How Long Will the Battery Last?

[WolfWhistle]

Originally Posted by Brimare57

Hey there fellow campers,

Future A213HW owner here. If I am strictly relying on battery power, how long will the battery last. I know that really depends on how much I use the lights etc. but I was wondering:

1- If I am using the propane furnace, does the furnace need battery power for a blower fan?

2- If I back the TV close enough to the hitch, can I plug the trailer into the TV and keep the camper battery charged?

Please advise and happy camping.

It sounds like a good start would be a battery monitor so you will know what your demands are and how much battery you have left. Otherwise, it is only a guess.

Old days, before I knew anything ... some would say, not much has changed ... my little Trailmanor while out west; I could run the heater for maybe 2 nights and not much of anything else. Fridge and WH on gas, as well as stove top coffee peculator. If they were available, I had not heard of LED bulbs. The biggest issue was that I was not getting a good charge during short generator runs and would start the evening with a battery half full. The converter with a good one, but only about 25 to 30 Amps, so a good charge would have taken days rather than hours.

Recharging via the 7 pin is not a good solution, and if you have to recharge from the TV, you are better off turning it around and using jumper cables from the TV battery to the trailer battery, which would still take many, many hours.

Like HONDAMAN stated, do not run battery 9(ies) below 50% or 12.0vdc for a resting 12 volt battery.
WW

[jjuscg]

Originally Posted by Brimare57

If I see that the battery is being drained, by plugging the trailer into the TV, can I run the furnace off the TV system? If so, I would think the TV battery would recharge the next time I drive it.

TV battery won't recharge itself if the battery is too dead to start the engine...

Only way to safely use TV battery long term (more than a couple of hours) is to keep the engine running... Don't know if I would do that.

[Tom48]

Originally Posted by Brimare57

If I see that the battery is being drained, by plugging the trailer into the TV, can I run the furnace off the TV system? If so, I would think the TV battery would recharge the next time I drive it.

Don't do that unless there is someone there to jump start your TV because it will probably not last as long as a fully charged RV battery. I second having two batteries, and if you plan to run the heater best carry a small generator or even just one portable solar panel. The basic 100 watt setup from WindtNation.com will set you up for under $200 and you will get lots of use out of a nice portable setup.

[pgandw]

The furnace uses 4 amps for the fan. The LED interior lights use about 3/4 amp with both on. The outside orange porch light, and the outside white tongue light are not LED on my 2014 A-frame. But we never use the outside lights when we are dry camping. We don't use the stereo when dry camping, either. Water pump comes on so little it doesn't matter. So the furnace, Fantastic fan (3 amp or less), and the propane/CO alarm (about 1/2 amp) are the only loads when we are dry camping.


Based on running the furnace 4-5 hours per night on the coldest nights, we get 2 nights out of one battery running down to about 50%.. We put in dual Group 24 batteries to extend this to 4 nights without recharging, which is the longest we want/plan to stay in one place. I like shaded sites, and we have too much wind to deal with solar. I did not want the noise/mess/weight/cost of dealing with a generator, either. Thermostat is set to around 50-55 degrees, then turned up to 65 when the wife is getting up/getting dressed.


Reality is we seldom camp with nights in the 20s. If outside temps are in the 40s, the furnace might run a couple of hours in one night. A-frames are much better insulated, and much smaller volume than canvas pop-ups. The heater or A/C just doesn't run as much, and is much more effective in the A-frame.


The original batteries have been replaced with 2 Interstate GC-2 6V golf cart batteries, which gives us 116AH usable instead of 80 from the dual 12V. That's 40% more capacity than the Group 24s for less cost, and about 20lbs more tongue weight.


hope this helps
Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122 A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan