In my way of thinking camping off the power you need to make sure you have smart mode converter/charger technology (NOT WFCO), beef up your batteries (Min 225AHs), change over to LED lightning, add at least a 2KW Honda type generator, and add a min 300WATT Pure Sine Wave Inverter (we use a 600WATT pure sine way Inverter setup).
My game plan was to find out all of the items we wanted to run when camping off the power using an PSW Inverter for the 120VAC items and direct connected to the battery banks for the 12VDC items.
Then plan out to be able to run the day/night run off the batteries and have them drop to around 12.0VDC by 8AM the next morning so you will be able to use your 2KW Generator to run your trailer's on-board smart mode converter/charger to recharge your battery banks back up to the 90% charge state so you can do all of this all over again the next day/night run from the batteries. Using smart mode charging this will require around three hours of generator run time which usually fits into the camp grounds rules for running your generator during the day time run periods. We can do these 50% to 90% charge states for 12-14 days before having to do a full 100% charge state for the batteries which will take around 12 hours of generator run time. This is not normally allowed at most camp grounds so this is usually when we head for the house to get our batteries back up to their full performance levels.
Adding solar panels to this will help out big time for keeping the batteries charged back up and in our case will drop the generator run time down to around two hours of use each day being operated first to get beyond the high current initial high current charge. Once the batteries start dropping their demand for high current then the solar panels are ideal to complete the lower DC CURRENT requirements to get the batteries back up to 90% or more during the remaining of the day when in high SUN. A typical 120WATT solar Panel will only give you around 5-6 AMPS of usable DC current when in the high SUN.
We have been doing the camping off the power grid for over five years doing much what is listed above and just now getting to the point of adding solar panels to keep from having to run the generator as much each.
Keep in mind this is our camping experiences off the power grid and we run just about everything we run at regular camp grounds with electric with the exception of air conditioning and high wattage microwaves. I'm sure others have different experiences and probably get by using less DC CURRENT from the battery banks. Its all what YOU want to use when camping off the power grid. We are lit up everynight just like we are at regular camp sites with electric , watch HDTV and DVDs after supper, and I play with my Ham radio. We keep in contacts with the kids, pay bills online, and do some surfing the internet. I also keep a close watch on the condition of the battery bank with my DC MONITOR PANEL inside the trailer to make sure we don't drop below the 50% charge state of the batteries by 8Am the next morning when usually allowed to run our generator to recharge things back up to the at least the 90% charge state. If i don't get the batteries back up to at least their 90% charge state then they will not make it through the the next day/night run off the batteries. It usually gets dark on us around 10PM at night when this happens. not good on the battery banks.
This is my take on camping off the power grid and being successful about it. We are tent campers from the 50s-60s and know all about camping using sacks full of D-Cells batteries to run flash lights and using alot of candles... Now we use all the 120VAC and 12VDC appliances that our battery bank will support and be able to replenish the DC power used in a three hour generator run time to be able to do it all over again for the next day/night battery run.
Works great for us but does take some planning to be successful. It is all second nature to us now...
Roy Ken
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Roy and Carolyn
I claim Horse Creek Country in Southern Ill - Momabear is from North Texas
We live in King George VA
RETIRED DOD DOAF DON CONTRACTOR Electronics Tech 42YRS
"We're burning daylight" - John Wayne
2008 STARCRAFT 14RT OFF-ROAD POPUP with PD9260C and three 85AH 12VDC batteries
2010 F150 FX4 5.4 GAS with 3.73 gears - Super Cab - Towing Package - 2KW Honda EU2000i Gen
K9PHT (since 1957) 146.52Mhz
"We always have a PLAN B"
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