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Evaluating How Long Your RV Battery Will Last Off Grid I spent some time analyzing data from the history of my solar panels, looking at their performance during different types of weather. I only looked at how much sun the panels were getting. I did not look at the temperature. I have 3 arrays with 965W on my roof but for analysis I decided to focus on just the stock 165W Furrion solar panel. I took the data I collected and used it to show a relationship among different types of Sun conditions and different types of loads on the battery. I used this to show how long the battery will last. I post a lot about RV power systems and I have received many questions about this. I recently wrote an article that goes along with this one as the content is a continuation of what I wrote about there. I will include a link to that article at the bottom. So basically I again used a standard, dealer supplied, 100Ah lead acid battery that has a usable capacity of 50Ah. An explanation of Amp Hours (Ah) is also linked below. I looked at the average gain in Ah supplied by the Furrion 165W panel during the most sunny days and fully overcast rainy days. I also looked at the average fair weather day. I broke this down into 4 categories. An ideal sunny day with a gain of 55Ah. This is about as good as it gets with the panel performing an average of 85% for a full 5 hours. A mostly sunny day with some passing clouds. The daily gain is 49Ah. A sunny day with some clouds but still a good day. The daily gain is 34.3Ah Finally, a rainy, highly overcast day with a very poor daily gain of only 9.1Ah. This is all based on real data collected from my Victron system. I would have included a general overcast day but the data is so variable on those days that I decided not to include it. I also looked at the energy needed to run the most basic things in our RV. This includes the 12V refrigerator and lights in the evening. In addition I also added using the ceiling Vent Fan because it is commonly used. Data tables do not include all the extra stuff that could be draining energy from the battery. There really is no way of quantifying this in a useful, general manner. I chose the things we all use and excluded the things I can not validly determine. Please keep this in mind when looking at the data tables. Table 1. Shows that if only the refrigerator and lights are used and the days stay sunny, the RV battery will run continuously. Of course there will be other drains but, if kept at a minimum, it can be done. Click Here Table 2. Shows that if it rains for more than 2 days, the battery will not make it to the 3rd day. Table 3. Shows that on a same type of day as Table1., if you use your fan you will not make it into day 3. Table 4. Shows that if that day is mostly sunny you may make it through your 3rd day if you use your fan less than shown in Table 3. Table 5. Shows that in ideal conditions, you will make it through day 3 but the 4th day may be pushing it. This data was not meant to disappoint you. The purpose of this analysis and write-up is to inform and help support those of you who have a stock RV battery and solar panel setup. If you are planning on long drives and then connecting to power at a campsite, you are all set. You will have enough power to keep your food and beer cold on the drive and in most cases with an over-night or two off the grid. The battery from your truck will aid in the battery charging. However, if you plan to be off-grid for longer than 2-3 days you need to either be super energy conscious or find an alternative. There are 3 ways to increase your energy availability. (See my article on RV Power Systems for more information about this.) The first is with a generator. In my opinion a generator is a must-have as a backup but for durational off-grid use it is not a sustainable option. The next options are to increase your battery size or to increase your solar panel size. Again, I have written about this in detail in the above mentioned article. However, this article is about helping with decision making about how to increase your time off-grid in the most efficient manner, based on your needs. The considerations of increasing battery capacity and/or solar power really is based on your personal needs. I used Google Sheets to create a page that you can use to help determine the effect of changing Battery size, Power consumption, and Solar panel wattage. Basically what I did was take one of the above tables and make it interactive. You write in your Battery size, Estimated energy use and Solar panel size. It will return, like the above tables, the remaining battery capacity and the number of days you will continue to sustain power. This goes up to 7 days. I also included a tool that you can use to enter your solar panel wattage to and see the approximate amount of energy in Ah you may get under each weather condition. Use this to get the value to enter in the “Addition from Solar” box. Please realize that this is just a helpful tool that is designed to give good estimates. There are way too many variables to guarantee its perfect accuracy. However you can look at what effect doubling your battery or solar or both. For example you can plug in a 200Ah battery and a 100W solar panel to see how long it will sustain you off-grid. Link to Interactive Data Table ​ Link to my setup data at Victron VRM Portal ​ Link to my Article about RV Power Systems Link to the article I wrote that inspired me to write this one Stock Solar with 12V RV Refrigerator Not Charging Battery Link to What is an Amp Hour Ah? A beginners guide

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Stock Solar with 12V RV Refrigerator Not Charging Battery Why Doesn't Your Solar Panel Not Always Recharge Your Stock RV Battery when You are Of f Grid? Why does the stock battery that came with my RV fail to keep its charge even though you have solar panels? There are a number of reasons that this happens. 1. Small lead acid battery supply by dealer, 2. The new style 12V compressors use a LOT more energy than the older evaporation refrigerators and lastly, 3. The stock solar panel is barely enough to keep your battery charged on the sunniest days. Any cloudy days or shade and it will never have a chance of keeping up. I am putting the data table in the beginning here, and I will explain how and where I got each value in the article. ​ Stock Dealer Supplied RV Battery First we will start with the basic battery that most dealers supply you when you buy an RV. This is a standard Group 24, 27 or 31 lead-acid battery. These batteries typically have around 100 amp-hours of energy or even less if it is a group 24. Here is the catch, a lead acid battery can only be discharged down to 50% of its capacity. This means that the 100 Amp-hour battery, really only has 50 Amp-hours to give. As a side note, the dealer supplies the battery, not the RV manufacturer. ​ RV 12V Compressor Refrigerator The largest energy consumer in a stock RV is a 12V compressor refrigerator. An example is the Furrion 10-cubic foot model that comes with my 2023 Grand Design 226RK. According to Furrion’s specifications, using a 100 Amp-hour lead acid battery, the refrigerator will run at 4.08 amps for 49 hours when the temperature is 77 degrees. However, at 90 degrees it will consume 6.45 amps and only run for 31 hours before depleting the battery. I confirmed this by testing the current of our refrigerator on a 76 degree day. It used about 4 amps while running. This told me Furrion’s specs were based on a 50 Amp-hour battery running an average of ¼ of the time. On for ¼ of the time and off for ¾ of the time. Based on this data, the refrigerator will use about 25 amp-hours per day . The refrigerator alone will use ½ the battery in one day. In 2 days, the refrigerator will completely deplete the battery. If you are running the refrigerator in higher temperatures the battery will be depleted even sooner. ​ Stock Solar Panel We just discussed the battery and the refrigerator. Next we will discuss the solar panel. Our RV came with a Furrion 165 Watt solar panel. Under the most ideal conditions this could put 13 Ah per hour back into the battery. However I have never seen ideal conditions nor if they existed, they would not exist for long on a given day.. However, if they did you would be able to put 65 amp-hours into the battery. This will NEVER happen. For one thing, I have only seen around 75% of the 165 watts come from my 165 watt solar. This was only for short periods on the best of days. On an average day you will get maybe 40 Amp-hours from the panel, if it is a mostly cloudless day. On a cloudy or rainy day you may see 10Ah or less per day. ​ Other Loads on the Battery Other loads on the battery may also be draining it. This includes your lights at about .25 amps each, your vent fans at about 3 amps on max, opening and closing your awning, other parasitic loads like all of those little lights and sensors that are still on when everything else is off. So, 6 lights on for 5 hours uses 7.5 Ah. A fan on high for 6 hours will use 18Ah, for 12 hours it will use 36 Ah. Other parasitic loads I am estimating at 3Ah/day. ​ Summary So in summary, Here is a look at the starting battery energy, the added energy from the solar panel and average daily loads. Even with that additional energy gained from the solar, the battery will only last for 4-days. Please note, these calculations are based on realistic but assumed, rough and variable estimates. This is why at the end of an off the grid adventure you may need to run a generator to close your slide and raise your electric jacks. Hopefully soon, all dealers and/or manufacturers will start supplying all new RV with at least 200 Ah lithium batteries. Links and references: What is an Amp Hour - Beginners Guide https://www.travelinglightreflections.com/what-is-an-amp-hour-beginners-guide Furrion 10 Cu Ft Refrigerator Specs https://cdn.accentuate.io/6037138899127/5237057388633/MS-FCR10DCGTA-V1.2-v1606962744880.pdf User Manual https://cdn.accentuate.io/6037138899127/5237057552473/IM-FHA00097_V3.0_EN-(1)-v1606962786356.PDF Furrion 165W Solar Panel https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Furrion/FR73SR.html?feed=npn&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google%20%7C%20Shop%20-%20Accessories%20and%20Parts&adgroupid=86797745660&campaignid=1672411894&creative=404001588947&device=c&devicemodel=&feeditemid=&keyword=&loc_interest_ms=&loc_physical_ms=9003403&matchtype=&network=g&placement=&position=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0IGnBhDUARIsAMwFDLnWwm7Txmd6DHxXVbrxQGFHfSH7qKy5DkVxqrYj4p-lggi6wVweYhUaAuTAEALw_wcB About Lead Acid Batteries https://louwrentius.com/a-practical-understanding-of-lead-acid-batteries.html

Our Journey We are John and Patty Tracey RV Enthusiasts Additional LiTime Blog About Us When our 3 kids were between ages 9 -16 we took our first ever cross country trip. We spent 30 days on the road. Our goal was to see the country, be together and have fun. We set 3 rules to guide us on that first trip. No hotels, No fast-food and No driving at night. We spent those 30 days visiting a myriad of National Parks as well so many as other magical places in this great country. We did it all tent-camping out of our car. It was a revolutionary trip for all of us in many ways. Most importantly, it bred in us, a thirst to travel more and see more. Our dream to RV came true with our first 1986 Yellowstone Class C. This thing was run down a heap of junk and was scary to drive. It cost us a mere $3000. It was a loud, heavy, gas-guzzler with no fuel gauge and dangerously poor mirrors. However, it showed us that we really loved to travel in an RV. Many years, countless trips and 4 travel trailers later, our kids were grown and we looked forward to retirement and living full-time in our RV. We had done so much, but there was still so much to do and see. We loved the RV life. As school teachers, we would spend every summer traveling the country in an RV. Life in an RV is spectacular. It is this phenomenal place where the front yard changes with the days and weeks, but home is always where we are. The Good Things in Life As we grew older we began to enjoy the creature comforts of home. You know, the simple stuff like electricity, a coffee maker, the internet, and of course, Netflix. In my younger years one of my hobbies was building and flying radio controlled model airplanes. This was back before lithium batteries were introduced and even before they became safe. However, my interests with the hobby focused on converting and building electric powered radio-controlled model airplanes. The industry did not have the technology it does today so I would build my own batteries from cells in the configurations I needed. It did not take long for the world to catch up. Today we can buy an electric radio controlled, well almost anything, that is ready to fly as soon as you open the box. Well, needless to say, I have always had a high interest in electronics and power systems. So each RV I owned always had a modified power system. Each increasingly more advanced. The Real Price of a cup Coffee I wrote an article outlining our evolution through many RV and power systems . There is a link to it above. I joke that the journey through learning about and building multiple solar-powered RVs was really just a very expensive way to make a cup of coffee. The short version is that, during a visit to the Smoky Mountains National Park, we would wake up before generator hours. So, we would drive down the road, start the generator and make coffee. We needed a better solution. I know, I know…pour over. But that makes for a boring story! Well, 3 RVs later, each with progressively better power systems, we don’t ever need to worry about waking up anyone with a generator anymore. Today we have 965W of solar panels, 900Ah of LiTime lithium batteries and a full Victron setup, complete with a Multiplus 3000 inverter/charger and a Cerbo networking hub. With this setup we can completely sustain our power needs as long as the sun cooperates. Even when it does not, we have enough reserve energy stored in our batteries to get us through those dark days! Time to Hit the Road As plans generally go, our plans changed. After multiple diagnoses, 4 surgeries and unfathomable other treatments over a period of 5 years, my life was changed. This led to me no longer being able to work or do many of my past passions due to my disabilities. It was at this point that my wife and I could really see that life was too short. We needed to start it right now. She retired and we hit the road. For the last 1.5 years we have been happily staying home and watching our front yard change. We have been traveling and spending the cold months camping in the warmer south west states. We have 2 kids and grandchildren in Connecticut. We get to moochdock there during the summer. Though with our solar power system we do not even need to plug in. Giving Back My strong desire to learn has always been accompanied by an aspiration to help others. I created this website where I post the many articles I have written to help other RVers better understand their RV’s power systems as well as how to improve them. The evolution of the use of lithium batteries in RVs has developed so quickly in such a short time. Only a few years ago an upgrade to a 100Ah lithium battery would break the bank. Today we have companies like LiTime that are making lithium batteries that are not just affordable but also of a high quality. This has opened the door for so many RVers to upgrade their power systems incorporating these lithium batteries as the core of their power needs. The use of an inverter in an RV, only 2 years ago was limited to making a pot of coffee. Today, it is both possible and affordable to live off the grid like you would in a regular sticks and bricks home. My passion to share what I know and learn has driven me to write more and more articles to help other RVers realize and build power systems of their own. I have even created a spreadsheet where someone can enter their prospective solar panel wattage, their battery size, and power needs and even the weather. They will get a readout of how their system will perform over a week's time. Playing with lithium batteries and solar power is just one passion I still get to enjoy. Other Interests Along with being a techy, I love taking photographs. I use 2 Nikon Z6s with an assortment of lenses. I am not able to go as far off the beaten path these days but I still try to capture as creative shots as I can. Along with writing and photography, the ukulele has a piece of my heart. This small, gentle, melodic musical instrument absorbs and occupies both my time and my mind. I enjoy the peace it brings me and how well it fits into the traveling RVer life that I have begun to write about it as well. I recently completed a persuasive article about 10 reasons you need a ukulele in your RV . I have other articles about the joys of a ukulele in your RV too. Patty is an extremely active and outgoing individual. She makes long lasting friendships everywhere we go. Her list of hobbies while on the road, include Pickleball, any chance she gets. She also loves fitness and working out. She always fits yoga and working out into she busy schedule. She is also a flat water kayak enthusiast as I am too. We carry Oru foldable kayaks in the back seat of our truck. RV life is not all fun and it is not just a vacation. It is life with all of its obstacles and joys and revelations. It is a journey, as is life in itself. We are glad to be here and to be able to take the ride. YouTube Photo Gallery

Thousand Trails Campground Review Chesapeake Bay RV Resort Glouchester, Virgina The drive in Route 198 from route 17 heading south into the campground is a little tight with little to no shoulders. Coming from the south your GPS may lead you up route 606 from route 17. This road has no shoulders. The driveway into the park is about ½ mile of paved road. It too is a bit tight in some spots if you need to pass an outgoing rig. There is plenty of room if both drivers are conscientious and follow the posted speed limit. Arriving at the gate we were quickly checked in and directed to a campsite that met the criteria we were looking for. They also allow you to explore and choose a site of your preference. Campsites All sites at Chesapeake Bay RV Resort have full hook-ups. We were immediately impressed by the size of our campsite and noticed this was true throughout the campground. The sites are larger/wider than most campgrounds we have been to. There is quite a bit of room between sites so we were not cramped. The majority of the sites are easily accessible even for big rigs. There is a mix of tree-covered sites as well as open-sky sites. We had site D02 which gave us the ability to use our Starlink after some repositioning. There are a number of seasonal sites but these sites are generally in the outside areas of the park. The stretch of sites that are along the pools, pickleball, and other activity areas are however predominately seasonal sites. Campground amenities I have to start with the ice cream! They have a great selection of Hersey’s brand hard-serve ice cream. The prices and quality are similar or better than you may find at an ice cream shop. The White House Cherry was a favorite. We also bought an extra pint of Coldbrew Caramocha to indulge in at desperate times when there is no good ice cream nearby. Additionally, the camp store is well stocked with your usual supplies. They were closed on Monday, but open the rest of the week. We are picky about our coffee so we can not tell you how the camp store coffee was, but we can say the coffee we make is excellent! Feel free to stop by for a cup. For access to the Piankatank river, they have a concrete boat ramp with 2 fishing piers. This is a great spot to watch the sunrise and enjoy the morning fish jumping and an occasional blue heron in flight. The “beach” area is not far from the piers but it is not a sand beach as you might expect. Instead, it is a break-wall with a set of steps entering the water. In another section of the park, they have a kayak rack near a small lake that is large enough for a small adventure. Sadly, we did not get our ORUs out on this trip because I am still recovering from a spinal cord stimulator surgery. The campground has 2 pools, 4 pickleball courts, a game room, mini golf, a playground, a hot tub, and probably a few other things I missed. We sat in the hot tub twice and we were alone both times. Oddly the shower heads in both the men’s and women's showers next to the hot tub are awkwardly low. Lower than the shower in our old KZ camper, where I always felt like I was doing squats while taking my military-style shower. You need to crouch down to get under them. The water was plenty hot enough though. The 2 pools were closed for the season, but I imagine they would be very refreshing in the hot Virginia summer. We felt that most of the park was clean and well maintained. We were there in the last week of September, so they were decorating the park with a fall and Halloween theme. We learned that they do Halloween here. They close the roads to traffic and let the kids trick-or-treat. They do this not once but 3 times! They have Halloween the weekend before and after Halloween too. If you are going to be there, stock up on candy. Campground activities While we were there they had line dancing, candy bar bingo, tie dying, a chili cook-off, a scavenger hunt, and some other family-friendly activities. I wish we could tell you about some of these activities but we did not make it to any of them. Sites, views, walks around the campground We always walk and explore every campground we visit. It is fun to see the different campers and meet new people. One day we walked out to the section with the cabins. They were all empty however it was a nice walk. This then led us to a small trail past the kayak pond and back down to the river. It’s a short, but worthwhile adventure. Cell reception Cell reception with Verizon was great. A neighbor with T-Mobile was not too happy with their service. Sorry, we can not write about other cell providers. We use Star Link as a primary source of internet on the road. We intentionally found a site with a view of the north sky. We were on site D02. There are just enough trees though that we needed to be pretty strategic while setting it up. Ours was great for watching Umbrella Academy on Netflix, There were interruptions to our internet every once in a while. Most of the time it worked great. Other times it was incredibly frustrating. Star Links are getting more popular! We saw about 6 other Star Links in use here. Dish Networks were all over the place. It seemed like everybody had 2 or more Dish network dishes! What is up with that? Are we missing something?

How Does a 50 Amp RV Service Compare to a 30 Amp RV Service? RVs come in many forms and sizes. The type and size of the electric service is often relative to the size of the RV. Today, most smaller RVs come with a 30 amp service. Larger RVs often have a 50 amp service. There is a significant difference between these 2 services. To understand the differences and why an RV may have a 50 amp service it helps to understand the electrical grid supplying power to the campground. The electric grid that supplies power consists of 2 hot legs and a neutral. The current cycles with a frequency of 60 hz which is 60 times per second. Each of the hot legs has a voltage of 120VAC. For large appliances like an electric oven, a clothes dryer, a well pump or a household hot water heater, the two hot legs are connected to the appliance to supply 240VAC. This is 2 times the 120VAC from each leg. The advantage to this is that with a higher voltage, less current can be used. This allows for smaller wires to be run. In your house you have the two hot legs and the neutral entering your main breaker panel. You also have a separate ground wire. One 120VAC leg supplies ½ of your panel and the other supplies the other ½. In your RV you will have the same thing if you have a 50 amp service. If you only have a 30 amp service you will only have one of the legs. Your campground will have split their 120VAC legs to evenly distribute the loads. At a 50 amp pedestal, you may see a 50 amp receptacle for a 4 wire plug. The 4 wires for the 50 amp receptacle are 2 hot legs, 1 neutral and 1 ground. Notice in the image to the left that the 50 amp breakers are joined. They trip at the same time. You may also see a 30 amp receptacle for a 3 wire plug. The 30 amp receptacle is 1 hot leg, 1 neutral and 1 ground. This panel also has a 20 amp service on the right. ​ ​ ​ ​ If you have a 30 amp service in your RV, then you simply have 1-120VAC leg run through a 30 amp main breaker that runs all of the 120VAC components in the RV. If you have a 50 amp service, then you will have 2-120VAC legs, each run through a 50 amp main breaker. With the 50 amp service you will have the loads divided among each leg. This may also be called a split phase. For example, if you have 2 air-conditioners, one will generally run off 1 leg and the second will run off the other. One significant difference between a 30 amp service and a 50 amp service is the amount of power. A 50 amp service does not just have 20 amps more. You technically have 70 amps more. The reason is because you have 2 legs, each able to supply 50 amps. The 30 amp service only has 1 leg that is able to supply 30 amps. Let’s look at this in terms of power. Power is amps time volts. A 30 amp service can supply a max of 30 amps X 120 volts = 3,600 watts. A 50 amp service and supply a max of 50 amps X 120 volts + 50 amps X 120 volts= 12,000 watts. So a 50 amp service can supply 3.33 times the power of the 30 amp service. ​ If you have a 50 amp service but only have a 30 amp service available you will need an adapter. What is nice about this adapter is it will combine both legs of the 50 amps together. This will convert your 50 amp service into a 30 amp service. All of your breakers will be live and everything in your RV should work. Just NOT at the same time!!!! You are now limited to 30 amps! Speaking of adapters. Get some!!! I never complain that I have too many adapters.

A beginners guide: What is an Amp Hour Ah and how does it apply to your RV? What is an Amp Hour? The term Amp Hour- (Ah) comes up a lot while talking about RV batteries. I have often heard people express that they do not understand what this means. My hope here is to explain this concept and to give some examples as to where it applies. ​ Amp Hours is basically a measurement of capacity. It tells us the capacity of a battery. Essentially it tells us how much energy it can supply. The more Ah a battery has, the more energy it can supply. A 200Ah battery has twice the capacity that a 100Ah battery has. Think of it as a bucket of water, The larger the bucket, the more Ah or, in the bucket’s case, the more water it can hold. So what exactly is an Ah and what does it really mean? One Ah, is the ability to supply 1 amp of current for exactly 1 hour. For example, a 100Ah battery can deliver 1 amp for 100 hours. If it was delivering 100 amps it would only last 1 hour. It can also supply 50 amps for 2 hours or 25 amps for 4 hours etc… Notice that no matter the amps and times referred to in those above examples, all equal 100Ah. 1A X 100h =100Ah, 100A X 1h=100Ah, 50A X 2h = 100Ah, and 25A X 4h = 100Ah. How does this apply to its actual use? Okay, let’s say you are using 10 amps from your 100 Ah battery. How long can you do this before it is dead. First, an Amp Hour is really amps multiplied by hours. Amps X hours = Ah, as shown in the above examples. To standardize the measurements of batteries, we always state the number of amps it can deliver in ONE hour. A 100 Ah battery can deliver 100 amps for 1 hour. A 200 Ah battery can deliver 200 amps for 1 hour. Notice that in describing the battery capacity, we always use the amps delivered in ONE hour. However that is not really how we use batteries. We use them for more than 1-hour, I hope. Okay, back to that 100Ah battery using 10 amps. How long will it last? 100Ah / 10A = 10 hours. Wait, where did that equation come from? I used algebra: If A X h = Ah then Ah/A=h. Now when I know the capacity of a battery and I know the current (in amps), I can find the time (in hours) it will last. Let's use some more complicated numbers this time. Now let’s assume the 100Ah battery is delivering 7.5 amps. How long will this last? 100Ah / 7.5h = 13.33 hour or 13h and 20 min. Let’s use that 7.5 amps now with a 200Ah battery. We know the 200Ah battery is twice the capacity so we can guess it will last twice as long. Let’s check the math anyway. 200ah / 7.5 A = 26.66 or 26h and 40 min. Yup, that is twice the time. We got it, battery capacity divided by the current = the run time. So here is a real world example for your RV. You have a 50 Ah battery, the weather is hot. You need to cool off the RV. Your overhead vent fan uses 3.5 amps at full power. How long will it last? 50Ah / 3.5A = 14.29h or 14h 17.4min. Now is this realistic? Not exactly. The reason is because you have other things running and may or may not also have some solar recharging your battery. However this does give a good base ground to start at understanding how the Capacity measurement of a battery applies to its use in your RV. ​ Using a Battery Meter One thing I need to point out here is that a battery's voltage is dynamic. Yes, it changes as its state of charge changes. But it also changes as you use it. Your battery may have a resting voltage (not being used) of 12.6 volts. However as soon as you begin to drain the battery, the voltage immediately drops. Also, the harder you work it, the lower the voltage will drop. But, when the battery stops being used the voltage will slowly recover. For example, the 12.6V battery may show 12.1V when being used. Then, it will slowly recover to 12.5V when the load is removed. It is important to understand this when using Voltage to measure your batteries remaining capacity. A voltage meter will work but it is not a very accurate measure of the battery’s true SOC. You can find tables published online to relate a battery’s voltage to its SOC. See the graph below for an approximation of the Depth of Discharge of a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4 ) and a Flooded Lead Acid Battery. ​ Here is link to some well written articles by Alex Beale found on his website, Footprinthero . He has some tables he created showing different batteries Voltage Vs. SOC https://footprinthero.com/lead-acid-battery-voltage-charts ​ The following Battery monitor comes preinstalled in the stock Grand Design 226RK Furrion High Precision Battery Monitor User Manual https://support.lci1.com/documents/furrion-high-precision-battery-monitor-user-manual-im-fen00032-v3.0 ​ Here is a link to the many battery monitors from Victron Energy https://www.victronenergy.com/battery-monitors ​ ​

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A Review of the, Axis Keyless Latch Extender . From RVLOCKs ​

What is a Watt Hour (Wh) and how does it apply both Amp Hours (Ah) and to your RV? Also a short summary of RV batteries Watts Hou rs Watt Hours (Wh) Please read my article "Amp Hours a Beginners Guide" before you read this one. Watt hours are slowly becoming a more universal term than Amp hours to describe battery capacity. Watt hours is a more accurate way of describing the capacity because it takes into account the voltage of the battery. It is a truer measurement of the actual amount of energy in a battery compared to Amp hours Different batteries have different chemistries. They are made differently and perform differently. Companies use the term Nominal Voltage to describe the basic voltage of a battery. The voltage of all batteries, no matter what type, changes as it is discharged. For example a Flooded Lead Acid (FLA) battery may go from 12.65V when it is fully charged, down to 11.58V when it is fully discharged. These batteries have a Nominal Voltage of 12V. It is important to note that this number is not the average voltage. This is a realistic number chosen by the manufacturers of Flooded Lead Acid (FLA) batteries to market the battery based on the chemistry on this type of battery. An Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) battery may have a voltage of 12.89 at a full State of Charge (SOC). and a voltage of 11.64V when fully discharged. This battery also has a nominal voltage of 12V. Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO 4 ), May have a full SOC voltage of 13.8V and drop down to 11.2V when fully discharged. These batteries have a nominal voltage of either 12.6V or 12.8V depending on the manufacturer. So, how does nominal voltage apply to measuring a battery's capacity using Watt Hours? Let's first understand what a Watt is. A Watt is a joule per second. It is a measurement of Energy per Time. At the moment, that does not help us though. Instead we will consider a Watt the current of 1 Amp and a potential voltage of 1 Volt. More simply explained, as a Watt = 1 Amp X 1 Volt. Even more simply, Amps times Volts = Watts. Being we are comparing the concept of Amp-hours to Watt-hours we can jump right to the conversion. We just said that Watts are A x V. We can simply convert Ah to Wh by multiplying by the voltage! Let’s look at a few examples of this and then see why Watt hours are better than Amp hours when describing battery capacity. Example 1. A 100Ah Flooded Lead Acid (FLA) with a nominal voltage of 12V has a theoretical Wh of 12V X 100Ah = 1200Wh. (sadly, this lead acid battery can only be discharged to ½ its rated capacity without damaging it) So, 1200Wh is really only 600Wh. Now let’s look at a 100Ah Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) with a nominal voltage of 12V. Again, 12V X 100Ah = 1200Wh. This battery type can be discharged to about 60% its rated capacity. 1200Wh X 60% = 720Wh. Next we will look at a 100Ah Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO 4 ). This type of battery has 6 major advantages and 1 disadvantage. 1) It can be discharged to 100% of its rated capacity, 2) It can be charged and discharged at higher currents than the other types, 3) It can last up to 10 years, 4) It has a greater energy density, meaning that it is drastically lighter, 5) It has a higher nominal voltage. 6) It can have a nominal voltage of 12.6 to 12.8. The significant disadvantage is its cost. Okay, let's look at how that higher nominal voltage applies to Wh. A 100Ah LiFePO 4 battery may have a nominal voltage of 12.6V It's Wh measurement is 12.6V X 100Ah = 1200Wh. Because this does not have the discharge limitations like the other two types we discussed, it can be discharged to 100% of its capacity (best to not go below 90%). So, why are Watt Hours better than Amp Hours when measuring a battery's true energy? Here is an example. I have 2-100Ah batteries. Although the Ah are the same the voltages are different. One is a 12V battery, the other is a 24V battery. Although they have the same Ah rating the 24V battery has twice the Wh rating. Another example is 2-100Ah batteries, one with a nominal voltage of 12V and the other with 12.8V. The 12.8V battery has 6.7% more Wh. See the graph below for an approximation of the Depth of Discharge of a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO 4 ) and a Flooded Lead Acid Battery. ​ The following is also in my "Amp Hours a Beginners Guide" article but I felt it is worth putting in this article too. Using a Battery Meter One thing I need to point out here is that a battery's voltage is dynamic. Yes, it changes as its state of charge charges. But it also changes as you use it. Your battery may have a resting voltage (not being used) of 12.6 volts. However as soon as you begin to drain the battery, the voltage immediately drops. Also, the harder you work it, the lower the voltage will drop. But, when the battery stops being used the voltage will slowly recover. For example, the 12.6V battery may show 12.1V when being used. Then, it will slowly recover to 12.5V when the load is removed. It is important to understand this when using Voltage to measure your batteries remaining capacity. A voltage meter will work but it is not a very accurate measure of the battery’s true SOC. You can find tables published online to relate a battery’s voltage to its SOC. ​ Here is link to some well written articles by Alex Beale found on his website, Footprinthero . He has some tables he created showing different batteries Voltage Vs. SOC https://footprinthero.com/lead-acid-battery-voltage-charts ​ The following Battery monitor comes preinstalled in the stock Grand Design 226RK Furrion High Precision Battery Monitor Here is a link to the user manual User Manual https://support.lci1.com/documents/furrion-high-precision-battery-monitor-user-manual-im-fen00032-v3.0 ​ Here is a link to the many battery monitors from Victron Energy https://www.victronenergy.com/battery-monitors ​ Of all of the battery monitors I have used, the Victron Energy Bluetooth Smart Shunt 500 amp Battery Monitor is by far the easiest to use and to install and it gives you the most data. The price was $130 for a long time but I am seeing now at $117. ​ Other companies are slowly coming out with battery monitors that work well. For example, The LiTime Battery Monitor with 500A Shunt and Renogy Battery Monitor with 500A Shunt are both decent monitors. However these are not bluetooth. With both of these you need to snake wires from the shunt to where you want the screen. Both are around $85. I would spend the extra $30+ to get the Victron Energy Bluetooth Smart Shunt. ​

Big Changes To Harvest Host Up to four extra nights are available at select Host locations (and ensure the location shown allows extra nights). Many Hosts now offer electric hookups. You can now filter the Harvest Hosts map to find Hosts that offer extra nights and electric and water hookups. Hosts may charge you a fee to stay extra nights or use electric hookups — these are just two of the ways you can support your Host’s business during your stay, they’ll keep 100% of the proceeds! Holiday sale with 30% off first-year membership using code HOLIDAYHH (offer valid Nov 1, 2024 – Jan 1, 2025). ​ ​ We have been members of Harvest Hosts for about 4 years. It is an extremely worthwhile membership that we take advantage of many times each year. We have stayed at Harvest Host locations 3 times just this month. For us and for our use, it definitely pays for itself each year. Over the years Harvest Hosts has grown and evolved. They have gone from offering the mere availability to stay overnight at a farm, winery, brewery and similar business, to now offering the ability to stay multiple nights at a myriad of businesses. Some of these Harvest Hosts now even offer a range of hook-ups. These include electric, water and a combination of both. Harvest Hosts has gone from offering short overnight stopovers to offering actual destinations. For example we recently stayed at Crystal Forest Museum and Gift Shop Crystal in Holbrook, AZ, just outside the south entrance of the Petrified Forest. By just outside I mean you park your RV about 100 feet from the entrance gate. This specific Harvest Host offers 20 self contained or boondocking sites and 10-30 amp electric sites in a separated park across the street. They charge an additional $25 for the electric sites. They offer up to a 5 night stay, but they can also extend this with approval from their management. We did not know, when we booked this, that we could have stayed longer. If we knew we would have stayed longer and gone up to the Painted Desert. ​ Another Harvest Host that we have stayed at a couple of times is Boxcar Brew Works in DuBois, PA. This is a great place. They are a brewery with a small restaurant in a railroad box car. They also have other stores on their property like an ice cream shop and brick oven pizza shop. We didn’t get to enjoy the ice cream, but the pizza made a great dinner after a long day on the road. However what really sets this brewery apart from the rest is their herd of life size automated dinosaurs. The dinosaurs also make sounds. But, they turn them off at about 8PM so you can sleep well at night. Oh they also have a small goat farm, maybe for the dinosaurs to feed on! It is very entertaining. You will not resist taking a few videos. This Harvest Host allows generator use and allows you to stay up to 4 nights. ​ Another of our favorites is the Norbrook Farm Brewery in Colebrook, CT. We have stayed there countless times. They offer a huge gravel parking area big enough for many of the largest RVs. What makes this place so special is, of course, their large selection of craft brews. But that is just the beginning. On Fridays and Saturdays they have live music and food trucks. In addition, they have one of the best disc golf courses in CT and miles of mountain bike trails. They hosted an endurance trail race there this summer as well as a mountain bike race. We stayed 2 nights so my wife could run the endurance race. Then we both helped out and I took photos of the athletes in action. So how has Harvest Hosts changed over the years and why is it better than ever? Harvest Hosts has drastically increased the number of hosts available to its members. With this change they have added different membership levels. They now have 3 membership levels. They have the Harvest Hosts Classic membership that includes the 5,295 Farms, Wineries, Breweries and Distilleries, and Attractions Next is the Harvest Hosts Classic + Boondockers Welcome with an additional 3,651 hosts Next is the Harvest Hosts All Access. This adds 393 Golf Courses, Country Clubs, and Golf Resorts. Boondockers Welcome is a collection of 3,651 Community Hosts that are typically not a business. They used to be their own entity but were bought by Harvest Hosts a few years ago. The Hosts included in your memberships offer their RV sites for free. They get paid only from the patronage which you offer their businesses. Some allow you to stay even when they are closed though. Some who offer this advantage have a donation box. One excellent example of this is Hanger 25 Air Museum in Big Springs TX. We have stayed there at least 4 times and have never been there when they were open. One day we will get to see the museum. This Harvest Host is located on an old air strip. It always offers us an incredible sunset. Hanger 25 Air Museum has been a Harvest Host "host" for over 10 years. They only offer one night and allow generators. However, Many Hosts now offer electric hookups and may offer up to four extra nights. Some may offer more with an earnest request. You can now filter the Harvest Hosts map to find Hosts that offer extra nights and electric and water hookups. Hosts may charge you a fee to stay extra nights or use electric hookups. These are just two of the ways you can support your host’s business during your stay, they’ll keep 100% of the proceeds! One of the attributes that Harvest Hosts has is its great, easy to use website. holiday sale, with 30% off first-year membership using code HOLIDAYHH (offer valid Nov 1, 2024 – Jan 1, 2025)