44 replies to this topic

[Marco Cecala]

I am humbled to see the wealth of information on this thread alone. Due to the postings of those here I have done many the same things with a 2 way refrigerator.

 

The one addition I did was to get 4 guage wire from the battery to the camper. When the wheels fall off the wagon, I can always start the truck and be good within a half hour.

 

Adventure trailers did the work, first class and a no brainer if you can get to Arizona, here is a link to my charging soluitions:

http://www.wanderthe...harging-system/

Edited by Marco Cecala, 04 May 2015 - 12:37 AM.

[super doody]

I had my Hawk for almost two months now with 4 weekend trips. I have two exide 75 amp hr batteries and 65L dometic fridge. Most of my trips have been near the coast with day time temp was no more than 70 degrees with one trip with temps in the high 80s (but we parked in the shade). With moderate furnace, water pump and light use, I'm barely at 2/3 on the FWC monitor on Sunday morning. I still intend to install solar. I'm thinking about  2 100 watt panels and Ideally, I could use one off the truck for times we are in camp.

 

To prep the camp, I load the fridge and plug into shore power  the night before the trip. By Friday afternoon, the fridge is at a steady 35 to 37 degrees.  

[RC Pilot Jim]

Good for you Super.

 

Edited this response 6/19.

As you have discovered its trial and error. Twin 75 amp batteries give you half or 75 amps to run everything with engine off. If you are drawing 4 amps average you should get 18-20 hours before needing to run your engine or plug into shore power.

Your lucky to have that much left after two days. Most likely because batteries are new. With time they degrade. After two years  you won't get over 24 hours without a charge. The standard FWC battery system monitor with LED lights isn't as accurate as a Trimetric or similar battery monitor that displays a numeric value. You still need to know what your amps in and out are and percentage of charge to know the state of your batteries.

FWC is now installing 160 watt panels on roof and Zamp solar controllers. 160 watts output about 9 amps in summer time. 2-3 100 watt bendable Renology or equivalent panels put out 5.8 amps per panel (about18 amps for 3 panels) in summer time (June to Sept) and weigh 4 pounds each. In winter figure on about 50-60%.

Edited by RC Pilot Jim, 21 June 2015 - 02:37 PM.

[photohc]

Excellent summary Jim. Just about all of us have come to the same conclusions. Harv

[RC Pilot Jim]

Thanks Harv. Coming from a professional means a lot as I share "Field advice" with new campers with compressor fridges.

Have a wonderful camping summer.