Are 2 batteries sufficient

[Sanford]

Taking delivery on a 2016 Challenger next week. Comes with 2 house batteries. Is two enough, or should I add two more?

Sanford

[xydial]

More is better if you ever boondock. I have 4 and am planning to add an additional 2.

Congratulations and good luck!

[okcnewbie]

Congrats on the new rig!

Two batteries could be just what you need. The problem is you would have to give us much more info to really know if that is the case.

My suggestion is; Read up on RV batteries. Install a good battery meter. Use your RV as is and monitor your usage.

https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/

[Mr_D]

Depends on your use and the batteries themselves. Our Dutch Star had 4 Interstate U-2200's and did OK. Our present rig has 4 8D 12V batteries, each of them is equiv to two of the U-2200's. And so far that's been sufficient, but we don't stay unhooked for weeks at a time either. We also have 400 Watts of solar and a 12.5 KW gen set so we're not totally dependent on batteries.

[wildtoad]

Depends totally how you plan to use the thing. Staying in campgrounds with electric, then just one is more than enough. If you plan to dry camp / boondock or stay overnight at Walmarts then two will be marginal, more would be better.

[the trainguy]

No,not enough if you spend a cool fall evening/night not plugged in.

Bob

[Agaveguy]

When we had our Itasca Suncruiser, we only had 2 coach batteries and that is all we ever needed. We spent most of our time dry camping at the sand dunes with our atv's. In the evening and in the morning we would run the generator for an hour or so and that was about all was necessary.

But...

We didn't watch much tv off of the inverter and our fridge was on propane. I never once gave it any thought to add 2 more batteries, for one there wasn't any room for them, and two the onboard charger probably wasn't big enough.

I would try it out a few times before going to the trouble and expense of adding 2 more. You may find running the generator a little more often to be no big deal. It's funny what some folks consider an absolute must have to camp.

[Carlmatt]

18 cuft residential fridge uses 6.5 amps at 120V AC + .75 amp inverter + line loss and the inverter is about 80% efficiency.
2 Interstate group 27s will not power the fridge for much more than 6 hours. 11.5 volts and the fridge starts with a clunk , clunk ( struggles to start ). I have unplugged all the TV's, installed a separate radio power switch in the bedroom, and turned off the ice maker.
??? How long will the generator need to top off the batteries?
??? Will a 3rd battery of 4th help me?
We like to dry camp alot in the National Forest. I do not want to be the a**hole
with the generator running 3-4 hours a day
An onan 4000 uses .71gph loaded, 120v ac, 33.3 amps--- how many amps does the house battery charger send to the batteries?
How many amps does the engine alternator send to the batteries?

Is anyone looking at a solar system? 400-480 watts

[Carlmatt]

18 cuft residential fridge uses 6.5 amps at 120V AC + .75 amp inverter + line loss and the inverter is about 80% efficiency.
2 Interstate group 27s will not power the fridge for much more than 6 hours. 11.5 volts and the fridge starts with a clunk , clunk ( struggles to start ). I have unplugged all the TV's, installed a separate radio power switch in the bedroom, and turned off the ice maker.
??? How long will the generator need to top off the batteries?
??? Will a 3rd battery of 4th help me?
We like to dry camp alot in the National Forest. I do not want to be the a**hole
with the generator running 3-4 hours a day
An onan 4000 uses .71gph loaded, 120v ac, 33.3 amps--- how many amps does the house battery charger send to the batteries?
How many amps does the engine alternator send to the batteries?

Is anyone looking at a solar system? 400-480 watts

[okcnewbie]

Carlmatt,

You may want to start a new thread. You asked a lot of questions.

I will make one suggestion; Get a meter (trimetric) or similar. This will help you with most of your questions. It will also go nicely with any solar install.

[gosman]

Anyone using a CPAP machine while boondocking? Without the generator going all night? How many batteries would it take?

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by gosman

Anyone using a CPAP machine while boondocking? Without the generator going all night? How many batteries would it take?

Yep, I do, but we have 4 8D wet cells so no problems for us even with the home refer and running two TV's and sat boxes.

[Carlmatt]

Originally Posted by Sanford

Taking delivery on a 2016 Challenger next week. Comes with 2 house batteries. Is two enough, or should I add two more?

Sanford

Do not buy a vehicle with a residental fridge unless you are planning to plug in every night.

[Carlmatt]

Originally Posted by okcnewbie

Carlmatt,

You may want to start a new thread. You asked a lot of questions.

I will make one suggestion; Get a meter (trimetric) or similar. This will help you with most of your questions. It will also go nicely with any solar install.

I asked a lot of questions, and i did not learn anything from this forum site