Enough power to support dry camping? Tour 42AD

[gurroz]

Originally Posted by Dives2little

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.

Dives2little, I am a little confused. You said you have 200AH of batteries, but in your next post said you have 8 AGM batteries. Eight AGM batteries is going to provide much more than 200AH. Can you clarify?

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Wayne M

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

I believe that most of these newer WBGO Class As have the Onan EC30 controller, so that means it would have Auto Gen Start.

Some have a software problem that needs an update to fix and I think it requires sending the EC30 physically back to Onan.

I think folks with the problem will see the Gen try to auto start and if it doesn't catch right away it gives up and resets to manual. After the update it tries up to 4 or 5 times and then gives up.

I've only used the AGS once on mine and messed up a setting. I had it set for auto start at 12.2v and it didn't start... because I also had quiet time on and set for 8 am so, without the the gen, the inverter cut off at 6:30am. Of course, I was in a place that had no quiet time rules (a Harvest Host that didn't open until noon that had no restrictions). I totally forgot that I had activated the quiet switch.

I also set my inverter to turn off at 12.1v which means I didn't discharge below 50%. So, I need to work on all of these settings.

By the way - the reason the voltage dropped so low over night was we went to bed at 89% state of charge and then it got pretty cold and the heater ran more than expected when set to 61 degrees.

I've found like anything in RVing, dry camping takes experience to figure all the little details out.

[DavidM]

Originally Posted by creativepart

I've found like anything in RVing, dry camping takes experience to figure all the little details out.

Isn't that the truth!!!

Probably 75% or more of these questions that are being asked about dry camping could be answered by the OP himself by just going out and trying it for a few days especially with a shunt based battery monitor installed so you know exactly what is going on minute by minute.

Many of these threads never reach a conclusion because we don't know the loads, the battery capacity and/or the availability of charging sources to reach a good conclusion.

So with that in mind, here are three shunt based battery monitors starting at a high end, quality unit; moving to a simpler but capable unit; and finally a very basic, cheap unit that does seem to work ok:

Victron- https://www.amazon.com/Victron-Energ...NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Renogy- https://www.amazon.com/Renogy-500A-B...s%2C542&sr=8-2

Drok- https://www.amazon.com/Charge-Discha...1827630&sr=8-8

The Drok is particularly interesting. It not only is dirt cheap, it has a Hall Effect current sensor (same as used in clamp on ammeters) that is easily installed without doing any wire cutting and installing ring terminals. I used an earlier version with a shunt sensor and it works.

David

[imnprsd]

Hmmm... Since all of you have helped me understand my battery grid, I will not presume to correct anything already discussed, but I will share my two cents on subjects I know to be true and/or believe to be factual.

First off, a Tour is a beautiful coach. And I find it particularly interesting that the state of the art RV power grid used 2012 is the same technology used in my 2004 Itasca Horizon 40AD. Plus your 2012 Tour EMS looks just like my 2004 EMS panel.

This is to be expected if you follow the mantra: "Don't fix it if it's not broke."

In 2020, we still don't have that many technology improvements, but 4 are worth mentioning:

1) Pure sine wave inverters.

2) Solar panels and controllers.

3) Battery maintainers with better equalization algorithms and "pulse" technology.

4) Cheaper AGM batteries and hopefully soon Lithium Ion batteries.

And over this time, owners are installing cheaper LCD-TVs, residential refrigerators, and CPAP machines.

==> So the question is: "Should you dump your old Dimensions Inverter/Charger with internal transfer switch in favor of a PSW Inverter/Charger?"

And IMO, the answer is: Yes! ...But I would not spend the money until your Dimensions inverter fails. Why?

IMO your appliances will not work better, and your battery life will not last longer than what you already have, if you have a Dimensions inverter.

Specifically, the Dimension Inverter/Charger (Quasi-sine type) is NOT the same square wave as the Magnum or Freedom/Xantrex square-wave types. So please don't lump these in the same hopper.

Does your newer residential refrigerator need a pure sine wave inverter?

IMO, yes and no. My 2015 Frigidaire 16.5 cu-ft fridge is running just great on my Dimensions Quasi-sine Power; as does my computer, LCD TV, and CPAP machine. So again, don't confuse other owners complaints about using a MSW inverter to a Dimensions Quasi-sine Inverter/Charger.

Specifically, I don't recall reading about any RV owner with a Dimensions charger complaining about any of their appliances having issues; and I am one of those Dimensions Owners that have no complaints.

Note: Some refrigerators are more sensitive to "dirty power" than others. This has to do with their own internal inverter board. And the dirty power I am referring includes all square sine wave inverters from Magnum and Xantrex, which you can still buy today, but again... these complaints do not include the Dimensions quasi-sine inverters.

* For peace of mind: "Yes," having PSW inverter give you that. Just keep in mind, if you only use your RV 3-4 months per year, then over a 15 year period you will not have that much use on your RV residential refrigerator. So even if using a Dimensions Inverter (with quasi-sine waveform technology) does reduce the useful life of your residential refrigerator in your RV, you will not experience a field failure in your life time! ...So why spend the money on a PSW inverter? ...Unless you are the type that always has to have the best? ...And frankly, I have no problem with that! ...It's your money and you can't take it with you!

6 batteries are great! ...But all coaches will find it hard to add addition batteries due to weight. This requires a larger, beefier, battery rack and most RV have no easy answer when it comes to adding more batteries. Plus it's often not necessary unless you really want to boondock for longer period of time.

I only have 4 batteries (430AH) and yes it would be a little more convenient to have 6. But this option really does NOT matter to me since I'm always driving or staying in RV parks with shore power. And in the summer, when I need AC, I have to run the generator anyway so again having more batteries or solar power is not a factor.

The only time you need more batteries is when you camp for more than 2 or three days; or you just want to reduce your generator run time, which is where solar power comes in handy vs. the cost of fuel to power your generator. ...And don't think this is insignificant, because you can spend a lot of money (for fuel per gallon) every season to power-up your genset, depending on your needs.

Also, when traveling in sub-40F weather and you need to run your heater-blower, then that can be very taxing on your battery AH use and storage -- especially if you don't let your batteries fall below 40% SOC.

QUESTION:

In 30F-45F weather, can anyone tell me if they prefer to run their suburban heater/blower or if you prefer to use a blanket-heater?

Note: They say, with a square wave inverter, it's safer to buy the blanket-heater that has a OLDER STYLE ROTATING DIAL and not the type that has a digital display. This apparently for safety reasons I will not go into here, but you might want to know about if you are thinking about buying a heated-blanket.

[lenny-shawna]

Originally Posted by gurroz

Dives2little, I am a little confused. You said you have 200AH of batteries, but in your next post said you have 8 AGM batteries. Eight AGM batteries is going to provide much more than 200AH. Can you clarify?

I do not know the size of his batteries but lets say he has 6 batteries and they are 12v 110 amp hr. 6 x 100 = 600 amp hr. Because they are not lithium he can only discharge them to a maximum of 50% SOC which equals 300 amp hr.

I had a Winnebago Tour 42qd and now I have a Dutchstar with a more efficient 6 v system. I also upgraded my battery pack from 8 lead acid 220 amp hr to Lifeline 8 300 amp hr batteries. Because they are 6v it will take 2 batteries to make a 12v cycle so I have 8 x 300 = 2400/2 = 1200 amp hr and again the 50% SOC rule brings me down to 600 amp hr max.

Hope that helps