Battery usage

[Kaliona]

First trip last week with full hookups was a success. Second trip next weekend will be no hookups. With just a two night stay, what electrical devices should I be aware of using in my TT that will be draining the batteries (I have two 12 volt deep cycles wired parallel). Refrigerator and water heater will be running on gas. I don't plan on using the AC or furnace. So I'm thinking just the lights, water pump when needed, perhaps TV and DVD. I don't know the Amp hr capacity of the batteries but I shouldn't have any worries of running down the batteries for such a short trip, correct?

[farnik78]

Unless you have a generator you can’t run the tv and dvd. Unless you have an inverter.

[Camper_bob]

I would guess you would be okay. But I'm making some pretty broad assumptions about the health of your batteries and your energy usage.

I would think you will still want to conserve as much energy as possible wherever possible anyway though.

A lot of people here claim to be able to make it through a night with all the usage you mentioned in addition to the furnace on a healthy battery.

[oldmanAZ]

You may be correct, depending on your 12v use.

We've gone 3 days (and nights) on our pair of 12v batteries (they are not true 'deep cycle' although W*mart may label them as such).

BUT, we have LED interior lights and did not use TV or DVD, no inverter, no laptops, did not run the furnace, or charge cell phones or any other 12v devices. At the end of those 3 days, our two batteries were at ~12.4v, so not seriously discharged.

[Merrick]

Heres some load ratings from my 2017 Jayfeather that I found interesting. My campers small. This is on 12-volt, and guessing on propane, cause ratings for heater and fridge doubled when on 120-volt.

[ALJO]

Just install an 12 Volt/Amp combined meter and don't let it go below 11.9 Volt. Now you have better control over the situation.

[Kaliona]

Originally Posted by ALJO

Just install an 12 Volt/Amp combined meter and don't let it go below 11.9 Volt. Now you have better control over the situation.

Yes, a meter is on my list of "things to get" for the TT. Along with an inverter generator.

[Chet & Marie]

We boonie camp 40 plus nights a summer in our 23rlsw. We get 2-3 nights on one 12v series 24 battery if we both take showers every day and listen to radio and read late into the night. 3-4 nights if we skip the showers. We then fire up the Yamaha 2000 for 6 hrs.and good for another go round. We use our wall monitor to figure out when to charge. Usually when one bar left.