Pop -
Ray is kind of nibbling around the outside of your problem. Let me be more forthright. If you are going to dry-camp in the Nevada desert in July and August, you NEED an air conditioner, and that means you NEED a generator to run it. Your basic goal is air conditioning, not battery charging. But as long as you have to run a generator to cool your TM, then you might as well charge your batteries with it at the same time. But this is your particular requirement, and probably doesn't apply to very many other people. That's why the desert is a lonely place in July and August.
But what about the rest of the year, and what about those of us who don't camp in the desert in August? The answer may be a little different. If the basic goal is battery charging, a generator is not a great way to go. A Honda EU2000 can supply only 8 amps of battery charge, and the EU3000 only 12 amps. As Ray points out, if you use your generator to power a 7300-series converter, it is a bit better, and the Progressive Dynamics 9160 retrofit would be even better than that (in my opinion). But for battery charging, a solar panel installation would be the best of all, for the reasons Ray points out. When you are camped in a sunny area, they are a nearly ideal solution.
So what about the times when we are not expecting to camp in a sunny area? (I camp a lot in the sunny but forested northeast.) Well, you do without - or you buy a small generator for long stays. A Honda EU1000 won't run the air conditioner, but it is a lot cheaper than a 2000 or 3000, and will run the TM's converter to charge the batteries at whatever rate the converter will produce. The big advantage is that it is very light (only 29 pounds, as opposed to 134 pounds for the 3000) which means you just toss it in the back seat - you don't have to build a mount for it or expose it to the weather and grime on the road. Seems a reasonable compromise.
Just my thoughts.
Bill
|