wrote:
On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 02:51:46 GMT, Rich256 wrote:

Many of the RVs have fluorescents or LEDs. LEDs are kind of directional
and expensive.

For power in mine I have a pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries (About
$50 each at SAMS) hooked in series. Gives over 200 ampere hours. For
long battery life I try to limit to 100 ampere hours or less between
charging.


Then I have a small Honda generator to keep it charged. Can also run
some 110 volt stuff off the generator when desired.

Light fixtures:
http://tinyurl.com/yagrug

Try WalMart and RV stores.


I was thinking about taking a lawnmower engine w/horiz shaft and
rigging it to a GM alternator with built in regulator. Seems to me
that would be the cheapest way to charge batteries since the ting
could be built from junkyard parts, and requires less gas to run a
small engine than a car or truck. Has anyone ever tried this? As far
as I can see, there is no wiring othert than the ground to the
alternator shell and the hot lead to the battery. The rest would just
be the alternator, engine, and 2 pulleys and a belt. Possibly a belt
tightening clutch too, like on a clother dryer, or ir might be hard to
start the engine.

Mark

Should work - OK as long as you don't have neighbors:-). Trying to
charge by running a car or truck engine is a losing proposition. It
takes hours to fully recharge a deeply discharged battery.

The problem I see is that the alternator is made to charge car
batteries that normally do not get discharged deeply. For long life
Deep Discharge batteries need special care.


http://www.batteryfaq.org