Can I boondock for a night?

[Vladimir]

6 hours ago, trailertraveler said:

If you will need to run the RV's furnace at night, in my experience, that is by far the greatest draw on the 12 volt system. In addition to the other suggestions, I would run the generator to top off the battery before quiet hours if any begin. Run it again in the morning if you need power before starting the engine to move on.

The furnace on my 5th wheel is pretty much worthless.  Noisy, and really takes a long time to heat up the trailer.  Couple that with the draw on the batteries and it is a no brainer.

I use a Heater Buddy, when boondocking and sometimes when it get really cold even when hooked up to shore power.

I always crack a window at night....and have TWO battery powered CO detectors with digital readout in the trailer.  Too much stuff that using propane in a trailer to take a chance on just ONE CO detectors or not cracking a window.

[amarie1]

Ok! Thanks. 

[Kirk W]

58 minutes ago, Barbaraok said:

Yes, you can get snow after Labor Day in the Rockies.

In the 18 years that we lived in Cheyenne, WY there was only 2 times that we didn't see the first snow by my birthday, Sept. 18. In addition, the only month that Cheyenne never had any snow was August, with July only 1 time and that negligible but even though Cheyenne and Yellowstone are in opposite corners of WY there are strong parallels in weather. While it isn't likely to last more than a day or two, you could very easily see snow in Yellowstone while there and you may also need the furnace for heat. But with an onboard generator system, do not be afraid to use it when you wish as most motorhome generators are under used. I have run one very similar to yours for as long as 4 days without shutting it off. 

An RV furnace does tend to be a bit on the noisy side because they use a 12V blower what has to operate at a high speed in order to develop enough power to distribute the heat. In our 36' motorhome we had two furnaces, because of the length, but yours 30' class C should be warmed amply by the furnace that you have. Assuming that you have the Freedom Elite, you have a  30k BTU furnace and that should serve you just fine. Unless the temperatures fall well below freezing, your battery should be able to run the furnace all night, if fully charged and worst case scenario you can always use the generator. 

[JimK]

I am not sure I even know where to begin so I will just run down a list in random order:

1.  You might want to consider replacing your CPAP.  Almost all the major Phillips/Respironics CPAPs are available in 12 volt models which typically use much less power and you will not need to run an inverter that also wastes power.  If you plan on doing much boondocking the price of new CPAP can be worth it.  Hopefully yours is old enough to warrant a replacement through your medical coverage.  If you do replace the unit be sure you check the specs yourself.  Few providers have a hint as to what works for RV travel.  They tried to give me a 110 v unit with an inverter and I had to sent the first unit back.

2.  If I understand the specs the RockPals was a mistake.  The 300W unit provides 280 watt hours of power; i.e., 23 AH.  I am not sure that is even enough juice to power a 12 v CPAP for one night's use.  Recharging is also an issue because it takes over 4 hours.  You certainly don't want to run a generator for that time period.

3.  If you want to boondock, you will want to start with a decent battery bank.  You need to look at your power needs such as CPAP, electronics, and the ability to run a furnace at least down to moderately cool ambient temps.  Depending on your usage you will probably want a minimum of 2 batteries so that you can last for at least a couple of days of normal use.  You will need at least 1 battery in the 70-100 AH range to power the CPAP for a couple of nights.  

4.  Regardless of the battery bank, you really, really need to think about solar if you are going to boondock regularly.  You can get by with a pair of portable units but that is a major nuisance and they occupy a lot of valuable  space.  Roof mounted units are out of the way and the units are now quite inexpensive so you can overdue it and charge quickly even on relatively cloudy days.

[bigjim]

I had about 3 inches of snow on my trailer I think about 2 weeks ago just about 20miles from downtown Albuquerque. Buuuut I am at about 7K feet of elevation in the mountains east of albq.  You need to be prepared for anything but that much snow even here is unusual this time of year. It wasn't too bad as it only lasted a  day or so.  Your biggest worry is making sure nothing important freezes up.  For  a short time it is not likely to cause an issue. Most modern RV's have Pex piping which is pretty forgiving. You can sleep warm in the cold with proper bedding long johns or what ever for the nights. Your Cpap may be the biggest problem but it sounds like most advice you are getting about that seems to be solving that issue.   Like some one said if you add a battery of a different age it is not ideal but still can help if it is easily doable.  I got one 12 volt 3months old and 2 6 volts free and wired them up and did fine for almost 5 years I have done it successfully.  If i only got 3-4year out of them and enjoyed myself I consider it a success. I actaully got over 5 years but every situation is different.  I have even run mine down to 40% a few times and enjoyed my stay and saved quite a bit by boondocking  at the cost of getting less time out of the batteries. Your Choice on that. Mostly I would rule the heater out  at night or keep it on almost  the lowest setting just to prevent freeze ups.  I don't know where you are now but you could un-hook from electric and water and maybe sewer if you have it for a night or two to experiment and learn.

I had not noticed but it looks like you had minimal information about your rig on the forum although the more information you furnished the better it is to give you information.

Make sure you turn your hot water heater off electric when boondocking. Even though I knew better I forgot  when I was on a solar volunteer site with a big battery array and got shut down for  several days. It had a safety shut down that kept me from killing the batteries  but it took several days for them to get back to where they should be with the solar panels on the site. That meant I was really boondocking for almost a week. I usually only light the hot water heater every other day for bathing. I got about 2 weeks out of a 30lb propane tank for mostly the rerfrigertor t that time.

Edited September 20, 2020 by bigjim

[amarie1]

Thanks all. 

I'm only boondocking one night on my road trip home. I'll decide that morning, depending on the weather. I have a couple other backup places nearby. I do want to be able to boondock longer on subsequent trips and know that I'd need to upgrade the battery set up and add solar. But on this trip, the beauty of that spot as described sounds hard to resist.

After researching various portable generators I settled on the Rockpals. Here's a pretty thorough review:

https://rockchucksummit.com/rockpals-portable-power-offgrid-lithium-ion-generator/

@JimK: I tested the CPAP by plugging it in (110) to the RockPals at home and it did fine overnight. I didn't use its humidifier, which uses a lot of energy. (Yes I'll be looking for another CPAP that runs on DC.) 

@bigjim: Thanks for all that advice. Not sure how to "turn the hot water heater off electric" ... but I just won't turn it on, in the first place.

@Kirk W: Happy belated birthday!

AM

 

[Kirk W]

10 minutes ago, amarie1 said:

After researching various portable generators I settled on the Rockpals.

Your coach doesn't have one? Really handy but not very practical to add later. (Thanks for the bday 🙃)

[JimK]

I am a little confused about calling the RockPals a "generator'.  It is a battery pack and inverter.  It generators no power but can be charged by solar, car charger, or a 110 power supply.

[amarie1]

Kirk, I have an onboard Onan 4000.

JimK, I empathize with your confusion. The terms are loosey-goosey. In looking at reviews of them I see them most often referred to as "solar generators" but also as "portable power stations." I think the latter is more accurate, but the fact that they can be charged by solar is new, I take it, so thus the new term.

https://www.rvweb.net/best-solar-generators-for-rv-reviewed/

Edited September 20, 2020 by amarie1

[Kirk W]

8 minutes ago, amarie1 said:

I have an onboard Onan 4000.

That is what I thought. It means that as long as you keep our fuel tank nearly full when you stop for the night, you can use it anything you need to. The majority of them do not get enough use.

[amarie1]

Hey Kirk, I loved Cheyenne. Well at least, the KOA there ... they were great. I made it a point to stay there again on my way back. They even have a western-themed miniature golf course!  

Next time through I want to hang out a few days and explore.

[Kirk W]

That KOA was built after we moved to TX but we have stayed there. I think that it is probably the newest park there. We have also stayed at AB Camping and at the Terry Ranch but would not return to Terry Ranch unless it has been seriously upgraded. It would also be out of your way to stop at either of those two. 

Cheyenne has a lot to see and do, if you ever have the time to spend there. They have really rejuvenated the downtown area. 

[Lou Schneider]

Most motorhomes have the generator wired to the house battery so repeated starts and stops while boondocking doesn't wear down the main starting battery.

If the house battery is low, it may not have enough oomph to start the generator.  If this happens, you can push the Boost switch to connect the house and starting batteries together to get enough power.  Or start the main engine first so the alternator can supply the power, start the generator and then turn off the main engine.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Lou Schneider

[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, Lou Schneider said:

Or start the main engine first so the alternator can supply the power, start the generator and then turn off the main engine.

That is what I always did. And if the chassis battery needed the boost, I would start the generator first, then use the boost switch to start the chassis engine. 

[Pgh18Gen5]

Walmart everstart marine 24ms is 135 amp hrs so can get 65 amp out by 12.2 volts 50% to stay above for battery life, and is only about $80.  I run 2, one at a time and swap since they are different ages.  Either runs my furnace blower at 3.5 amps all night plus minor draw for parasitic controls including frig and wayer heater throughoit unit since furnace runs maybe 50% of time.  Its nice to have a backup battery to save a generator start in a crunch.

[mptjelgin]

1 hour ago, Pgh18Gen5 said:

Walmart everstart marine 24ms is 135 amp hrs so can get 65 amp out by 12.2 volts 50% to stay above for battery life, and is only about $80.  

I don't think that there is a Group 24 battery that has a 135 amp-hour rating. Not even the premium batteries like Trojan are rated that high. 

The Walmart Everstart Marine battery is made by Exide, and they rate their group 24 dual-purpose marine batteries at  70 (flooded) and 75 (AGM) amp-hours.  Their deep-cycle Group 24 battery is rated at 80 amp-hours.