What began as three-day outing to big city for a doctor's visit got a little out of hand. At discharge, the good doctor decided he wanted us to hang around another few days, close to civilization, and revisit him the next week. To say we were unprepared for such a long call was a huge understatement.
We managed to pick up a few TV dinners, extra clothes, and medication at a handy Walmart, but we were NOT ready to handle our power requirements for the visit, camped out as we were in the hospital parking lot. In the middle of a retrofit, we are solar-panel-less, wind-turbine-less, and equipped with our propane generator, and too little a house battery compliment.
Well, we're truck camper people. We can adjust!
We soon learned that our pitiful battery converter/charger system makes a way better converter than it does a charger. And of course, you learn this when the generator has been off, you've accidentally left outside lights on, and now there's not enough power to crank the generator over. Happily, we have heavy battery charge cables between the truck and camper, and so in short order we were able to use the running truck engine to provide enough power to crank over the camper generator.
But how to overcome to half-amp charge current that's about useless for anything but 
maintaining a full battery? In the truck's back seat, aha! A battery charger. With the camper generator running, we ran a short extension cord from the camper outside power outlet to the battery charger, which due to short leads had to be perched on a folding chair, thence to the house battery. Of course, that rare but loving winter rain in the desert country then intervened, and flexibility was called for to protect the charger from water damage. A defunct air mattress strung out over the top of the chair provided a "roof" over the precious charger.
maintaining a full battery? In the truck's back seat, aha! A battery charger. With the camper generator running, we ran a short extension cord from the camper outside power outlet to the battery charger, which due to short leads had to be perched on a folding chair, thence to the house battery. Of course, that rare but loving winter rain in the desert country then intervened, and flexibility was called for to protect the charger from water damage. A defunct air mattress strung out over the top of the chair provided a "roof" over the precious charger. Flexibility. Yeah, it's pretty helpful. Now if the TV dinner folks could make their product taste like something other than cardboard!
photo: benimoto on flickr. com
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