At 11:26 PM 10/11/2002, Laurence Smith wrote: >See this link for more info that may help: >http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/dcfaq4.htm Lots of good stuff starting at the root of that site: http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/
>BTW your RC number is impressive. I use an Odyssey >http://www.odysseyfactory.com/specs.htm PC1200 deep cycle in my Westy >and it has a RC of 78. The Optima is more similar to the Odyssey PC1700. > It will last for 5-6 days of camping with >reckless use of lights etc, so I think your Optima would be much >better. One man's reckless is another man's frugal...we run lights for 2-3 days using the starting battery. Our movable 110vac 11-watt Compact Fluorescent R40 reflector-flood light draws a bit over an amp via the inverter, and including the effect of the reflector delivers light intensities similar to about a 60-watt incandescent. Our other cruising platform uses close to four amps continuously for navigation and comm equipment, 2.5 to run a modern laptop (five if its internal battery is charging), three for running lights at night -- plus house lighting. For that one we have 300 amp-hours of deep-cycle battery capacity in two banks, and a $300 smart regulator to manage charging; and we'd be better off in the long run with $$$ more for monitoring gear. On the Westy I have a 10-amp automatic charger permanently wired in so that it operates whenever the van is plugged in; on the boat there is no point since we're never alongside a pier with power for more than a few minutes. All charging is done with the 35-amp alternator on the Atomic Four engine (and I'm holding my breath to see if it will survive the charging regime that the regulator is asking of it -- so far it has). david
-- David Beierl - Providence, RI http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/ '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage" '85 GL "Poor Relation" |
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