TrailManor Owner's Forum - View Single Post

07-22-2006, 10:10 AM

Carol,

I scratched my head on this issue a long time as well. My conclusions and reasons follow. It may help you decide.

First, I want a microwave and a vacuum cleaner. I also have lots of electrical toys to play with (shaver, model planes, palm pilot, drill motor for the jacks, cell phone, and now a new laptop). And of course, the furnace.

I am currently in Flagstaff, 180 miles from home at the end of a 4 week vacation and 4000 miles with the TM in tow. I am very happy with my implemented solution.

My solution was to purchase a Honda eu2000i generator. It is light enough for me to lift while full of fuel. It runs a loooong time on about 1/2 gal. It powers my microwave and all the toys. It also does the laptop . As mentioned above, my inverters seem to not turn on unless the battery is being charged. My older inverters did power the laptop and other smaller toys with the generator off.

I did two other things.
A) I replaced the wimpy converter that came with my '02 and put in a PD 9600 solid state converter. It does a much better job of quick charging my TM battery without overcharging it or bubbling the water out.
B) I installed a battery meter, the Xantrex Link 10. Now I can see the state of charge remaining in my battery.

With this combo, I am charging my battery while making breakfast. The microwave is ready when I am. After breakfast, the geney can be turned off. One tank of gas will do maybe 2 campout weekends easily.

My wife (now deceased) could not tolerate cold and I was very anal about making sure the furnace would run all night. We mostly dry camped.

I really liked the way the power worked on my TM this summer. My battery is really about shot. I think it only has about 50 Amp Hours of capacity where new it was 105. But I got by very well, just knowing what was remaining helped me determine what to do.

By the way, I decided against solar as I love to camp in shady places. (I'm the guy under the tree over there...) That really cuts the output of solar, so keep that in mind. I also believe that sufficient solar panels to charge my battery would cost as much as the Honda. Some day, the cost factor will change and I may very well add solar then.

I hope this helps.

07-22-2006, 10:10 AM	#10
BobRederick Guest Posts: n/a	Carol, I scratched my head on this issue a long time as well. My conclusions and reasons follow. It may help you decide. First, I want a microwave and a vacuum cleaner. I also have lots of electrical toys to play with (shaver, model planes, palm pilot, drill motor for the jacks, cell phone, and now a new laptop). And of course, the furnace. I am currently in Flagstaff, 180 miles from home at the end of a 4 week vacation and 4000 miles with the TM in tow. I am very happy with my implemented solution. My solution was to purchase a Honda eu2000i generator. It is light enough for me to lift while full of fuel. It runs a loooong time on about 1/2 gal. It powers my microwave and all the toys. It also does the laptop . As mentioned above, my inverters seem to not turn on unless the battery is being charged. My older inverters did power the laptop and other smaller toys with the generator off. I did two other things. A) I replaced the wimpy converter that came with my '02 and put in a PD 9600 solid state converter. It does a much better job of quick charging my TM battery without overcharging it or bubbling the water out. B) I installed a battery meter, the Xantrex Link 10. Now I can see the state of charge remaining in my battery. With this combo, I am charging my battery while making breakfast. The microwave is ready when I am. After breakfast, the geney can be turned off. One tank of gas will do maybe 2 campout weekends easily. My wife (now deceased) could not tolerate cold and I was very anal about making sure the furnace would run all night. We mostly dry camped. I really liked the way the power worked on my TM this summer. My battery is really about shot. I think it only has about 50 Amp Hours of capacity where new it was 105. But I got by very well, just knowing what was remaining helped me determine what to do. By the way, I decided against solar as I love to camp in shady places. (I'm the guy under the tree over there...) That really cuts the output of solar, so keep that in mind. I also believe that sufficient solar panels to charge my battery would cost as much as the Honda. Some day, the cost factor will change and I may very well add solar then. I hope this helps.