battery backup question

hugh said:
They tend to be a little noisier than solar panels.
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That's impressive then.

I was under the old school metnality of those guys with "gas" generators, camping basic and running them even though there were signs everywhere stating "no gnerators at any time".
 
HABBERDABBER said:
I think hugh was being ironic?
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:facepalm:

Ahhhh.....I only know the power stations like EcoFlow or Bluetti. They are quite when in use, but actually do get some fan noise when charging.

I for one HATE generators in campgrounds and think if you want power, stay in a site that has power. Generators have no place in campgrounds.
 
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Isn't that the truth! We were at Great Basin NP at a really scenic place. The only sounds were the wind and a creek. Until someone parked in the space next to mine, closed everything up and turned on their generator. Until nightfall I could hear the exhaust. They should have stayed at a truck stop. This also was the evening my battery ran out so, maybe I should have had my own generator then?
 
I have a generator. I only use it once in a great while. I’ve not camped in a no generator campground. Most places I have camped allow generators within a certain daily time span. Most folks respect this and Usually the camp host will enforce the hours.

I really don’t understand the folks with the generators who fire them up then leave for the day. Guess they need immediate cold when they return or don’t have a propane side refrigerator.

I visited a primitive state park campground last weekend. There are usually one or two trailers or fold down units there but this time there were only tent campers. About 40 tents all over the campground. No generators, some wood campfires, a ton of kids and younger folks. Very refreshing, gave me hope for the future. And I need that now.

This was at Lake McBride state park near Solon Iowa. Ten bucks a night, water and flush restrooms, free firewood and all the ticks you could pick out of your hair. ( course I don’t have any so I was ok.)
Iowa Dave
 
a lot of the 'big' RV folks have installed residential 120VAC refrigerators, which is fine as long as you are always at an RV park with hookups.
 
BravoDeltaRomeo said:
I have no experience with Solar or 12v fridge except with teething this past week on our new to us 19.

The fridge is a Dometic 2554 Absorption 3 way. When I threw it on 12v, it sucked the batter down quickly. Even after being on propane for the previous hours of my test. I put it back on propane and the battery went back up on solar charger just as quick as it drained.

My plan is Propane for the inside fridge when boondocking. An EcoFlow River 2 Pro power station for the outside fridge (Iceco) hooked up to an external solar panel.

That setup should easily last meet a week without the need of carrying a second battery, which I used to do.
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if I'm not mistaken the 3 way fridge draws 23 amps on DC. You gonna need a lot of batteries at that rate. I'm not sure why ESCAPE even uses a 3 way fridge.
 
jnfrombigt said:
if I'm not mistaken the 3 way fridge draws 23 amps on DC. You gonna need a lot of batteries at that rate. I'm not sure why ESCAPE even uses a 3 way fridge.
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We plan on using Propane for the fridge.

Maybe while hooked up and travelling, so I can leave the propane off on the road....but I don't want to chance showing up and have the RV or Truck battery dead when I'm unhitching, so will probably run Propane on the road too or just leave it OFF for the couple hours of travel.
 
BravoDeltaRomeo said:
We plan on using Propane for the fridge.

Maybe while hooked up and travelling, so I can leave the propane off on the road....but I don't want to chance showing up and have the RV or Truck battery dead when I'm unhitching, so will probably run Propane on the road too or just leave it OFF for the couple hours of travel.
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I learn my lessons the hard way by screwing up. A few years ago I tried getting home from a trip to Florida with the fridge on DC. On the way we stopped for lunch and when I opened the fridge I quickly learned not to try traveling on DC again. Fridge was warm and battery, 100 amp agm, was dead I now have two 100 amp Battleborns with 100 watts of solar on the roof and I still won't try running the fridge on DC. I'm not going to say you can't run on DC but be careful.
 
My RMD8555 never blew out either. It was a pretty good refrigerator until it died. My Norcold N2175 arrives tomorrow between 10 and 4
 
We have an 8555 also. I’ve never run it on DC. We Cool it down on AC before leaving and loading, then switch to propane for the trip. If we have AC at the site I switch it back to AC if we are staying for more than just overnight. Otherwise, if it’s just an overnight stop, I leave it on propane.

Last outing we were on AC for three days at our campsite. 85 degree days, high humidity, but considerable shade with both fans running while camped. Freezer about 0 degrees F and refrigerator at 35F.

I’m using a high performance cooler with blue ice and regular ice for drinks. It makes
a difference when you don’t open the refrigerator door a lot. I really like to put an ice cold unopened beer can on my forehead for about 15 seconds before I crack it. Organizes my thoughts for another story. Getting the beer out of the water and ice from my cooler in the back of the Highlander makes that easily possible.
That’s my experience.
Iowa Dave
 
tom&pam said:
DanandDaphne, I thought about a dual fuel generator. A lot of reviews say they are hard or impossible to start on LP and I do not want to carry a gasoline can. What is the secret? Champion seems to be a good brand.

Ron in BC, something like a Jackery seems like an OK backup. I could have it charged before leaving and it only would need to keep the refrigerator, lights, and maybe the furnace starter for a few hours.
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As someone else said, the trick is in the manual. What you do is open the propane tank valve, turn the knob to choke and pull the rope a couple of times then switch to propane and it starts the first pull.
 
Still thinking about the best solution. The generators I can buy are limited here in California. I still don't like using a generator where it is supposed to be quiet outdoors. I looked at Jackery and some other devices. There are some advantages. But these are really just batteries. Why not install a second battery in my trailer? I would still have to watch the charge level on cloudy days, but I would have a lot more amp hours available.
 
tom&pam said:
Still thinking about the best solution. The generators I can buy are limited here in California. I still don't like using a generator where it is supposed to be quiet outdoors. I looked at Jackery and some other devices. There are some advantages. But these are really just batteries. Why not install a second battery in my trailer? I would still have to watch the charge level on cloudy days, but I would have a lot more amp hours available.
Click to expand...

That would be my solution but I'm not an expert. I would also use a shunt to show how many amps I've used from a full charge. I got a $40 one from Amazon and it did just fine. When I switched over to solar I used mostly Victron components and also switched to a Victron shunt.
 
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