How to heat the cabin on cold nights !!

[Renden]

Leaving Oct 31st for the Sunshine State, from Canada (East Coast) using 87 in Montreal-US border

With a 7.5 kw Onan gen, 4 house 6 V batteries, knowing that the basement and cabin furnace takes some 1-2 amps - how long can I heat the coach with and without the Gen at 60 degrees (during our sleep stop-overs) ?

My first long trip in various temperatures since the 70s (I had a GMC MH 26 footer for 5 years at the time) - we were young and drove continuously - 2 drivers.....that time has passed

My DSDP does not have this automatic Gen set-up option

[Luv2go]

The 4-6V batteries will give you about 440A/H, you don't want to discharge them more than 1/2, so, say 200A/H. I assume your heat is HydroHot or similar, as a standard forced air furnace takes ~7A.

Other loads in the coach (fridge on gas, LP detector, etc will be 1-2A, so say your worst case load is 4A. Assuming fully charged batteries you'll get 50hr!

Make sure your inverter is off, it will draw 3-4A just by itself!

Even if you don't fully charge your batteries during each day (by driving or running the generator) you should be fine.

If you have a forced air furnace you'll still do fine (18 hr), however you may want to fully charge the batteries each day with the generator (usually vehicle alternators won't fully recharge because the output voltage is too low, Trojan 6V Golf Cart batteries, for example, want 14.4 to 14.8V for bulk and absorption charge stages).

["007"]

I have two AGM batteries would last all night and got recharged by alternator while traveling.
We would watch the late news TV and lights for reading, water pump,fridge and furnace was running all night. No Gen was used.
Did this for two nights traveling to FL.
No problems dry camping in much colder temps than you will face in OCT.

[bigskymt]

We've travelled with temps in the 20s by day with just dash heater. Then we use inverter and either one or two 60w light bulbs in the water bay.
Parking at night in the teens we run the furnace (about 65F) which also heats the basement and no need for the light bulbs.
Since our overnights are usually FJs or Walmarts we don't use slides.......less area to heat.
We use inverter, TVs etc. when parked and gen. only for microwave.
We have 4 six volts and 2 twelve volt batts for house.
I've never seen the need to check batt. level as the furnace fan always sounded like it was up to speed and the TVs work properly. Our longest overnight was probably 14 hours (at 17F) due to road conditions.
We turn the water heater off before bedtime.

[Renden]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luv2go The 4-6V batteries will give you about 440A/H, you don't want to discharge them more than 1/2, so, say 200A/H. I assume your heat is HydroHot or similar, as a standard forced air furnace takes ~7A. Other loads in the coach (fridge on gas, LP detector, etc will be 1-2A, so say your worst case load is 4A. Assuming fully charged batteries you'll get 50hr! Make sure your inverter is off, it will draw 3-4A just by itself! Even if you don't fully charge your batteries during each day (by driving or running the generator) you should be fine. If you have a forced air furnace you'll still do fine (18 hr), however you may want to fully charge the batteries each day with the generator (usually vehicle alternators won't fully recharge because the output voltage is too low, Trojan 6V Golf Cart batteries, for example, want 14.4 to 14.8V for bulk and absorption charge stages).

Good explanation -

My 2006 DSDP has 4 6V batteries (house) and a forced air furnace (with the 12 volt basement heater. Fridge runs on LP as well as the hot water. Other utilities (ex: LP monitor; fridge 12 volt which can be turned off; a few lights; sure-flow water pump occasional etc.) run in the background.....so am I good for the night with the Furnace set at 60 F & will do the Gen in the a.m. to recharge the 6 V batteries...... thanks

["007"]

Its not necessary to shut off LP detector, safety factor, or the fridge.
If you are going to sit and run the Gen than use a 12v battery charger which will charge batteries faster.
The coach you have will give you all the comforts you have paid for without going through all this worry.

[Luv2go]

As 007 said, you won't have to turn off the LP detector or fridge. The forced air furnace will heat the basement so the 12V basement heater won't be running. You will be fine.

BTW, what model inverter (or converter if you do not have an inverter) do you have? If it has a good 3 stage charger you will be able to charge the batteries quickly using the generator. All inverter-chargers that I know of have 3 stage battery chargers that will charge your batteries with a couple of hours generator use. Single stage converters (without Charge Wizard or similar control) will take much longer, and then you should use a separate charger as 007 suggested, I used one similar to this one quite successfully before I installed an inverter-charger.

Stewart

["007"]

He may have the 12v fan that cycles off the furnace in vent tubing to compartments below. Its still no problem as I have one too.

[imgoin4it]

One thing many people are not aware of is to make sure that the dash controls are turned to either OFF or on MAX COOL when you shut down for the day. Those two modes are the only ones that close up the dash duct work from outside air. I too think you will be fine with the 12 volt furnace fan running on batteries over night. I have done it numerous times with no problem.

[Spikester]

If your batteries are in good condition you should be able to make it though the night running your furnance without any problems, especially after driving all day.

Spike

[Renden]

Thanks again to all of you

Luv2Go, my Inverter-Charger is a Xantrex. Remote is RC-7 , a 3-stage charger (Bulk charge; absorption;float. Xantrex is RV2512 or 2012 ? (2000W) -

[Luv2go]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renden Luv2Go, my Inverter-Charger is a Xantrex. Remote is RC-7 , a 3-stage charger (Bulk charge; absorption;float. Xantrex is RV2512 or 2012 ? (2000W) -

You won't need an external charger, the RV2012 is a modified sine wave inverter and has a 100A 3 stage charger. It will do an excellent job charging the batteries when your run the generator (or shore power, of course).

I also believe your RC-7 can show you Battery State of charge, a kind of "Fuel Gauge", will show you how much capacity you have left in your batteries. This is detailed around p31 of your paper manual (p37 on this pdf). This will be very accurate, especially once you have run on battery overnight a couple of times (for an explanation, see p16 of the pdf manual, p10 of the paper one).

With the information about Battery State of Charge, you should be able to decide whether you need to run the generator, and for how long each day. For example, when we dry camp in National Park campgrounds we try to keep the batteries above 75% State of Charge, if they drop lower than that we charge to at least 90% using the generator (we also have solar so we use that when we can, too). Basically I'm happy if the State of Charge varies between 75% to 90%+ each day.

We also use the alternator to charge batteries when traveling, but as I mentioned before the alternators on most coaches don't put out enough voltage to give the batteries a good bulk and absorption charge, so every few days we make sure the batteries get a good charge using the generator/solar.

Stewart

[figallegro]

When trying to charge the batteries quicker using a separate battery charger while running the generator, do you need to disconnect wires that would go to the batteries from the converter so it does not ruin the converter or other electronic components?
Tony

[Campingman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by figallegro When trying to charge the batteries quicker using a separate battery charger while running the generator, do you need to disconnect wires that would go to the batteries from the converter so it does not ruin the converter or other electronic components? Tony

Good question! Waiting for someone with this knowledge to answer.

Mark