rbertalotto

My 15yo Grand-Son and I are leaving on a three week cross country epic trip. We have CB and GMRS/FRS radios in the truck. He wants to place a sign on the back of the trailer telling folks we are monitoring certain channels. Are there any channels that RVs use for this type of thing?

Thank You! Be safe!

Branson MO?

Not quite East Coast.....Been there a few times for business. Great town....A must see!

My wife and I simply need to get the heck out of the house. We want to hook up the travel trailer and head south from Massachusetts. No real destination. North and South Carolina, Georgia and Northern Florida are on the list.
 Any idea on the possibility of finding camping spots along the way. We don't want to be tied down to reservations.
 What is the situation with rest stop overnights. Are Cracker Barrel and Walmart still allowing overnighting?
 Anything else we should be concerned with?

 Thanks in advance!

"Leafs"......😁  Learned something new today.......Plural of Leaf is really "Leaves"........👍

I stayed in Q for a couple weeks two years ago. Loved it! The sky at night, the wildlife, ATV riding......Isolation...Just can't be beat! Will be going back this year for a few weeks.

Im so glad I jumped into this whole streaming thing years ago. I travel around the country from Jan to May and have never experienced not being able to stream video. Even on BLM land in the middle of nowhere.

AT&T TV with 150+/- channels @ $60mo,

T-Mobile hotspot in a Unite Explore, with unthrottled, unlimited for AT&T TV, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, etc $36.16mo,

AT&T Mobley Sim in a Unite Explore with unthrottled, unlimited for AT&T TV  $23.49

Verizon Grandfathered unlimited plan on phone $55mo

Total = $174.65

My AT&T and T-Mobile hotspots ALWAYS go way over the allotted, unthrottled data amounts and I've never seen throttling. Maybe I'm just lucky or all this throttle stuff is just boilerplating for the cell provider.

EASILY the best streaming deal on planet earth! For $23.49 a month, all in!!!

I go over 200Gb monthly with no issues. I have had the SIM in a Unite Explore for years. No issues.

I needed a utility trailer and what better time to build one that during isolation......Here is an article I published to my web page with lots of pictures. Hope you enjoy it.

http://rvbprecision.com/rv-projects/tent-trailer-to-utility-trailer-a-covid-project.html

Within the next 18 months to two years we will all be streaming TV from Elon Musk’s satellites. I recently returned a box full of cable TV boxes and I’m now steaming all video content. Comcast Cable internet at home and AT&T and TMobile hotspots on the road.could not be happier. Hated paying that huge cable bill every month.

wrote an article on my web page shout streaming video on the road

www.rvbprecision.com

This fellows web site and his forum are easily one of the best places for all things solar and LIFO batteries....you could learn a bunch visiting

Quote

The fact it was there made me to brave. 

Reminds me of the quote...."The difference between two wheel drive and four wheel drive....is four wheel drive gets you stuck in worse places!"

They make "Land Anchors" to use as winch attachment points if there is nothing else to attach to. Thery look an awful lot like a Danforth boat anchor. They work great except when you are on a hunting trip in Montana and the temperature has been zero for over a week. And you can't dig a hole to bury your land anchor! Don't ask me how I know!

The best winch for a large motor home might be the type that uses a hydraulic motor run off your power steering pump. Huge pulling power and can run as long as the engine is running. Electric winches use huge amounts of electric current that most alternators can't keep up with if you need to winch over a relatively long period of time. 

Serious off roaders will have dual alternators and multiple batteries just for winching. 

There are 120V winches but they are usually 2000 pound max.....There are chainsaw motor powered winches, but again, nothing that could retrive a 26,000# vehicle. 

Most winches are not using steel cable any longer. New Super Rope is lighter, stronger, smaller and won't spring back and cut you in half if it breaks......The only way to go now.

Hydraulics is the only way you would get that kind of weight unstuck......That's what the tow truck will have when you call him!

And WHY you ask is this a game changer?

I HIGHLY recommend this very inexpensive suitcase system. Amazed at the performance so far!

http://rvbprecision.com/rv-projects/adding-more-solar-to-existing-system-portable-panels.html

I just bought a new laptop and didn't want to pay a yearly fee for MS Office. This laptop has "Open Office 4.1.6"

It opens and manipulates all MS Office documents and has a VERY similar look to MS Office

So far it has been a great replacement for MS Office and no yearly fee

I spend three months a year in the Southwest. Boondocking 90% of the time. The rest of the year I’m at various gun clubs competing in cowboy action shooting. Rarely ever ne’er a big city.

i have NEVER been without streaming TV services. Never!

i wrote

http://rvbprecision.com/rv-projects/tv-in-a-rv-a-how-to.html

A couple good unlimited internet plans, a WeBoost cellular amplifier and sometimes a 16’ mast with a high gain antenna.......an app on your phone to show where cell towers are located.

its a little bit of work.....but a happy wife is a happy life

Tents....tent trailer.....a whole bunch of truck campers......all used as a means to an end. Never did any campground camping. RV was used to attend events....motorcycle, car racing, shooting..... few years ago I got involved with Cowboy Action Shooting. These are mostly weekend events all over the country. The truck camper was just about perfect. Towing a motorcycle trailer.

And then my wife decided she wanted to participate in the sport of CAS. She would not even enter the truck camper. No toilet, no shower, no bathtub.

 So I needed a trailer.....a toy hauler.....but not too big....with a tub.....the a Forest River 19rr was perfect!

 Lots of solar, a few other mods and it is a great experience. 
 

In five years I’ve put over 50,000 miles on it. It has gone to Phoenix from Massachusetts every year. Been down some trails it never should have.

went cross country to San Francisco and up to Oshkosh and down to Georgia.

I still love motorcycle tent camping and have done a few 11,000 mile trips....including the haul road in Alaska.

A month ago I bought a rooftop tent for my truck. Leave the trailer for a few days and a REALLY do some off road exploring.

See all the madness here.... www.rvbprecision.com

Are you suggesting that one 100w panel satisfies all your electrical needs? If so, good for you. You are indeed a minimalist. Not a bad place to be.

i didn’t  obtain “no hookup nivana” unltil I installed 420w and two 110Ah AGM batteries. And even then, on a series of cloudy days or if parked in a forest with too much shade, I need to start the Honda 2000 for a few hours.

we all have different “needs” and wants. My wife and I use a lot of internet while traveling and the TV is almost always on for new, sports and movies. 
 

If you don’t need any of this while traveling, you might be much better off.

thanks for a great post.

Quick question......Been watching a few videos on the RAM 1500 with 3.0 ECO DIESEL and Ford with the small POWER STROKE

Both of these trucks get 25-30 mpg when not towing

When towing 7000 pound trailer they get 11-13 MPG as witnessed by a number of testing videos on youtube

It seems to me these engines are blowing their brains out towing. Going up hills they are doing upwards of 3500 RPM

Huge difference in fuel consumption......

In comparison, My 2006 RAM 2500 with 5.9 Diesel would get 18mpg non-towing and 13mpg towing.....And my new RAM 2500 with 6.4L Hemi gas motors does 18mpg non-towing and 11 mpg towing (both towing same trailer @ 7000 pounds)

What say you.....Will these little diesels last with that type of use?

My Toy Hauler has two Duracell 110Ah AGM batteries. They are 5 years old and are never brought below 75%.

Using 420w of solar and/or the PD 4-stage on board charger/converter, I always bring them back to 100% by 3pm the next day. Some days I need to run the generator to accomplish this.

After 5 years, these batteries are still working fine.

Thank You! Scared me there for a minute!  Looks like I'm good to go with a three stage smart charger starting off at 20A.

At 75%, the charger has "looked" at the battery and is only delivering a max iAMP input of 11-12A for the bulk charge, it will then taper to absorption charge and then float.................that is what the owners manual states

https://servicenet.blackanddecker.com/documents/English/Instruction Manual/90104835,VEC1093DBD.pdf

Thank you!

Is 75% considered Really Low for an AGM battery?

I thought 50% was the lowest you should go?

Will charging it at 20A do it harm?

I built a portable generator (battery Box) for off road camping, using a 100Ah AGM battery. ( www.rvbprecision.com)

I recently bought a portable refrigerator and wanted to do some testing for an article on my web site. I took the battery down to 75% during one of these tests. Usually I'd use my portable solar panel to recharge the battery, but there has been no sun for days up here in New England

A few years ago, a whole bunch of us RVers were buying and using a Black And Decker "Smart" charger that was the "Cats A**" back then. It offers multiple stages of charge and you can set the bulk amp stage.

To bring the battery back up to 100% for the next phase of testing, I used this battery charger set at 40A. The battery was back up to 95% within 20 minutes! I then set it to 20A and brought it up to 100%....From there it went to trickle charge at 1A

My question is.......Is it bad to dump 40A into a battery at this state of discharge?

My understanding is you should only charge an AGM battery at 20% of capacity (in this case, 20 amps?)

Any comments would be appreciated.....

I replaced my MacBook Air yesterday with a PC lapotop......Love it and but over $1000 in the bank!