You can tell quite a lot about the health of a battery using a simple multimeter .
For most travellers , this was sufficient , as most of us didn ’ t have anything more complex to run than a few lights and perhaps a small car fridge . Inverters were not hugely popular and solar charging was relatively expensive . We may have carried a generator but , for many of us , a fully charged 100Ah battery could last about a week before needing recharging . This method of managing our batteries , using nothing more than a basic voltmeter , was all that we needed .
THEN THINGS GOT COMPLICATED
About 20 years ago , RV manufacturers started doing something quite radical for the day . To differentiate their products from the competition , they started adding features that enabled us to bring the creature comforts of home along with us on our off-grid adventures .
Suddenly , you could have a toilet and a shower in your caravan . Camper trailers had pull-out kitchens with sinks and flowing water . Even washing machines were an option . This meant we needed to carry more water and the ability to pump to various points around the RV . The humble but often troublesome three-way fridge gave way to DC-powered compressor models that offered performance similar to the fridge we had at home .
Soon , we had affordable sine wave inverters that could power all sorts of electrical appliances . We could take our laptop computers and coffee machines away with us and use them virtually anywhere we camped . As good as this was , it placed more and more strain on our humble lead acid batteries . They simply didn ’ t last as long . Many owners just added additional batteries , but this just increased the need for effective off-grid charging .
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