Re: Charging from tow vehicle

On 3/3/2025 7:39 PM, Ted Heise wrote:

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?

As far as I know, it's not illegal.  You can do it, but it does open up a slight bit of risk should something happen to the now open gas tank. Seems to me the little juice those fridges pull you'd be better off just using the trailer battery and figuring out how to keep it charged up. Save the gas for hot water and heat if you need it.
FWIW, I think you've gone to the expense of installing a Lithium battery in your unit, and we should go back to the start here and help you work through this problem of getting and keeping it charged.  I am still recovering from surgery, and not in top form, but this effort could be used here as a study in how to help fellow RVers with similar problems. One way or another we should come to some kind of consensus on what the group thinks is a good way to solve this problem.  There will be others like Ted who are going to have the same questions.
The first problem is whether or not you can use the tow vehicle to charge the trailer when moving from site to site.  I assume you would leave for any trip with it fully charged, so this would be for mostly when packing up and going elsewhere.  I still think a DC-DC charger is your best bet here, and not as complicated as it might initially appear.   Probably more affordable than you think too.  We'll have to look for good options on that.  Once you have that, it could also be used in an emergency to charge the trailer batteries flatspotting, as well as using your generator.
Next, if your boon-docking, you need to get the battery charged back up as it gets depleted.  I know there were some additional notes recently on what you have currently in the Lance, but I was a little too under the weather to get into them too much.  I'll try and give a look tomorrow.
That said, it is my understanding you don't have a solar panel of any type at the current time.  So, we have to know if the Lance does have a controller in it, just not hooked up, and if it does have a plug in for the solar panel.  I know you have the generator you could use to charge the battery if you had to, but to me the proper use of a solar panel and controller that could keep the Lithium charged is the solution you should be aiming for.  Then, you'd only really use the generator if you don't have shore power and need AC.  On my unit it is installed on the roof and keeps my pair of deep cycles fully charged quite easily, with the fridge running too.  I do like the idea of having a portable panel that allows you to park the Lance under a more shaded area and then place the panel more out in the direct sunshine.
Maybe I am just still under a little brain fog from the procedure, but it just seems like we are getting into the weeds and not being helpful recently.  But, I do think we can all put our heads together and help you make a good decision on this battery charging problem of yours. It's a universal concern for RVers.
---snip---

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.

IMO, this power station idea is not what you need.  You already have one, an expensive and capable one, with your lithium battery.  A solar setup is another thing.  You just have to figure out how to get the power to it.  Answer the questions posed above about what you have now and let's work through this again, Ted.
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