Joel Sheriff Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 What is the general consensus on running the gen when dry camping. I start at 12.0v or 85° and I run for 1.5hrs. Is that average or would running for 1hr be sufficient. I have four 6v AGS batteries 300ah. 6 years old but still take and hold a decent charge over 12.7 v. Any suggestions over what I'm doing. Main question is should one hour run time be enough to recharge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr4Film Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Joel, To answer your question, Nope. I don't believe you are ever getting the battery bank back to a Full Charge state by doing it that way. I have my AGS set to come on when the House Battery Bank reaches 12.0 VDC (summertime) - 12.2 VDC (wintertime) then it runs until the battery bank reaches Float SOC which can take hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Pratt Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Joel Richard Smith is correct. You should always run your generator until Your batteries reach Float Charge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaver_jd Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 15 hours ago, Joel Sheriff said: What is the general consensus on running the gen when dry camping. I start at 12.0v or 85° and I run for 1.5hrs. Is that average or would running for 1hr be sufficient. I have four 6v AGS batteries 300ah. 6 years old but still take and hold a decent charge over 12.7 v. Any suggestions over what I'm doing. Main question is should one hour run time be enough to recharge? I was dry camping a number of years ago in Quartzite AZ with a bunch of Monaco coaches. I ran my genny in the AM for about an hour and the same in the evening. At the end of the week the coach wouldn't start. Dead as dead. My genny started off the chassis batteries and Cummins told my when you start your genny it takes three hours to get your chassis batteries back to where it was before you started the penny. After that I have always run my genny for about 4 hours. John F. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel S - '96 Safari Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 22 hours ago, beaver_jd said: I was dry camping a number of years ago in Quartzite AZ with a bunch of Monaco coaches. I ran my genny in the AM for about an hour and the same in the evening. At the end of the week the coach wouldn't start. Dead as dead. My genny started off the chassis batteries and Cummins told my when you start your genny it takes three hours to get your chassis batteries back to where it was before you started the penny. After that I have always run my genny for about 4 hours. John F. John F Perhaps your genset doesn't charge your chassis batteries...... (is yours supposed to)?? As built by SMC, (Safari Motor Coach), only the engine driven alternator in my coach charges the chassis batteries . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Sheriff Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 My both battery banks charge with the gen or while driving. Thanks all for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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