likely to have a large house battery bank and an inverter/charger instead of a converter/charger.

When your motorhome has an inverter/charger all the 12v appliance run off of the battery bank. So, a converter isn't needed. Even when plugged into shore power your 12v items (pumps, lights, etc) are running off of your batteries and in the background the charger portion of your inverter/charger is at the same time charging the batteries as they are in use.

Since you have a 2000 w inverter, there's a good chance it's a charger too. I would guess that a 10 year old inverter could likely be a MSW inverter and if so you may want to consider changing it to a PSW inverter. Especially with a new residential fridge. Some will run fine on MSW inverters... but others not at all. Same if you are updating the TVs. So, this is something to look into.

Do you know the model name and number of your inverter? That would answer a lot of questions.

After seeing the specs on my inv would you recommend replacing it? If I were to replace it with a better inverter what about the converter?

thanks

**creativepart** · 08-09-2020, 02:50 PM

It is a Quasi-sine wave, with waveform stabilizer which means it's a Modified Sine Wave inverter, the older not as good type.

Some TVs, fridges, chargers and such don't run well on a MSW inverter. Back 10 years ago MSW inverters were much more affordable that Pure Sine Wave inverters. So, they used those kinds in many RVs.

Nowadays, the Pure Sine Wave inverters are much cheaper and due to the limitations I noted above most all motorhomes come with PSW inverters.

To update your inverter to a 2000w PSW inverter Charger would probably cost you $1,200 to $1,500.

If you decide not to upgrade the inverter/charger then make positive sure that the fridge and other items inside the motor home that you want to run are OK with the MSW inverter.

**creativepart** · 08-09-2020, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSU2MT

If I were to replace it with a better inverter what about the converter?

You don't have a converter, as I described in my long post above. Big motorhomes equipped with inverter/chargers don't commonly have a converter.

**creativepart** · 08-09-2020, 02:57 PM

Here's a link to your Inverter/charger's spec sheet:

https://www.magnum-dimensions.com/si...Kw%20final.pdf

Dimensions is now "Magnum-Dimensions" and the family of inverters that currently would replace your current inverter are the MS2000 family. The MS2012 would be a direct replacement.

https://www.amazon.com/Magnum-MS2012...dp/B002MW6PHG/

The MS2812 would be a slightly larger inverter giving you more power. It costs about $300 more but would allow you to run more things from your battery bank via the 2800w inverter.

These inverters come with different sized chargers - 50 amp or 100 amp, etc.

You will probably need to upgrade that Dimensions controller/monitor panel as well. I don't know if a new inverter comes with the monitor panel or not. If not the ARC50 is the current Monitor for these inverters and they cost an additional $200.

RJL · 08-09-2020, 03:13 PM

Wow what a wealth of knowledge you guys have. We did go look at the 42AD yesterday and decided to make an offer on it. It has all new tires and 6 new Interstate batteries. Not sure what the batteries are since they are installed in the cargo bay and hard to get a good look at them without removing one. I'll find out more should they decide to accept our offer and we take possession but I'll certainly continue to follow this post. Thank you all!

LSU2MT · 08-09-2020, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJL

Wow what a wealth of knowledge you guys have. We did go look at the 42AD yesterday and decided to make an offer on it. It has all new tires and 6 new Interstate batteries. Not sure what the batteries are since they are installed in the cargo bay and hard to get a good look at them without removing one. I'll find out more should they decide to accept our offer and we take possession but I'll certainly continue to follow this post. Thank you all!

mine had 6 starting batteries which is what started all this...and i agree, these guys are super helpful!

LSU2MT · 08-09-2020, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by creativepart

You don't have a converter, as I described in my long post above. Big motorhomes equipped with inverter/chargers don't commonly have a converter.

4th time was the charm...thanks. No converter. Took me a few times reading it to get it. You know your stuff and i appreciate your time! Im ripping floors out, redoing the walls, lots of stuff but the electrical side is what worried me.

Dives2little · 08-12-2020, 04:40 PM

We have a 2016 42qd with a residential fridge. We have 200AH of batteries. My wife's CPAP and the 'fridge all run happily overnight(8-9 hours) while boondocking. We make sure to top off the batteries before bedtime and usually have a enough safety margin to make a couple cups of coffee before we start the generator up.

RJL · 08-12-2020, 05:30 PM

Thank you Dives2little for your response. I'm not real up to speed about batteries yet so is that 4 or 6 batteries and what type are they?

Dives2little · 08-12-2020, 05:38 PM

I have 8 AGMs, which you probably do, also. I also "sucked it up" and installed 750W of solar-lots of real estate on the roof!

We fnd that with a little planning, we can push out toward 10 days, dry, with careful power and water management

bobmac · 08-12-2020, 06:01 PM

The 10 watt solar panel my 09 Journey was connected to the chassis battery. The connection is behind the DS rear most panel with all the wiring connections for 12v Items. I have a Dimensions MSW - modified sine wave - inverter. All Samung fridges evidently convert the AC power source to DC so an MSW works fine with no issues for me.
I added 400 watts of solar to the roof in 2013 when I installed my Samsung fridge and they have proven to be an excellent addition. With solar, more is better but the 4 panels were the limit for my solar controller. If we are boondocking overnight, I set Onan EC-30 to automatically start the genset to top the batteries when the drop to 12.2v and shutoff when they reach 13.4volts. Typically in the heat of summer, the genset will run twice overnight for about 30 minutes each time topping off the batteries.
The res fridge has been the best addition for us - bar none as we prefer to cook rather than eat out. Once you have it, I am sure you will agree.
A note on adding solar - the cost of mine was about $600 for everything and I installed them myself. It is ultra simple and I connected it to a common house-chassis feed point in the 12v area behind the ds rear axle so both batteries get charged. My house batteries lasted 6 plus years and the two chassis batteries are now 8 years old and work fine. My coach is stored outdoors year round with full sun available so the solar panels have really paid for themselves. Good luck,

lenny-shawna · 08-12-2020, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJL

Hello everyone,
My wife and I are currently looking to upgrade from our Minnie Winnie back to a diesel pusher. We are former full timers (5 yrs) when we had a 09 Itasca Ellipse but downsized for a while when we went back to bricks. We are currently looking at purchasing a 2012 Tour 42AD. My question is that this unit has a residential fridge and I am wondering if there would be any power issues when dry camping? We would be doing this for several days at a time and I am uncertain if the battery bank would be able to support dry camping. we would obviously be able to run the gen set for a few hours a day but wondering if that would be enough to charge up the batteries and keep the refrigerator cold.Thanks for any input you may have! Rick

In both my current and previous coach a Winn Tour 42qd we were not able to go Much. Ore than overnight without running the generator. My current coach is a Dutchstar with the more efficient 6 volt batteries and I upgraded all 8 of the to Lifelines 300 amp hr and while they are a good upgrade, I still must run the gen to charge them.
I do not have solar.

Safe travels

thataway4 · 08-12-2020, 07:30 PM

We exchanged a 12V DC/120V AC, Propane refer, for a 22 cu foot Samsung refer/freezer. With a Magnum 2000 watt PSW inverter 110 amp charger, and 200 watt solar panel, we would run about 1.5 hours morning and evening.

The solar panel will help to top off the battery--but as noted you will never really get fully charged unless you are on generator or mains power for a number of. hours.

Today I would probably add 400 amp hours of LiFePO4 batteries to cover that load, and go with at least a 100 amp charger--better if you can get a 200 amp charger. The "converters" just don't do it. You want a robust charger which will crank out the amps. I use the LiFePO4 in my boat to do all cooking (induction, microwave, plus two chest type refer/freezers--works well--but I am using charging at 30 amps off an alternator when running the boat each day.

Another alternative, at slightly less cost is the Carbon Foam Firefly batteries.

The key is enough usable battery power and Solar adequate to keep the battery up during the day--fast charging off the generator when necessary.

Wayne M · 10-01-2020, 07:29 PM

When you get it call Winnebago with these questions. Does the Quick Disconnects need to be in the on position to charge the batteries? Is there a trickle charger and will it charge both service and house batteries? If the step is left in the ON position will there be enough charge voltage/current to charge the batteries or should the step be in the Off position.

I was surprised by the answers when I called about my 2008. Every week and a half to two weeks I'd go to the MH and have 11.8v on the service batteries. The converter could not keep up with the draw rate of the steps. I have found the Winnebago support line to be extremely helpful.

For miscellaneous parts Lichtsinn RV, in Forest City, IA. They have been extremely helpful with Winni parts. They are only 1 mile from the factory.

RJL · 10-01-2020, 08:13 PM

Thank you Wayne M! All very good questions. We did get the Tour but been very busy fixing up a few little things here and there. I'm very familiar with Lichtinn RV due to the days spent at the service center at the factory when we had our 09 Ellipse. We traveled through Iowa often due to our family being all back in Minnesota. I am assuming at this point Iwill have to put a few panels on the roof along with some gen time in the morning and afternoon but I like your advice about contacting them. Maybe they can help point me in the right direction. Thanks again, Rick

lenny-shawna · 10-02-2020, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJL

Thank you DavidM. Unfortunately at this time I am unable to answer most of your questions since I am not seeing it until tomorrow. The build sheet says it was a "Residential Refrigerator Package Option" that was installed when it was built so I am assuming it would not have a 12V or propane option.. From the reading I have done it appears they put in either 2 additional batteries or larger capacity batteries when that package is installed. Thank you for your response and I'll probably post more specifics after I've looked at it.

Our first dp was a Tour 42qd with a residential fridge. If your 2012 has original batteries they will most likely need replacement.

Winnebago uses 12v batteries vs my current coach which uses a more efficient 6v battery system.

In either case, those batteries will basically get you through the night. One tidbit, my current coach also has another fridge/freezer in the slide bay on the passenger side.

I replaced both coach batteries as we also like to boondock. I had 220 lead acid batteries on my current coach and replaced all 8 of them with Lifeline AGM 300 amp hr batteries, a nice improvement for sure but not enough to last a full day without running the gen.

So, if you like to boondock, increasing your battery amp capacity along with solar may be a worthwhile investment for your enjoyment. I do not recommend lead acid batteries as they require maintenance and life is way to short to keep filling the batteries especially where Winnebago installs their batteries. It is in my opinion the best location as they are basically hidden under the floor of the full slide out compartment but not for having to maintain them.

In either case, think long and hard about how you plan to use your rig and how much of an investment you wish to make.

Safe travels

RJL · 10-02-2020, 08:21 PM

We have not tried the boondocking yet and I still have to find out what batteries are in it. I know they were replaced but don't know what was installed. It was done prior to my ownership. Thank you for the advice!

Americanrascal · 10-04-2020, 05:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJL

Hello everyone,
My wife and I are currently looking to upgrade from our Minnie Winnie back to a diesel pusher. We are former full timers (5 yrs) when we had a 09 Itasca Ellipse but downsized for a while when we went back to bricks. We are currently looking at purchasing a 2012 Tour 42AD. My question is that this unit has a residential fridge and I am wondering if there would be any power issues when dry camping? We would be doing this for several days at a time and I am uncertain if the battery bank would be able to support dry camping. we would obviously be able to run the gen set for a few hours a day but wondering if that would be enough to charge up the batteries and keep the refrigerator cold.Thanks for any input you may have! Rick

We've had difficulty keeping our 4 -110 amp AGM NAPA house batteries up while dry camping-- primarily due to the draw by the residential fridge and some phantom loads. We have not been able to go more than 12 hours at the most without running the genny to recharge from a low of 12v. The good news was that usually we could rehcarge with the genny running at around 1.5 to 2 hours. We were able to get the batteries back up to a good level that would keep us charged for another 12 hours. But we really had to keep a close eye on our charge levels. When we dropped to 12 volts we cranked up the genny. Other than the need for at least 2X a day recharges and limitations on hours allowed for use of generators in the park, we had no problems.

Our batteries are about 5 yrs old now and we are ready to start shopping for new ones. We do not dry camp enough to justify a changeout to Lithiums so we'll stay with AGM deep cycles.

**creativepart** · 10-04-2020, 07:17 AM

Joe, you’ll make dry camping even easier if you install an amp based battery monitor and stop using volts to gauge battery charge. A shunt-based battery monitor gives you state of charge in percentages of Amps remaining and doesn’t need to have your batteries at rest to be accurate.

My Adventurer has a similar, if not the same setup as yours, And I get the same results. 12 hours of battery usage, morning and evening generator runs and another 12 hours of usage. However, my RV came with a solar option and I’ve also added two more panels. I only have 300w of solar but this shortens the morning generator run to about 45 min and the nighttime to about 90 mins - depending on the amount of sun and our nighttime usage.

Wayne M · 10-04-2020, 08:38 AM

Doesn't the 2012 have the ability to start the generator automatically at a set voltage that you program in?

I have mine set at 12.4 v and it works like a charm. When the batteries get up to charge the generator shuts off. It does the same thing or A/C demand, or loss of pedestal power if plugged in.