At 11:26 PM 10/11/2002, Laurence Smith wrote:
>See this link for more info that may help:
>http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/dcfaq4.htm

Lots of good stuff starting at the root of that site:
http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/

>BTW your RC number is impressive.  I use an Odyssey
>http://www.odysseyfactory.com/specs.htm PC1200 deep cycle in my Westy
>and it has a RC of 78.

The Optima is more similar to the Odyssey PC1700.

>  It will last for 5-6 days of camping with
>reckless use of lights etc, so I think your Optima would be much
>better.

One man's reckless is another man's frugal...we run lights for 2-3 days
using the starting battery.  Our movable 110vac 11-watt Compact Fluorescent
R40 reflector-flood light draws a bit over an amp via the inverter, and
including the effect of the reflector delivers light intensities similar to
about a 60-watt incandescent.  Our other cruising platform uses close to
four amps continuously for navigation and comm equipment, 2.5 to run a
modern laptop (five if its internal battery is charging), three for running
lights at night -- plus house lighting.  For that one we have 300 amp-hours
of deep-cycle battery capacity in two banks, and a $300 smart regulator to
manage charging; and we'd be better off in the long run with $$$ more for
monitoring gear.  On the Westy I have a 10-amp automatic charger
permanently wired in so that it operates whenever the van is plugged in; on
the boat there is no point since we're never alongside a pier with power
for more than a few minutes.  All charging is done with the 35-amp
alternator on the Atomic Four engine (and I'm holding my breath to see if
it will survive the charging regime that the regulator is asking of it --
so far it has).

david

--
David Beierl - Providence, RI
  http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"