Dry camping trip

[Dylanfreak]

Looking for some basic info, tips, etc. we're making our first trip in our Cardinal, 2017 3950TZ. First time we've had an inverter, for a residential fridge.

I know there's two batteries in the coach, but does anyone know if they both run the coach, or is one strictly for the hydraulics, leveling feet...?

We are bringing a small generator, in order to keep the batteries charged, but I'm wondering if anyone can tell me, when would you run the generator, based on what reading on the battery level, on the monitor panel?

Also, do you need to turn the inverter off, before you start a generator, or is that done by the automatic relay switch installed?....and when the generator is shut off, it automatically switches back to inverter, for the fridge? In our rig, the inverter is dedicated for the fridge, nothing else.

Any info, from someone who has dry camped, with the basics, just the batteries your rig came with, would be appreciated. We don't have solar, and the generator I'm bringing, is just a small Honda 2000.

[Dylanfreak]

...forgot to ask, with our basic setup, can you turn the inverter on, when towing, in order to have the fridge running, off of the tow vehicle?

Does that NOT drain the battery on the coach when driving, and the truck would keep the batteries charged, therefore powering the fridge??

[magpie70]

I'm no expert but I've been researching inverters, batteries & solar quite a bit. Inverters draw a lot of power, so you will need to charge your batteries at some point before they get below 50%. Make sure that you run everything possible on propane, but I'm guessing your residential fridge will not run on propane.

I do not know if 2000w generator is enough to charge. You may need to add another. You definitely will not be able to run AC on 2000w.

[boondocking]

Your 2000 watt generator will charge the batteries just fine. Be sure to plug in the shore cord into the generator and let the converter in the trailer do the charging, don't use the 12V charging option on the generator.

Buy yourself an inexpensive digital VOM and charge the batteries when the voltage reading gets to 12.20 volts. Do not let the batteries go lower than that.

[4B11T]

2000 watt honda will run the ac with a microair soft start.