Re: [A/S] Re: EU3000is , Honda

["Jim Dunmyer" <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jim,
 If you put an ammeter on the charge line from your vehicle, you'd be
disappointed. My eMeter shows under 3 amps charge from the vehicle, and my
ammeter showed a similar charge rate on my friend's SOB.

FWIW: Mohlers, in their book on full-timing, claim that you must run #4
welding cable from your tow vehicle to the trailer battery in order to get
effective charging. I believe it.

The problem isn't that the wire is too light to handle the current, as a
proper cable uses #10 or #12 wire for the charge conductors. That will
handle at least 20 amps, but there will be just enough voltage drop that the
alternator regulator thinks the batteries are charged up and will cut back
the alternator's output.

It will "almost" work, but if you use serious amounts of power during the
night, you will not replace it during the drive the next day. Running the
vehicle "for a short time" won't get it either, it takes HOURS. Dunno what
you drive, but most tow vehicles make a pretty inefficient genset.

Changing out your light fixtures was a great first step. It should be
obvious that if you use less electricity, you need to worry about replacing
less electricity in your batteries. It is much easier and cheaper to attack
the usage end of things first. One of our Listees uses only a very small
solar panel, I think it's less than 2' square,  an inefficient amorphous
type besides, and she never lacks for power. However, her needs are very
modest, so she gets by well.

This stuff isn't magic by any means, but you can't operate on wishful
thinking as some seem to think. It's really necessary to do some simple
measurements and calculations. Beyond that, look at what others are doing
successfully and consider emulating them.

                                                                    <<Jim>>