Hello all! New fulltimers in our 36rrsb3 - RV-Dreams Community Forum

dmorse68 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hello all! New fulltimers in our 36rrsb3

Second Chance · RV-Dreams Family Member

dmorse68 wrote:
... living 250 years in Napa Valley...

Man! How old are you?!!

dmorse68 · RV-Dreams Community Member

ooooops! Correction...25 years.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome to both of you. You will find this a friendly place to chat and get information.

Concerning the latter as you requested -- As a very good rule of thumb, one needs at least 100 watts of solar panels for each 100 amp hours of batteries. (Number of batteries and voltage is not relevant - only amp hours.) So, for example, if one has 400 AH of batteries then one should have at least 400+ AH of solar. One can not have too much solar. In fact, for our 600AH bank we have 720 watts of solar which works very well even with our 5500 watt generator like you have.

The above recommendation may not be possible for you but the math is the math. :)

Safe travels and again, welcome.

Bill

dmorse68 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thank you Bill and Linda.

That is great info...100W SP for every 100ah of batteries. I will have to look to see how many AH each of my batteries are. Curious, how many AH are each of your batteries and what type are they (AGM, Golf Cart, Wet)? Thank you.

Well we successfully got through our first night. Heater set at 64. Batteries started at 12.6 v last night and they are now at 12.4v according to the meter in the control center closet. What voltage reading will indicate fully charged and what voltage reading should I go by to know when it is time to recharge them?

-- Edited by dmorse68 on Sunday 8th of October 2017 09:27:07 AM

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

dmorse68 wrote:
Thank you Bill and Linda.
That is great info...100W SP for every 100ah of batteries. I will have to look to see how many AH each of my batteries are. Curious, how many AH are each of your batteries and what type are they (AGM, Golf Cart, Wet)? Thank you.
Well we successfully got through our first night. Heater set at 64. Batteries started at 12.6 v last night and they are now at 12.4v according to the meter in the control center closet. What voltage reading will indicate fully charged and what voltage reading should I go by to know when it is time to recharge them?

-- Edited by dmorse68 on Sunday 8th of October 2017 09:27:07 AM

:) Well, now we jump into the techie part of RVing. Voltage is a really bad way to tell the charge on batteries. It really isn't accurate. One needs a monitor like the Trimetric RV-2030 which is like a gas guage for batteries. Keeps track of AH in and out. Proper care of expensive batteries, like AGMs, is important. To steal a phrase, "Batteries don't die, they're murdered" by improper care.

http://www.bogartengineering.com/products/trimetrics/

You don't just add the AH ratings of your batteries. If you have 4 - six volt batteries set up for 12 volts - then read the AH rating from one battery and double it. You will most likely be right as to the total amp hours. I know this sounds funny but its how the math works.

We have four GPL-6 Lifeline AGM 300AH batteries. 4 - six volt batteries each with 300 AH rating = 600 AH total.

For a good tutorial on RV Electrical and Solar go here, this is one of the best overall write ups I've seen:

http://www.jackdanmayer.com/rv_electrical_and_solar.htm

As you are in the Oregon area, if I were you I would consider going by AM Solar and having a roof mounted solar array and controller installed if you are going to be doing a lot of boondocking. Not inexpensive but desirable nonetheless. http://www.amsolar.com/

The host of this forum also has some good write ups on solar and RV electrical but unless you already know something about solar and high current low voltage power systems might want to check out the pros for advice.

http://www.rv-dreams.com/rv-electrical.html

http://www.rv-dreams.com/our-rv-electrical.html

There really isn't a short answer to some of the questions. But the above links might help.

Bill

al_and_solar.htm

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome and congratulations on the Mobile Suites. We just left Oregon with ours last month to settle into Southern Utah for a spell. We were in the Grants Pass area and over last winter, we saw temps get down to about 20 degrees. Our hoses from the hydrant to our RV were only wrapped in two sizes of split foam from the lumber yard. One size was just big enough to go around the water hoses, and the second size of foam went around the hoses wrapped with the smaller foam. At that 20 degrees, we did see some freeze up of our water, but no damage.

We live long term in one place, so we generally lease a 120 gallon LP cylinder or tank to be set near our RV. With our Mobile Suites, we've experienced temps ranging from 115 degrees and down to -6 degrees and was still comfortable inside the coach. (I use the term "coach" instead of "camper" because a DRV is much more than just a camper.)

Good luck with you winter in Oregon.

Terry

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

Welcome aboard David and Sheryll

dmorse68 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi Terry,

Thank you for the good and useful info. I am going to get the 120 gal propane tank. I am curious...How often would you have to fill yours in the winter when it was really cold out?

thanks.

David

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

David,

That varies on the refill needs. When we were in Colorado, the truck would come to the RV park every 6 weeks. In their case, they had a number of tanks in the RV park to fill, so they made it a regular route. Other places, I have to watch the gauge and call in my orders. In all cases in our RV, we have supplemented our heating with some electric heaters and the fireplace. Not using supplemental heat would require refilling the tank earlier, perhaps as much as every month. It would just depend on the weather in your area and your desires for heat. We tend to set our thermostats for around 66 to 68 degrees in Winter.

Terry

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry, when you had frozen pipes ... did you “drip” a faucet? Just curious as someday, I may experience temps in the 20’s (overnight) ... which normally warm up to above freezing in the daytime. We are wintering in the San Antonio area and this is a possibility.

dmorse68 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Terry,

I appreciate the reply and the help. Useful info. Thank you.

David

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

RonC wrote:
Terry, when you had frozen pipes ... did you “drip” a faucet? Just curious as someday, I may experience temps in the 20’s (overnight) ... which normally warm up to above freezing in the daytime. We are wintering in the San Antonio area and this is a possibility.

Ron,

I never "drip" a faucet. I don't like leaving the grey tank valve open in freezing weather. If dripping water is running from the tank, it is either collecting in the slinky hose and freezing or subject to freezing in the pipe if one is using a PVC system instead of a slinky. Years ago, there was a couple here on RV Dreams that wintered in Missouri and woke to find their slinky hose totally frozen solid because they had allowed dripping. Jo and I have the Eze-Kleen Sewer System since we tend to stay in one place for longer periods of time than most. With it being PVC pipe, there are no little "valleys" (as in a slinky) to catch and hold water.

In our case, with a furnace having an "outlet" placed in the vicinity of the water manifold, our underbelly has never reached freezing temps, even at minus 6 degrees. When it gets down to zero, then we do have one water line that tends to freeze, and that is the hot water line from the water manifold to the kitchen sink. All other lines, including the cold to the kitchen sink, have never frozen.

Terry

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

When I drip a faucet, I close the gray tanks. In SA it rarely stays below freezing during the daytime, dripping keeps the incoming water flowing and good old sunshine lets the gray tank drain the next AM. This is a rare event in South Texas, but it does happen from time to time.