Boondocking/Batteries/options?

[Nitehawk]

Originally Posted by Lee

Hi,... Not sure about the $ conversion but last week I bought 2 6V golf cart batteries at the local Costco for $99/ea USD.

I realize the initial $ output is high,... but I would almost suggest the OP purchase a small 1kw generator.

I exclusively Boondock and this is how I do it.... use the small, quiet, 1kw gen set every other day to top off the batteries. Runs all day on 1 1/2 gal of gas.

Lee

What is the make and model of your generator. I have a Honda 3000i but would lime to get a smaller one to top up the batteries with on short trips

[Mainer]

For what it's worth, I figured a Honda 2000i would be a good investment for boon-docking. Bad move. It's heavy (i'm old) it won't touch the AC and frig on ac is grossly inefficient on a generator. Converter is 65 amp x 12 volts is 720 watts, unless your batteries are bone dead the converter is loafing along. A little 1k genset will charge your batteries as fast as shore power. Solar (if you have full sun) will help a little at 100 watts, but it's free.

If you are boon-docking, you probably have better things to do than watch tv . Check the wires going into your entertainment center, if you see a wire going to 12 volts labeled "Ignition" put it on a switch, you won't loose presets, the clock will go dark (DW likes dark nights) and power drawn drops tremendously.

Enjoy....

[Fishsizzle]

Good to know about the Radio. I’ll be looking into that as we don’t use it when dry camping. Also the iN·command unit. I wonder if you can turn it off after you are all set up? We have switches for all the lights anyway.

[Hoodlatch]

Very good info in here. I live and camp 99.9 percent in the east. Since I bought my current camper new in 14 it has never had full hookups. I only camp in state parks or national forests, no “city style” campgrounds for me.

Many state parks have an electric loop, which get full and or reserved early, leaving many beautiful sites(sometimes several loops) basically empty. Since we are normally parked in trees here, I originally skipped solar. I set up with 2 6v on the tongue and a 2000w inverter generator. It opened up endless sites for us to use.

But I have found that it’s inconvenient using the generator in the daylight hours when you don’t want to be near your camper. We go to these places to explore. I am building a 200w semi portable solar rack that just fits under my tonneau cover. Hopefully the size keeps it from walking away.

I feel that since you don’t normally rely on your battery for your camping style, the 2 6v batts you bought will get you through 2 nights with power conservation in mind. Probably don’t need to spend any more money for a 0.1% outing.

[GMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by Mainer

If you are boon-docking, you probably have better things to do than watch tv . Check the wires going into your entertainment center, if you see a wire going to 12 volts labeled "Ignition" put it on a switch, you won't loose presets, the clock will go dark (DW likes dark nights) and power drawn drops tremendously.

Enjoy....

Going to check that. Would love to turn the lights off at night, even if I have power. They keep the dogs awake

[DonnieBlitz]

Scott902 if your still following this thread check out this site: https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/ ALL your questions will be answered.

[Charby]

I would say a new 12volt would be the cheapest insurance for a one off trip. Keep truck connected and running while opening and closing the slide and using jack. Use park showers as not run water pump excessive. A little radio time and some lights will get you by fine. By all means leave that huge 6500 watt frame generator at home, as it will be heard throughout the park, and some will not allow them to be used. We love boondocking for the prized sites, and are set-up with solar, 2-6 volt golf cart batteries and a Yamaha i2000 inverter generator when needed.

[Lee]

Originally Posted by Nitehawk

What is the make and model of your generator. I have a Honda 3000i but would lime to get a smaller one to top up the batteries with on short trips

Hi,

I use a Honda 1k.... VERY quiet,.... Small,.... Light weight..... Ruins all day on 1 1/2 gal gas.

Lee

[Fishsizzle]

You can find those little Honda 600-1000 on Craigslist most times and they are quiet and super light. Great for running lights and watching TV

[johnlewis]

Forget the solar, if this is a rare event. We've lasted more than one day with a single 12V battery, but we didn't run furnace. Take the generator - it's the simplest way, since you don't plan to boondock much. KISS.
Our battery recharged in 15 or 20 minutes when we boondocked, but we were only running lights, refrigerator and stove. It ran another hour to recharge the phones. If you want to consider solar, get a small unit that will recharge the phones, and forger about the rest.

[Scott902]

boxes installed. Thanks all for the suggestions. We're gonna go with what we have for now (2 x 6v batteries). Ive got a couple booster packs with usb that we'll use to charge devices. For the couple nights we'll be there, I think this should do us.

[blubuckaroo]

Another option is to go to a group 27 battery instead of the little group 24. You can get boxes for this size too. A group 27 has about a third more capacity than a group 24.
Also, make sure you're buying a real deep cycle battery, and not a marine/starting battery. These are for different use altogether. You can tell the difference just by pick each up. The true deep cycle battery is much heavier.

[bbells]

There is more than one advantage to adding solar. Not only will it charge your battery at 10 to 20 amps when boondocking, it will also trickle charger at
home so you would no longer need to plug your camper in at home. I use a ground mounted 230 watt 48v panel on my camper. I use 2 of the same panels roof mounted on my ice fishing house. I never need a generator for either.

[Fishsizzle]

Originally Posted by bbells

There is more than one advantage to adding solar. Not only will it charge your battery at 10 to 20 amps when boondocking, it will also trickle charger at
home so you would no longer need to plug your camper in at home. I use a ground mounted 230 watt 48v panel on my camper. I use 2 of the same panels roof mounted on my ice fishing house. I never need a generator for either.

Are the panels more efficient at 48v? And then does your solar controller convert the voltage to 12v or is there another piece to the puzzle?

[depush]

Originally Posted by Fishsizzle

Are the panels more efficient at 48v? And then does your solar controller convert the voltage to 12v or is there another piece to the puzzle?

I believe the short answer to that is, no. A charge controller is what you're missing. This is a merchant that sells their own MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) charge controller. Good 'splainer at the link.

https://zhcsolar.com/mppt-charge-con...Panels_Voltage

Victron is a long-standing respected manufacturer of systems including charge controllers. Sailboats have the same issues with power RV's have. Lots of cross-pollination there. I have one of their inverters.

https://www.victronenergy.com/solar-charge-controllers

This guy, Bob, an electrical engineer, doesn't sell a thing, but has actually been living it for years. He's a no joke guy I find humorous and has his head set squarely on his shoulders. Lots of reading there about, well, everything solar system related (not celestial tho). He likes the Trimetric and tells you why. Lots of words over there but if you take the time Bob gives a good sense of how all the parts work together in the real world. Link to his discussion of the Trimetric/Bogart:

https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/...-2030-perfect/

[blubuckaroo]

Originally Posted by Fishsizzle

Are the panels more efficient at 48v? And then does your solar controller convert the voltage to 12v or is there another piece to the puzzle?

I have two 40 watt panels and a controller permanently mounted on my little 15' hunting/fishing travel trailer. It keeps the group 27 battery up even when parked in the shade. I see people all the time playing around with their panels to keep them in the sun. You really don't need to do that. This little trailer is stored in a covered RV storage, and it doesn't even need a battery tender. I just forget about it.
The only maintenance it takes is an occasional cleaning with Windex.
One of the best investments I've made!

[Scott902]

Maybe one day I'll go down that route. We've been RV'ing since 2012 and have never needed it. Having the option would be nice, so maybe someday.

[bbells]

I meant 24, not 48v, sorry. But, 48v panels are even more efficient for their size than 24v. 24v (which are actually 36+volts) panels put out more power for the size than 12v. If you use an mppt controller you can get all the power out of them even when converting to 13.8v. If you use a ppm controller you lose about 40% of the power if you convert to 13.8. But, many people believe, and i am one of them, that if you need more power a second panel or a panel with higher wattage is more cost effective than paying the high price for an mppt controller. When hooking a grid up to a home most people wire 10 24v panels, or 5 48v panels, in series to put out 240v (actually closer to 360 volts in full sun) which is then inverted to AC to match the power companies freq. A good way of looking at it is a 230 watt panel puts out about 20 amps to charge the RV battery for 5 to 7 hours a day (less watts for the rest of the day). That would be 100 to 140 amps back into the battery. If a person needed more, like with my ice fishing house, a second panel would double that. Oh, if you don't want to go to the trouble of adding multiple 6v golf cart batteries to get real deep cycle, you can get very heavy 12v golf cart batteries from batteries plus. Marine deep cycle or any battery that has cca on it won't have a very long lifespan if you actually use it.

[Scott902]

Thought I'd follow up and say we did the weekend off the grid, beautiful spot right by the beach. We were pretty conservative with the lights and such, and the 2 6v GC batteries did wonderful. Never dropped below full on the battery monitor. A friend brought a small generator if anyone needed it, but we did not.

[Logan X]

Originally Posted by Scott902

Thought I'd follow up and say we did the weekend off the grid, beautiful spot right by the beach. We were pretty conservative with the lights and such, and the 2 6v GC batteries did wonderful. Never dropped below full on the battery monitor. A friend brought a small generator if anyone needed it, but we did not.

That’s awesome! It’s a liberating feeling being comfortable camping off of the grid.