first time boondocking... at Walmart :)

[dddire]

Spent two days boondocking at Wal-Mart in Presque Isle Maine this past weekend with the X17z.

This was just a shakedown run with the TT and TV..
you may recall our TV is a 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan.

Lot's of hills along the way and I think we did pretty good. Per the manual, left the trans if 5th (6sp trans) Was able to maintain 90kmh on most hills.. a few doozies down to 80kmh.

Gas mileage went in the toilet but that's to be expected... 24L/100km... but hey, you want to play, you gotta pay right?

So now the boon docking part:

no genny but we do have our 3000watt inverter which we used to power the TT and use the microwave when we needed too. This was just connected to the TV battery with engine running. I think of it as a 3.6L V6 powered genny lol


So the only charging time the TT battery got was during meal time. This kept the TT battey topped up pretty well.

It was cold and the furnace got pretty heavy use all night. Fridge was on gas of course. Limited use of lights but we were certainly not in the dark. (No LEDs yet)

Watched TV with a media player and USB stick loaded up with shows, through a 400watt inverter plugged into the 12v outlet just fine.

In case anyone is looking for a TV that fits the X17z above the fridge, we picked up a 24" RCA LED/LCD unit at Walmart here in Canada for $158

TV only draws 36watts and the media play I think about 60.

Fresh water and grey/black holding tanks held up well, fridge and freezer kept everything cold/frozen. Stove and oven worked well.

All and all.. a great experience and looking forward to more this summer with the family.

[merrickvilleguy]

Just keep in mind, at idle your alternator basically puts out nothing, so watch the inverter use.

[Preston]

Originally Posted by merrickvilleguy

Just keep in mind, at idle your alternator basically puts out nothing, so watch the inverter use.

Actually on that 2011 Dodge Caravan, once the vehicle is started and the field wire of the alternator is hot it puts out constant 14.4 volts and 120amps (if needed) regardless of idle or throttle responses. That's how it keeps your battery charged and runs a/c blower lights etc.

[Preston]

Glad you had a good experience with camp wal-mart. Nice place to try things out as you can run inside and buy things you forgot!

[dddire]

Originally Posted by Preston

Actually on that 2011 Dodge Caravan, once the vehicle is started and the field wire of the alternator is hot it puts out constant 14.4 volts and 120amps (if needed) regardless of idle or throttle responses. That's how it keeps your battery charged and runs a/c blower lights etc.

Agreed, as noted on my inverter, it has an multimeter built in, showing input voltage, output voltage and amps. With Engine running, a constant 14.4 volts from the battery/alternator

[dddire]

Originally Posted by Preston

Glad you had a good experience with camp wal-mart. Nice place to try things out as you can run inside and buy things you forgot!

Being a new TT owner, there are a thousand little things to pick up.... and close to beer as well.