Ditching the onboard genny, going battery banks? Back country boondocking rig

[rowiebowie]

As far as battery capacity, it all depends on your charging source, amount of daily driving, or whether you'll be plugged in. If 75% boondocking, that will mean recharging by driving. I have 200AH lithiums and do not believe that is nearly enough for you. Therefore, I'd recommend 400AHs at a minimum. 600AHs would be even better. That is based roughly on one day of boondocking per 200AHs, but you might be able to stretch that a bit.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Testa-Dura

Hello .. maybe i'm in the rite forum for my ''POSSIBLE'' upcoming situation .. Hoping i can get some insite here .. We R future Class B owners .. BoonDOKinG wiil B "PROBABY" in the order of 75%/25% (25% being @ campsites) .. Like i've mentioned in other posts .. I am a chef and believe i can sustain whatever i can do in my dwelling will ahve 2 B done with the class B RV .. Convection / microwave combo oven (need 1 thats poweful) .. Rotary mixer & espresso machine (i am sure all of these use allot of wattage) but IDK offcially .. All the rest is gas operated (so no electricity consumption) .. All that equipement will have 2 fit somewhere in that class B .. I am in no rush to eat hastily .. I enjoy cooking the best possible meals with all the trimmings no matter how much time it takes .. Not in2 crockppot/or instapot type things .. So .. Essientially i need "PROBABLY" Volt start capabilities large lithium batteries and massive solar or massive inverter .. Anyway .. Hoping 2 get some ideas here

You may be a candidate for a generator, unfortunately. The good is that most of your power use would be during the day when it wouldn't bother you as much (maybe others).


I think before you can make an informed decision you would need to add up your anticipated use per day. Wattage and time of use of all the appliances, compressor frig I would guess, lights, fans, maybe air conditioning with all the heat generated inside, etc. Totals plus maybe 20% inverter inefficiency and see where you are at. Without doing that drill I don't know that anyone can really make a good guess of how much battery capacity and recharge capacity you will need to have and compare how it would fit your traveling style for driving times, idling times, etc. These aren't the type of power uses we are used to seeing so I doubt anyone could reliably guess closely unless they have the same requirements.


I also assume there is a lot of cleanup required with all the cooking so fresh water and waste tank capacities might also turn out to be limiting factor.

[Rocinante]

We are upgrading our system to 400Ah of Lithium, 400 Watts of solar and a 3000 watt inverter/charger. We have decided to keep the existing generator for now, mostly because it works. Also, with this new system, if we have to resort to the generator to recharge the batteries, the lithiums will suck down that charging amperage much more efficiently and effectively than the former lead acid AGM batteries could ever hope to do. With lithium batteries, a couple of hours on the generator could actually make a real difference, whereas with lead-acid batteries, a couple of hours would only trick you into believing they had been charged up until you tried to use them.

[coss370]

If your goal is only to run microwave and lights, why not just buy a goal zero. It can charge via dc when you are driving or solar (it’s slow)

[MobileCabin]

Since this thread seems to be covering many aspects of managing different power sources, I will ask this question.


Does anyone have experience with the Redar Manager 30:


https://redarcelectronics.com/products/the-manager30


Thanks

[NAZCamperVan]

Testa-Dura,
I echo the advice Booster offered about estimating your power and water usage, and that having a generator may serve your cooking requirements. We use our 2 burner LP stove extensively, supplement with portable LP grill for outdoor use, occassional use of microwave powered by generator and rare use of convection oven function when plugged into hookups. We simplify our kitchen gear, which also simplifies cleanup. We eat very well on the road and can stretch our 24 gal fresh water supply (and wastetank dumps) to about a week of boondocking. (200w solar, 2 AGM batteries, NO inverter.)