Dry camping electrical consumption

[Catch and Release]

We have owned our MH for 3 years but have never really dry camped. Next year we will be driving to Alaska and the boondocking opportunities are plentiful. I don't want to wake up some morning and discover dead batteries. I do have auto start capabilities for the generator but I also don't want to wake the world at 3 AM.

How can you tell what charge level your house batteries have remaining? Other than recording the amperage usage as an average the only other method I guess would be voltage. Is there a chart for this somewhere that is battery type specific?

[Gary RVRoamer]

How about this one?

CHARGE LEVEL
Specific
% Gravity DC VOLTS
100 1.277 12.73
90 1.258 12.62
80 1.238 12.50
70 1.217 12.37
60 1.195 12.24
50 1.172 12.10
40 1.148 11.96
30 1.124 11.81
20 1.098 11.66
10 1.073 11.51

[Gary RVRoamer]

Read more about it here:
Trojan Battery Company

[Catch and Release]

The article and chart make for interesting reading. The small print in the chart states the battery should be idle for 6 hours (no charge or discharge activity) before taking a voltage reading. Rather impractical. Any idea of how much of a difference is made by taking an active reading?

[charles tuit]

Do a search for Amp Hour Meters. It is the only accurate way to measure your battery usage and remaining capacity.

Charlie Tuit
02 Journey 142,000 miles
XL-7 toad

[DAN L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catch and Release We have owned our MH for 3 years but have never really dry camped. Next year we will be driving to Alaska and the boondocking opportunities are plentiful. I don't want to wake up some morning and discover dead batteries. I do have auto start capabilities for the generator but I also don't want to wake the world at 3 AM. How can you tell what charge level your house batteries have remaining? Other than recording the amperage usage as an average the only other method I guess would be voltage. Is there a chart for this somewhere that is battery type specific?

the other posts have good info.
discharging your battery bank over 50% is called ''deep cycling'' and shortens the life of the batteries.
i will post some links that explain this better.
my batteries have 300 ah capacity, so i only want to use about 150 ah before recharging (about 12.1 v.).
here is some approximate consumption data for 12v items: (actually about 13v.)
12v, 18w lamp: 1.4 ah
12v ceiling fluorescent lamp: 30 w, 2.4 ah
12v reading lite (1383) 20w, 1.6 ah
12v fantastic ceiling exhaust fans, 3 speed: 1.9, 2.3, 3.0 ah
furnace blower suburban sf-42: 11.5 ah
refrigerator, norcold n822: 1.2 -3.0 ah
water pump, shurflo 2.8 gph @40 psi 7 ah
vector modified sine wave inverter, 750 w: .6- 57 ah
12v 3 speed bedroom ceiling fan from backwoods solar: .5- .75- 1.2 ah.
from this data you can figure about what your consumption is per hour and how long your battery bank will last without deep cycling.
now the links:

Batteries -- and Other Electric Stuff by phred

RV Batteries

The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

Deep Cycle Battery FAQ

[Catch and Release]

Good info. I had forgotten about Fred "poop sheets". It was a good review of lead acid batteries. Having spent my adult career in aviation where we were using Nicad batteries for the last 30 years, I had forgotten the basics.

[DAN L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catch and Release Good info. I had forgotten about Fred "poop sheets". It was a good review of lead acid batteries. Having spent my adult career in aviation where we were using Nicad batteries for the last 30 years, I had forgotten the basics.

i retired from ual as a maintenance training lead in honolulu in 2003. 36 years and 49 days of service. then ual dumped my pension on the pbgc and i lost half of it.

[Catch and Release]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAN L i retired from ual as a maintenance training lead in honolulu in 2003. 36 years and 49 days of service. then ual dumped my pension on the pbgc and i lost half of it.

Don't forget the money that was lost in the ESOP.

I took the lump sum from CAL when I left in 2006 because I didn't want any funds left for the managers to screw up.