Dry Camping and battery

[chuckster57]

If it’s a Norcold 2118 then it has fans in the interior of both the refer and freezer compartments. They will kill a GP 27 battery in one day.

[ctbruce]

Originally Posted by Claudius

I feel sorry for you in a way, after reading all these answers, who's contradiction do you go by? I have been involved with batteries for over 30 years and all we do is dry camp.
Solar panels not quite as long. Now retired i install them and sell complete systems. I'm not going to go through this post and tell you who does and does not know what they are talking about, there is a much simpler way. I'm not sure you even have a problem.
My 6volts are 9 years old and still going strong,i also put them on the charger once a month when the unit is sitting. No i don't leave them hooked up to a tender. When in use I use a controller that tells me what my solar panels are putting out, what charge if any is going into the battery and at what amperage. It also tells me how full they are. It will tell me if i have solar or battery issues also, if by chance i connected the up wrong. Each of my 150w panels puts out 7.90 IMP and 8.45 ISC. Over kill for what i need them for. We watch movies and the inverter draws a bit of juice but at night nothing charges anyways. So here's the deal. All of this doesn't really matter.
Here's what does matter and its simple no rocket science. On a cloudy day my i've seen my battery go down to 50% after watching movies at night most days it goes down to 75%. That's reading from the control panel in the unit...you know the one where your black water tank always reads full but its not...lol. Now if in fact that panel was worth anything at all and it was accurate you would be in a world of hurt. YOUR Fridge will shut down if it has less than 9.6V, thats what my Dometic will do. A yellow light comes on which means its off. 75% of 12V is what? 50% of 12v is what? My Light never comes on EVER. So guess what? I'm happy.

Sounds like you've got it all together, and that's great. But what would be greater would be if you'd share your knowledge and how you set it all up to work. I dont dry camp, but I'm curious how you do it. You piqued my interest. I'm sure others would appreciate learning from you.

[Hoodlatch]

I can’t help any with your excessive dc draw, but I just have a question for the OP, which State Park Campground does not allow the use of a genny?
For everyone else, is the common in certain areas?
We’ve logged around 35 State Parks and Army COE campgrounds in just 4 neighboring states and every one of them allowed the use of generators in non electric sites during daylight hours, many as late as 10pm.

Just curious since I’ve never experienced this.

[cjcoult]

Kettle Moraine - Northern Unit Campground in Wisconsin

[Hoodlatch]

Wow, thanks. I’ll keep that in mind for our trip through lower Wisconsin next year. See, I learn something every time I visit this forum.

[cjcoult]

The northern unit is called Long Lake and there is also Mauthe Lake. Long Lake does have a few electric sites, but not enough and close enough for my group - so ya we dry camp even tho there are a few electric. Mauthe Lake also has some electric. Enjoy WI when you come. What type of campground are you looking for - maybe I can help?

[bill-e]

Originally Posted by Claudius

75% of 12V is what? 50% of 12v is what? My Light never comes on EVER. So guess what? I'm happy.

[Claudius]

Blah thats measured with a hydrometer......lol you carry that around with you.
That wasn't my point at all, that goofy thing you press all the time does not measure specific gravity of a battery. Holy smokes where did that come from?????
It measures voltage. I guess i need to spell it out. 75% of 12 volts is 9. I would say that thing would say 100% till it reads 11.9 maybe then go down to 75%. Point here is that that thing is all for show in most of the trailers. They might work better in some coaches where they are digital. Some trailers might now have them also. Either way if your light on the fridge comes on because of low voltage you will be below 9.6 volts.
Thats why i said, if that panel reads 75% and if it were accurate your fridge then would not be running. So don't be overly concerned about it reading 75%. I said in my earlier post i had gone down to 50% on that panel and my fridge light did not come on.

[datasponge]

The Richard Bong state park (near Burlington) also does not allow generators. However, it's a great park otherwise.

[bill-e]

Blah, that's measured with a voltmeter. Surely not as accurate as specific gravity but certainly better than the light panel in an RV. Here's another chart.


No need to spell it out, a discharged state in a 6v battery pair in series without overly damaging the battery is about 12.2 volts. You're basing your percentage calculation on 0-12v, not 11.8-12.65+v

There are minor voltage differences depending on where you look but they are all substantially the same.



If what you do works for you, great but nowhere will you find any battery manufacturer recommending discharge voltages based on a 0-12v scale because the deeper the discharge the more it adversely affects the manufacturer's stated battery life (bad for sales)

[KimNTerry]

And of course please also remember the 12v nomenclature is a nominal 12 volt. Not literal 12 volt.

[Claudius]

Originally Posted by ctbruce

Sounds like you've got it all together, and that's great. But what would be greater would be if you'd share your knowledge and how you set it all up to work. I dont dry camp, but I'm curious how you do it. You piqued my interest. I'm sure others would appreciate learning from you.

Holy smokes you would open up a kettle of worms in here.
The arguments would never stop. I'll have to pass on this, i was hesitant on commenting in the first place, but after seeing all these contradictions leading the poor fellow all over the place. I don't spend a lot of time in here anyways.
I do better one on one...lol less friction

[Claudius]

Originally Posted by KimNTerry

And of course please also remember the 12v nomenclature is a nominal 12 volt. Not literal 12 volt.

I tried to keep this simple and you just had to post that? lol

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Claudius

Holy smokes you would open up a kettle of worms in here.
The arguments would never stop. I'll have to pass on this, i was hesitant on commenting in the first place, but after seeing all these contradictions leading the poor fellow all over the place. I don't spend a lot of time in here anyways.
I do better one on one...lol less friction

So far, what has come across seems to be more of "I'm smarter than you and here's a part of my secret".... The rest is missing. If you'd care to "open up a kettle of worms" and provide the basis for your system and explain how or why it's better, we could all learn something. Otherwise, it's just a "You're doing it wrong and I'm not kind of discussion" and that doesn't help anyone solve their problem or even work toward fixing their issues..... Please share your knowledge with us "mere mortals".....

[Ken / Claudia]

I always had the impression this was to share information and give advice. Silly, just down right silly to say someone is wrong and not help or say I have the answer but will not share. Opened up a can of worms all right and down right rude not to share. Sharing the right information is easy to back up, giving opinions is just that, opinions and we all have them many different ones at that. If not agreeing with everyone or anyone on here ruins your day, I guess it is better not to post anything.

[Claudius]

I'm sorry i posted here, won't happen again. By those last two comments i see there would be a pissing match if i detailed my original post and yes in my opinion in this specific topic most of you have no idea what your talking about.

[JRTJH]

Thread closed, My apologies to the OP. Hopefully he has the information he needed and our most recent contributor won't create another antagonistic slant to future threads.