Re: Charging from tow vehicle

On Tue, 4 Mar 2025 00:37:03 -0000 (UTC),
  Carol <cshenk@virginia-beach.com> wrote:

 Ted Heise wrote:

I'm now wondering if my best bet may just be to minimize use
of the battery so it might last a couple of days.  The fridge
seems likely to the biggest draw, and is probably why the
batterys has lost a significant portion of its capacity after
a day of towing.  Would it be unacceptably dangerous to run
the fridge from the propane tank while towing?

Any thoughts about running the fridge on propane while towing?

 i'd gather data for a bit.  There are several approaches to
 this.  What you want, is good batteries that don't 'leak all
 the juice out' (lose charge at unacceptable rate when parked
 for a bit, not being used). That means the Ecoflow River 2
 isn't a wise choice in a long RV trip. The Jackery (hasn't had
 the same test applies yet, patience dear one!) is a much better
 bet.  I know it was parked for 3 months once and lost only
 about 5% charge.  That wouldn't be noticable.
 
 The ecoflow river (ECR2 for short) isn't a bad battery at all,
 it's just not right for this application.  It fits my needs
 though with one running DVD/TV (perhaps laptop?) and other used
 most of the time in the shed so Don can play with building
 fishing lures and small wood working projects.  If he has to
 stop to recharge it, thats simple.  We can even bring in a
 spare portable AC with an electrical cord from the back porch. 
 (estimate ECR2 would last 3-4 hours on it's own with an LED
 light).
 
 You'd need more power and a longer holding time.  More in line
 with the Jackery.

So if I'm reading this right, the concept would be to use some
kind of portable power station as something like a backup for the
trailer's installed battery?  Seems it would be handy, and might
be simplest to set up with solar panels.

--
Ted Heise      <theise@panix.com>       West Lafayette, IN, USA