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Charging Question
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Gil, great idea on the Link 2000’s. That will work great. We will be in the coach over the weekend, so this will be a great test.
Jon, agree on the phantom loads, that is always the wildcard. I also agree and am never afraid to run the generator. We find that most of our travel is in the summer months and we are always running the generator when stopped and unplugged because we always run the A/C.
Jon, I am starting to even consider less capacity as we rarely find ourselves unplugged, not driving, or not running the generator. We simply do not dry camp. The very rare occation that we did a Walmart parking lot on a cool night I would have no issue running the generator for the majority if not the entire time just as I would on a hot night needing A/C. At 1/2 gallon per hour and many many hours to spare on the generator, why not use it and save the $$$ and weight. Being a double Rogue River slide coach with 315 steers, we could really use the weight savings.
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Our converters have done a very good job of trying to meet the needs of just about any owner. But in doing so all of us will find we have some systems or components that are rarely or never used. I don’t think any of us are wiling to give up a generator so it would seem if we want to reduce exposure to replacement costs, reduce weight, increase storage space, reduce the maintenance associated with each battery, etc. we can get down to one or two batteries (if we have a 24 volt coach) as long as we accept the fact it is OK to run the generator a lot.
When were used our coach up to 16 weeks a year we used it for business purposes, often dry camping at distributor’s warehouses. We were putting up to 30,000 miles on the coach and if we drove an average of 50 MPH we spend about 2700 hours in the coach and of those 600 were driving. For discussion purposes let’s say we never were in a campground (not true) and that we ran the generator almost 100% of the time we were not moving or about 2000 hours. If we accept the fact a well maintained generator will last over 30,000 hours we can assume we will get 15 years of use out of the generator.
My point is very few of us motorhome owners are going to do that, but if we look at it from a cost perspective we would use 3 sets of batteries in the same 15 years and each set could cost $2000 or more or $6000 total. I would guess a generator could be rebuilt or replaced for that same cost. would the $4000 extra annually we spent on fuel for the generator be a deal breaker? Probably would be similar to what it would cost if we used campgrounds exclusively. 16 weeks, at $40 a night would run about the same or a little higher.
What it boils down to is we can remain equipped as we are to meet all circumstances, or lose a lot of extra weight and cost and only have enough equipment based on how we used our coach.
I have 4 8D batteries @165 pounds each and on nights when I don’t need heat or AC it is nice to shut off the generator when we go to bed and wake up with enough battery power left to shave, make coffee, see a little TV and use all the lights we need. If I had 8 batteries of the 8D size half of them would be gone for sure.
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Jon, your doing a good job of talking me into just two 8D AGM’s. We travel about 10,000 miles per year and spend less than 25 days driving. Most nights are plugged in at campgrounds on our way to long RV park stays. It has been a couple years since we even used a Walmart for an overnight. This will change some day when we full time and budget accordingly but not anytime soon. We have the rack space for eight 8D’s and can always go back to this configuration in the future should the need arise when its time for new batteries.
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I don’t want to try to change anyone’s mind about how their coach should be set up or equipped. I am just trying to point out that one of the great things about owning our own coaches is we can personalize them. We can redo the interiors, but we can also look at the systems and if it makes sense we can modify them also.
I am happy with my coach as it is set up, especially since we will occasionally sleep in a rest area or do a little dry camping. But if my use of the coach were to shift to going from shore power to shore power I would likely elminate two of my four house batteries if it made sense. I would however not permanently make changes that I could not undo when the time came to sell the coach. The next owner may not want my idea of a battery set up.
Homebuilders have the opportunity to set their coaches up exactly how they need for their intended use. Even though a lot of them dry camp such as at Quartzite I cannot recall hardly any going to 8 4 or 8D batteries. Having said that, some coaches such as Vantare are set up electrically so that battery capacity is valuable since 100% of the coach’s electric runs through the inverters.
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- My vantari has i think ten large white batteries ,, i would sure like to sit down and talk to some one that can explaine to me how to use my coach. Is ther some one close to DeLeon Springs , Fl that may be able to help me understand the inverters along with the electrical system?
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David,
Everyone can tell you how to use your coach based on how they use theirs. The problem with that is we are all different. None of us knows how you would like to use your coach and what your preferences are regarding use of the generator, whether the coach is plugged in or rarely plugged in, and if you like to manually control things or opt to use the automatic features your systems likely have.
For sure advice from any but Vantare owners is going to be considered generic. Only Vantare owners can be specific because Vantare set up its electrical system different than most.
The guy I would recommend you talk to is Ben Cummins. He is very much up on how your coach is set up.
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David, ditto to what Jon says. Ben is the guy for anything electrical, but especially Vantare, Featherlite or Vogue as he designed the systems. He answers his phone and is only a 90 min. ride from you.
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How would i contact Ben.?
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Dave,
Ben is at Parliment Coach in Clearwater. Parliment acquired Coach Works, which is actually where Ben was.
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Dave,
Parliament is one of our Advertisers: http://www.parliamentmotorcoach.com
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Thanks ill try to arange a trip to see him
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