newbie to boondocking - one night first attempt

[Jaykol]

Hi all, if I try to make in one day with my stock lead acid battery will I regret it? We are camping a week at a full hook up and have a free day after that I want to boondock but my wife is worried about power. We won't use AC, the fridge will be on propane, otherwise a few lights, the usual system loads and a couple cyclings of the water pump. I know enough to stay hooked to the TV for the front jack, slide and awning. What don't I know?

 

[craigav]

Almost any battery that is any good, will last many days when only a few lights are used for only a few hours and the fridge is on propane, including the occasional water pump usage.

The more in-depth answer is to determine how many amp hours your battery has, then determine how many amp hours you plan to use, and then plan not to use more than 1/2 of the battery's capacity... which is a good thing to determine if you plan to boondock often.

I would suggest to bring some jumper cables, worse case scenario is that you could use your tow vehicle's battery and engine alternator to charge the RV battery some if you urgently needed to do so. ~CA

 

[TowPro]

On the other hand. Many rvs have 1 amp per hour load for co and propane detectors. That is 24ah per day. A 27 series lead acid battery may have 100ah capacity but only 1/2 of that is usable. So out of 50ah you have already used 1/2 in a day for just the safety moniters. Is my math wrong? But over night might be ok.

 

[craigav]

On the other hand. Many rvs have 1 amp per hour load for co and propane detectors. That is 24ah per day. A 27 series lead acid battery may have 100ah capacity but only 1/2 of that is usable. So out of 50ah you have already used 1/2 in a day for just the safety moniters. Is my math wrong? But over night might be ok.

Certainly things that are left on will pull down the battery however, a common co\propane detector like the one in my link below (I used that detector to check the specs) uses only 17 milliamperes. The math would be that 1ah is 1000mAH so you can divided 1000 milliamps (one ah) by 17 mAH (the detector usage) and the result is that it takes about 58.8 hours to pull 1 AH out of the battery. Another way to think about this is that 17 milliamps is the same as 0.017 amps.

Anyway just to share the math. However, it is common that other items could be running as a furnace fan or roof vent fan can pull more current over time than one may expect. ~CA

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Gas-Detectors/RV-Safe/RS54FR.html

 

[JFlightRisk]

There will also be a small power draw from the stereo, fridge eyebrow controls, and DSI for the water heater ignition.

The booster cables craigav mentioned is a good "Plan B", short of running a generator for a while.

 

[JudyK-JAY22rb]

Hi all, if I try to make in one day with my stock lead acid battery will I regret it? We are camping a week at a full hook up and have a free day after that I want to boondock but my wife is worried about power. We won't use AC, the fridge will be on propane, otherwise a few lights, the usual system loads and a couple cyclings of the water pump. I know enough to stay hooked to the TV for the front jack, slide and awning. What don't I know?

I used a lead acid battery in my pop-up and it lasted me about 2 days and I fed it with a bot of solar. I ran a small fan, TV for 2 hours max and whatever power my inverter required. As far as my current camper; 22rb: My experience with a single lead acid battery was dismal. I killed that thing overnight, easily. 12v fridge, ceiling fan, lights and parasitic loads took all it had.

 

[Taftcoach]

You'll be fine.

 

[jimmoore13]

Assuming you have a conventional, dealer-supplied Group 24 Marine Lead Acid battery, you will have about 35 USABLE amp hours (AH) -- 50% of the battery's rated capacity -- to sustain your rig.
That SHOULD me more than enough, but for the sake of an example:

1) Parasitic loads, such as the CO detector and so on, will eat about 3 AH per day.
2) The fridge on propane, water pump, and hot water heater controls sip 12 volts...figure about 5 AH per day.
3) The lights and such are similar.
4) Be sure your stereo is OFF...no LED/LCD display or lights. Often that's a matter of pushing and holding the power button until the lights go out.
5) Now the kicker. The furnace. You didn't identify your rig in your OP but you did mention a power slide, so, if you have a popup, use the number 5 amps. If you have a hard side camper, use 10 amps. My assumption is that you have a hard side. I'm in the Rockies at about 7500 to 8000 feet. I don't care how warm it gets during the day, it gets cold at night. We run the furnace. In our case, on a cold night, the furnace might run 50% of the time...estimated for simple math. During an 8 hour night, 50% duty cycle means running 4 hours at the amps for the rig's furnace. In our case, 40 AH! You don't have 40 AH to begin with. In a popup, that would be 20 AH...but still taxing the battery.

With those round numbers, you can roughly estimate battery consumption in a 24 hour period. Bear in mind that you could also start and run your tow vehicle to add a little bit of charge, but it's not likely to be that much.

If it's warm enough to not run the furnace much, no problem. But a word of warning. A cold interior builds condensation from your breath (and spouse and pets) very quickly. One important thing a furnace does is substantially reduce the relative humidity in the rig...and reduce/stop condensation. You may be tough enough to sleep in 45 degrees, but if you choose to do so, open the roof vent and several windows to reduce condensation.

NOTE: In cold, rainy weather, with the furnace on, in our old popup, I've had condensation RAIN on me inside the tent-end where we were sleeping!

 

[Jaykol]

A few more details

I should have stated it is a 24RBS. One slide to go out and back. I put switches on my TV and Stereo previously, so they draw zero unless we use them. I forgot about hot water, but if it is hot from the previous day, figure we can get by one day with warm water. This trip is to the Badlands, average temp is mid 70's day time and mid 50's at night, did not plan to run heat either.

Regarding jumper cables, won't the truck charge the battery if it is plugged in to the regular cable? I wouldn't leave it connected but if needed I thought I could run the truck and connect it for a while or at least to close the slide.

Lastly, I have one of those Cat/Costco jump starters for a little more boost, spec'd at 12v/19 amp hours.

 

[Jagiven]

We boondock often. One night no problems as long as you have a strong battery.

You do not mention how old or what size battery you have. Assumption you have an interstate group 27 dual purpose battery. Pop the cell covers and check the fluid levels. The cells should be covered. If you need to add fluid ONLY ADD DISTILLED water. Any other water will damage the cells.

Happy camping

 

[RogerR]

So if your battery is used up will it ruin your trip? It has happened to me and we survived because the weather wasn't bad. If it is cold and you must have the furnace running then that is different.

I have boondocked some and found my 200 watts of solar and 100 amp lithium have never let me down. I also have tent camped and used to have popup that had no battery and we camped for years.

Tell us how it worked out when you get back and have a great vacation.

 

[craigav]

Regarding the jumper cables. Most tow vehicles will provide a charge to the RV when connected, I would suggest to verify that with a voltage meter. However, the charge rate (amps) is usually relatively low via the trailer connector to the the charge line overall resistance (length and size primarily) which means the charge would be very slow using the trailer connector compared to using jumper cables. You would have to check with an amp meter to know for sure, but I would suspect that if the RV battery was dead you could get it back up enough in 20~30 minutes with Jumper Cables which would take an hour or more to get to that same level with the trailer connecter. For sure if you had to do either, you would want to keep your engine running.

In any case, I doubt you would need to charge the battery for one day\night, but just in case it is always good to have a backup plan. ~CA

 

[JudyK-JAY22rb]

So if your battery is used up will it ruin your trip? It has happened to me and we survived because the weather wasn't bad. If it is cold and you must have the furnace running then that is different.

I have boondocked some and found my 200 watts of solar and 100 amp lithium have never let me down. I also have tent camped and used to have popup that had no battery and we camped for years.

Tell us how it worked out when you get back and have a great vacation.

100ah lithium has worked out well for me, too. I had a pop-up with a really good interstate group 24 lead and that was acceptable for that set-up, but this big camper? I killed the 'issued' battery so fast with parasitic load and the 12v fridge. It said it was an Interstate and was supposed to be new. It was trash. I knew I'd be getting lithium, so never planned on using my really good Interstae on the tongue, and really never planned on 2 lead acids on the tongue...too heavy. Around the time I bought my new camper, I sold my good Interstate battery and was left with the 'new' piece of crap battery. It is now so dead, it is terminal and won't even accept a charge. It had been sitting here, waiting for me to recycle it.

Love the lithium and not having to check the amps used, as often and not worrying about ruining the battery if I go too low.

 

[Old and soft]

30+ years boondocking at deer camp for 7-9 nights every fall. 9 miles down a 2 track logging trail. No high dollar lithium or solar/controllers. $20 set of jumper cables and a 5 gallon can of deisel for the truck. Everybody fends for themselves for ice, water, and a place to squat.

 

[Jaykol]

Wouldn't ruin my trip but I want it to be a positive for my wife so she will be willing to do more of it.

 

[Camper_bob]

IMO, the furnace would be a primary concern. I know you said you don't intend to run it, but that could change. In that area, 50 at night is pretty chilly. It's likely the temperature inside will be close to the outside temp about the time you're trying to get out of bed. You could plan to just run it a bit in the morning to take the chill off (my wife would absolutely require this), but if you run it through the night, your one battery is very unlikely to make it.

The others are correct in that you need to know (at least roughly) what your available amp hours are on your battery. Part of that is knowing that every day, that rated capacity could be getting lower and lower. So if you started out with a 75AH Interstate battery (that's what I've gotten on both of my Jayco rigs), that leaves you with ~37 usable amp hours before you start doing permanent damage to the battery. That's when it's new and healthy. If it's a couple years old, it likely doesn't have that capacity.

So, it looks like if you don't use the furnace, you'll probably be okay for a night.

Some additional notes: As previously mentioned, your charge line from the truck doesn't generally provide a lot of amps. Your jump box probably provides a very large and very brief "boost" charge, so I wouldn't depend on it to provide any extra AH to your 12V system. But it likely has USB ports, so if you need to charge devices, use that instead of the camper's 12V. Jumper cables are a good idea to get a quick re-charge on the camper's battery. Since you'll be plugged into shore power before your boondock night, and I assume you'll be towing the trailer to your spot, you should start with a fully charged battery. If not, you should find some way to ensure your battery is fully charged at the beginning. Also, leave the tow vehicle running and plugged in while you're doing anything that requires a bit of power (like running slides, jacks, and stabilizer jacks).

We will do a single over-night on the way to/from somewhere far away. Personally, we have a tough time making it through a night on our current battery. But we are typically being inefficient with our usage of 12V. Like we'll run 2 CPAPs from the inverter through the night. If we changed that one thing, and maybe were a little more "judicious" with our other 12V usage, we'd probably be OK. It's usually only about 7 hrs before we're moving again. But in our current rig, that battery is being replaced with a 100AH lithium, and we're normally running a generator (we often ran one for our trailer too), so I don't worry about it too much.

 

[kcabelin]

Unless your battery is shot you should have no issues boon docking for 1 night. That’s all I do is boon docking. With a propane fridge you should be good to go for 1 night.

 

[marbles]

Try Going Without at Full Hook Ups

Another thought would be trying to go without power at the RV park for one day. Or try it one day at home. Can you make it last? That would me no A/C or TVs.

 

[garywilson]

Hi all, if I try to make in one day with my stock lead acid battery will I regret it? We are camping a week at a full hook up and have a free day after that I want to boondock but my wife is worried about power. We won't use AC, the fridge will be on propane, otherwise a few lights, the usual system loads and a couple cyclings of the water pump. I know enough to stay hooked to the TV for the front jack, slide and awning. What don't I know?

---------
You should be fine.
If concerned and to reduce apprehension, spend a night in your driveway at home or wherever it is stored...as marbles said.

 

[Squarepeg]

We regularly boondock. If you like it and plan to more often, I'd recommend getting a solar suitcase like the 200w version by Renogy. It keeps our batteries topped off. We also carry a small generator in the event of cloudy weather, but we rarely use it. We don't use a lot of power.