| Re: *New Owner* Battery Bank Questions..... [message #327083 is a reply to message #327078] |
Thu, 14 December 2017 05:48   |
Ken Burton
Messages: 10030
Registered: January 2004
Location: Hebron, Indiana
Karma:
|
Senior Member |
|
|
Too many people jump into designing a electrical solution without doing the initial planing to determine what they really need. These people tend to ignore the actual electrical consumption of the items they will be using. The coach was designed with most items using 12 volts DC with only high power consuming items running on 120VAC. Also any storage will will be 12 VDC so running high power items through an inverter at 120 VAC incurs additional losses.
So my suggestions are:
1. Keep all lighting, furnace, and water pump on 12VDC. I also like TV on 12VDC.
2. Reduce your power consumption by installing LEDs everywhere.
3. Run your refrigerator on propane.
4. Do not plan on running the high power use 120VAC items like refrigerator, AC, stove, coffee maker, water heater, and Microwave unless you are plugged in or are going to install a TON of extra high capacity batteries. You could use the Onan for these at a fuel consumption of something a little less that 1 gallon per hour.
After you figure out your daily power consumption, the next thing is to figure out how you are going to recharge daily or every two days to make up what you have consumed. (plug in, driving, Onan, or solar). Keep in mind that batteries will only recharge at a certain rate. So over sizing a converter or thinking the Onan will recharge at full capacity is incorrect. They will not do it quickly. About 20 amps average over the entire charge cycle is normal for a pair of 200 amp-Hour golf cart batteries. Most batteries do not like to be depleted much below 50%. So keep that figure in your calculations.
DO NOT plan on using your engine battery for anything other than starting and running the engine. So do not put any load on it when parked and you will not be stranded. If you follow the 50% rule the Onan will always start. If for some reason it does not start you always can start the main engine and let it charge the house batteries for 5 minutes or so. Then start the Onan. The boost switch switch will also work to start an Onan with a weak battery.
Once you have done all of the above the you can plan on sizing the components in your solution.
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
|
|
|
|
GMCforum
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
