smkettner
Southern California
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Joined: 03/21/2005
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What converter is charging the battery? Some are better than others. I speculate the battery was less than 80% as they turned in for the night.
BTW 45 50 we just throw on another blanket and turn the furnace on in the morning. If they want it warm all night they need one or two more batteries and update the charging system.
2001 F150 SuperCrew
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
675 watts solar
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Joined: 12/18/2004
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Hi,
Get a volt meter for starters. There is one at Walmart for about $16.00 that reads voltage to two decimals. (such as 13.68).
Do you know what converter is in the RV?
Regards, Don
Kustom Koach Class C 28'5" 256 watts Unisolar, 875 amp hours in two battery banks 12 volt batteries, 2500 MSW watt inverter.
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Z71 4x4
Palmdale, CA
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Joined: 08/17/2006
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The heaters take a lot of juice to run, even though they are propane, the fan sucks 12 volts really quickly.
When I had a toy hauler with only one battery, I would bring another battery with me and hook it up in parallel. That really helped for an entire night when using the heater. LED's help too!
2011 Allegro 35QBA 
2007.5 GMC, LMM D/A, Crew Cab, Z71 4x4, Long Box 
2004 KTM525 Exc
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pjhootch
Iowa
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Joined: 02/06/2006
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What is heat at a "normal" level? When camping without ac, turn the heat off at night or so low it barely comes on, and get an extra quilt. Be very conservative with lights. When we dry camp, we use our battery lanterns most of the time just like we would if tent camping. Turn off water heater, although it runs on propane it has the electronic ignition and monitors water temp. Turn off water pump when you sleep anyway, in case you develop a leak and don't hear the pump start up in the middle of the night (been there done that).
Make sure fridge is running on propane not ac. Even on one battery they should be able to get through a night with no gennie and have a decent charge in the morning.
P.J.
2006 Winnebago Outlook 31C
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hershey
Albuquerque,(fulltime) NM, USA
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With the temperatures you are experiencing, you don't need a furnace running all night at all. Just add another blanket. First one waking up in the morning kicks on the furnace for about 5 or 10 minutes and your good to go even with one battery.
Practice water management. Don't let the water run. GI showers and conservation you can get a lot more mileage out of your gray tanks system.
Dry camping requires a completely different attitude to RVing than full hookup campgrounds.
hershey - albuquerque, nm
Someday Finally Got Here
My wife does all the driving - I just get to hold the steering wheel.
Superman was an illegal alien.
Expedition - Suzuki Grand Viagra
NASCAR 14 - 99
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Alfred622
Rochester, MN
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We probably dry camp 3 or 4 times for every time we camp with hookups (which means just electricity for us - we rarely use campground water/sewer). When we had a single 12v battery we experienced just what you did: dead in the morning when the heat was left on.
We made some changes:
1) replaced the frequently used interior lights with LED lights. Major power savings. No need to try to "economize" on light usage with LEDs.
2) Set furnace about 45 degrees. It usually won't come on at all unless we're camping in the late Fall when below freezing is typical. When I get up in the morning, I just up it to 70 degrees and by the time I've shaved and done my bathroom thing, the RV is pretty comfortable. This fan is the major power draw from the batteries so use it as little as possible.
3) Charging the batteries - without hookups we depend upon our generator to charge the battery bank (I have two 6 volt golf cart batteries from Sams Club hooked in series for about 220 amp-hrs). I wish I had solar but, not yet. Instead the generator runs for 4 to 5 hrs which is enough to put charge back into the batteries.
4) Sit outside watching the stars around a campfire until the fire dies down rather than inside with the furnace on watching TV. Or, better yet, do a flash-light walk through the dark park with your honey. Oh.. I love camping!
Alfred
2005 Sightseer with Workhorse, ReadyBrute Elite towing 2003 Honda CRV
Map below shows states where we actually camped.....
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cm11599ps
Long Island
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Well, by the second night they turned the heat down lower at night and turned the water pump off so that resulted in better power when we woke.
Another thing. The first day, whenever you turned on any of the water the water pump and the water itself would surge. It wsn't drastic but you could hear the pump kind of revving up and down every second or so and the water would come out the same way. It wasn't drastic, just noticeable. Even the lights would dim and get strong then dim then go strong. I believe it happened both while using the genny and while using just the battery.
Today we heard a noise and thought one of the other campers had their genny on outside of the usage hours. When we stepped outside we couldn't hear the noise, but heard it again when re entering the camper. I then checked the fresh tank and it was empty. We filled up the tank and then the water pump ran smooth after that. When you turned on the faucet or flushed the water pump would simply hum and not rev anymore. The water flowed smoothly too.
Any ideas?
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Old-Biscuit
Across the USA
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Joined: 06/20/2009
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cm11599ps wrote:Well, by the second night they turned the heat down lower at night and turned the water pump off so that resulted in better power when we woke.
Another thing. The first day, whenever you turned on any of the water the water pump and the water itself would surge. It wsn't drastic but you could hear the pump kind of revving up and down every second or so and the water would come out the same way. It wasn't drastic, just noticeable. Even the lights would dim and get strong then dim then go strong. I believe it happened both while using the genny and while using just the battery.
Today we heard a noise and thought one of the other campers had their genny on outside of the usage hours. When we stepped outside we couldn't hear the noise, but heard it again when re entering the camper. I then checked the fresh tank and it was empty. We filled up the tank and then the water pump ran smooth after that. When you turned on the faucet or flushed the water pump would simply hum and not rev anymore. The water flowed smoothly too.
Any ideas?
The water pump 'surging' was because it was loosing suction and then getting it back, loosing it then getting it back ......and then the noise you heard was pump running dry as you found out fresh water tank was empty. Pump then ran OK because it had a tank of water to suck from.
2007 RAM 3500 QC LB SRW 5.9L CTD 48re 4:10 4K in bed 'quiet genny'
2007 HitchHiker II 32.5 UKTG 2000W Xantex Inverter
Hit the Road Free & Clear April '07
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Chakara
New Mexico
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Joined: 07/17/2011
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What converter you have (2 stage or 3 stage) as well as its installation can have a huge impact on how long it takes to charge your batteries. Critical when boondocking with a generator.
I wrote up a little bit about it here on my blog.
- 2005 Dodge 2500 5.9 standard
- 2010 Starcraft Autumn Ridge 246RKS 28'
Link to my Blog with Techie stuff like LED's and Boondocking
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MitchF150
Washington, the State
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Joined: 07/13/2002
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As far as the battery 'gauge' goes, it's only a voltage meter at best. When you kick on the gen, it's pumping the battery voltage over 13.5 volts and that's what you are seeing on the gauge (full). Turn off the gen and let the battery rest for a bit and you will probably find that the battery is only slightly charged.. I can have a fully charged battery and turn on a couple of lights and it'll show lower on the gauge. Turn the lights off and it's 'full' again.. 
Dry camping is an "art"... You need to sacrifice a bit..
I drink more water than I use in a day of real dry camping.. 
If filling your water tank and dumping the gray tank every day is good for you, that's great... I'm lazy, so I'd rather conserve...
Mitch
*Anything I post is for entertainment purposes only and what usually works for me.. Your Mileage May Vary..
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