Thanks for the comments. As I said, upgrading (adding any accessories) is not an option now since we are off to Yellowstone in a few days. The performance meters look interesting, but cost as much as a modest solar system. Maybe solar is a future purchase, but I'll bet we will be under trees in Y.
I think I quit my test early. I thought voltage below 12 was low, but I read the fridge manual and its control works down to 10.2v, which I believe is considered a fully discharged battery. So I can probably go until I get down to the low 11v range in normal use. The fridge is our main concern since it won't work without an electrical source. Maybe voltage is not a good indicator of true battery condition, but the fridge seems sensitive to it, so that is what I am checking. I think we will be able to go up to two days with conservation, and more with occasional generator use. After all, I will have to run the gen every morning to make my waffles!
I though you were bruising your batteries and shortening their life if you ran them down below 40% charged, which is at 11.9 volts. Take a look at this and note the chart half way down the page...
DRILL HERE,DRILL NOW. SEE LINDSEY WILLIAMS ON YOU TUBE
1990 GEORGIE BOY 28' 454 4BBL, TURBO 400 TRANS, Thorley Headers B&M trans cooler. Auto meter hooked to output of trans. Flowmaster mufflers
(((( 7.5mpg ))))
As others have said you must know your amp draw so you can manage your power resources. You really should not let your batteries get below 12.0 volts (50% discharged) very often as that will weaken the batteries a lot. When your batteries are new you can get about 80% of the power out of them and less as they age. They also won't discharge as much as they age. It's kind of like us: when we're younger we can work harder, longer and recover faster than when we have 4 - 6 more decades on our frame.
Things to do: don't leave lights on, use fewer lights, use battery powered LED lights, use candles on the patio etc. don't leave your inverter on if you aren't watching tv.
We changed our batteries to AGM's as they charge much faster and can discharge deeper than lead acid ones. Our use pattern is to run the genset for about 45 min in the AM while making coffee and toast and 20-30 minutes at dinner time. We have 150 watts of solar that does a great job of float charging the batteries during the day. We use florescent lighting, LED's and pretty much use our coach as usual. We also watch movies or satellite in the evening. So far we have not had any power problems.
REWahoo wrote: I though you were bruising your batteries and shortening their life if you ran them down below 40% charged, which is at 11.9 volts. Take a look at this and note the chart half way down the page...
Brian in Michigan wrote: Does the fridge run on propane?
Yes, standard Norcold 4-door 110v/LP. Modern refrigerators with automatic everything require adequate 12v for the control circuits.
I recall my first RV fridge, 110v or propane with totally manual controls. Propane was simple. To light it, there was a tube that had holes on the top running from the front panel to the back burner under the unit. Turn on the propane, press a button to send LP through the tube and hit a sparky button. The flame spread from the front to the back and lit the flame. Release the button and the tube flame extinguished and you were good to go without any fuss. You made cold even without any 12v power at all.
As some have said, in the new RVs, let the battery voltage get low and alarms and warning LEDs start going off everywhere.
It's getting harder to "rough it."
We just ran for 3 nights and 4 days + one day for turning the fridge on early. We watched a movie each night on inverter, and ran all appliances as normal (Refridge, water pump, water heater, lights, etc...) We were at 80% plus charge when we started the coach to come home.
We have 4 GC2 batteries. We also have 390watts of solar but were parked in the woods so we got very little solar charging.
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