I need an education :)

[golfnutjetsfan]

Wife and I just bought a 2022 Prime Time Crusader 305RLP and took our first short trip this weekend, close to home with full hookups, as a trial run. Everything worked, didn't break anything, didn't hit anything while driving and we are heading back out this weekend. Wife now wants to try boondocking for a day or two at a time once in a while in order to keep some of the costs down or when we are on a long trip to a distant location. We have 2 100ah AGM batteries and she is questioning me about whether the batteries will last the night in a parking lot with no shore power. I bought an A/C-D/C inductive amp probe and I will be measuring our usage this weekend to get a better grip on our power usage. So now I need to know where to find out what things will operate on 12 volts. Obviously no TV, no AC, no microwave. Will the furnace work? the water pump? the water heater on propane? the fridge on propane? Do any of these trailers come with an inverter to run 110v loads off of 12v batteries? If I thought it had been modified this way where would I look for the inverter? The battery bay has lots of wiring in place but nothing looking like the pictures I have seen of things looking like an inverter. I am thinking I will have to switch to at least 2 LiFePo4 100AH batteries at minimum and as there is no solar on the trailer but it is solar prepped I may go with some solar if we start dry camping more than one day at a time. I have been doing a lot of reading here about maintenance and both lithium and solar but welcome any comments on the beginnings of our RV journey. I need more knowledge.

 

[bikendan]

Since your rig is a 2022, you may have a 12v only fridge. If you do and you have no solar, your batteries will be dead by morning.
You need to post the make and model number of the fridge and water heater.
Furnace, water pump, thermostat, vent fans, entertainment system all are12v.

 

[tomkatb]

Your rv is similar to mine in size.

If being careful your battery usage per day will be about what you have. Not running the furnace. The furnace could use 50 ah per day. 50-100 ah is sort of typical use for you per day. We use about 100 due to running a cpap. Batteries should not be discharged over 50% or it shortens their lives. So you have. 100 ah or so available.

Assumes you do have a propane furnace. Not very common today. Or your batteries will be not good by morning. Should not discharge over. 50%.

We had 440 ah of golf cart batteries. We could make two nights.

Inverters are mostly optional. They are real power hogs. If you have one keep it off mostly. Always with residential fridges.

Solar prep means there is a connection for panels likely on the roof. And, they ran a set of wires to the battery. Would allow you to install a small solar system. Need a controller and panels installed. Less than $1000. But you need more batteries. Another $6-800.

Need a French press setup for coffee. Likely the best coffee there is. Propane to heat the water. We use the Go Joe that uses cups. And a
Kherig machine when plugged in.

 

[Reverse_snowbird]

You need to figure out what operates on battery power. Usually it's the overhead lights, electronic ignition for refrigerator (if it's propane), water heater, water pump, furnace, furnace fans and perhaps an overhead fan. Tvs can be 12v or 120v.

The microwave, air conditioning, electric outlets all operate on shore power. They are not connected to the battery.
When you connect to shore power, everything in the rig operates and the batteries charge.
There is a trickle charge from your vehicle to charge the battery when you drive.
Since you're going camping this weekend, you might try disconnecting from shore power and seeing how you like camping without power.

We did it when we had a trailer, but we probably spent more in power banks, flashlights, batteries and fans than we would have spent on campgrounds. It was the lack of air conditioning when traveling in the summer that was our breaking point. Unfortunately, we also used our microwave frequently and really missed being able to use it.
A big enough generator with an rv port could operate the rig, but that comes with noise, fumes and maintenance.

If you're going on a long trip, look into 'Boondockers Welcome' or 'Harvest Hosts' where you may find campsites with power at little to no cost. State, local campgrounds and Corps of Engineers or National Forests are cheap and usually have power. Some small towns have campgrounds at no cost in city parks.
We like app 'ParkAdvisor' to locate campgrounds.

 

[Aussieguy]

Since you got a 5th wheel you got plenty of room to put stuff like solar panels batteries and inverter

Also check the fridge it might be a residential with multiple power options

The first thing I would do is add a good string of solar panels it may be just all you need if you just use minimal power

Since you going room on roof look to see if you can use larger residential sized panels they got higher voltages which will be good for the installed wiring

I bought mine from Facebook new 370w 9 busbar…. forget bi-facial they only a benefit if you can mount panels tilted so sun gets at back of panel

Prices for panels is a lot cheaper if you can go bigger…
RV panels you pay premium. And stay away from KIT pricing
You guaranteed to save a lot by buying separate

2 can sit side by side along roof
Get the panel measurements before you buy so you can go on the roof and use a cardboard template

Spend the time studying the best panel layout and make choices on eventually adding more panels later

buy stuff like controllers and wiring based on the maximum so you don’t have to keep swapping out expensive stuff every time wife says …
how about we try boondocking 2 days and running tv for a few hours
Next year….Honey can I watch tv while drying my hair and heating K cups

Good thing is a well thought out system can be done in stages

Add just one good size string of panels with a good sized 50-60 amp controller
Can be still be used if you upgrade later

For now just see how that works with you AGM

If you don’t last overnight …. Go lithium
But get a minimum 200ah lifrepo4 single batteries with 200 am BMS and Bluetooth monitoring

You got room and you can add more later too !

When it comes time to get serious and add inverter you can stay 12v add a second string of panels and a second controller


OR look at swapping over to 24 volt as most controllers can do 12 or 24 battery… if you decide 24 just add second battery in series

Inverter look at smaller ones < 3000w
power sharing will be required

or go with a large 3000 with 2 hot leads that can power just about everything depending on you battery capacity

Such as look at Victron muliplus as a guide

Don’t expect to run air condition more than a couple of hours unless you spend a lot of $$$$$$

 

[golfnutjetsfan]

wife found a site with 30A electric no water/sewer so we chickened out about electricity use. I did try to use my inductive meter to measure the draw on the whole trailer with very little on but the meter wouldn't read, most likely because of the heavy insulation on my 30A adapter. We did almost run out of fresh water so that is something else I will have to monitor the use of. What a great adventure!

 

[tomkatb]

We often use 30 amp outlets while traveling. We put the fridge and water heater on propane.

The two ac units draw over 20 amps running. Thus we start them the first day one at a time. They are set at different temperatures so it is unlikely they would come on at the same time. We have easy starts.

Then we are very careful about energy usage. Never an issue.

Except in the park near Reno. They had system issues. low voltage. Not our issue.