hpcmbw
Well-known member
This site has been incredibly helpful, so I'm hoping for a little more great help. I've got a 1997 Salem 30' 5th wheel boondocked near Lake Tahoe, Ca. I stay there every weekend. I've got a pair of trojan 6v batteries in it. It's been there for a month, and the batteries seem to be getting weaker and weaker. I thought my cheapo solar battery maintainers (2 for $20) would charge during the week, but think they are useless.
I run a little 800w generator for an hour or two each weekend with a battery charger, but that doesn't seem to get them close to full charge. The battery charger doesn't seem to work correctly, and I've read that the 800w genset won't put out enough juice for many battery chargers. The genset has a direct hookup to 12v that I've been using, but suspect that it's putting out to much electricity and might be overcharging the batteries, since there doesn't seem to be any controller. I've just been hooking up a set of motorcycle jumper cables between the genset and the batteries. My genset is a Honda ex800.
I'm on a real tight budget, so am looking at cheap options. I found this 60 watt setup at Costco for $300.00 (see link below). I don't really have $300, but I've got to do something. I might have to disconnect the batts each weekend and haul them 2 hours home to hook up to batt charger at home. Anyone know if this Costco setup is a reasonable cost effective solution, or just throwing good money after bad? Thanks again!
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11298029&search=solar&Mo=19&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=solar&Ntt=solar&No=3&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1
I run a little 800w generator for an hour or two each weekend with a battery charger, but that doesn't seem to get them close to full charge. The battery charger doesn't seem to work correctly, and I've read that the 800w genset won't put out enough juice for many battery chargers. The genset has a direct hookup to 12v that I've been using, but suspect that it's putting out to much electricity and might be overcharging the batteries, since there doesn't seem to be any controller. I've just been hooking up a set of motorcycle jumper cables between the genset and the batteries. My genset is a Honda ex800.
I'm on a real tight budget, so am looking at cheap options. I found this 60 watt setup at Costco for $300.00 (see link below). I don't really have $300, but I've got to do something. I might have to disconnect the batts each weekend and haul them 2 hours home to hook up to batt charger at home. Anyone know if this Costco setup is a reasonable cost effective solution, or just throwing good money after bad? Thanks again!
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11298029&search=solar&Mo=19&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=solar&Ntt=solar&No=3&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1