LP gauge inaccurate

[gomango]

My generator runs on lp. When there’s no electric hookup then everything will be powered by the generator. The heat pump can be powered by lp or electric. I am assuming that the generator has to be running continually when l need AC power? I will bring warm clothes and blankets to minimize heating at night. Does the generator charges the house battery automatically when is running? What about the fridge? I guess l like to know how best to manage the power usage when there’s only lp gas to run everything.

[al1florida]

Originally Posted by gomango

My generator runs on lp. When there’s no electric hookup then everything will be powered by the generator. The heat pump can be powered by lp or electric. I am assuming that the generator has to be running continually when l need AC power? I will bring warm clothes and blankets to minimize heating at night. Does the generator charges the house battery automatically when is running? What about the fridge? I guess l like to know how best to manage the power usage when there’s only lp gas to run everything.

Yes, while the air conditioner is running the generator has to be running all the time. The "heat pump" is part of the air conditioner and has to have the gen running as well.

The forced air furnace can run w/o the gen running. However if it has to run for 8-10 hours a day it uses a lot of the battery power so the battery will need to be recharged from the generator or other source, such as solar.
When you are running the generator, be sure to switch the fridge to "gas only". This uses less propane than it would take from the gen using the propane.

The generator supply 120V AC power just like the shore power does. Anything powered by shore power will be powered by the generator. So the generator should be charging your batteries.
Be sure to run your generator for 1-2 hours a day to recharge your 12V house batteries. This limited amount of time will not bring your batteries to 100%, but it will charge them well enough to go through another 24 hours, unless you have some sort of heavy load on the batteries. Don't use your lights for long periods of time, try to limit the furnace to 4 hours or less a day. Leave the TV off

The amount of 12V battery power you use varies greatly by every family. There is no easy way to know how much you use.

[BobC]

An LPG heater, either the built-in one or catalytic heater like the Olympic Wave is going to be more efficient in LPG use than running your generator to run the heat pump.

[al1florida]

Earlier I stated:

The amount of 12V battery power you use varies greatly by every family. There is no easy way to know how much you use.

However with a little work you can estimate how much of your battery power you will consume in a day.

You also need to determine the size of you battery(s) and how many amp hours (AH) they are rated at.
Here are 2 links to a website with lots of excellent info about RV elect, batteries, inverters, solar, etc.
The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

The 12volt Side of Life Part 2
Note: To find the number of amps for some of the basic things, like lights, water pump, etc you have to scroll about half way down the second link.

Additionally, even though your battery may be rated at 80AH or 100AH, you really have no more than 50% of available for use. Discharging the battery beyond 50% greatly reduces the life of the battery. To be conservative for your battery life only using 25% of the battery (75% full) is best for longest life. For example most deep cycle batteries like 6V golf cart batteries are rated at 2000-3000 cycles when only discharged 25%. If you discharge to 50% you get half that rated life, going to 80% discharged it drops to 1/4 the number of cycles.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by BobC

An LPG heater, either the built-in one or catalytic heater like the Olympic Wave is going to be more efficient in LPG use than running your generator to run the heat pump.

I should have mentioned that the Olympic Wave is more efficient in energy use since it doesn't use any battery power. You do need adequate ventilation for safety although, it is a catalytic heater and safe for inside use (read the instructions carefully).

Since the Olympic Wave is a radiant heater, it isn't going to heat your whole rig as quickly as the built-in LPG heater. It's most effective radiating heat toward you like a campfire, but will eventually heat the air as well. I'd suggest a quick warm up with the built in LPG heater followed by the Olympic Wave as maintenance.

[SCVJeff]

All these complaints about the inaccurate tank levels is what prompted me to tear out the stock Winnie gauges and replace them with the SeeLevel system. With all the boondocking we do I simply cannot stand to trust a gauge on a 90gal tank that when the 1/3 light goes out, I have no idea how much of the 30gals is there. The SeeLevel takes care of all tanks including the LP. When I fill my LP tank I reset it to 100% so it tracks like it should. Doesnt matter the tank is at 80%. To me its 100

[gomango]

Thanks for all the good info.
Doesn’t the RV engine when is running charges the House batteries ?

[al1florida]

Originally Posted by gomango

Thanks for all the good info.
Doesn’t the RV engine when is running charges the House batteries ?

Not every RV engine charges the house batteries while running. Your owners manual should have some info.
Also if you have a volt meter (multi meter) you can measure the voltage at the house battery terminals and then start the engine. If you see the voltage jump to 13.4-14.2V then the engine is charging the batteries. A volt meter is available at Amazon or any big box store for less than $20. The meter is one of those things that should be included in the tools you take with you in the RV.

[powercat_ras]

If you remove your One Place control panel from the wall and look at the circuit board there is an adjustment for the propane level indicator that can be changed with a very small straight blade screwdriver.

Note that the propane level sensor is just a simple liquid level gauge and propane has a huge expansion change when warm vs. cold. So I suggest you wait a while after filling until the propane in your tank warms to the air temperature outside and then adjust it to just show full.

The reason that propane tanks can only be filled to 80 % is to allow for propane that is cool to warm up in your RV's tank and expand without reaching 100 % of the tank's capacity at which point it would start to over pressure and release propane out the tanks' pressure relief valve causing a fire/explosion hazard.

[Teamfoxy]

This is our first RV that has gauges that seem anywhere near accurate. They seem much more accurate on batteries than plugged in to shore power. Most of you seem to be using a lot more propane than we do. Our built in tank was filled over 3 weeks ago and is still reading well above 1/2 full (at the tank itself). We turn on the water heater when we start cooking and off when we have finished the dishes, rather than run it all the time.
We can lift the rear seat cushion and see the fresh water tank. The tank is opaque and you can see the level inside. Since we run on our tanks all the time, as long as there is fresh water in the tank, the holding tanks are good.