Camping without hook-up

[peteincambridge]

I have bought two 100 amp Elecsol batteries (it's easy to swop over when one is tired) ... but I haven't really got space to link them together. I have nice stand alone CTEK charger (if there is an electric supply nearby) and my Lunar Pinnacle Van charges when the engine runs. I am a bit of a Sky Sports freak so I use my inverter quite a bit to run my box ... which I know is very naughty but that's not going to change. What I'd like is a bit of help as to how good my engine will be a charging my battery. How fast does an engine charge a leisure battery? If I choose to stay onsite and just run the engine will my leisure battery get fully charged? Do I need a very small (silent!!) generator or can I cope with what I have.
I'd really welcome some help on this.

By the way ... this is my first post.

pete

 

[ianmorgan]

I have bought two 100 amp Elecsol batteries (it's easy to swop over when one is tired) ... but I haven't really got space to link them together. I have nice stand alone CTEK charger (if there is an electric supply nearby) and my Lunar Pinnacle Van charges when the engine runs. I am a bit of a Sky Sports freak so I use my inverter quite a bit to run my box ... which I know is very naughty but that's not going to change. What I'd like is a bit of help as to how good my engine will be a charging my battery. How fast does an engine charge a leisure battery? If I choose to stay onsite and just run the engine will my leisure battery get fully charged? Do I need a very small (silent!!) generator or can I cope with what I have.
I'd really welcome some help on this.

By the way ... this is my first post.

pete

hya
your MH running idle onsight would not charge your batteries worth talking about,waste of derv
i have a 2kw honda genny which will charge your batteries in about 2 hours.you can also run tv sat whatever while charging
good luck IAN

 

[ian81]

Although we only wild camp and try to be in a minority of one often park on aires on the continent with other MHers. One of the irritants is people running their engines I guess in the hope of charging their leisure battery which as Ian says is a forlorn hope.

We have a solar panel which we find keeps our batteries charged up except for a few days in the middle of winter. Then we resort to our Kippor generator.

Welcome to the site Pete -we have flown south from living in Cambridge and now are based in SW France. Hope you enjoy the A14 'car park'!!

 

[BedfordMJ]

hya
your MH running idle onsight would not charge your batteries worth talking about,waste of derv
i have a 2kw honda genny which will charge your batteries in about 2 hours.you can also run tv sat whatever while charging
good luck IAN

Could always start the engine leave a brick on the accelerator and pop out for a couple of hours

 

[orian]

I have chosen to fit a solar panel to my unit because I do not like to hear engines running for long periods of time. I also dislike the thought of parking next to a generator.
Although some generators are described as silent they are not as quiet or enviromentally friendly as my solar panel.
I accept in winter I might not get much of a charge from my solar panel but I find at that time of the year I don't tend to stay in one spot for very long so the engine recharges the batteries.

 

[peteincambridge]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I might go down the "Silent" generator route and they look smart. I'd probably only want a very small one. Has anyone get any recommendations ... I've had a little hunt through Google.
pete

 

[oldiebutgoodie]

I have bought two 100 amp Elecsol batteries (it's easy to swop over when one is tired) ... but I haven't really got space to link them together.
pete

It doesn't take any space up to run a length of welding cable to the second battery and add an earth, wherever it is stored.

 

[barryd]

We once ran our battery right down so all the lights went dim and the satellite receiver and TV just went off. I ran the engine for about 40 minutes (we were wilding on our own) and afterwards everything worked for the remainder of the evening (about a couple of hours) so I think it does work to some extent. Normally I find that we can wildcamp for a couple of weeks just by moving around every day or every other day just for maybe an hour, sometimes less and everything stays charged. No solar panels and just one 110AH Battery. However no invertors either! Satellite system uses no power once tuned in and we got rid of the AMP sucking 15" 12v tv and now have a 15" 240V TV for when on hookup and an 8" DVD TV combo box for 12 V which seems to use hardly any power.

 

[ian81]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I might go down the "Silent" generator route and they look smart. I'd probably only want a very small one. Has anyone get any recommendations ... I've had a little hunt through Google.
pete

Kippor IG1000 about £250 plus carriage off ebay

 

[BedfordMJ]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I might go down the "Silent" generator route and they look smart. I'd probably only want a very small one. Has anyone get any recommendations ... I've had a little hunt through Google.
pete

Just be responsible as none are 'Silent' use them very sparingly. There are loads of opinions on here about them and they can be a huge annoyance.
From my education on forums the last couple of years I understand Onan and Honda to be good units. Mine is a Dometic which has a Honda engine.

 

[robjmckinney]

Battery Charging

After starting your vehicle it takes approx 7 mins to recharge your vehicle battery while driving. The modern alterator pushes out more than 40 amps, you would need a mighty big genny to compare to that output. Each individual alternator may differ a little but you should have a high enough output at about 12 to 15 hundred revs!

 

[bob690]

Hi pete, I do use quite a bit of power, have 3- 110amp batteries. I bought a honda 1kw suitcase genny which is excellent. Takes hardly any room up and can deliver 12 or 240 volt. But what puts it above the others is the output for computer and TV operation. Some of the cheaper gennies have unregulated supplies and without goin into complicated gumff, the sine wave output is the same as or better than the mains. Have a look on the review websites. Hope this helps....Bob

 

[ianmorgan]

After starting your vehicle it takes approx 7 mins to recharge your vehicle battery while driving. The modern alterator pushes out more than 40 amps, you would need a mighty big genny to compare to that output. Each individual alternator may differ a little but you should have a high enough output at about 12 to 15 hundred revs!

7mins have you any more jokes

 

[BedfordMJ]

7mins have you any more jokes

Yes it is clearly 3 minutes and 13 seconds
Sorry no idea about alternators but 7 mins sounds a bit lean.

 

[robjmckinney]

Battery Charging

ianmorgan

7mins have you any more jokes

I'm only an old ex-forces vehicle electrician, they have improved on them since then, but I will always bow to superior knowledge!

 

[ianmorgan]

ianmorgan

7mins have you any more jokes

I'm only an old ex-forces vehicle electrician, they have improved on them since then, but I will always bow to superior knowledge!

i'm only a middle aged bricky thats had a few vans with the odd flat battery.
jump leads to start and drove aprox 10 miles stoped van still no start

not meanning to put your statement down
just pis--- off with batteries

 

[ian81]

After starting your vehicle it takes approx 7 mins to recharge your vehicle battery while driving. The modern alterator pushes out more than 40 amps, you would need a mighty big genny to compare to that output. Each individual alternator may differ a little but you should have a high enough output at about 12 to 15 hundred revs!

Going back to school physics say alternator is pushing out 15v at 40 amps that equals 600w. So is my Kipor IG1000 a 'mighty big genny'??

 

[Deleted member 3011]

After starting your vehicle it takes approx 7 mins to recharge your vehicle battery while driving. The modern alterator pushes out more than 40 amps, you would need a mighty big genny to compare to that output. Each individual alternator may differ a little but you should have a high enough output at about 12 to 15 hundred revs!

True, but then all you are replacing is the couple of Ah used to start the engine (say 300A for 2 seconds = 300x 2/3600 = almost nothing). 7 minutes is a long time to replace that tiny amount of energy.

A leisure battery may need 60 Ah and although the alternator may put out 40 Amps at the start, it soon tapers off to much less than rated output. Two hours of running the engine at high idle would probably not replace the 60Ah.

 

[robjmckinney]

ian81

A thousand watt genny has to convert to 12v charging or has a small charging circuit at a low rate of constant current.

Tony Lee

Ouite a difference to a simple constant current battery charger to a constant voltage system on the vehicle, this takes a high current while flat and reduces as the battery charges up to a mere trickle due to the internal resistance of the battery which increases during charging.

The old Lucas alternator 20 ACR's produced just less than 40 amps thirty years ago. The modern alternator is considerably improved and powerful, no doubt some here have 90 amps and above as standard to run their extras. My brother's transit with crew cab had a special feeding a bank of batteries, extra heating including hot water and microwave etc so even larger ones are fitted.

The 7 min rule applies to an average car, thirty years ago, that is well maintained not some old snotter falling to bits with worn out batteries, I've had a fair few of them in my time!

 

[derekfaeberwick]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I might go down the "Silent" generator route and they look smart. I'd probably only want a very small one. Has anyone get any recommendations ... I've had a little hunt through Google.
pete

With the kipor 1 kw. there is a 12 volt output with leads included. You could charge one battery on hook up (to the genny) and the other with the 12 volt leads.