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Old 11-05-2012, 03:24 PM   #1
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How well would our A Frames work in the

event of a disaster like Super Sandy? If there was no power, could we still operate the heater? I thought I read that we needed electricity to run the thermostat? Could you just turn it on and off manually? What things have you done, or could you do, to try to make them into an emergency shelter? How long do you think the propane tanks would last? How about other trailer owners? What do you think about your unit for survival?
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Old 11-05-2012, 04:36 PM   #2
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1st question. Where would you put your camper where it would survive a Hurricane, or a Tornado, or a Flood or any other natural or un-natural diaster and still be close at hand for emergency use?
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Old 11-05-2012, 07:10 PM   #3
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The unit will run on 12 volt. As long as the battery is charged the furnace will work. The furnace is a large draw of amps and a battery will usually last one and if you are lucky 2 nights. I have found that a 30# propane tanks will last 5 to 7 days when running the furnace. I have a 34' trailer but this will give you a guide to go by. Several years ago we had the ice storm in eastern Ont. The trailer was just out side of the house. We were glad we had it. The power was off for over a week. We had a way of keeping the battery charged and were able to sleep in the trailer with the furnace running. Where as we had no heat in the house. Plus we had a stove to cook on. The stove in our house was electric. So a trailer can come in handy during a natural disaster.
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Old 11-05-2012, 07:38 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by caper
The unit will run on 12 volt. As long as the battery is charged the furnace will work. The furnace is a large draw of amps and a battery will usually last one and if you are lucky 2 nights. I have found that a 30# propane tanks will last 5 to 7 days when running the furnace. I have a 34' trailer but this will give you a guide to go by. Several years ago we had the ice storm in eastern Ont. The trailer was just out side of the house. We were glad we had it. The power was off for over a week. We had a way of keeping the battery charged and were able to sleep in the trailer with the furnace running. Where as we had no heat in the house. Plus we had a stove to cook on. The stove in our house was electric. So a trailer can come in handy during a natural disaster.
How did you recharge your battery? Would a solar system be worthwhile for this purpose?
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Old 11-05-2012, 07:39 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by backpacker3
1st question. Where would you put your camper where it would survive a Hurricane, or a Tornado, or a Flood or any other natural or un-natural diaster and still be close at hand for emergency use?
That's true.
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Old 11-05-2012, 09:43 PM   #6
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Without a way to recharge the battery, your furnace will drain it in fairly short order. For the stove/RVQue/fridge, as long as you have propane you are probably in good shape and you'd probably be able to get a couple weeks out of two full tanks. You'd need minimal power for the hot-water heater. If you do an LED light conversion, you'll be able to get good light with minimal impact on battery life.

As for keeping the battery charged, assuming you can't plug into the house or that house power is down, you will need a generator or will need solar to recharge the battery. A larger battery than stock (or a dual battery conversion) would be good as well.

If you do come up with a way to recharge your batteries, put in a 12v socket and inverter, or a 12v USB plug socket, so that you can recharge cell phones. Or pack in a small solar panel recharge kit specifically for recharging devices.

Basically, assume the most-basic of boondocky circumstances.

Because we largely camp without power and are planning a Burning Man trip, I am planning a solar conversion next spring with either dual golf cart batteries or dual Group31 12v batteries - assuming I can find the space for it all.
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Old 11-05-2012, 10:33 PM   #7
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Silly question. Is there a way too see how much power remains in your battery as it's being used?
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Old 11-05-2012, 10:36 PM   #8
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A Voltmeter will give you the current voltage, which you can then cross-reference to get a % remaining.
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Old 11-05-2012, 11:08 PM   #9
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Here is a chart I got from the forum to tell you the strength of your battery.
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Get a digital voltmeter to get precise reading.

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To get a reading in the trailer use the socket of the light below the microwave oven. It gives you a correct reading if you are not hooked up.

I used a gas generator to recharge the battery, it takes 2 to 3 hours to fully charge it. Solar charging will take forever.
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Old 11-06-2012, 08:40 AM   #10
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I was lucky that my brother worker for Dupont and they had their own generation station. He would pick up the battery in the morning and bring it back after his shift. We did purchase a second battery to have on hand while the other was being charged.
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Old 11-06-2012, 09:38 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ko777 View Post
I used a gas generator to recharge the battery, it takes 2 to 3 hours to fully charge it. Solar charging will take forever.
Solar does go very slow. But the idea is that it runs slowly all day long, so over the course of 8 hours you should get enough to recharge what you used over night with the furnace. Also, because it's passive, you don't have to worry about refueling or mucking with it at all - just let it do its thing.
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Old 11-06-2012, 11:41 AM   #12
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I did a quick search for digital voltmeter on Amazon and found this. The negative probe looks too thick to insert in an outlet. Is this the wrong type of digital voltmeter, or where would you insert these probes?


Schumacher BT-50 Digital Voltmeter : Amazon.com : Automotive
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Old 11-06-2012, 01:39 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinsu
I did a quick search for digital voltmeter on Amazon and found this. The negative probe looks too thick to insert in an outlet. Is this the wrong type of digital voltmeter, or where would you insert these probes?

Schumacher BT-50 Digital Voltmeter : Amazon.com : Automotive
Get something like this in the pic, it is on sale here in Canadian Tire for less than $20
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Plug the probes to the socket as I posted earlier

I got one myself and it so easy to read the voltage of the battery compared to what I had before.
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Old 11-06-2012, 06:00 PM   #14
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One of the reasons I purchased this trailer was because it was so easily set up to camp "off line". Depending where you are, and the circumstances is truely another story, or lets leave that to another thread.
We camp off line most of the time with a twin deep cycle battery setup, and a 80 watt solar panel, with a 30 watt/solar panel to help with an inverter/battery system. During the summer up here in Canada, i can run two fantistic fans, waterpump, and lights, without concern, while the panel replentishes the batteries over the daylight period.
Being that all of the heat related appliances are run on propane,waterheater,furnace and the fridge .... you can last a long time.
Our longest time camped without electricty was two full weeks, no issues, just refilling of the freshwater tank, and other little duties.

cheers .. d-mo
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