New to the ROO

[pudgybear]

2017 ROO 19, this is my first hard side camper,,,,,, planning on using this unit this fall - late October to hunt in northwestern part of lower Michigan, my question is: will the batteries be charged enough to run the furnace at night, I am assuming I need the battery to operate the furnace? once the furnace is lit do I need the battery?

[SeaDog]

Yes to your question regarding the battery and running the furnace a full charged battery should be able to last all night. I would have no way to know if your battery will be charged or not, what are you going to use to charge it? Myself I believe in two batteries for dry camping and a generator for charging them.

[rockfordroo]

The battery will run the fan and the "brains" of the furnace. Depending on how cold it is, i.e., how much the furnace needs to run, your battery could make it one night or a couple of nights. Remember, you don't want to run the battery down below 50% of charge; that will be bad for it. Most folks trying to do this either buy a small Honda/Yamaha type inverter generator or install a fairly large (45-100 watt) solar system to recharge the battery during the day. They usually invest in a true deep cycle battery, too. Usually two 6 volt golf cart batteries wired in series to give 12 volts.

PS: Your mattress heaters are 110 VAC, so they won't work at night (unless you run a generator).

[bikendan]

1. No way to know if the batteries will be charged enough, without you telling us how you plan to charge them.
2. Yes the battery is needed to run the furnace fan and electronics.
3. If you run the furnace all nite, expect a single battery, to be dead in the morning.

We dry camp mostly and we have two 12v deep cycle batteries and a Honda 2000i inverter generator.

[Wiscampsin]

To help conserve heat you might want to consider doing the gizmo and reflectix mods.

[bikendan]

Also suggest you go to the 12 Volt Side of Life website.
Should be required reading for all newbies.

[Lootraiders]

My experience with my 2015 23ikss with only one 12 volt battery lasted 2 nights running furnace all night. I have now upgraded to two 6volts and it will last almost a week.