Charging while dry camping.

[Denny.L]

We have a FR 2019 X-LITE 241RLXL. a 12v batt. was included at "drive off 6 months ago.



We are going dry camping in 4 days and the ground rules are: "quiet time...8pm to 8am. " UGH!!!



We plan on using the 12 volt battery to power the outlets & TV, also so we can plug in our electric blanket since it's going to be very cold at night.


My question is: during the day when we have our generator on...we need a better, faster charging system for the battery during the day OTHER THAN our trickle charger.



I keep hearing I keep hearing that if you charge it too fast it might explode. Which scares me!



Does anybody have any advice on how to fully charge this battery so we can use it another night?


sorry if I sound like a total newbie. I'm not (to camping) , but I am a newbie to a travel trailer. :-D

[NJKris]

I bought a CTEK 25 amp smart charger for the very reason you described. It was expensive. BTW, that electric blanket is going to put a big dent in that battery overnight. May be more energy efficient to just run furnace.

[Flybob]

Welcome to the forum and feel free to ask all the questions you want.
There are two completely independent electrical systems in your RV. a 110VAC system which runs the AC and charges the battery via the converter. The other system is a 12VDC system that runs your lights, furnace fan. When you are not connected to shore power, you will not be able to run your electric blanket. You can run your tv if you have a small inverter but you need to be careful in how much 12V current you use. If you run your furnace all night on a cold night, it will drain your battery. You will also drain your propane quickly. If you plan to do much off grid camping you should have two high capacity deep cycle batteries. Before you venture out, I suggest you read through the RV electric tutorials in the library section of the forum. As for charging the battery with a generator, the best way to accomplish this is to connect the standard power cord to the generator and allow the converter to charge it. It will not blow up.

[Kimber45]

im confused. how do you plan on running a tv outlets and an electric blanket off battery? You either have an extensive non stock after market battery system or not much understanding on the limitations of the 12 volt system?

[NoviBill]

A fair 12v battery will hold 800 to 1000 watt hours (watts for one hour). A blanket will use about 200 watts so 800/200 is 4 hours of blanket. You would be much better off with a good comforter and use the gas heater in your camper. Also most batteries (except true deep cycles) will not survive more than a few full cycles (fully charged to full discharged), you are better off not draining them completely. LED lights only use a few watts and will run days or weeks. The heater might be 50 watts (fan) but only runs part time. You can get 2-3 days of heat and light from the battery if you use only the lights and gas heater. No one wants to hear generators running day or night.

[Denny.L]

thank you all so much! This is a wealth of information! :-D

[larry2c]

Just some food for thought - depending on how much your battery is discharged overnight, you will likely need to run the generator for several hours - minimum -to get it charged back up. As the battery gets closer to a full charge, the rate of charging slows down. Many folks using a generator will try to minimize the run time which is understandable but if you don't get the battery fully recharged, then you have less & less available amps each night. If you discharge your battery below the 50% level, it starts to damage the battery and you'll get less & less run time out of the battery.

As was mentioned earlier, there is a lot of info on 12V systems and batteries in the library here - this link is to one of the more comprehensive articles and should give you some good information to get started on dry camping - The 12V Side of Life

Dry camping is a lot of fun - don't be intimidated by figuring out the 12V way of life - it's not that difficult

[rsdata]

I would forget the heated blankets and go for something like this at night... get the extended 10 or 12 foot propane hose with 20# tank adapter end...

will give off plenty of heat for zero electric

I have added the part in the manual that says it is safe in enclosed spaces IF you have a small window open...

Also think about getting a group 27 (larger than your stock battery) 12 V rechargeable marine/RV battery... cheapest place I know of is Costco for about $80

[Dirt Sifter]

I prefer a good sleeping bag. A couple blankets or quilt perform well also, unless you need to keep the trlr from freezing up in really cold weather.

[Beachbourbon]

Lots of good replies...I will add that during the day you can plug a portable battery charger like this into your generator and attach to your battery to bring it back up. Then your converter can maintain it from there.

https://www.harborfreight.com/10250-...art-60653.html

These can be had for $29 on sale and work great.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Denny.L

We have a FR 2019 X-LITE 241RLXL. a 12v batt. was included at "drive off 6 months ago.



We are going dry camping in 4 days and the ground rules are: "quiet time...8pm to 8am. " UGH!!!



We plan on using the 12 volt battery to power the outlets & TV, also so we can plug in our electric blanket since it's going to be very cold at night.


My question is: during the day when we have our generator on...we need a better, faster charging system for the battery during the day OTHER THAN our trickle charger.



I keep hearing I keep hearing that if you charge it too fast it might explode. Which scares me!



Does anybody have any advice on how to fully charge this battery so we can use it another night?


sorry if I sound like a total newbie. I'm not (to camping) , but I am a newbie to a travel trailer. :-D

First, having spent 35 years camping at California State, being properly equipped for dry camping, is a must.

And you are NOT properly equipped.

1st, you most certainly have a cheap dual purpose marine battery from the dealer. This is not enough battery nor a proper battery for dry camping, for more than one night. The propane furnace alone, can easily empty that battery before the morning arrives.

2nd, your dealer did NOT properly explain to you, how your 12v DC and 110v AC electrical systems work. Unless you had the dealer hardwire an inverter into the electrical system, your outlets, tv and blanket won't work on battery power.

3rd, just plug the shore cord into your generator to recharge the battery. The onboard converter will recharge the battery.
What generator do you have? I hope it's not an open frame contractor-style generator!

Your dealer didn't do you any favors, by not explaining this stuff to you. But that's pretty typical of the California RV dealers I dealt with, sorry to say.

And NO generators, during the night, is pretty much standard, unless you're boondocking on BLM land or the desert.

[Tundra 2014]

We use a use a CPEK charger-7.5 Amp. I would say this the minimum charge rate you want. The 20 amp would be great, but they get pricey. This is a smart charger and works very well, no explosion risk and has a " charge to maintain" auto system. Norco makes the same kind of charger, we have both, prefer the CPEK as it charges faster IMO.
If you are using a group 27 or 31 battery, you have about 110 amps hrs and only want to take your battery down to half that before recharging. We use a small electric oil filled heater or Heater Buddy to build heat in the trailer till 8pm. We then shut the generator off, and use blankets for the night and set the furnace low. The 1 st. one up fires the Buddy Heater back up. Doing this we can last over a week on 2 x30 lb. propane tanks in temps. around 40 degrees at night. We use about 8 gallons of gas in 3K generator. We are in a 2715 V-light-31' total length. Second battery would be great, but no room in the V-front.

[babock]

Originally Posted by Tundra 2014

We use a use a CPEK charger-7.5 Amp.

Why don't you use your converter? Even the crappy WFCO converters that come with almost every TT are better than that?

[CHICKDOE]

have you ever connected the trailer to the generator? do so before you leave. you may need an adapter. you don't want to get to where you are going and find out that you can't connect the generator! let the trailer converter do the recharging. go out on the trip. take some heavy blankets with you. plan on running the generator at least morning and night. your battery will not explode. if you are going to do additional dry camping you will be asking questions about how to install additional battery capacity and how to monitor battery levels. please post what you learned on the trip.

[Denny.L]

Bikendan: We have a quiet Inverter. Westinghouse Igen 4500. We love it!

And our "walk through" guy at the dealership just did a "speed" version of the walk-through. He got really aggravated when we asked questions...so we just said "the hell with it" and let him finish so we could get it home and do our own homework.

But so far.......I'm learning TONS on this forum. Thank you

[CedarCreekWoody]

You have a built in charger (called a converter) that will work better than most of the low end chargers. Just plug your trailer into your generator when it is running. As mentioned above it make take several hours to recharge if the battery is seriously depleted.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Denny.L

Bikendan: We have a quiet Inverter. Westinghouse Igen 4500. We love it!

And our "walk through" guy at the dealership just did a "speed" version of the walk-through. He got really aggravated when we asked questions...so we just said "the hell with it" and let him finish so we could get it home and do our own homework.

But so far.......I'm learning TONS on this forum. Thank you

Well, i wouldve refused accepting the trailer, if the dealer had not given a proper walkthrough. But that's me.

Another thing you haven't discussed, is how you will get fresh water and dump your gray tank.
Doubt you'll fill a black tank in only 4 days but you easily can run out of FW and have a full gray tank.

We carry a 6 gallon FW plastic jerry can and a blue tote tank for gray water disposal.

[Denny.L]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Well, i wouldve refused accepting the trailer, if the dealer had not given a proper walkthrough. But that's me.

Another thing you haven't discussed, is how you will get fresh water and dump your gray tank.
Doubt you'll fill a black tank in only 4 days but you easily can run out of FW and have a full gray tank.

We carry a 6 gallon FW plastic jerry can and a blue tote tank for gray water disposal.

We have a 56 gal fresh water tank. We usually drink bottled water (boyfriends preference) and as for our gray water....we have a blue tote. If we need fresh water, there's a campground with hook ups on the other side of the lake... as long as we show our pass, we can fill up there, should we need to.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Denny.L

We have a 56 gal fresh water tank. We usually drink bottled water (boyfriends preference) and as for our gray water....we have a blue tote. If we need fresh water, there's a campground with hook ups on the other side of the lake... as long as we show our pass, we can fill up there, should we need to.

Sounds good! You definitely need to move to a two battery setup, since you'll be doing more dry camping.
We have a small inverter for the tv and recharging electronic devices.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by NJKris

I bought a CTEK 25 amp smart charger for the very reason you described. It was expensive. BTW, that electric blanket is going to put a big dent in that battery overnight. May be more energy efficient to just run furnace.

Both electric blanket and furnace are power hogs, especially for a single, small battery.

I set the furnace on my TT for lowest setting (55 degrees) overnight and if it gets really cold I pull out my queen sized sleeping bag and use it instead of the regular bedding. Sleeping bag is good for down to 40 degrees so I'm more than warm enough. BTW, queen sized sleeping bag even though I am alone. Otherwise the dog hogs all the room.