Generator/LED Questions

Renosteve:

Batteries you should not let a battery go below 10% of their charge prior to re-charging.  In order to charge a battery, you must put at leas 2V more into the battery.  12V charge should be 14V input.  Do not let a battery get down to 25% or you will soon be buying new batteries.

For dry camping, you could use for instance, the Honda 2000EUI but then it does not have the 30Amp hookup on the side.   Their next size up does and it will cost you more.  Honda's are the most expensive generators and yet, the quietest and most reliable (my opinion).  You can also gang 2 of the 2000EUI together with a special cord.

So, to answer your question, the 2000 is the smallest but highly recommended is the 3000.  You can charge your batteries with the 2000 but the connections will need to be changed or you will need some adapters.  The 3000 has the 30Amp connector built in.  The 2000 does not.

Every camper I have known has had a problem of the "assumption of cities" when camping.  Just turn on the heater, the stove,etc....so, either mark everything good when just "charging" the batteries or expect a crapout.

LED bulbs...I found them a DHGate.  They are shipped over here quickly and are the best bargains of all.  We changed every bulb in ours out to LED's.

Burt

I have a Champion that is big enough to run everything on a Pod and was less than $400.  It has a clean output and is a few db louder than the Honda, but is twice the output of a 2000, and works well.  You can't run any of them in quiet time and the noise is not objectionable.  You need to decide how to spend your money.

Welcome.  As was mentioned above, you are taking your battery too low.  The correct info is - keep it to 50% SOC (state of charge) most of the time, but you can occasionally go as low as 30%.  Never go below 30%.  

Batteries accept a charge faster the more discharged they are, and will quickly charge up to 80%.  Its the last 20% that takes a very long time.  So for best use of your fuel keep an eye on the SOC via the voltage (see Wind Sun's battery FAQ for a chart and lots of good info).  Once you get down to 50% then start the generator for an hour or two.  You may find you only have to do this every 2-3 days, but not every day.  As for that last 20%, don't try to put that charge into the battery via a genset, that will be a big waste of fuel.  Wait until you get home and let the grid do that.  With on exception - if you will be on the road for longer than a week, once a week you must get the battery back to 100% to prevent sulphation. 

Regarding LED replacements for the interior lights, I have found these units from SuperBrightLeds.com to be the best I can find. They use 18 type warm white 5050 LEDs. They are just a bit whiter than the factory 921 bulbs, are of equal or slightly greater brightness, and draw about 1/6 the DC current. They seem expensive at first look, but I've tried several of the cheaper planar multi-LED units from China and you get what you pay for. Too blue, unregulated, poor quality, and generally less acceptable. I've ordered an amber version to try in the "porch" light.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/miniature-wedge-base/194-led-bulb-18-smd-led-wedge-base-tower/397/

Hey Techntrek: Thanks for the reply. Have you installed a more accurate meter than the factory panel to keep track of your battery charge status? Seems like this would help keep better track of charge.