New to All Electric Coach

[DRL1950]

My wife and I are upgrading to a 2015 Dutch Star all electric 4369, and I am just wondering what I can expect as it relates to battery life and how different is it from having propane in the past? What have others experienced? As always thank you.

[VP Chianese]

Originally Posted by DRL1950

My wife and I are upgrading to a 2015 Dutch Star all electric 4369, and I am just wondering what I can expect as it relates to battery life and how different is it from having propane in the past? What have others experienced? As always thank you.

If your wife likes to cook with gas then make sure that you include in your deal the change out of the electric cook top to an Induction cook top. Dealer cost is about $300 installed It better simulates gas cooking and is really nice. We really enjoy ours.

Battery life is related to many things. The most important being how you maintain them. Keeping them charged and the proper amount of distilled water in them being one of the deciding factors.

Here are two good sites to refer to when talking about batteries. Trojan is one of the premiere battery company's. The second is just a good in depth discussion of Deep Cycle batteries.

Battery Maintenance | Trojan Battery Company

DEEP CYCLE BATTERY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Also keep in mind that if you ask five experts one question on any subject you will get at least seven different answers.

So when it comes time to replace these puppies don't forget to get good batteries as replacements form a major battery company such as Trojan or Exide. Sams and Costco are not major battery company's. Yes there are folks that swear by those discount brands and may well have had good luck with them but there are folks that smoke three packs a day and have lived to by 90 years old also but they are the out of normal cases not the norm. I would not start to smoke just because they lived that long.

[GaryKD]

Hi DRL1950,
Find the inverter. Know the size of the breaker that is on the inverter. Now determine everything in the coach that is powered by the inverter. Know that when you are disconnected from shore power and the generator is not running that breaker determines all the current one can get to the various things powered by the inverter. If connected to shore power or the generator is running, this does not apply. The inverter will be in bypass mode.

[PDR John]

I found the all electric to be far better, for us. What boondocking we do, it's an asset.

On our old propane coach, running both furnaces over night would drain the batteries. On this coach it's no big deal, I can still make my coffee in the morning without having to run the genny.

I don't even question staying in temps down around zero anymore. The Oasis and auto gen start, keeps everything just where I want it.

The best part is never having to go get the propane filled.

[Dutch Star Don]

Your coach is designed to run both the microwave and the electric/induction cooktop off of the inverter/batteries. My personal opinion only..... I never run anything of that size off of the battery or inverter. With that said, it's never been an issue. You have to run your generator when boondocking to recharge your batteries. Usually we do this in the morning while having breakfast and before dinner while prepping dinner.

[newmarpusher]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

Your coach is designed to run both the microwave and the electric/induction cooktop off of the inverter/batteries. My personal opinion only..... I never run anything of that size off of the battery or inverter. With that said, it's never been an issue. You have to run your generator when boondocking to recharge your batteries. Usually we do this in the morning while having breakfast and before dinner while prepping dinner.

With our 2015 all electric Ventana, the Induction cooktop is NOT setup to run off the inverter. You must have shore power or the generator on.

That said, it is a MUCH better coach for boondocking than any propane based coach we've ever had. Our 8 AGM batteries will last throughout the night even after watching TV and running lights for 6 hours or so before bedtime. One or two charges a day on the Genni is all it takes to never go below 50% charge. The Oasis takes very little batter power to run the heat all night long. The refer seems to take almost nothing, battery wise, to run.

[Phil_Cook]

If your new coach does not have AGM batteries you may want to make them part of your deal. Easier to maintain and the battery compartment will always look clean. I just took delivery of my 2015 Dutch Star and we were so excited I overlooked the batteries and mine are wet cells.

I have the keys now so my negotiating with the dealer to change them out may be difficult, but I am going to try.

Good luck with your new coach. We love ours

phil

[Tony Lee]

Originally Posted by DRL1950

My wife and I are upgrading to a 2015 Dutch Star all electric 4369, and I am just wondering what I can expect as it relates to battery life and how different is it from having propane in the past? What have others experienced? As always thank you.

Do you know what capacity batteries are installed as I would think there are several options available and that will have a big bearing on the results you get.

Many RVs are designed to get you from home to the RV park and then only using split charging from the engine alternator to keep the batteries topped up while on the road, and it is a big step up from that minimum configuration to being able to do any reasonable amount of boondocking without running the generator every couple of hours..

[Gdawgs]

I also have an all electric coach with 8 AGM batteries. Make sure your charge rate is setup for the total amperage of your batteries.

[KarenS144]

Lovin' our all electric coach!

We were a little hesitant about it when we first started looking for a DP but the great folks here at iRV2 convinced us that it would be okay.

Our microwave runs off the batteries but I've not tested the cook top since we do most cooking outdoors. I would seriously doubt that it works though but can work around that. The residential fridge is WONDERFUL. Oasis hot water & heat are plenty warm... hot, in fact.

We're hoping to start our first boondocking experience today and expect that with running the genny for a couple of hours morning & evening, we'll be fine. I'll report when we're back in civilization.

[SGTrvlr]

Those of you running your microwave off the batteries; you are putting quite a strain on the inverter. Plus an extra drain on the battery reserve. I doubt if you are saving any gen run time by running off the batteries alone, since you are going to have to recharge the batteries. In the grand scheme of rving, running the gen is very economical.

[PDR John]

I see no point in running the genny to reheat food when I pull over. I'm only stopping to stretch my legs and eat, 25-30 mins.

The microwave pulls 1500 watts from my 2800 watt inverter, something tells me it'll be OK.

I let you know in another 3 years.

[newmarpusher]

Originally Posted by KarenS144

...

We're hoping to start our first boondocking experience today and expect that with running the genny for a couple of hours morning & evening, we'll be fine. I'll report when we're back in civilization.

You'll do great boondocking in your all electric coach.

We've been to a couple car races and will be at the IndyCar race at Pocono this weekend. We've had zero problems boondocking 3 days. Two Genni runs a day is all that's needed to keep our 8 AGMs charged.

[lostinfla]

This thread is very interesting and I appreciate all the comments as we are considering a 15 Ventana which is all electric. Learning something new every day...