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The ambient temperature has a major effect on the ability to cool down that compartment, my thought is you'll have to pull cooled air from the interior of the coach in order to cool down the electronics involved or another source of charging the car. Actually your inverters are doing a great job at those temperatures and that current draw. It is what it is.
1999 45' #504 "Magnolia"
Gravette, Arkansas
1996 40 XL Prevost Marathon
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Posts: 1,268
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That is outstanding you did a great job Glenn. Out of curiosity can you tow a electric car or are you just going to use the coaches system to save money on charging?
1999 45' #504 "Magnolia"
Gravette, Arkansas
1996 40 XL Prevost Marathon
(This post was last modified: 09-05-2023, 03:26 AM by
Jack Houpe.)
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(09-05-2023, 03:25 AM)Jack Houpe Wrote: That is outstanding you did a great job Glenn. Out of curiosity can you tow a electric car or are you just going to use the coaches system to save money on charging?
From what I understand, you cannot tow electric cars with any of the drive wheels on the ground (maybe not even then). Since I have a 4wd Ionic 5 I can only put it on a trailer (which I have).
I am using my electric car to max load the electrical systems for now.
Most times I will be using my electric bikes or my electric tricycles and not even bring a car. The bikes will fit in a bay across from the inverters, but the tricycles need a trailer unless I fab something up for them to hang on the back of the coach.
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For New Years we were able to travel to the Glamis Dunes this year and were able to actually try out the electrical science project. Everything worked well.
We went for a 5 day trip and we did not have to fire up the generator at all! The 1600W of solar panels that were mounted flat on the roof did not quite provide our daily consumption, so we were loosing approximately 10% charge per day (started at 97%, ended at 45%).
We had the heater on (diesel) for most nights as it was cold so the fans were working regularly. One day my wife turned on the electrical water heater, and it took about 10% battery capacity to heat up the tank. I did not check the amperage, but nothing was alarmed on the system.
Before the trip, I purchased an additional 800W of panels as they were on sale for black Friday, so I will be able to cut down on my consumption loss per day if we want to go on longer no a/c trips. That is next on the upgrade list. The roof mounted combiner box will be able to accept the additional panels and will be maxed out then.
Happy New Year
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Outstanding Glen!
1999 45' #504 "Magnolia"
Gravette, Arkansas
1996 40 XL Prevost Marathon