# Motorhome and alternative energy



## curioust (Apr 15, 2010)

Hello.
I am writing in behalf of a team that has an interesting school project about motorhomes and alternative energy. We decided to make a survey but motorhomes and caravans are not popular in our country so we figured to post it here because there are a lot of happy users.

The survey is located on the google web page because it was made with google documents.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dHRSLTVOcy1kTVdHRDhlc1I4b09Nanc6MQ

You can also send the link to other people, there is never to much information 

We thank you in advance for your collaboration.


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi Curioust

Welcome, and I hope we can help.

Please tell us a bit more about yourself, like where you come from and which school you attend, then we may be able to offer a better quality of information to help you.

The survey looks fine, but personal comments from individual motorhomers would make your study much more interesting.

Dave


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## curioust (Apr 15, 2010)

We are from Slovenia it's a small country in central Europe and this is why it's so difficult to make a decent survey on our population.

The project came up as a result of the debate on motorhomes/caravans,.. in relation to power needs. Some people just can't stay away from their laptops, mobile phones and are not aware of the alternative solutions. People that are aware of the solar and wind technology refuse to use it because they say that the prices are way to high and that they are not reliable.


You can also write here your responses or explanation.


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

I had a quick look at the survey but won't be completing it as the answers can be mistrued.

You don't define alternative. Many would consider a methane or LPG powered fuel cell "alternative", but I infer you are really talking about "renewable".

Power requirements are misleading. With lead-acid batteries and an inverter, the motorhomer's requirements are more accurately 24hr energy requirements. That's why a 50-80W fuel cell can be surprisingly effective. You can't use it to power space heating or cooling but you can do virtually everything else, including hair drier, microwave, lighting, laptops, TV/satellite, etc.

With solar and wind power, the limitation is not what one is prepared to pay for it, but rather such things as no reliable sun, no reliable wind (you really need to see the sea), noise and vibration transmission, aesthetics, the efficiency limitations of the the technologies, etc.

Regards,

Dave


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## curioust (Apr 15, 2010)

You are correct i am talking about renewable energy.

I don't know how to make a good sentence about power requirements. I am really looking for the power requirements of a device to function. This information doesn't need to be that accurate, if you could only write the power that a device needs and sum it up.
For example: 
cell phone charger: 5W
laptop charger: 90W
90+5 = 95W, you select 100W option in the survey.


Do you think that it would be better to write a list of the devices so everyone could chose from it?


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

The easiest way is for people to select the devices they want to power and for you offline to estimate for how long, thus calculating energy requirements as well as instantaneous power.

My point was a simple one best explained by means of an example. I can happily power perfectly adequately a 1000W hairdrier and/or microwave from a 50W energy source. But that energy source needs to be reliable, constant and silent 

Dave


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## Boff (May 10, 2005)

Hi,

I think your approach is a little too simplistic because you do not consider several things:

Practically all modern motorhomes have, besides the engine starter battery, a separate "leisure battery" dedicated to power electrical devices while the engine is not running. This leisure battery will be charged parallel to the engine battery from the alternator while the engine is running.

This leisure battery usually has sufficient capacity to camp for at least one to two nights, during summer season or with conservative power use even longer, without the need for any external power source.

Power inverters and/or dedicated 12v power supplies make it possible to recharge and/or run practically all the technical "gadgets" (mobile phones, laptops, portable DVD players, TVs, digital cameras etc.) a modern camper might carry around, from the leisure battery. Or, while driving, from the vehicle's alternator.

The actual power consumption can vary a lot.

Take me as an example: Although when on tour with our motorhome we spend most of our nights away from camp sites with electric hookup points, we simply *do not need* any external power supply, be it alternative or not. Our leisure battery easily gives us sufficient electrical power for 1 to 2 nights, even with (moderate) use of a laptop. Even in winter when the propane heating system (which also needs electricity for the fans and the electronic control board) runs almost permanently and we have lights on for considerable time. And if we intend to stay longer, then we go to a camp site (or dedicated motorhome site) with electric hookup.

Best Regards,
Gerhard


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## Losos (Oct 28, 2009)

Hello curioust
*First* welcome to MHFacts  
*Second*, may I comment on your excellant English I assume it's *not* your mother tongue and IMO it's better than many English natives can speak (or write for that matter)
*Third*, I have to go now but will try to return this evening to complete your questionaire, *so look in tommorrow*.
*Finally, *talking about power requirements and renewable energy is a subject which seems easy to begin with but gets harder and harder the more one gets into it. I think that is what Dave is basically saying e.g. one could have a petrol generator supplying all ones neeeds when camped on beautiful lakeside but the noise polution means not many people go for that. Likewise a fuel cell is a technically perfect solution but the cost is prohibitive.

Anyway, I'll do my best to *complete your survey tonight.*


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## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

I completed the survey but it was not accepted because I did not complete the "How much power do you need" question. I could not complete that question because it is badly phrased if you are applying it to motorhomes. We would measure the quantity of energy we use by averaging the number of amps we use in 24 hours.

Since that seems the most important question of all for you to understand what we require I am not going to tick a box which I am not sure gives an answer which will allow you to interpret the results correctly. I would be quite happy to complete the questionnaire again if you want to change that question. If you do not the power requirement results you get will be meaningless since answers could vary between a the highest and lowest in your range. A small part of a watt will run the fridge ignition and my wife's hairdryer is 1200 watts, which box should I tick? I can tell you we use around 65 amps hours per day, a little less in summer and a little more in winter due to greater heating and lighting requirements. All our lights are LED's and so are very efficient, although like all these technologies, expensive.

Please do not think I am being critical, I am trying to help, Alan.


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## curioust (Apr 15, 2010)

Thank you a lot for your replies.


Boff, thank you for the explanation, i wasn't aware of the leisure battery.

I edited the power question, it is not required any more so you can leave it unanswered.


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