I made it to South Florida.

SoulRaven · Nov 7, 2014

I made it to South Florida.

Left Wednesday at about 9:30am drove till 4am stopped south of St. Aug for 3 hours and got to Punta Gorda by noon via US17.

Getting acclimated to the heat 83 and humidity 50% for a 65-degree dew point, which would have taken out a desert rat.

How long per day do you think I can run netbook 1.2 amps DC that is also charging cell phone and myfi if I drive 20 miles per day to happy hour/beach/pool?

I have a real good 800 cranking amp battery but it’s old 5+ years old.

Reducto · Nov 7, 2014

Howdy! I'm on the panhandle myself, slowly headed for a job near Miami next week. I don't think I truly understood the concept of "muggy" until I entered the state.

Do you have a voltage meter? I'd say stop all charging if the battery gets down to 12v and you should be ok.

Seraphim · Nov 7, 2014

At fast idle, my truck's alternators charge at 8 amps. At slow idle, 5 amps. At a guess, 40 minutes of stop and go driving may recharge a car/house battery by 5 or 6 amps, if that was the question.

We've driven two hours and fully recharged our house batteries which were down by about 25 amps. Three or four hours of driving have fully charged them when down about 75 amps. Haven't done any detailed testing for charging when driving. Our truck also has two HD alternators providing power, both rated at 165 amps, I think. Perhaps one of them is 145. Not 100% sure. Your vehicle's alternator won't have that type of output, I don't believe.

Hope this helps in providing an estimate for you.

exitinn · Nov 7, 2014

You must be in Englewood ,or Matlacha .

LeeRevell · Nov 7, 2014

Sounds like it takes a LOT of gas expended to charge your house batteries via driving. A small genny makes more sense, if you are parked where it wouldn't bother anyone. From the 'four hour' example above, it would mean me driving from Tallahassee, Fl to Thomasville, Ga twice, to charge the two house batteries. Unless I was actually going somewhere, it just isn't economically viable.

compassrose · Nov 7, 2014

Mr.LooRead said:
... Getting acclimated to the heat 83 and humidity 50% for a 65-degree dew point...

I DREEEEAAAAMMMM of 50% humidity. 303 more days until we are no longer in NM. Ahh to have a slight perpetual salty sheen all the time. To shed clothing down to the essentials. To wear loose lightweight clothing becasue more is impossible. Going barefoot without David yelling at me "Put your shoes on before you catch pneumonia!" Happy days! Soon I will break out my sewing machine and start making the lightweight clothing that will suit the weather we will be running to.

Reminds me, I need to start looking for patterns. Good bye you cruel, cruel people. Complaining about all that loverly humidity while I itch in NM deserts! Buy a dehumidifier!