Community Forums

lp5151 · 10-08-2010, 11:00 PM

we are researching coaches to upgrade to a DP. we are finding that several of them are being made "all electric". I'm not sure that an all electric coach will work for us since we boondock for a week to ten days at a time. we only boondock for that length of time, maybe 2 to 3 times a year, the rest of the time is spent in parks/resorts. does anyone have any real time experience boondocking in an all electric coach? i understand that the gens will auto start when battery charge gets to low, but how offend does that happen and how long will the gen run to recharge the battery banks? i realize useage, battery cap, etc affects the answer, but if anyone has an all electic coach, your first hand experience with boondocking would be helpful to me.

JMonroe · 10-09-2010, 10:13 AM

While we don't yet have it, we have ordered an all electric coach. Others, on this and other forums, have claimed that a couple hours of generator use each day, at most, will allow them to use pretty much anything they want, except the A/C. I'm told that a fully charged bank of 6 batteries will run the fridge and heat all night without need for the gen (many locations will restrict gen use to daytime only). Of course solar panels can reduce this even more.

The rig we've ordered will come with 8 AGM batteries. I'm looking forward to being able to spend days at a time in some out of the way places, yet with all the comforts of home.

lp5151 · 10-09-2010, 11:15 PM

i have another question about the appliances that have been normally propane run in the past. the electric stove tops, how effiecent are they? How does one of these heat? how hot do they get and how fast to they get to temp? is the propane stove a better applicance? (seems that if I were to have a propane tank for just the propane stove and oven, it would be easy to boondock for a week or two without running out of propane) I'm just not yet sold on an electric stove top??
I believe that the aqua-hot systems that run on diesel (water heater and furnance) appear to be fairly effiecent?? the residential style frigs draw about 3 amps per hour and they appear to be pretty good according to what I've been reading????
Also, from what I've been reading, if I have a large battery bank (6 to 8 six volt batteries) and add additional solar panels (maybe 4 to 6 100+ watt panels) that should give me what I need to boondock and keep generator use to a minimum.????

Gary RVRoamer · 10-10-2010, 08:21 AM

Efficiency, i.e. the percentage of electricity converter to heat, is nearly 100%. A far as how quickly they heat a pot of food, that depends as much on the pot as the design & style of the heat element. If you have an electric stovetop at home, you will probably be satisfied with an RV one as well. It's probably slower than a gas burner, though.

But a propane stovetop works well too. You would be hard pressed to use even a 20 lb bottle of propane in two weeks of cooking.

Boondocking with an electric cooktop probably means you need to run the generator whenever you want to cook. Each burner takes about 1200 watts, which is a huge continuous load on the batteries for an inverter.

All-electric coaches usually have two battery/inverter banks, one for general house use and another for the fridge. 4 batteries each is typical.

Whether or not solar can significantly reduce generator time depends on how much sun they receive for how many hours/day (and of course, how many panels you have). If you like to camp in shady groves or deep valleys, a roof full of solar panels won't do much for you.

lp5151 · 10-10-2010, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

But a propane stovetop works well too. You would be hard pressed to use even a 20 lb bottle of propane in two weeks of cooking.

Boondocking with an electric cooktop probably means you need to run the generator whenever you want to cook. Each burner takes about 1200 watts, which is a huge continuous load on the batteries for an inverter.

Roamer, The info you stated was what I thought. I guess my "options" choice would be an all electric coach with a gas cook top/oven. wouldn't have to fill an average size propane tank more than once or twice a year. this would fit our RV "style" almost perfectly.