Using just one 12V

[Festus2]

Having 2 batteries may not be necessary if you only dry camp once or perhaps twice a year. You didn't mention how long your stays are without power but you should be able to get 3-4 days in with one battery providing you are mindful of what you use and for how long.
I'd suggest that you look into replacing some or all of your incandescent interior lights with LED's. These will draw far less on your battery -- about 1/9 to 1/10 less - and your battery will last considerably longer with that saving.

[Travlntj]

Originally Posted by Andymon

Thanks for the reply. No, I do not have a generator although I have been doing so research on solar. Not saying a gen is out....
We just have a couple of really nice place that would be fun to be at and they are dry camping. We can be frugal on the electric.

We use a 95W solar panel permanently mounted on the roof and a 55W panel on a 30' cord that plugs into the side of the trailer. The battery is a Die Hard Platinum 31m. All lights have been converted to led's. In warm weather when no heat required, and given a few hours of sun, we can go indefinitely. Most mornings the battery will be around 90%or better and fully charged by evening. If very cloudy we'll limit pump use as suggested elsewhere. With this configuration the single battery seems adequate.

Tom

[BldrRob]

Thanks Festus2. We are typically out only about 3 days when we dry camp. I'll look at picking up some of the LED lamps when I get the new battery.

[suza]

We are happy with our two Trojan golf cart battery upgrade. Since making the switch, we have dry camped three times. The last time, at Timothy Lake, near Mt Hood, we dry camped three days and two nights and only used 1/3 of our battery with the following conservation measures:

1). Extended the jacks and slides while hooked to the PU with the engine running

2). Limited use of incandescent lights; we have installed LEDs in kitchen, bathroom and reading locations. We also have an LED lantern. We are "early to bed, early to rise" so were not inside much, after dark, except to read a bit and sleep.

3). Did not unnecessarily use the ceiling vent and stove fans; ran the water pump conservatively, including 2 "military" showers.

We were outside during most of the day and did not need to use the furnace at all. I estimate we could easily dry camp, under these conditions, for a week.

Before converting to the golf cart batteries, we could barely dry camp for this length of time.

[Jca3]

Where we live we don't have the option of power in the national forest campgrounds. We do a lot of dry camping and still have our 2 original batteries that came with the trailer. We read at night with lights and always use our pump. Our trouble is water storage issues not whether or not we run out of power. We live pretty much as at home, just without microwave and TV. We don't have a generator or solar power and haven't needed it.
In the days of only 1 battery we could do 3 days if we bought a new battery every 2 years, but these two have worked really well for us.

[suza]

Originally Posted by Jca3

Where we live we don't have the option of power in the national forest campgrounds. We do a lot of dry camping and still have our 2 original batteries that came with the trailer. We read at night with lights and always use our pump. Our trouble is water storage issues not whether or not we run out of power. We live pretty much as at home, just without microwave and TV. We don't have a generator or solar power and haven't needed it.
In the days of only 1 battery we could do 3 days if we bought a new battery every 2 years, but these two have worked really well for us.

I agree. With the standard battery set-up, 3 days seems to be the limit. I suppose the manufacturers figure that average campers will only dry camp for a weekend and thus provide the bare minimum. Anything over the average would require other measures, such as battery upgrades or a generator.