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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Have a good week, my friends....
Does Mandrake know something we don't???
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FormerBiker
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09/29/08 11:04am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Banking question
Just for information purposes: $100,000 in 100 dollar bills will fit in a space of 6 1/8" x 2 5/8" x 6.5 inches high. :B
And if the economy fails it will take that much cash to buy a loaf of bread.;)
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FormerBiker
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09/29/08 11:02am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Odd Question On Travel Trailer for us to travel in
There are plenty of used rigs to be had for not much money. If the unit is structually sound the rest can be taken care of with a little TLC. We bought used for many years and repaired and upgraded as needed. Just need to look around. Besides there is a lot to be said for the gratification of your own handiwork.
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FormerBiker
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09/29/08 10:01am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Probably a stupid quesiton, But how to level??
We use something like this:
http://images.campingworld.com/is/image/CWI/20000/27330.jpg?
And it works for us.
Still planning in Hurkey Creek next weekend?
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FormerBiker
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09/29/08 08:39am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Kin Pin Tripod?
We have one and it does help when we can use it. If we are in a level camp site it works fine. The problem for us is that we are rarely in a level camp site. Most of the time the front of the fiver is too high or to low for the darn thing to work. We don't use RV "parling lots" much as most of our time is spent in forest service, state, or county campgrounds.
Consitering going to the armstrong type stabilizers in the future.
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FormerBiker
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09/29/08 08:33am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: How many recharge with solar?
It helps a lot, thanks. I'm trying to understand the sensitivity of current output to angle of incidence of the sun.
Glad I could help you understand. Keep in mind that in the example I used there are other factors that should be considered.
You Refridgerator, water pump, sensors, paracitic loss, etc. will also draw from the battery supply. That is why I said your usage may vary. Most of these draw so little or are used infrequently they don't amount to much.
As for tracking the sun, yes the panels will perform better if they are moved and pointed at the sun. But in most cases this is not practical. Our panels are fairly large and to constantly move them around would be a hassel. Plus there is the danger of damaging an expensive panel. For us it wasn't a good idea. I may add additional panels to increase the output when we go full time but for now what we have is sufficient. Plus the one thing that is easy to regulate is the usage by conserving.
To reduce heater fan usage we use a Buddy Heater to supplement the furnace. Also in really cold weather we will turn the heater down to the lowest setting over night and pile extrta blankets on the bed. If it is clowdy for a full day, I will make coffee on the stove top. Or we will run the Onan for the microwave while preparing meals and it will also help charge the batteries.
It takes a little practice to determine your usage and adjust accordingly. On a side note we rarely have to run the generator and there are many trips we haven't run it at all. The solar does a good job of keeping up with things.
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FormerBiker
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09/29/08 08:18am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Any UFOs or ??? stories?
X-Files "The Truth Is Out There" Hehehe
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FormerBiker
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09/26/08 03:55pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: How many recharge with solar?
Good example and close to my usage except we don't use a coffee maker. It raises a couple of questions.
When you quote the A/H on your battery is that full capacity so that you have to fully discharge them to get it? I try to not discharge below 50%. Am I being overly conservative?
That is the part that is confusing. I just use the rule of thumb that a 120 AH battery is run down at 1/2 charge or 60 AHs. There are folks in the business with better info though. Better to play it on the safe side. Depletion beyond 50% will damage the plates in the batteries.
Also, you said you realistically get 15A out of 21A under ideal conditions. Are your solar panels static or do you try to track the sun to get 15A? I'm trying to figure out whether I want to statically mount panels to my roof.
The 21A is the mathamatical calculation. Most solar panels will put out 24 volts but is regulated down to 12 volts. Based on Ohm's Law @ 12V the panels should put out 21A. I have a monitor and I have seen as much as 18A but that was a nice cool spring day in the desert. My panels are mounted flat on the roof and I don't track the sun. After a days usage and when the panels are in full sun is when I see the peak. During the winter in the mountains I see 10A - 15A.
But then again if it is cloudy or raining, That is when I fire up the Onan.:B
Hope this helps.
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FormerBiker
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09/26/08 03:40pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Fast Food....I remember some of these.......
remember these?
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b170/ozarkpreacher/zenith.jpg
Okay, I'll bite. What is it? I can see it's made by Zenith, so it's probably part of a TV, but what part? Is it a cable remote control?
That is a "clicker". The remote that made a loud clicking sound to change the volume, channels, and other stuff. To this day we still call the remote a "clicker".
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FormerBiker
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09/25/08 04:44pm |
Around the Campfire
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RE: New law in California - text messaging while driving
Pretty sad state of affairs that we have to make a law to regulate common sense.:h
Unfortunatly common sense is a rare thing here in So Cal.
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FormerBiker
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09/25/08 02:53pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: How many recharge with solar?
The answers here are good but you will not know how this stuff works without a little math.
We have been doing more boondocking this year and are working our way through our battery management strategy. We have 2 6V GC batteries and 2 Honda 2000 generators. Our load is such that I think we need to add 2 more batteries and am considering solar. Running the generators all day is not as attractive as I thought it would be. I would like to recharge during the day with solar panels and use generators for topping off and heavy loads like AC and MW.
I'm wondering how many out there have adopted this approach.
Our daily load is typical I think: tv and satellite for a couple of hours, laptop, minimal lights, water heater and pump, minimal furnace at night.
Since you didn’t state the capacities of your 6 volt batteries or what type of television you are using, etc. we will have to guess.
In our situation we have a television w/ satellite receiver, inverter, lights, furnace, radio, coffeemaker, and other stuff that make our life in the RV more enjoyable. Lo let’s take these things step by step.
First total usage:
Our television uses around 100 watts AC. Here comes the math part. To run on 12v dc we must do some converting using Ohm’s Law. Power divided by voltage = Amps. We need to know how many amps we are using at any given time. So 100 watts / 120 volts ac = about .83 amps. That same 100 watts / 12 volts dc = 8.3 amps. Simple stuff.
Now let’s say you watch 3 hours of TV with satellite receiver through an inverter. The receiver will draw around 2 amps, and the inverter will have a loss of about 1.5 amps.
So 8.3amps +2amps + 1.5 amps = 11.8 amps Lets round to 10 to keep the math simple.
10 amps times the 3 hours you are watching TV = 30 Amp Hours from your batteries. Now let’s add in the other stuff.
1 12v light bulb is around 1 amp. Heater fan uses around 10 amps while running. Typically it will cycle on and off so it will run about half of that so 5 amps/hour. Coffee maker is a biggie for us and will use about 500 watts while making coffee but that is once a day for less than 10 minutes. 500w/12V = 40 amps, for 10 minutes = 7 amps.
Now lets add stuff up to get daily usage.
4 lights * 3 hours = 12 amps
TV * 3 Hours = 30 amps
Heater * 3 hours = 15 amps
Coffee maker used once = 7 amps
So for this example our daily usage is 64 amps.
We have 3 120 Ampere hour batteries which gives is around 360 A/H. We also have 2 130 W solar panels to do the recharge duties. 260watts / 12 volts = 21 amps under ideal conditions. More realistically we get about 15 amps /hour from the panels. So 64 amps used / 15 amps charging = will mean 4.2 hours to charge the batteries.
Keep in mind that this is just an example of how the math works and your mileage may vary.
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FormerBiker
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09/25/08 12:05pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: BATTERIES
Theoretically yes. Two of your 6 volt batteries are wired in series to create the 12 volt output. Then the two sets of six volts are wired in parallel to keep the 12 volt rating output for you DC system.
The problem is the differing size and capacities between the 6 volt wired in series and the 12 volt battery. This will play havoc with the charging system where, depending on how smart the charger is, you will end up over charging the 12 volt battery or under charging the 6 volt batteries.
A better solution would be to isolate the two types of batteries with switching so they can be charged/used seperatly. A good system is to have the batteries matched by size and capacity for efficient charging/ usage.
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FormerBiker
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09/25/08 10:51am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Charging circuit from TV to TT
Go Solar. Charges whether TV is running or not.
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FormerBiker
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09/25/08 10:40am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Here's one way to fund the bailout...
Too funny. :B
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FormerBiker
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09/25/08 09:36am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Is a fifth wheel easier to tow than a travel trailer?
Lots of questions and lots of good answers.
If you have a long bed(I believe you do) you do not need a slider hitch. That type of hitch allows for the hitch to move to the rear and allows for clearence between the Cab and the front of the trailer on sharp turns.
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FormerBiker
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09/25/08 09:01am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Fantastic Vent
I had never heard of them until we bought our Lance camper which came with one. We liked it so much when we moved up to our current rig I installed 2 of them. Easy install and they work great. I would certainly do it again.
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FormerBiker
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09/25/08 08:31am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: I need help from the Grammar Police...!
OK, professor, how about affect vs effect? Hmmmmmmm?
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FormerBiker
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09/25/08 07:51am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Baking in the oven?
We found a square pizza stone that is about 3/4" smaller than the width of the oven. We place it below the rack and above the burner. It works two ways. First it difuses the heat preventing hot spots so stuff cooks evenly. Also once it heats up it will retain the heat and rediate it in the oven therefore the burner doesn't cycle on and off as much.
This is one of the best pieces of advice I have found on the forum.
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FormerBiker
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09/23/08 11:08am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: US DOT knew viability of HHO techology as early as 2005
I bet that if you use that technology along with the magnets on the fuel line, it would gain you at least 25% in mileage. :p
bumpy
Also putting air in your tires will yeild another 25% :p
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FormerBiker
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09/23/08 10:55am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: it's almost that time 1st warning
So what is this "winterization" of which you speak?:B
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FormerBiker
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09/23/08 10:52am |
General RVing Issues
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