Perhaps you could explore the costs of an extended stay camp ground and park a travel trailer with the luxury of full hook-up? Certainly more convenient than lugging around a slide-in lookin for a dump station. I'm guessing that would get "old" real quick......
Slide in Camper for 8’ Bed
- Thread starter renjaminfrankln
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That would be a canopy.
And that is a can of peas that I will be opening when I get my truck back. Going to be looking for an aluminum one. Really cheap. Or if possible, free.
That or a fairly lightweight one with a rack on it.
Wouldn't that end up costing pretty much the same as renting an apartment? Only you have to provide the apartment...
A battery lasting 5 days with all that? No way. RV furnace blowers are about 5-7amp alone. You'd be lucky to get 24hrs use. Or maybe I use more power than normal somehow. Even with my 100W solar panel and two batteries (not wired up the best way, 10 gauge wires, but oh well) I have to watch my power level heavily.
Forget that. Go to:
http://freecampsites.net
http://rvdumpsites.net
Privately owned RV parks, not the snobby resorts for people with 6 figure salaries, will often let you dump for about $10 if you can't find anywhere else.
I used one in Minnesota last year when I had the crappy ol trailer. They let me take a shower in their bathhouse in addition to dumping and getting water, all for something around $10 to $15. Have cash to avoid them losing to card fees since they are doing you a favor. They might just charge more to run a card though if you don't have cash.
That saved me from immediately undoing the action of dumping. And it was far cheaper than their $30 to 40 per night rate.
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My furnace does not have a blower. Deep cycle battery only powers TV with built in dvd player and yes I've camped numerous 5 day stretches without recharging the battery.
Gotcha. How low do you drain it?
Newer fridges like mine pull 12v when on LP too. Same with my water heater. They are computerized with self ignition and automatic valves.
The biggest power drain I find is my fanastic fan if I have it above the lowest of 3 speeds. If on high, its almost like a furnace blower. Between that and my Alpicool 12v fridge, my batteries get a good load put on them. Add in smartphone and ccasional water pump use, and 100W solar isn't enough. I'm very tempted to add a second panel next spring. I supplement with generator use for now.
Fridge also has no connection with battery, remember this is a 1967 camper, very low tech. The lighter for my fridge actually has replaceable flint in it! Yep, just like the old cigarette lighters with the metal flip top lid. Regarding drain down, I have no way to measure how low the battery is drained. Water system is air pressure via truck cig lighter 12v pump or in times of need I can actually use a hand tire pump like commonly used for a bicycle. It's also important to understand my power consumption is low because most hours of the day I'm hunting or sleeping.
Mine is an 85 and had low tech but the fridge and water heater were replaced mid 2000s.
I had a 67 Shasta trailer with NO water heater (galley sink and toilet, no shower) and the aluminum air pressure water tank.
You can get a plug in voltage meter, or put in a hard wired one. I have both kind. The hard wired watches the house batteries. I can use the plug in one for the alternator/starting battery bank in the dash cigarette lighter. It's not super scientific but it gives you a general idea of battery level.
Yep, both good resources. free campsites works much better the further west you go...
In the midwest and central (TX, OK, KS) it's very good too.
The Bogart Engineering Tri-Metric is the imho, best battery monitor you can get:
http://www.bogartengineering.com/products/trimetrics.html
You can pair it with the SC-2030 charge controller and run up to a 30 amp system. you can add a second controller like I have and control 60 amps again, imho if you are off the grid, no matter how small your DC system is, solar or not, a good monitor is mandatory.
Handy Bob's Blog:
Making off grid RV electrical systems work
https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/
Start at the beginning. Bob is a grouch, we email occasionally, he dan be quite funny. He knows his stuff and he likes to rant about the state of things...
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