We drove from Pendleton, Oregon to Hood River, OR today. We probably would have spent another night at the Wildhorse Casino if it were not for the $40 a night rates. I have no idea why a Casino would chase people away with high rares and few services, not even showers.
It was a beautiful, clear, sunny, warm morning and it got better as we approached the Columbia River and the left turn towards Portland. We stopped at the sometimes friendly and sometimes not so friendly Walmart in Hood River and parked right in front of the "No RV's", "No Overnight Parking" and "No Camping" signs and went in to ask if it was OK to park overnight. We were told yes, it was fine as long as we were gone in the morning. We will be.
Remember all the battery problems we had on the way down last year? I sure do. We replaced the two 6 volt batteries, the converter and then the batteries again!
We never boondocked after that so the new system was never put to the test. Two nights ago we overnighted in a Walmart and watched some TV. We had bought a new 26 inch TV that uses more power than the old one but with just the TV and Shaw Direct box on the battery steadily fell from 12.9 when it settled down after we parked to 12.4 a couple of hours later. and the amber warning light came on on my high tech battery monitor. Crap! It must also be noted that the weather was cloudy when we parked so the solar was of no help.
Today we are parked at another Walmart but under a bright sun and the battery monitor is jumping between 13.1 and 14 volts depending on whether there is a small cloud shading the panels or not.
I have two solar panels giving 225 total watts and two 6 volt batteries in series to make 12 volts.
I am thinking I might add two more 6 volt batteries in a series/parallel circuit to give me still 12 volts but double the amps. It will take a little longer to charge them but that should not be a problem. It will also add a couple of hundred pounds of weight to the right hand side but that is a fair trade off for the extra amperage.
Wow! The TV has been on for an hour and the voltage is currently at 13.94. The system I have now would be fine as long as we are in sunshine. But we are not always in sunshine. I am musing...
We have four 6 volt batteries and 240 watts of solar. Even when we draw them down to 12.2 volts, if we have full sun the next day they are charged up by 1pm or so. So I'd agree with you, you need two more 6 volt batteries. But it's hard to justify because you don't boondock enough to make it worth your while.
ReplyDeleteAnd hence the conundrum. Two more $65 US batteries. If I could convince Norma to spend three or four nights boondocking instead of staying in $40 a night RV parks it would pay for the batteries. Offering her all the TV and lights she wants might do the trick.
DeleteWe have 230 watts of solar and 2 6 volt trojan batteries and can watch 3 hours of TV afterdeck before the batteries get down to 12.5 volts and still like that n the morning , We have 32 inch tv and now problem here. But we only power to=hose devices from our inverter and nothing else. Well do charge out computers and stuff during the day when the sun is shining. More solar and more batteries would sure do the trick I would hope.
ReplyDeleteWe have two TV's and receivers on the inverter but try to remember to unplug the one we are not using as they still draw power when they are off. I know our charging station draws a bit even with nothing plugged into it so I have to remember to keep it turned off at night as well. We watched 2 or 3 hours of TV last night and batteries were at 12.57 this morning, not bad. Having sunshine until about 6:00 yesterday really helped. We will have to stay in sunny climates!
DeleteThe showers at Wildhorse are in the same building as the registration. I used the showers when we camped there about 10 days ago and they were quite nice. I also used the fitness center in the hotel.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul, Norma did not see them when she looked at the site map.
DeleteI have a 35' class A motor home and run 2 Walmart 12 volt deep cycle batteries. We have the old tube TV and satellite dish, no solar. We can watch 2-3 hrs of TV run lights and use the heater conservatively threw the night. I found the more I use shore power and little dry camping the batteries fail quickly. When we do mostly dry camping I get a longer life out of the batteries. Though just talked today about adding solar. BTW I've had better service out of Walmart Batteries than other better brands. Also just changed all the lights to LED's.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, batteries develop a "memory" and do perform better if they are stressed a little. You might find six volt batteries perform a bit better although storage can be a problem as they are taller. I want to experiment with LED's as well but have been waiting for prices to drop. Thanks for the comment.
DeleteMost RV Solar Experts will tell you One 12 volt (two 6 Volt) batteries per One Hundred Watts of Solar Panels. That all works great as long as you have sun. With shorter Daylight hours in the Winter we'll be adding more Panels and Batteries. That will pick up the Morning and Evening Sun as well as adding Storage Capacity.
ReplyDeleteTo Balance the weight trying adding them to the other side of the RV and run longer cables to join them.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
We have no suitable storage bins on the slide side but the slide itself weighs a lot and should compensate. So your formula sayy my 220 watts should handle four 6 volt batteries. They are coming down in price so I might add another 100 watts for the not so sunny days.
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