Thanks etc (1 Viewer)

[peterrv]

Thank you for your help with the step/radio problem, it turned out to be flat batteries, now replaced at £300!! I have two leisure 110ah and two starter 75ah batteries on my 6.5 Georgie Boy what's the best way to trickle charge them when camping? Solar panel, mains charger or what ideas do you have for best value system? Hopefully this will save £300 next time. Thanks in anticipation Peterrv

 

[Larrynwin]

Hiya Pete, I have two 120w solar panels giving around 12 amps under good sunlight but in most daylight conditions give a trickle to the batteries.
These are controlled by a regulator which puts most power to the domestic batteries and trickles around 1-2 amps to the starter battery.
In line I have a Nasa BM1 battery monitor which has a 4" sq screen and give a readout for all batteries state, how much charge in etc , a useful bit of kit as you know where you are .
Without hook up in the summer using tv etc no problem.

Larry

 

[pappajohn]

your engine batteries should last for quite a few weeks at least and probably quite a bit longer if no alarms etc are powered by them so regular charging shouldn't be necessary except on a winter layup, when a mains charger could be connected every couple of weeks or so for a couple of hours only just to top up.

if you plan on mainly using campsites then your leisure batteries will benefit from mains hookup and should remain well charged.

if you plan on going to rally's/shows etc, where hookup is usually unavailable, then another power source may/will be needed.

solar is the next best option for leisure batteries in my opinion, but is obviously dependant on hours of sunshine, strength of the sun and the amount of power you use.
obviously, if you use more power than you can put back in you will end up with flat batteries eventually.

a 130watt panel may produce around 7 to 8 amps per hour of bright sunshine, but as little as a few milliamps on a dull day, barely enough to keep an unused battery topped up...never mind one in use :Sad: )

having an American RV you can save quite a lot of battery power by fitting LED lighting.
if like my Rexhall, you have florescent strip lights, they are very power hungry.

with all my lights on it amounted to 26amps per hour.....i changed to LED strips and now use around 3amps per hour with all turned on.
i have a 170watt solar panel but running the lights as they were would use 2.5 times more than i could put back in.

the real trick is to use the minimum power you can against how much power you can put in your batteries from whatever source you have.

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