Enough power to support dry camping? Tour 42AD

[RJL]

Hello everyone,
My wife and I are currently looking to upgrade from our Minnie Winnie back to a diesel pusher. We are former full timers (5 yrs) when we had a 09 Itasca Ellipse but downsized for a while when we went back to bricks. We are currently looking at purchasing a 2012 Tour 42AD. My question is that this unit has a residential fridge and I am wondering if there would be any power issues when dry camping? We would be doing this for several days at a time and I am uncertain if the battery bank would be able to support dry camping. we would obviously be able to run the gen set for a few hours a day but wondering if that would be enough to charge up the batteries and keep the refrigerator cold.Thanks for any input you may have! Rick

[DavidM]

First how big is your coach battery bank and what kind of batteries do you have? Bigger will last longer between recharging.

Also you can upgrade the typical 45 amp converter to 80 amps if the batteries are big enough. This will cut your genset running time almost in half.

Finally what kind of "residential" fridge? A typical one you buy for your home that runs on 120V AC or a DC powered RV or marine type fridge. The latter are more efficient. And finally finally, how big is it?

David

Davidd

[Lv2Roam2]

We have a '15 QD with 6 house batteries (NAPA stock amp = ~650). With that we could go ~ 24 hours with residential frig and other small loads. TV with DVR, etc. required a bigger draw than the frig. With your auto gen set you shouldn't experience any issues.

We've since gone to 6 Lifeline 31XT batteries (750 amps) and ~ 1400 of solar. We can run everything, including short MW runs, except A/Cs and electric water heat for days with good sunny weather.

[creativepart]

Most RVers with residential fridges and inverters take a number of steps to keep everything running - well, everything but air conditioning - while dry camping.

1. The obvious way is to run the genset mornings and evenings. The biggest issue with this, besides the noise, is how long it can take to charge up 6 or 8-100 ah batteries. Most think it can be done in an hour or so. But it can take many more hours. Depends on how low they start out and what the charge rate is for your inverter/charger.

2. Because of this a great many RVers in this position add Solar charging to the mix. With enough solar panels and enough sun you can really cut - but not eliminate - the number of hours you run your genset.

3. Many change their battery bank to something capable of faster charging and deeper discharge like Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries.

All of these have a cost. In terms of money, operating expenses and or inconvenience.

We have a residential fridge, 300w of solar panels and 4-100ah AGM batteries. We can get by with an hour of generator in the morning and an hour and a half in the evening - usually while making a meal - and our solar will hold us through the daylight hours at or near 100% state of charge.

One other thing - if you purchase the Tour one of the first things I'd do is add a shunt-based battery monitor to your battery bank so that you can get an accurate idea of how much power you're using in a day and how much generator time is needed to recharge those batteries. The goal is to go to bed with enough charge to get through the night so that when you wake in the morning and can start charging to refill the battery bank back up to last all day.

[RJL]

Thank you DavidM. Unfortunately at this time I am unable to answer most of your questions since I am not seeing it until tomorrow. The build sheet says it was a "Residential Refrigerator Package Option" that was installed when it was built so I am assuming it would not have a 12V or propane option.. From the reading I have done it appears they put in either 2 additional batteries or larger capacity batteries when that package is installed. Thank you for your response and I'll probably post more specifics after I've looked at it.

[RJL]

Thank you Lv2roam2! I appreciate your input.

[RJL]

Thank You Creativepart! Great information to think about and lots to consider. I don't think it has solar panels but I will find out tomorrow when I take a look at it. Thanks again!

[Wayne M]

I have a 2015 (2014 build) Tour 42Qd.
Check to see if you have the autostart feature for the generator. It can be set to a battery level and automatically start the generator if it gets to that point. Same controller can be set to monitor AC level and automatically come on by AC demand. If hooked up to shore power and power is lost the auto start feature will start the generator.

You will just have to check the manual.

From Winnebago 2012 Tour manual.

Your coach may be equipped with a “residential style” refrigerator, which features a filtered external water and ice dispenser, among many more key features. This refrigerator operates off of the 120-volt electrical system in your coach.In order to operate, the refrigerator requires either the shoreline to be plugged in, the generator running, or inverter power.The inverter is intended to power your 120 volt residential refrigerator primarily when driving your vehicle. The house batteries will drain quickly if the refrigerator is powered from the inverter when the engine is not running. Other 120 volt appliances and other 120 volt devices are not intended to operate with inverter power for long periods of time as they too will quickly drain your house batteries.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by RJL

I don't think it has solar panels but I will find out tomorrow when I take a look at it. Thanks again!

Just a side note - some early to mid 2000's motorhomes came from the factory with a small 10w solar panel. Those were intended to be a very slight trickle charge for when the RV is in storage with the battery disconnect off.

So, if you see a small solar panel that's not the same as adding solar panels for battery charging when you are camping.

PS. And, no that panel is not upgradable to a bigger panel. It's fairly useless and is only for trickle charging when in storage with your battery disconnect off.

[LSU2MT]

great post! i just purchased a 2010 42 AD and i'm adding 1100 watts of solar on Tuesday. I have 4 6v AGM batteries but i think im gonna grab 2 more on Monday. i still have the factory 2000 inverter in the unit. I am also installing a residential fridge on Thursday. I think we have a lot of the same questions.

[LSU2MT]

Originally Posted by DavidM

First how big is your coach battery bank and what kind of batteries do you have? Bigger will last longer between recharging.

Also you can upgrade the typical 45 amp converter to 80 amps if the batteries are big enough. This will cut your genset running time almost in half.

Finally what kind of "residential" fridge? A typical one you buy for your home that runs on 120V AC or a DC powered RV or marine type fridge. The latter are more efficient. And finally finally, how big is it?

David

Davidd

Question David...and excuse my ignorance but is the converter built into the inverter? To change out 1 am i changing out both?

thanks for the help!

[LSU2MT]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Just a side note - some early to mid 2000's motorhomes came from the factory with a small 10w solar panel. Those were intended to be a very slight trickle charge for when the RV is in storage with the battery disconnect off.

So, if you see a small solar panel that's not the same as adding solar panels for battery charging when you are camping.

PS. And, no that panel is not upgradable to a bigger panel. It's fairly useless and is only for trickle charging when in storage with your battery disconnect off.

i noticed the small solar panel up top. Is that trickling both house and chassis or just house?

I'm spending a lot of money on a solar unit, should i just unhook the small trickle charge panel up top?

And is it only charging when the disconnect is off like you mentioned earlier. I have a little light that says charging but im hooked up to shore power and the disconnect is on.

thank you for sharing your knowledge. These forums are so helpful!

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by LSU2MT

I have 4 6v AGM batteries but i think im gonna grab 2 more on Monday.

Whoa! Careful there. If the 4-6v batteries you have now are not new then adding two new ones can be the wrong thing to do. The old batteries will be somewhat depleted and they will deplete the new batteries to their level.

Always best to replace all of them together - assuming the existing batteries are not very recently new.

[LSU2MT]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Whoa! Careful there. If the 4-6v batteries you have now are not new then adding two new ones can be the wrong thing to do. The old batteries will be somewhat depleted and they will deplete the new batteries to their level.

Always best to replace all of them together - assuming the existing batteries are not very recently new.

for sure...the 4 are brand new in a box...just adding 2 more but good looking out!!!!! thanks

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by LSU2MT

i noticed the small solar panel up top. Is that trickling both house and chassis or just house?

I'm spending a lot of money on a solar unit, should i just unhook the small trickle charge panel up top?

And is it only charging when the disconnect is off like you mentioned earlier. I have a little light that says charging but im hooked up to shore power and the disconnect is on.

thank you for sharing your knowledge. These forums are so helpful!

First, it is charging anytime there is sunshine. Only it's very very tiny amount of charge. There is not even a charge controller.

It only has a small charging ability so that's why the effect is seen during storage - but disconnect on or off, it's still adding it's minuscule amount of volts. You would only see a benefit of that when in storage. It's really a distraction. Think of it as worthless.

As to which battery? That's a good question. I've seen many say it only charges the Chassis Battery and other that say it only charges the House Battery and still others that say it charges both.

Disconnecting it shouldn't be a n issue, but it would be nice to remove the wires from which ever battery it's connected too. The wires would be live if left connected to the battery.

Your new solar charging system will be connected to your house batteries via a solar charge controller. They will charge the batteries anytime they are hit with sunlight, even a little bit.

If your RV has a system to charge the Chassis battery via the House Batteries - some do, some don't, some owners add such a system if the factory didn't - then your solar will charge both battery banks.

[DavidM]

Originally Posted by LSU2MT

Question David...and excuse my ignorance but is the converter built into the inverter? To change out 1 am i changing out both?

thanks for the help!

The converter is usually a separate item from the inverter. Boats often have inverter/chargers but RVs usually don't.

You could install an inverter/charger then the charger would work in conjunction with your converter to quickly charge your batteries when on shore or generator power.

I read that you are considering 6 GC batteries which is 660 Ahs. Normally you don't want to charge at more than 25% of Ah capacity or 165 amps. If your converter is the typical 45 amp unit then you could install a 2000 watt inverter with a built in 100 amp charger. That would reduce your genset run time to charge up your batteries. Also a quality inverter/charger like Victron, etc probably has a better charging algorithm than the standard RV converter. But an inverter/charger costs more than just an inverter.

And finally your 1,100 watts of solar could potentially charge at 90 amps so even more reason to go with 6- GC batteries to keep the charge pct low.

David

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by DavidM

Boats often have inverter/chargers but RVs usually don't.

Well, not necessarily.

A large diesel pusher motorhome is very likely to have an inverter charger.

Smaller travel trailers, 5th wheels and B and C vans/motorhomes with RV fridges are most likely to have a DC Converter/Charger because they only have one or two batteries for a house bank. The converter does just that, it converts 110v shore power/genset power into 12v to power all 12 appliances. Many times these smaller RVs will have a small (less than 1000w) inverter to convert 12v from the battery bank into 110v for limited needs - such as TV, bathroom receptacle or bedroom receptacle for a clock or a CPAP machine. The converter is paired with a battery charger so it does dual duty of providing 12v power to appliances and lights and acts as a battery charger, too.

On older less fully featured motorhomes that didn't come with a residential fridge it would be comon to have a Converter/Charger and again, a small inverter wired for limited usage.

Large 42' diesel pushers like yours have more complex electronics and if fairly new are likely to have a large house battery bank and an inverter/charger instead of a converter/charger.

When your motorhome has an inverter/charger all the 12v appliance run off of the battery bank. So, a converter isn't needed. Even when plugged into shore power your 12v items (pumps, lights, etc) are running off of your batteries and in the background the charger portion of your inverter/charger is at the same time charging the batteries as they are in use.

Since you have a 2000 w inverter, there's a good chance it's a charger too. I would guess that a 10 year old inverter could likely be a MSW inverter and if so you may want to consider changing it to a PSW inverter. Especially with a new residential fridge. Some will run fine on MSW inverters... but others not at all. Same if you are updating the TVs. So, this is something to look into.

Do you know the model name and number of your inverter? That would answer a lot of questions.

[creativepart]

There is info on the 2010 Tour 42AD Inverter/Charger in the Electrical Section 6-4 of your "Operators Manual"



Here's a link to your Operators Manual: https://winnebagoind.com/resources/m...010/10Tour.pdf

And here's the page in the Manual:

[LSU2MT]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Well, not necessarily.

A large diesel pusher motorhome is very likely to have an inverter charger.

Smaller travel trailers, 5th wheels and B and C vans/motorhomes with RV fridges are most likely to have a DC Converter/Charger because they only have one or two batteries for a house bank. The converter does just that, it converts 110v shore power/genset power into 12v to power all 12 appliances. Many times these smaller RVs will have a small (less than 1000w) inverter to convert 12v from the battery bank into 110v for limited needs - such as TV, bathroom receptacle or bedroom receptacle for a clock or a CPAP machine. The converter is paired with a battery charger so it does dual duty of providing 12v power to appliances and lights and acts as a battery charger, too.

On older less fully featured motorhomes that didn't come with a residential fridge it would be comon to have a Converter/Charger and again, a small inverter wired for limited usage.

Large 42' diesel pushers like yours have more complex electronics and if fairly new are likely to have a large house battery bank and an inverter/charger instead of a converter/charger.

When your motorhome has an inverter/charger all the 12v appliance run off of the battery bank. So, a converter isn't needed. Even when plugged into shore power your 12v items (pumps, lights, etc) are running off of your batteries and in the background the charger portion of your inverter/charger is at the same time charging the batteries as they are in use.

Since you have a 2000 w inverter, there's a good chance it's a charger too. I would guess that a 10 year old inverter could likely be a MSW inverter and if so you may want to consider changing it to a PSW inverter. Especially with a new residential fridge. Some will run fine on MSW inverters... but others not at all. Same if you are updating the TVs. So, this is something to look into.

Do you know the model name and number of your inverter? That would answer a lot of questions.

attached

[LSU2MT]

Originally Posted by creativepart

There is info on the 2010 Tour 42AD Inverter/Charger in the Electrical Section 6-4 of your "Operators Manual"

Attachment 174533

Here's a link to your Operators Manual: https://winnebagoind.com/resources/m...010/10Tour.pdf

And here's the page in the Manual:
Attachment 174532

sorry, didnt see your post with pic before posting mine