My boondocking electric plan

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Old_Stevenick

The only time we’ll be using shore power is to run the fridge in our driveway a day before going camping. All boondocking for us.

I will look into replacing that converter anyway. However strange that it can’t at least keep up with the 9watt hours that the refrigerator and detectors are drawing.

Are you sure that that's the only draw? Do you know what level of the charge the battery has after being connected to shore power?

[Old_Stevenick]

Heading out now, to be continued. I’ll keep my eyes on it.

[LHaven]

Originally Posted by Old_Stevenick

I thought it would draw from the AC when plugged in.

So the Bullet's convertor is probably not lithium compatible.

Will it damage the battery as some articles say?

The fridge uses DC, which comes from the battery. If shore power is plugged in, the converter "instantly" keeps the battery up to charge, so in effect the AC is powering the fridge, but one step removed. Additionally, if you have no battery in the circuit at all (e.g., removed), the DC charging power from the converter is typically enough to run the fridge, lights, etc. all by itself without a battery (but not the slide, jacks, or big DC power hogs).

If the battery is sinking when you're on shore power, something weird is definitely going on. I'd take the time to determine whether your brand and model of converter is compatible with lithium batteries.

[Old_Stevenick]

I'm ba-ack.

Just dry camped for 5 nights.

I charged the battery after 4 days, could have gotten 4 ½ but it would have run out in the middle of the night.

Great news, hoping for 3 days, worried I'd only get 2 and got over 4.

A reminder of what I have and what I use.

100 ah Ampere Time LifePO4 battery
Ran a propane fridge that draws about 9 watts of DC.
Used the lights, not a lot, but when needed.
Used the water pump when needed.
Electric awning in-out.
Used hot water only for a couple of hours to wash dishes.
Ran a small fan over the bed one night, it was hot out!

I'm buying a 2nd battery, will then be able to dry camp for over a week without charging the batteries.

[Old_Stevenick]

2nd battery coming Tuesday. Here's how I will wire them, please tell me if I'm doing something wrong!

Battery 1 on Tongue
Victron ShartShunt on Tongue in box
Battery 2 in compartment
Charger in compartment

The batteries are wired in parallel, so 8AWG cables connecting both their terminals.
The negative from the compartment battery goes to the shunt input, and then to the camper, and the charger.
The positive from the tongue battery feeds the camper and goes to the charger.

Yes 8AWG might be a little low, but based on the short cable length and low draw and maximum charging amperage I think they're OK.

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by Old_Stevenick

I'm ba-ack.

Just dry camped for 5 nights.

I charged the battery after 4 days, could have gotten 4 ½ but it would have run out in the middle of the night.

Great news, hoping for 3 days, worried I'd only get 2 and got over 4.

A reminder of what I have and what I use.

100 ah Ampere Time LifePO4 battery
Ran a propane fridge that draws about 9 watts of DC.
Used the lights, not a lot, but when needed.
Used the water pump when needed.
Electric awning in-out.
Used hot water only for a couple of hours to wash dishes.
Ran a small fan over the bed one night, it was hot out!

I'm buying a 2nd battery, will then be able to dry camp for over a week without charging the batteries.

I don’t know how you do it …I’d stick with a popup camper or tent if I was going to camp in such primitive conditions. I have a fifth wheel with all the bells and whistles because I want to use all the bells and whistles.
I can’t imagine limiting how much water I use for showers,washing my hands or flushing the toilet.
And to live in the dark to eek out one more day is what I would do if it was the end of civilization and I was trying to survive lol
It’s just my opinion so don’t think I’m trying to insult you.

It’s like buying a Cadillac Escalade and pulling it with a horse and just turning the radio on to get the news every evening.

I’d have a generator to back up the batteries/solar and a water bladder in the bed of my truck to refill the fresh water and a blue tote to empty waste if I was dry camping.

I’d be camping ALONE if i just relied on the batteries because my wife would be in a hotel somewhere without me lol

[Old_Stevenick]

No insult taken. Different strokes for different folks. I have most of the things on your list at the end, except a blue tote.

We're in State Parks mostly. We're camping, on the continuum some of our friends look at what we have the way we'd look at what you have! My wife's sister for example. My wife is not pushing for more, thank god.

We've done it in a pop up for years, so this is a huge upgrade for us.

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by jasin1

I don’t know how you do it …I’d stick with a popup camper or tent if I was going to camp in such primitive conditions. I have a fifth wheel with all the bells and whistles because I want to use all the bells and whistles.
I can’t imagine limiting how much water I use for showers,washing my hands or flushing the toilet.
And to live in the dark to eek out one more day is what I would do if it was the end of civilization and I was trying to survive lol
It’s just my opinion so don’t think I’m trying to insult you.

It’s like buying a Cadillac Escalade and pulling it with a horse and just turning the radio on to get the news every evening.

I’d have a generator to back up the batteries/solar and a water bladder in the bed of my truck to refill the fresh water and a blue tote to empty waste if I was dry camping.

I’d be camping ALONE if i just relied on the batteries because my wife would be in a hotel somewhere without me lol

Back in the 90’s I installed a propane tank for a home in a 1950s suburban planned development with cul de sacs and tidy yards.
The people had no electric running to the house anymore ( not sure if it was the utilities idea or the owners lol)…had a bank of batteries in a utility room and 12 volt lights in the kitchen…they were reluctant to turn on the lights while I worked because they were saving the batteries for nighttime.
The lady was thrilled that I was hooking up her new stove so she could FINALLY cook a proper dinner. The kids that lived there did not look happy to me

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by Old_Stevenick

No insult taken. Different strokes for different folks. I have most of the things on your list at the end, except a blue tote.

We're in State Parks mostly. We're camping, on the continuum some of our friends look at what we have the way we'd look at what you have! My wife's sister for example. My wife is not pushing for more, thank god.

We've done it in a pop up for years, so this is a huge upgrade for us.

Yes different strokes…my daughter and fiancé just got back from Idaho last night after a week of tent camping..that’s there preferred way to travel.. backpacking with no ac doesn’t bother them in the least

And yes as long as you and your family are happy then you have it figured out

[Old_Stevenick]

7 full days of dry camping without having to charge. We're using about 25 amp hours per day and ran 184 amp hours out of the two 100 amp hour lithiums wired in parallel.

We also made it through on the black and grey water tanks. Took showers in campground showers, captured a lot of the dishwashing water and dumped it outside.

I had to add 20 gallons of freshwater to the tank, which I did by filling 4 X 5 gallon collapsable water jugs from the campsite spigot, and using a small electric pump to pump it into the camper.

[GilaElkHunter]

[QUOTE=Old_Stevenick;447394]

In our pop-up with a standard Lead Acid 500 amp hour battery we could get through 5-7 days, but all we used were the lights and charging our phones pretty much.



Do you remember what that battery was? I'd like to get a COUPLE 500 amp hour lead acid batteries.

[Old_Stevenick]

Our pop-up was fine too, but the difference is the propane fridge on the hybrid draws a decent amount of 12V power just to run the control board.

I doubt you had a 500 ah battery, more likely 50.

The batteries I have are the Ampere Time 100 amp hour LifePo4 batteries at about $500 each.

[JRTJH]

[QUOTE=GilaElkHunter;459617]

Originally Posted by Old_Stevenick

In our pop-up with a standard Lead Acid 500 amp hour battery we could get through 5-7 days, but all we used were the lights and charging our phones pretty much.



Do you remember what that battery was? I'd like to get a COUPLE 500 amp hour lead acid batteries.

Battery ??? In our Coleman tent camper (the dinosaur of pop-up campers) there was no battery and no electricity. We did have a hook on the top tent pole to hang a Coleman lantern. It took the chill off the tent, helped dry things out so we could sleep better and I suppose, gave the people camping in the next site a "shadow show" through the green tent walls".....

When we finally got a camper with lights, we'd run the battery down till the lights got dim. Then wonder why the camper battery never lasted as long as the car battery.... Little did we know "back then" LOL

[Old_Stevenick]

Originally Posted by Old_Stevenick

After a lot of research here's what my plan is.

I bought a 100 amp hour Lithium Phosphate battery for $509 from Amazon. It only weighs 25 lbs, so bringing it in and out of the house off-season is going to be a lot easier than having two 65 lbs golf cart batteries.

I bought a 2,250 dual fuel generator, will run it off propane primarily to charge the battery. It only weights 39 lbs.

I bought a bluetooth Battery Monitor so I can keep tabs on what I'm drawing off the battery and how much it has.

In our pop-up with a standard Lead Acid 500 amp hour battery we could get through 5-7 days, but all we used were the lights and charging our phones pretty much.

As the hybrid has a water pump, electric awnings, radio and other things, I figure we would only get a couple of days without the upgraded battery.

So what remains to be seen is how many days between charging the battery. My guess is we can go a week if we're super conservative with usage, and if we're using more power we should only have to run the generator to charge the battery every few days.

Time will tell!

[QUOTE=GilaElkHunter;459617]

Originally Posted by Old_Stevenick

In our pop-up with a standard Lead Acid 500 amp hour battery we could get through 5-7 days, but all we used were the lights and charging our phones pretty much.



Do you remember what that battery was? I'd like to get a COUPLE 500 amp hour lead acid batteries.

OK I just realized you were quoting me (it didn't show as a quote.) That was a typo in my first post. The standard lead-acid battery was 50 amp hours not 500.

[skids]

Originally Posted by Old_Stevenick

Used hot water only for a couple of hours to wash dishes.
Ran a small fan over the bed one night, it was hot out!

I'm buying a 2nd battery, will then be able to dry camp for over a week without charging the batteries.

What do you mean, hot water? Heating water takes a lot of energy!

[Old_Stevenick]

It uses propane, very little DC.

[Cimriver]

Originally Posted by flybouy

Every camper that has shore power has a converter that charges the battery and provides 12v dc to the systems. No it will not be a lithium compatible charger as the vast majority of campers have flooded wet cell batteries. If you install a lithium battery then you should change out the charger on the converter to a lithium compatible one to get the battery to properly anmd fully charge.

I'm curious about this comment. I am converting from lead acid to lithium batteries. My power distribution center is a WFCO 8900 series. The WFCO website says it is "safe" to use with lithium batteries. I wonder what "safe" means. Does it mean it will charge the batteries correctly or does it just mean it won't hurt anything?

[Old_Stevenick]

It won’t fully charge them but it does charge them. I haven’t changed out my converter and all’s well. I did buy a lithium charger to fully charge them when needed. I installed it in my compartment and plug it into 120 when needed.

When we have hookup the batteries stay charged unless using the air conditioner in which case they drain a little.

I love my batteries!

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Cimriver

I'm curious about this comment. I am converting from lead acid to lithium batteries. My power distribution center is a WFCO 8900 series. The WFCO website says it is "safe" to use with lithium batteries. I wonder what "safe" means. Does it mean it will charge the batteries correctly or does it just mean it won't hurt anything?

Yes you can use the built in charger but it's not optimal. The lithium battery charging profile of a flooded cell battery is different than a an agm or lithium battery and the WFCO converter while they state is "safe" it will not fully charge them. And the lithium battery mfg claim that a partial charge won't harm a lithium battrry . To me then, if you're going to spend the money for a lithium battery but then not fully charge it then what's the point? JMHO.

[nitrohorse]

I have a pop up that I use to camp at antique engine shows here in the northeast. My wife has no interest in going to the shows, so it's me solo camping with a bunch of senior citizen friends and a few cold beverages. None of the shows offer hooks up, so it's basically boondocking at the shows. I have a 100 amp gel battery, a 200 watt Renogy suitcase solar setup, and a 2000 or 3500 watt inverter generator depending on if I need heat or air conditioning. My battery usage are the 12/120 volt/gas Dometic fridge, a 12v Danfoss compressor fridge, water pump, LED lights, and a propane detector. In the fall, I use either my 12v diesel heater or Mr. Buddy. What I have found is that using the 12v fridge and the diesel heater, I can make it through the night and well into the afternoon before I have to charge the battery. I use the solar setup when the sun is available, and the 2000 watt genny and a smart battery charger if it isn't.
I don't have to ration electricity, as I have options to replace it. And at my age, I grew up w/o air conditioning and no longer wish to relive those days, regardless if I'm camping with my wife in our TT or me solo in the PUP. I let roughing it to the younger guys and gals, the Mrs. and I enjoy our comfort. To each their own......