↓ Episode 126 – How does the Battery in your RV stay charged when you are not plugged into shore power? Is that a ridiculous question?

INTRO

How does the battery in your RV stay charged when you're not plugged into shore power? Is that a ridiculous question or what? This is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVerPodcast, delivering the smarts you need to enjoy the freedom of the RV Lifestyle without the fear of breaking down. Welcome to the show today, Alexis.

RV LIFESTYLE

Thanks, Sarah. Hi. And where are you going to take us on our trip?

Alexis- We're going to go to Joshua Tree.

Eric- Joshua Tree. All right. So, before we go to Joshua Tree though, we're going to talk about RV dump stations. That sounds like fun. Ooh. Then we're going to go back to that question about the battery. Okay. And then we're going to talk about Dakota lithium batteries.

So, we got a lot of good stuff here, RV dump stations, and really, it's about finding RV dump stations. And yeah, it might seem kind of like an odd thing to talk about, but there are a lot of people that can't find RV dump stations or they're new to RVing. You know that whole thing's new to them, uh, they move to a different area.

Mm-hmm. So, it's not always straightforward, even if you have yours, the place you normally go or at the RV park where you stayed that night or whatever, um, this kind of clears it up a little bit. Exactly. So, Alexis, what tips can you share with us for finding an RV dump station?

Alexis- Well, for one, it just takes like a little planning, just like you would for where you're going to sleep that night or the sites you're going to see.

So, we did a little research on which websites and actual apps were good for finding ones. So, um, a couple of them are Sanidumps.com, RVdumps.com, and AllStays.com. So really if you just Google. Um, you're going to be able to find it in your location or wherever you're heading to, I would do it before you head there.

Dump sites that are going to be close to your campsite. So just a little bit of planning, a little bit of forethought, and this is going to help you in the long run, help you find where you could do. And then I think we were talking about making a note. If you're going to be back through that area, make a note of where it was so that when you're coming back through, you can just go to the same place.

Eric- Right. Yeah. Keep a record of stuff as we, you know, constantly talk about keeping records of things. Yeah. And you know, sometimes you might be staying at a campground, and of course, you're going to dump the holding tanks before you leave. Mm-hmm. But if you're traveling and you're on the road, you might have to use the tanks.

Yeah. And so, you might need to dump them again. Or when you get home or you know, the variables there. So, there's always something, but knowing these websites are there can help quite a bit. Exactly. And they probably have a deal on those websites too, where you could submit a dump station if it's not listed.

So, you could help them out, and yeah, if you went there and saw that, you know, the one you're using isn't listed. Yeah. Maybe they'll pay you for the info. Yeah, maybe, probably not. We'll see. And it's always better to travel with. Not full tanks, you know? Yeah, yeah. Um, you're just carrying extra weight for no reason, so.

Exactly. Robs power and fuel. Mm-hmm. So yeah, that's a good thing. So, we'll have this on the podcast under episode number one a hundred twenty-six in the details. And I guess we'll have it someplace else on the website as well. Um, helpful articles or somewhere Cause it is nice to have, so we'll have this up on the website.

And hopefully, we’ll remember we have a habit of saying we're going to do that kind of stuff and we forget. And so, we're, we're trying to improve upon that. Yeah, we just, yeah, I am not going to go down that road. We're just busy. And I always say that we're always busy. It sounds like a lame excuse, but it's the reality of it.

STAYING ON THE ROAD

So go to our website. We will have this there no matter what. It's going to be under the podcast details. So, either our website or whatever podcast player you're using, whether it's iTunes or Spotify, the details should be in there. If you look at the podcast. Now, that brings us to staying on the road. And the title of it is, how does the Battery in your RV stay charged when you are not plugged into Shore Power?

So that question might sound ridiculous, you know, you might just automatically have an answer for that, but the answer might not be correct because the question doesn't really designate some separate things, you know? So, uh, you might say solar, well, you might be close. It's just a bad question.

When you aren't plugged in, you could be driving to your next destination, or you could be camping off the grid somewhere without shore power. So, in this conversation, no shore power means no generator power as well. So, you're not plugged into a house, a pole, a whatever, a campground, or a generator. It's just not, 110 volts.

So, there's, there's confusion out there about how RVs stay charged. And it's going to change from a trailer to a motor home. Now new RVs sometimes are never really given a good explanation when they buy an RV about how the battery stays charged. You know, if you go to a dealership, they just assume you're an expert and you know everything.

They might talk to you like you're a complete moron, but they're good at doing, you know, they just dumb you down. Or they try to, but in the back of their mind there, I'm not going to explain how any of this works because this person should know. Yeah, and it's not the case. A lot of people are buying an RV for the very first time and don't know any of this stuff.

You know, it goes unexplained, and the dealers say, you know, just don't worry about it. It'll be taken care of. This is just what they do. You know, when you hook out your truck up to it, it'll happen. When you drive the motor home, it'll just happen. Like it's this magic thing that just happens. Sometimes I don't even think the salesmen really know.

They might have an inkling, but they really don't understand it themselves, and they're there to just sell an RV and get you off the lot into the finance office and out the door. That's their goal. Get out of here and don't ever come back. Unfortunately. So, and others sometimes just don't know if their motor home, um, how the, there's a separation or that there is a separation between the house battery and the cranking battery.

They don't understand that you know, they might think that all the power comes from the engine battery or the starting battery, cranking battery. It's all the same, and that's not the case either. So, there are just misunderstandings out there. Even people that are seasoned in RV or sometimes never really get it, or they go from a trailer to a motor home, totally different ballgame when it comes to electronics.

Totally different. The three common ways that you can really charge an RV battery or this, you could have solar panels on the roof or portable. Either way, solar panels are a converter inside the RV, whether it's a trailer or a motor home. And when I'm talking about a trailer that includes fifth wheels, travel trailers, it's all-encompassing.

You know, any kind of RV that's on four wheels gets pulled by something besides a tow truck. Mm-hmm. A converter. I just say converters. I don’t know if I did or not, but not sure. But anyways, a converter inside the RV or a generator. Mm-hmm. You know, a generator is going to. Provide 110 volts to the RV and then 110 volts going to activate the converter if the battery needs to be charged.

So, the converter's going to charge the battery, not the generator per se. And then the solar, of course, just charges the batteries and that's all it does is provide 12-volt charging to the battery. So that's when you're, you know, park someplace. Well, the solar could work while you're driving down the road as well.

Mm-hmm. So, you got the benefit of that, but what about when you're, uh, traveling? You know, how does the battery get charged? Well, in a motor home, the house batteries, which are separate from the engine battery, do get charged by the alternator on the engine. So that's the normal way. So when you're driving your motor home, the engine's charging the cranking battery, or I should say the alternator is, and the alternator's also charging the house batteries.

Now, there's a downside to that and I'm going to come back to that in a minute because driving doesn't always charge up the batteries unless you're driving for a long time, especially if the batteries are dead. But there is a solution to that, especially if you're going to a destination where you can't plug in, then you want those batteries fully charged by the time you get there.

Now, a trailer, whether it's a travel trailer or fifth wheel, same scenario. The tow vehicles are usually a truck or a van, sometimes an SUV. While they're plugged into the trailer, they should be wired to where they're charging the battery in the trailer. So, it has a wire going from the alternator or a, a converter, something on the engine or not on the engine, but part of that system.

But the alternator just makes it simple going from the alternator. The seven-way connector on the back of the vehicle that you plug your trailer into will charge the batteries in the trailer while you're driving. And again, the batteries, if they're, you know, dead, they're not going to get fully charged unless you're driving for a long period of time.

Cars just aren't designed to charge batteries, you know, three batteries, four batteries, whatever your trailer might have, plus the engine battery. They do what they can, but it's not always the best way to do it. It's just like a super dead battery. An alternator generally will never bring it back to life.

You know, for a cranking battery, you know, you might be able to drive it, park it a couple of times, then the morning you go out, the battery's dead again. It just quite often can't do that unless you have a super high output alternator. But most people don't have that. That's kind of an afterthought that most people don't invest money into.

But there is an alternative, a DC-to-DC charger. So, DC to DC chargers put out a much higher charging rate. And they do it a lot quicker. It's more like being plugged into a battery charger. They're efficient and a lot of them, or I shouldn't say a lot, some mount on the tow vehicle, some mount on the trailer, it's going to depend on if it's a motor home, obviously you just mount inside the motor home.

But they are designed to put a high charge or a fast charge into the deep cycle batteries, and that's what they're designed for. Not too many people use them. They're becoming more popular. They're very popular in the off-roading world. Um, like overlanders, people who go out need their batteries. They might use a lot of batteries at night, but during the day, they want to get those batteries charged up while they're driving to their next destination, and they work great.

So that's a nice alternative. And there's a lot of different brands, you know, take your pick, just don't go cheap on it. Mm-hmm. Avoid that big box store online where they sell garbage. So, you know, buy a quality one and spend the extra money to make sure you have something that's not going to leave you stranded thinking it's working and it's not.

So, charging batteries when you're not plugged into shore power. You know, driving down the road is straightforward, you know, it's just the alternator of the engine is charging the house battery or the deep cycle or the, the batteries in your trailer. They're all deep cycle batteries, house batteries, and trailer batteries are all deep cycle, so it's not that complex of a thing.

So, when you know what’s being talked about, just so you understand how that's happening, if it's a motor home, it's wired into the system. When motor homes are built, it's not an afterthought. It's part of the planning of the motor home trailers. It's somewhat built-in by. I guess by a natural occurrence because they must wire up the batteries anyway.

It's going to happen no matter what, but the tow vehicles must be wired to charge the batteries, and that generally is a natural thing too. Most places don't ask if you want to do that. It's just part of wiring up a seven-way connector. It's going to get a lead. That's going to charge the batteries and the trailer.

That's the point of the seven-way connector. Everything has a specific purpose, so it's not really that complicated. Batteries in themselves can sometimes be because they can go dead, you know, how do we charge them? Should we get solar? Should we get a DC-to-DC charger? You know, how many batteries should I have?

You know, there are a lot of variables there. And that's where your local RV store can help you. Or you can listen to this podcast and share it with your buddies, and everybody knows because I'm an expert. You say that laughing here. But we sell a lot of batteries. We get a lot of battery questions. It's like every day people are asking about batteries.

And it's kind of the same question, and it's not just the charging systems and how it stays charged, but how many batteries should I have? That's a popular question. You know, personally, I think every RV should have at least two batteries. You know, in some cases one battery will work, but it's borderline.

And what we're learning too is. RV Manufacturing Learning. RV manufacturers are selling a lot of newer RVs with 110-volt refrigerators in them, and they have an inverter. And so that RV or that refrigerator is supposed to run off that one battery they install in it, or two batteries maybe, and they only last a couple of nights if that.

So now solar comes in and more batteries. Do you know what we're seeing? A lot of these motor homes or even trailers with 110-volt refrigerators, not a gas 110, but strictly 110-volt refrigerator that runs off the inverter. They need to have probably 800 watts of solar panels. So that could be four panels on the roof and four batteries.

Wow. And that'll get you going. And four, six-volt batteries are the ideal way to do it if you can. Mm-hmm. So that's a lot of solar and it's a lot of battery and it's a lot of money. So, if you're buying an RV like that and you're going to be camping off the grid, that's what you're looking at. Or if you're looking at an RV like that, and I've heard of, you know, people buying these things and the person that sold it could never get the refrigerator to work.

Right. Because they never had solar, and they didn't have all the batteries. Mm-hmm. Cause the manufacturers present it like, oh yeah, you can just take this thing and no worries. Well, they don't tell you everything you need to know. Yeah. Which is typical in the RV industry, you know? They make it look and sound like everything's ready to go.

But it's not. Because you know, you own an RV, that's why you're listening to this podcast. And how much stuff do you have to buy when you get a new RV or transfer from your old RV over? Mm-hmm. If you're to start from scratch, it costs you thousands of dollars to do that. Oh yeah. You know, it adds up. You know, that's, those are things to consider when buying an RV.

So it goes back to that question, how many batteries should I have? Well, I always say at least two. You know, there might be that rare occasion where one works, but you know, small trailer, just a little overnight. You know, basic camping has one light in it that might work. But two batteries will never leave you high and dry if you're, uh, conscious of how much power you're using and if you have a gauge to kind of give you an idea as well.

Mm-hmm. So, I hope that covers it. It's basic. Yet again, a lot of people are just buying RVs new to it. Switching from a motor home to a trailer, a trailer to a motor home, they don't fully understand it. So, we're going to leave it there. We're going to move on. Otherwise, I'll just keep talking. So hopefully that helps and explains it.

And again, we'll have more of this on our podcast as well, or on the website, TheSmartRVer.com. Yeah. And our show notes will be there. In fact, all our show notes are right in every podcast episode we do. Yes. So, if you're listening to it and you decide you want to read it or take something from it, we always have the show notes available on the website at TheSmartRVer.com.

NEXT STOP

Mm-hmm. So now that takes us to the long-awaited adventure to the next stop. To Joshua Tree National. Ah, Joshua Tree National Monument. Here we go. So, Alexis, where is Joshua Tree?

Alexis- It is in California. Southern California.

Eric- Yes, indeed. Near Indio to beautiful, specific, beautiful. Mm-hmm. Yeah. If you're filling up to the adventure to go to California, while it's still. Yeah. Stopping there. Oh boy. Leave that alone. Okay. So anyways, you want to make a trip to California to see Joshua Tree National, uh, park. Mm-hmm. Do you want to go to the desert and spend some time in the desert?

Alexis- The desert out there is cool.

Eric- It is. Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like the Mojave Desert. All that desert area is nice. Uh-huh? It's very interesting. It is. So, Alexis, tell us a little bit about Joshua Tree.

Alexis- Well, there's a lot you can do there. Um, if you're a National Park junkie, then this must be on the list for you. Um, but there are some cool things you can do. There's a, uh, bird watching, which I don't know if you're interested in that, Eric, but there's like, there's different. You know, types of birds out in the desert, so that's kind of cool. Uh-huh, you get to see, can, can plan a little, uh, you know, a day trip around that. Um, there's horseback riding that can be fun.

Um, and then just general touring of the area, checking it out, taking pictures, just having a good time. Um, there's lots to do. Lots to see. Yeah. It's the desert. And the desert is always very interesting. Yes.

Eric- And it changes dramatically throughout the year, especially in the springtime when the cacti are blooming.

Mm-hmm. It can completely change. And what's cool about the desert too, you can drive three or four miles and all the cacti and the. Plants or shrubbery will change. Yeah. It'll look different. Cool.

You know, like you're in a completely different area or different desert, you know. Awesome. Now, Joshua Tree years ago used to have, um, a high crime rate.

I think they've cleaned it up because it was getting such a bad wrap. It was going there because it was so bad. Yeah. In fact, I've never been there. I've been there, I've been that desert around it, but I've never been to Joshua National Tree Monument. Because that has always stuck with me. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

And then sometimes when you live close to something, cause I did live out there. Mm-hmm. You don't really go to Disneyland. I've been to Disneyland twice in my life. Not a scary farm. I think once, you know. Yeah. Yeah. And you're there and say you can go anytime. But I didn't really, I never really ventured into that part of the desert either.

Mm-hmm. I like the Mojave Desert, which Joshua Tree's like it, but it's not the same. Yeah. But it is a cool area. Very. The desert is very nice. Yes. You know, everybody kind of thinks of the desert, this dry wasteland. Well, it is, and that's what makes it so nice. No, it's just, it has a beauty of its own.

Yes. You know, and you, you must see it. If you've never been to the desert, you know it'd be a great place to go. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And you know, there's a lot of deserts along the way there as you go through, uh, Nevada or Arizona, depending on how you're heading there. Yeah. Even through California, you got the high desert, so.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would check it out. Yeah, it'd be cool. And there are plenty of places to eat around there. Oh yeah. Motels, there's RV stuff. I mean, it's just jam-packed with everything. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. So, check it out. And again, we're just trying to whet your appetite for another great place to go.

RV ENVY

So now that's going to bring us to RV Envy. We're going to talk about the Dakota Lithium batteries. Maybe you've seen some advertisements for Dakota Lithium batteries. Their ads alone are really, I mean, they're reason enough to just buy the batteries. They're so cool. You know, they're all outdoors and fishing and all that stuff.

RVing off-roading, it's like, wow, yeah, I want to do that. Mm-hmm. Well, buying the battery isn't going to do that for you. It's kind of like watching an iPhone commercial. You got these guys doing all this trick stuff on an iPhone. They don't tell you need all this experience and 10 apps to do it and all this other stuff, you know.

But Dakota lithium batteries are kind of, um, a newer battery. And we're selling them in our store now, and they are a great battery. Excuse me. They have an 11-year warranty and up to eight or nine years, I forget what it is. They're like any other lithium battery. So, the warranty starts to change a little bit and you have got to watch the warranty on batteries.

I'm thinking about doing a podcast or a YouTube video on lithium batteries and the warranties and what to be cautious of because there are a lot of details in the warranty. When someone like me says it's 11 years or anybody else, you got to read the fine print because there's some, some gotchas in there.

And depending on whether batteries go up or down in price. That Gotcha. Might hurt a little bit more or a little bit less. So, I'm getting off track here talking about what I'm not supposed to be talking about, but we're supposed to talk about Dakota lithium batteries. So, they're a great battery. They've proven to be very, very reliable.

We've used them, you're using them in our shop now for test batteries because they're lightweight, easy to hook up, and you know they're going to last forever. You don't have to charge them all the time, like a lead acid battery, you know, we can run it for months without having to recharge it, which is nice. Um, got a small one for at home for the different things I do there.

You know, they're great batteries and, and Dakota, lithium, or Dakota, they just, they're there, there are companies that there for you and we push that. They have great customer service. I know our experience with them so far has been just spot on. Good. I mean, they're there every step of the way. You have a question.

You can talk to someone. If you have a concern, you can talk to someone. They're not just to sell. They don't want to just sell you a battery and be done with you. They want to hear from you. Check out Dakota lithium batteries. They are not on our website. Full disclosure, if you want to, you know, go to a store that carries them, you can check them out there.

Or you can go to Dakota's website, maybe find a dealer near you if you want to purchase one, avoid all the shipping nonsense, but check them out. So, you can go to Dakota lithium.com for more information on that. So that's going to bring us to the end of our podcast today podcast episode num number 126. And this is Eric Stark and I want to thank you for listening.

OUTRO

And I want to thank you for stopping by at TheSmartRVerPodcast. Has been great hanging out with you. So, if I don't see you on the road, let's connect at TheSmartRVer.com.