increasing boondocking time

[Milo1952]

I was sitting in my easy chair and thinking about my lack of battery a/h capacity. Then I thought to myself, what if I forego the solar and simply increase my battery capacity, say to 200 A/H lithium. Replaced my single
stage converter charger with a victron lithium charger/inverter 12/300/120.
I seldom boondock for more than 3 days ( wife doesn't believe in water conservation). I have a generator and should be able to recharge the batteries every 3-4 days. Many fed, state campgrounds have electric into which I could plug every 4th day at low cost. This would effectively 3x-3.5x my current capacity.
Would this work and has anyone done this?
All comments welcome.

[GMFL]

That should work just fine. The main reason for solar other than the cool factor is the ability to charge batteries almost daily and not having to drag a generator around with you.
“Most” who have solar also have a contingency plan in case of multiple cloudy days or shade, which is usually a generator.
So increasing your battery AH and carrying a generator to charge if needed should work just fine. Bonus is with a generator you can run small 120 volt appliances that you are not able to run off your batteries, i.e. microwave

[afk314]

You'll gain some Ah by moving to Lithium. The question is - enough to make it worth it? Two 80Ah wet cells will get you 80Ah or so of usable power. Two 100Ah lithiums will get you between 120-160Ah depending on how conservative you are about drawing them down. Battle Born even claims that 100% discharges are OK, though I don't think I would trust that without some real data to back it up. Most people choose to put the lithium's inside the trailer, and if you do that, you'll likely need to do a little electrical work.



But you are right, if you can't conserve water, batteries aren't necessarily the problem. My wife and I can go a week with a full FW tank. But we tent camped for decades and got use to treating water like a precious resource.



Adam

[ke6gkv]

Adam is right, water use is your limiting factor. i have 350 watts of solar,200 amps AGMs, and a generator. all these things are used depending on where i boondock. state parks are easy because they have water. BLM lands and national forests, i take 40 gallons of water besides trailer tank just in case. kurt

[Adventure.AS]

You might be better to stay with AGM or Wet Cell batteries. You can use them when the temperatures drop below freezing. The are less expensive and easy to charge. For example, if you don't want to take a generator boondocking your TV alternator will easily charge your house batteries directly, quickly and quietly (unless your TV is a diesel) with a good set of booster cables. More efficient using 12 volt directly to charge than having to go from the generator inverter to your converter/charger inside the trailer which changes the power back to 12 volt.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Milo1952

I was sitting in my easy chair and thinking about my lack of battery a/h capacity. Then I thought to myself, what if I forego the solar and simply increase my battery capacity, say to 200 A/H lithium. Replaced my single
stage converter charger with a victron lithium charger/inverter 12/300/120.
I seldom boondock for more than 3 days ( wife doesn't believe in water conservation). I have a generator and should be able to recharge the batteries every 3-4 days. Many fed, state campgrounds have electric into which I could plug every 4th day at low cost. This would effectively 3x-3.5x my current capacity.
Would this work and has anyone done this?
All comments welcome.

Werks fine for us....'cept we could go for a week before a trip to the spigot. 😂

That was on two 100ah Lifeline AGM's and a 2000i Honda that was usually on 30min a day for breakfast prep.
Depending on consumption, we could need about, 2.5hrs every other day to stay above 12.6v
We now have 200ah Lithium and 120w portable solar...no 12.6 running needed so far, but we still need the Honda if we want toast in the AM.
Disclaimer...we have not had an extended stay in the woods yet. The Adirondacks have been regular destination for us.
Retirement for both of us has changed priorities, a bit more 🌞 in our future.

Bob
🇺🇸

[Bill M.]

Have had the same thoughts. For the $3000 or so difference I have decided to just run the generator more often and longer.

[Milo1952]

Originally Posted by afk314

You'll gain some Ah by moving to Lithium. The question is - enough to make it worth it? Two 80Ah wet cells will get you 80Ah or so of usable power. Two 100Ah lithiums will get you between 120-160Ah depending on how conservative you are about drawing them down. Battle Born even claims that 100% discharges are OK, though I don't think I would trust that without some real data to back it up. Most people choose to put the lithium's inside the trailer, and if you do that, you'll likely need to do a little electrical work.



But you are right, if you can't conserve water, batteries aren't necessarily the problem. My wife and I can go a week with a full FW tank. But we tent camped for decades and got use to treating water like a precious resource.



Adam

Your estimate 120-160 very conservative IMHO. 160Ah draw down on BattleBorn would be the minimum, doubling the AH's from 2-80ah
AGMs.

[Milo1952]

" unless your TV is a diesel " ??? Why would that make a difference ?

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by Milo1952

" unless your TV is a diesel " ??? Why would that make a difference ?

An idling diesel is noisy.

[n2916s]

And, on some diesels, like mine, with a diesel particulate filter in the exhaust, excessive idling will load it up, perhaps beyond the point of no return.

[AlinCal]

Originally Posted by Adventure.AS

An idling diesel is noisy.

And Smelly.