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Old 02-19-2019, 02:17 PM   #41
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Originally Posted by rk06382 View Post
I have read the other posts in this thread. I think you should start with a battery monitor like the Victron BMV-712.

I did not start with a battery monitor and I regret it, because without it, I could not tell how many amp hours my Battle Born batteries had available. If you are going to boondock, you need to know your battery SOC (State of Charge). It is like a fuel gauge for your battery. A Victron BMV-712 will tell you how many amp hours is left in your battery.
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Screenshot from my phone last summer

I liked the Victron bluetooth app on my phone so much I upgraded to a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/50 solar charge controller.

They sure are proud of that tiny Bluetooth battery monitor!!!
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Old 02-19-2019, 02:22 PM   #42
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most any generator will have enough power to run anything on your RV, including your roof air conditioner, otherwise there wouldn't be as much of a need for one.

now, can you 'everything' at the same time? depends on the 'size' of your generator.

a 2200w generator, with a typical 18-20 amp output can easily run the air conditioner, and a few other items at the same time

a 3600w generator, though, is more like your 30amp campground outlet - you could run BOTH roof air conditioners(if you have two), and several other small items as well...

the smaller and more manageable 'rv' generators, like the Honda Eu1000i or similar, only have an output of about 8-10 amps, so running an air conditioner that starts up at about 13amps won't happen.

With any generator, no matter the 'size', or even your shore power size, you have to manage all the 'things' you want to do at the same time - you become an electrical engineer pretty quickly!
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Old 02-24-2019, 11:06 AM   #43
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As usual, great advice on this forum.

I would add a couple of things.

Most people, including me, boondock for the privacy and, hopefully, solitude. Nothing ruins the latter faster than someone running a "contractor" style generator. Please, if you buy a generator purchase one rated for low noise.

You might also want to log on to RVtravel.com The every Saturday newsletter features a boondocking column.

X2
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Old 02-24-2019, 11:21 AM   #44
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X2

Agreed!


Generators are.....unpleasant.
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Old 02-25-2019, 08:26 PM   #45
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boondocking

There is an awful lot of good information in this thread but since this is your first boon-docking trip to Colorado I would like to mention a couple of items that are not related to batteries. My setup is a small 16 ft wolf pup TT with 2 each 100 watt flex panels on the roof and a Honda 2000i generator. Remote camps are almost always in deep valleys so the sun when it shines is only available for about 4 hours a day due to the angle of the mountains. You will need the generator for the microwave and battery charging. Now lets talk about altitude effects on heaters both water, refrigerator and basic heat. Most propane heaters don't work very well at high altitude due to the lower o2 levels, I suppose so take a very good ice box [ think week long stay ] and fill it with ice to keep the all important beer cold. I love the mountains in Colorado, but be ready for a lot of time in the slow lane climbing those mountains and just take your time and enjoy life
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Old 02-25-2019, 09:46 PM   #46
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There is an awful lot of good information in this thread but since this is your first boon-docking trip to Colorado I would like to mention a couple of items that are not related to batteries. My setup is a small 16 ft wolf pup TT with 2 each 100 watt flex panels on the roof and a Honda 2000i generator. Remote camps are almost always in deep valleys so the sun when it shines is only available for about 4 hours a day due to the angle of the mountains. You will need the generator for the microwave and battery charging. Now lets talk about altitude effects on heaters both water, refrigerator and basic heat. Most propane heaters don't work very well at high altitude due to the lower o2 levels, I suppose so take a very good ice box [ think week long stay ] and fill it with ice to keep the all important beer cold. I love the mountains in Colorado, but be ready for a lot of time in the slow lane climbing those mountains and just take your time and enjoy life
Rich Hudgins
Last year I traveled to Northern New Mexico twice. Spent weeks well above 8,000 feet and had zero issues with the refrigerator running on propane.

If you go higher just look for a snowbank left over from the previous winter to keep stuff cold. [emoji57]
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Old 02-25-2019, 10:05 PM   #47
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Like TitanMike, over the past 6 yrs., we have spent weeks in AZ's White Mtns. 7500 - 8000 ft and no problem with the propane stove, refrigerator, or heat. Maybe newer technology has helped.
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Old 02-25-2019, 10:25 PM   #48
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The WESTINGHOUSE IGEN2500 2200W PORTABLE INVERTER GENERATOR is about $600 at home depot and will run everything. Quiet 2200w continuous run. 50 lb weight.
Almost totaly boondock.
They also have two 4500 watt versions of this: gas and dual fuel. They are supposed to run at 52 dBs which rivals Honda. Not only will this run a rig, but if there is a blackout at home, you have some power for survival
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Old 02-26-2019, 12:12 AM   #49
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If you plan to boondock in Colorado, you might like to take a look at my blog. It is called "Free RV Campsites in the Colorado Mountains" and you can find it HERE.

I boondock/dry camp in Colorado a lot because very few National Forest campgrounds in the Rockies and only one state wildlife area have electrical hookups. I have one 235w 24v solar panel and two 6v AGM batteries, but no generator. After all, we get 300 days of sunshine a year, so might as well take advantage of that free energy!

However, most of our Rocky Mountain camping is in fall when no AC is needed, just heat. So we supplement our furnace with a Little Buddy catalytic propane heater when dry camping, just like we use an electric catalytic heater when we have hookups. We also seldom stay in a campground more than 2-3 nights because we like sightseeing. So we alternate Federal cgs with state park cgs with hookups and recharging our batteries has not really been a concern.
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Old 02-26-2019, 01:00 AM   #50
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Boondocking, wanting to be ready

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We normally camp in Illinois or Wisconsin and all the state parks have electricity. We are going camping in either South Dakota or Colorado and most of the places we want to go are no electricity. Water is not an issue, we are used to that. I have two deep cycle marine batteries for the camper (26RLSS). Since we are going for a full week is there anything I should be really concerned for/about? Should I get a generator? Solar might be an option as well. I just have no experience for that kind of length.
. . . . Ed and Jennifer,
no one has written about your electrical draw in regarding lighting function... You did not write about type of bulbs your rig has, but to help our system (two deep cycle 12volt in parallel? -doubling battery draw life, not doubling amperage) we replaced all incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs thereby extending battery life about 3 times (when light usage only) compared to before changing out to LED bulbs... got most if not all bulbs from ebay, easy to cross reference from existing bulbs... we had about 4 types of bulbs....
. . . Hope this helps, Happy Camping! . . .
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Old 02-26-2019, 07:25 AM   #51
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Depends

Depends on whether you can downsize your carbon footprint. If you can camp like a backpacker in your rig. No sweat. Most of the other posts assume no downsizing of your camping lifestyle. RE solar. I have an old school harbor freight solar panel array that is inefficient bu does charge at low light levels. Combined with an Engel fridge and a stovetop espresso maker I’m good for a week unless it’s gloomy all week. No wind generator anymore. That was my backup for stormy weeks.
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Old 02-26-2019, 11:15 AM   #52
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There is an awful lot of good information in this thread but since this is your first boon-docking trip to Colorado I would like to mention a couple of items that are not related to batteries. My setup is a small 16 ft wolf pup TT with 2 each 100 watt flex panels on the roof and a Honda 2000i generator. Remote camps are almost always in deep valleys so the sun when it shines is only available for about 4 hours a day due to the angle of the mountains. You will need the generator for the microwave and battery charging. Now lets talk about altitude effects on heaters both water, refrigerator and basic heat. Most propane heaters don't work very well at high altitude due to the lower o2 levels, I suppose so take a very good ice box [ think week long stay ] and fill it with ice to keep the all important beer cold. I love the mountains in Colorado, but be ready for a lot of time in the slow lane climbing those mountains and just take your time and enjoy life
Rich Hudgins
x2...and generators are rated at sea level. based on everything i've researched, you'll lose about 3.5% of your rated output per 1000 ft of altitude.

we typically camp at about 8600 ft in northern CO and have never needed an AC but a heater is nice at night. it drops to about 40 F in july and august.

we really only use our pup (flagstaff hw27sc) for sleeping and getting out of the occasional afternoon shower...so lights and heater. two group 27 batteries are recharged each day with a zamp solar 120 watt.

be careful in the valleys near a creek. those afternoon showers can sometimes be intense.
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Old 02-26-2019, 12:47 PM   #53
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We normally camp in Illinois or Wisconsin and all the state parks have electricity. We are going camping in either South Dakota or Colorado and most of the places we want to go are no electricity. Water is not an issue, we are used to that. I have two deep cycle marine batteries for the camper (26RLSS). Since we are going for a full week is there anything I should be really concerned for/about? Should I get a generator? Solar might be an option as well. I just have no experience for that kind of length.


One thing you may find in Colorado is you may have trouble starting and running the propane refrigerator and/or water heater due to being in high elevations.

Our water heater has an adjustable flame so you can fine tune it for higher altitude use. Our Dometic refrigerator does NOT have an adjustable flame. The owner’s manual says flat out it cannot be used on propane above 5500’ although we did OK up to maybe 6000’. So at upper elevations we had to have electricity - although the refrigerator and freezer will sure stay cold for a good while especially when it’s cold outside. Maybe a day or two before stuff starts spoiling.

All the responses saying “I never had that problem” are coming so brace yourself! It depends on your model, so check your manuals. You might be just fine too.
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Old 02-26-2019, 01:55 PM   #54
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One thing you may find in Colorado is you may have trouble starting and running the propane refrigerator and/or water heater due to being in high elevations.

Our water heater has an adjustable flame so you can fine tune it for higher altitude use. Our Dometic refrigerator does NOT have an adjustable flame. The owner’s manual says flat out it cannot be used on propane above 5500’ although we did OK up to maybe 6000’. So at upper elevations we had to have electricity - although the refrigerator and freezer will sure stay cold for a good while especially when it’s cold outside. Maybe a day or two before stuff starts spoiling.

All the responses saying “I never had that problem” are coming so brace yourself! It depends on your model, so check your manuals. You might be just fine too.
My old house in the north Denver metro area was at 6000' (well, it was like 5982 or something like that) above sea level.

I camped all over the state of Colorado and New Mexico for almost two decades and never experienced the stove, refrigerator, furnace or water heater not starting, no matter what altitude I was at, and three different RV's.

That is not saying that it can't happen, but just saying I've not experienced this yet.

Now that I live in the desert southwest, I guess this won't be much of an issue for me to worry about.
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Old 02-26-2019, 02:31 PM   #55
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One thing you may find in Colorado is you may have trouble starting and running the propane refrigerator and/or water heater due to being in high elevations.

Our water heater has an adjustable flame so you can fine tune it for higher altitude use. Our Dometic refrigerator does NOT have an adjustable flame. The owner’s manual says flat out it cannot be used on propane above 5500’ although we did OK up to maybe 6000’. So at upper elevations we had to have electricity - although the refrigerator and freezer will sure stay cold for a good while especially when it’s cold outside. Maybe a day or two before stuff starts spoiling.

All the responses saying “I never had that problem” are coming so brace yourself! It depends on your model, so check your manuals. You might be just fine too.
dometic fridges work fine on propane up to 9000' at least mine has run fine at that elevation . never any issues with any propane appliance . and in my old northstar camper it all worked good at 10,000 . So did you even try at higher elevations or just going off what the manual says ?
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Old 03-17-2019, 01:21 PM   #56
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My personal idea for boon docking is this. I have a residential refer,(uses 370 watts when inverter compressor is running, so use is very minimal). I installed 4 Trojan j305H floor machine batteries, (720 amp hours, which gives me enough power for minimal generator use!) I installed another inverter(2000 watts 4000watt surge true sine wave). Then when boon docking I plug my quiet 2000 watt generator directly into my converter. Now I can watch TV, make coffee, microwave(only one large appliance at a time.) and not have the generator on! When it's time to charge(usually morning and night) its only running what the batteries need.( which means generator is starting to idle when batteries are in float mode.)
My 200 watt solar/ and plug for towing keeps my batteries up when i run my inverter and refer while traveling!
Note: my 2k inverter will actually power 1 AC! I never camp when I need to use an AC. If I do I will buy another 2k generator and plug in to shore power.
Converter needs to to be close to batteries(I moved mine), now I can plug converter to shore power or to generator. Proper wiring,(by a electrician), transfer switch, fuses and enjoy!
I had an Electrical Engineer design this. Who is an avid boondock camper!
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Old 03-17-2019, 05:09 PM   #57
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My personal idea for boon docking is this. I have a residential refer,(uses 370 watts when inverter compressor is running, so use is very minimal). I installed 4 Trojan j305H floor machine batteries, (720 amp hours, which gives me enough power for minimal generator use!) I installed another inverter(2000 watts 4000watt surge true sine wave). Then when boon docking I plug my quiet 2000 watt generator directly into my converter. Now I can watch TV, make coffee, microwave(only one large appliance at a time.) and not have the generator on! When it's time to charge(usually morning and night) its only running what the batteries need.( which means generator is starting to idle when batteries are in float mode.)
My 200 watt solar/ and plug for towing keeps my batteries up when i run my inverter and refer while traveling!
Note: my 2k inverter will actually power 1 AC! I never camp when I need to use an AC. If I do I will buy another 2k generator and plug in to shore power.
Converter needs to to be close to batteries(I moved mine), now I can plug converter to shore power or to generator. Proper wiring,(by a electrician), transfer switch, fuses and enjoy!
I had an Electrical Engineer design this. Who is an avid boondock camper!
My 2018 Cardinal 3250RL is my rig.
Minimal generator use?

If your huge battery bank is discharged to 50% it's going to take some serious time to truly recharge. Exception would be if you are merely "running off the top of the tank", only using 20-30 amp hours and charging every day.

How deep do you discharge that battery bank on a regular basis?
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Old 03-18-2019, 01:11 AM   #58
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Minimal is 2 hours morning and 2 hours evening. But it always depends on KWH used. Then solar is always helping. Hey it works for me. If you can’t afford it buy a cheap 3500 watt noise machine and run it all day.
No seriously, I’ve been doing this a long time and the batteries I use are for commercial floor machines.
They produce, and they float charge as fast as those cheap Costco batteries. Done a lot of research.
My buddies 10 K diesel generator charges batteries no faster than my 2k. Remember after bulk, comes the float, so gen is basically ildling.
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Old 03-18-2019, 11:16 PM   #59
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Minimal is 2 hours morning and 2 hours evening. But it always depends on KWH used. Then solar is always helping. Hey it works for me. If you can’t afford it buy a cheap 3500 watt noise machine and run it all day.
No seriously, I’ve been doing this a long time and the batteries I use are for commercial floor machines.
They produce, and they float charge as fast as those cheap Costco batteries. Done a lot of research.
My buddies 10 K diesel generator charges batteries no faster than my 2k. Remember after bulk, comes the float, so gen is basically ildling.
Simple reason for this. Most RV's have converters that only draw 1,000W -1500 W (nameplate rating) and charge at 40-100 amp rates. Well within the capability of the. 2K generator. The 10k generator is overkill if all it's doing while running is charging batteries.

FWIW. unless you have seriously upgraded the converter/charger it's probably a lot smaller than the usually recommended size of 20-25% of the battery bank size. Hope you're taking some time to use a hydrometer and see exactly how well charged the batteries are.

I'm very familiar with floor machine batteries and they're great if you have the room and the cargo carrying capacity.
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Old 03-18-2019, 11:26 PM   #60
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Like I said it works just fine for me. It was sized by an aerospace Electrical Engineer. My converter and everything is professionally mounted. I get it , you want to say it doesn’t work, opinions are like x#&@%$s., everybody has one.
By the way my battery footprint is identical to T-105 Trojans.(just taller and heavier, which my diesel pulls just fine).
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