B190 Enthusiasts

On a '90 B, which of the under hood battery's is the house battery, I suspect it is the drivers side one on mine, probably answered my own question, it is a Interstate dual purpose, marine/Rv,HD24-dp, looks like it is 3 years old. The other battery is a Napa Legend premium, a little over a year old. Being new to this RV thing, I have been reading a lot and trying to determine which way I want to go w/my power needs. I do not have a generator, was one at one time but not now. I have the 2 batteries under the hood. I read about solar, from the suitcase style, 100 watt portable units, running 3/$400.00 to the roof mounted units, running into the thousands. I could spend $2,500.00 for a new Onan and have it fit in the box were it belongs or I could spend $800.00 for say a Champion Power Equipment 75537i , 3100 watt RV ready inverter generator w/remote start that will power the ac and Micro, at the same time easily, according to owner reviews and use the generator area for storage./ Don't mind carrying the generator. From what I read I should change the single stage inverter for a modern 3 stage, some on the forum have done this and it doesn't seem to hard. adding another coach battery sounds like a good mod also. I spend a lot of time on a motorcycle in the summer, I know at 66 my time is limited and I think I would really like incorporating the B w/the bike and towing it to different places and then riding. Knowing me I would enjoy primitive camping/ off the grid and hooking up the what a camp ground has to offer but definitely want to be equipped for the off the grid thing. Talked to the S.O. last night about taking a week or so getaway in December and traveling from Wi, south till I hit 65 degree weather, unloading the bike and riding for a couple of days, our first adventure! Your thoughts are appreciated.

Choptop,

House battery :
On my 1993 B190 the engine battery is a group size BCI-65 and it is mounted on the driver’s side. The house battery is a group size BCI-50 (long and skinny) and is mounted on the passenger side of the engine compartment.

Generator Versus Solar :
When we first bought our B190, it did not have a generator and I had the same decision to make. We went the solar route. Mainly I didn't want the noise and maintenance of the generator.

Here is a link to my thread on our solar install. You got me to thinking about our four years of using the solar on our B190 so I updated the below thread with my present thoughts. Also, if you search the forums, I believe a couple other members have threads on their solar installs.
http://b190.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1316

Based on my experience and research for operating the B190 off grid...
If you need to run the roof top air conditioner, it is cheaper to go the generator route. If you can get by without the roof top AC, then there is a way to do everything else that you will need to do via the existing B190 propane and adding solar for less money than the Onan generator.

Regards, Kentuckian

Thank you. I was looking at this yesterday:Peppermint Energy Forty2 Pro+ All-In-One Portable Solar Power Generator with Built-In Solar Panels and 1000Wh Lithium Ion Battery for Off-Grid Camping, RV, Home Use or Emergency Backup Power, it is not cheap @$2,400. but is versatile in the fact that a person, you for example , could park under a tree and mount the solar panel in the sun and have the best of both worlds. I still like the idea of a generator, whether it be a direct replacement for the Onan or an after market rv unit. Time will tell

Your right... the Forty2 is not cheap. <smile> At one time I considered adding a plugin on the side of the Camper to tether a solar panel that could be set out in the sun. But I know it would stress me out worrying that it would walk off in the middle of the night! lol!

If you get serious about putting together a solar system, the best advice that I have run across on the internet can be found here...

https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/

This guys knows what he is talking about.

Hey you guys are talking what im thinking lol.
Mine had a 100w solar panel on it from a previous owner. And a deep cycle marine battery under the bed it would run everything about three days including the furnace. It stated to fail so I replaced it with two Trojan T-105'' 6v golf cart batteries I've gone four days so far with the batteries staying above 12v.
My generator started acting up a few months ago it only runs with the start switch held down im hopping it's just a falling oil pressure switch. If not im pondering the idea of four T105's in the generator bay on a slide rack same as used in semi tractors. I've seen evaporation units that replace the roof vent or larger ones for the AC unit replacement.
The champion 3100 is a nice unit my friend bought one a year ago and loves it but its a little big for transport inside the b190.

If you go totally battery with a couple of solar panels all you would need is a small generator/inverter for recharge even 1000w would be enough.
Look at the genarac 2000i good reviews and with the parallel kit you can run two for the price of one honda at 52db.

Just my two cents lol.

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O and Choptop if your thinking about lithium ion make sure you read the dangers of how volatile they can be I've got a few small ones for running my RC aircraft they are temperamental if it ever catches fire and they can just charging you can submerge the things in water and they will still burn. Just so you know.

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190-b-651 wrote:O and Choptop if your thinking about lithium ion make sure you read the dangers of how volatile they can be I've got a few small ones for running my RC aircraft they are temperamental if it ever catches fire and they can just charging you can submerge the things in water and they will still burn. Just so you know.

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True dat on the lithium ions, I charge mine in the sink just in case...

190-b-651 wrote:Hey you guys are talking what im thinking lol.
Mine had a 100w solar panel on it from a previous owner. And a deep cycle marine battery under the bed it would run everything about three days including the furnace. It stated to fail so I replaced it with two Trojan T-105'' 6v golf cart batteries I've gone four days so far with the batteries staying above 12v.
My generator started acting up a few months ago it only runs with the start switch held down im hopping it's just a falling oil pressure switch. If not im pondering the idea of four T105's in the generator bay on a slide rack same as used in semi tractors. I've seen evaporation units that replace the roof vent or larger ones for the AC unit replacement.
The champion 3100 is a nice unit my friend bought one a year ago and loves it but its a little big for transport inside the b190.

If you go totally battery with a couple of solar panels all you would need is a small generator/inverter for recharge even 1000w would be enough.
Look at the genarac 2000i good reviews and with the parallel kit you can run two for the price of one honda at 52db.

Just my two cents lol.

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I have read that you get more power for less money?, out of the Golf cart batteries...

Kentuckian wrote:Your right... the Forty2 is not cheap. <smile> At one time I considered adding a plugin on the side of the Camper to tether a solar panel that could be set out in the sun. But I know it would stress me out worrying that it would walk off in the middle of the night! lol!

If you get serious about putting together a solar system, the best advice that I have run across on the internet can be found here...

https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/

This guys knows what he is talking about.

About the time I would tether the barkless, guard dog to the solar unit. Saved the link, thanks !

Yes you do its about triple of a standard deep cycle. Golf cart batteries are a true deep cycle where most marine type are kind of a cross over because they need to be able to start the engine and run a trolling motor. Where a golf cart battery will never see a starter motor. Find yourself a old ammo can to charge the lithium batteries in works great and if you do have one catch fire its portable.

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As for which battery is which: On my '91, the coach battery was driver's side, the engine battery was passenger side. I think they switched when the newer body style came along in '92.

Easy way to find out: Disconnect it and see if the van starts.

I just replaced the batteries in our trailer with Lifelines, because I've heard a lot of good things about them. For the group 27 batteries our trailer used, I was able to replace three Optima blue tops with 2 Lifelines and have slightly more capacity (66 amp-hours * 3 = 198 versus 100 amp-hours*2 = 200 for the Lifelines). The Lifeline battery was more expensive, but the fact that I only needed two, instead of three, meant it was still less money overall.

Skater on my 93 its the same a group 65 on the driver side and a group 50 for the house battery on the passenger side. Even though it's not hooked into the coach as a house battery any longer it still available for a jump start if necessary lol.

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190-b-651 wrote:Skater on my 93 its the same a group 65 on the driver side and a group 50 for the house battery on the passenger side.

Yeah, that's reversed from my '91, or I misspoke earlier - in mine, the coach/house battery was definitely driver's side.

Lol no it was me missed that one I've been wrong before just ask my wife she would be happy to tell you all about it...

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190-b-651 wrote:Lol no it was me missed that one I've been wrong before just ask my wife she would be happy to tell you all about it...

Oh, I know that feeling!