[VACList] Solar drain

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Alan, 

It was good to meet you at the Sarasota Rally and put a face with a name.
I'm sure we'll connect again one of these days.

To answer your question, we do not watch TV news on a 12 volt TV when we are
NOT connected to a utility pole.

We do watch TV news on a 110 volt TV when we are NOT connected to a utility
pole. 

Say what? ........ I plug the 110 volt TV into one of my inverters.

Solar drain? The two deep cycle marine batteries in our '89 32' Airstream
are more than sufficient for several hours of TV after supper, plus a couple
hours in the morning before dawn.

In addition to TV, I use the inverter to run my Mac laptop, printer and cell
phone charger (daily).  It's also used when I recharge our three Makita
batteries (weekly), both PDAs (monthly), Sandie's electric toothbrush
(daily),  the vacuum cleaner (every other day) and the satellite receiver or
VCR (whenever we're so inclined).

After dark, we now use our 12 volt fluorescent lights indiscriminately
without concern about draining the batteries. If I knew twenty years ago
what I know now, I'd have covered our Airstream's roof with solar panels
back then, instead of spending all those years with three 36 watt panels.

By noon on most days, our four 75 watt panels have fully recharged our
batteries and we're "good to go" for another day.

Granted, on rainy days we don't run the bread maker which uses a lot of
power for two and a half hours. Instead, we bake bread on sunny days after
lunch.  In that way, excess power to the panels is put to good use and we
still go into the evening hours with two fully charged batteries.

Alan, keep in mind that our particular lifestyle (with an Airstream) is a
hobby for us. It's not camping as we used to do it.  When we tented our way
around the continent, life was far simpler (no kids). Likewise, when we had
tent trailers, we enjoyed a more detailed style of traveling (with kids).

Four years ago, our '67 Safari (with 2 solar panels) evolved from being a 10
year restoration project into a cross country traveling vehicle each Summer.
As of April 2003, it has begun to evolve into more of an investment (money
pit) than a traveling vehicle.  After this year's International, we may
offer this fully functional Airstream (mirror shined exterior, refurbished
interior) to a Hollywood movie star for a fantastic sum of money (fat
chance). 

With the '63 Flying Cloud (when I finish restoring it), I suspect our
lifestyle will be similar to that experienced by Wally Byam. This afternoon,
when I went inside the Flying Cloud, it was like stepping back in time.

Bottom line, with our '89 32' Airstream, the name of the game is still the
same: to live it up and enjoy all the hues and variations of this lifestyle,
plus -- no concerns about solar drain.

More answer than you asked for - I hear you.  <grin> That's the way it goes,

Terry

mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net