If you are going to camp off the power grid alot you will need to consider a couple of things. The first thing I got was 2KW Honda Generator and plugged the 30AMP shore power cable directly into the 120VAC Receptacle of the Honda Generator using a RV30A-15A Dual Honda adapter.
I figured this would be all I would need to do to successfully camp of the power grid. Real quick I learned that here on the east side of the US the camp sites including the Natl Parks and Forest sites all seem to have generator use hours usually two hours in the morning and maybe three hours in the early evening which did not give me enough time to re-charge my battery and keep camping.
With this in mind I decided i would have to beef-up my power on my OFF-ROAD POPUP with the theory in mind all I have to do is make the one day/nite battery run and then connect to the shore power power to my generator and be able to re-charge my battery in this short generator run time period.
This required me to change out my Converter to the smart-mode converter/charger, install additional batteries (I use three GP24 batteries now), install larger battery cables and use good quality BLUE SEA Marine type batterty switches and Fuse Blocks, replace the incandescant type automotive interior bulbs with LED lighting, Use Inverters for my 120VAC appliances that I want to use like the HDTV, NOAH WX Radios, electric blanket, motion detectors etc, use my Mr Buddy heater when it was cold and not use the furnace blower motor at all which draws between 6A and 8A from the battery, and practice power savings where you can.
We just extension cords to whatever we wanted to run on 120VAC when camping off the power grid,
We was able to make it thru the one day/nite camping and had power left over with my 255AH battery setup. We watched HDTV, DVDs, ran what interior lights we wanted to, site around watching TV using an electric blanket if it was cool, I got to play with my ham Radio some, lit up the outside lights and greeting pole light - even run a 20-inch fan to keep mosquitoes off of us, and did just about everything we normally do at a regular camp site with electric power. the exception was of course was no air conditioning, no use of the high powered microwave (A low powered model from Walmart works just fine warming up coffee etc), and tried not to use the furnace blower motor unless absolutely necessary.
The next morning I would connect my 30A Shore Power cablae to the generator and use the on-board Converter/Charger to re-charge my battery bank. This will only take 2-3 hours to recharge to the 90% charge state. I would make my coffee for the day when the generator was running and pour up in a thermos. Of course the short two hours aloowed to run the generator would not get my batteries to the 90% charge stae but when i got to do this again that following early evening generator run I was able to get to the 90% charge state and more with no problem. We usually got to run the generator for three hours in the early evening time frame.
This all works for us just fine and have been doing this for a few years now...
My beefed-up battery and use of genarator story.... Just adding 120WATTS of solar power should really help in this effort as well - My next project one of these days.
* This post was
edited 04/24/12 04:26pm by RoyB *
My Posts are IMHO based on my experiences - PM me Roy and Carolyn
RETIRED DOAF/DON/DOD/CONTR RADIO TECH (42yrs)
K9PHT (Since 1957) 146.52M
2010 F150, 5.4,3:73 Gears,SCab
2008 Starcraft 14RT EU2000i GEN
2005 Flagstaff 8528RESS
POPUP PHOTOs-Pg52-Pg56
Roy, in the picture on the right with the two generators, are those both yours, or was it just a picture from somewhere to demonstrate the 30-15 adapter installed? I'm just curious, and what the brand is of the yellow one. It looks like a Generac, but they're usually orange. Too bad those two can't be run in parallel.
Roy likes to use photos from Google and other internet sources, unless it's pics of his rig (I think to make many of us envious... I WANT THAT RIG!). Amazon has the same photo shown for the adapter.
Generac has been changing colors lately. I saw a tan for sale at the National Western Stock Show earler this year.
2004 Toyota Tundra SR5 (V8, 4WD, TP, TRD)
2005 Fleetwod Allegance with axle flip
Honeywell 2000i Generator
Me, DW, DS, DD, Dog & Camping Kitty
Oops sure wasnt using the google images to indicate any of those belong to me... Well actually alot of those items I have pictures of do belong to me, i just dont dont have a photo of them on a public forum to show for discussion.. I have a hugh problem trying to create a working photo session on photobucket showing things I am discussing that is already been taken by someone else so I just use their photos when I can.
Didnt realize it was being thought of as myself trying to make someone feel envious or anything like that. I'm too old for that... I was thinking the public google images was a neat way to display photos of items of discussions.
I guess I better back step and delete all of those I have cut and paste and go do something else I guess... I will clean out all of my discussions that are current on the net today. It may take a few days to find all the others... Oh well...
The RV30A-15A DUAL HOnda Adapter shown is from Amazon and that is where I purchased it. So I guess I should not use their photo to discuss it huh??? ALso NO, the other generator sitting in the photo of the DUAL HONDA Adapter is not like one of mine. It is Honda EU3000i model generator or maybe a KIPOR model. I posted the photo to show where the DUAL HONDA adapter is used on a generator. My generator is a EU2000i model which has been stated several times..
Thanks for the update here... I will reframe from using public source photos of items I am discussing. Hope others on here do the same I guess... sorry about that folks...
JLTN James - I think I have deleted any photos in this current roll thru set of forums that might be construed as sometime I have a photo being displayed of something I dont personally own. thanks for bringing this up...
That certainly was not my intentions by any means... I was just posting photos for discussion point only.
I will refraim from letting these sort of things get posted in the future..
bondebond - It does bring up a good point however that I should be relying on my photos for my possessions instead of copying other's photos that have been made public. Also I have been noticing since I started doing this about a month ago the links do not always stay in place and I end up with a photo showing a small red X in the upper left corner.
I have taken alot of photos over the past few years of my OFF-ROAD POPUP outings and TENT camping years but it seems like a hugh task of getting them into a public view program like photobucket. Emails are much easier as you just cut-n-paste and go on... In my case this would involve many sub-directories of public view photos. It just seems to be much easier to just search google images for the photos of the item you want to discuss. Makes one wonder why Google Images has all of them on display anyway I guess.
The strange thing in doing this is usually the google images I get displayed is somehow geared on my past history of searches for these same items using google. Google somehow knows these are just my history of searches.
Who knows haha... Since being retired I spend way too much time on here anyway... It seems that no one really cares how someone else accomplished the task at hand anyway. It always comes down to what they can afford to do. I like to think I am helping someone with my comments and past experiencies but it doesnt come across that way sometimes...
I really should be cleaning out the 40 plus years of keeping all of this stuff stached away somewhere in the garage and out buildings. I would hate to be the first one to pass away here and leave all of this mess for the wife to deal with...
I usually just crawl back into my corner again and let the real pros handle things. They all much better at explaining things than I am anyway. I always fall back on my old line "What do I know - I'm just a farm boy from the CORN fields of Southern Illinois Horse Creek country." Reality sets in...
It's amazing how the same problem areas amoung the folks that shows up on the forums. You will be reading about one persons problems and what he did to fix the problem and 30 minutes later someone else will post almost the same exact problem. After I read three or four of these posts then here I am again back into the middle of it... Think I need to find another hobby to spend my time at.
I tore my whole POPUP roof raising relays and cables out at the end of last years camping season helping someone out with identifing part numbers etc. Of course I didnt put it all back together like I should have and now here I sit and cant raise my POPUP top haha... You watch when I finally start to piece it all back together again I wont find a few of the pieces and will have to go out and buy another small item from Amazon.
It is not hard to figure out, but does require some research on your power needs. Your battery is rated in amp hours -- amps used X hours you use them. You should only use 1/2 of your rated amp hours or you will shorten your battery's useful life.
If most of your battery use is for lights, it may be very economical for you to replace your current bulbs with LED ones. I did that. I get even better light quality at a fraction of the amps.
In my case, I run my refrigerator on propane, so that is not an amp hour factor. My furnace fan is an amp hog, though, so I turn the furnace off at night if I can get by with just another blanket and a sleeping hat.
Once you have figured out how you use your pop-up for boondocking, you can look at three options. Buying a solar recharging system is great for some. Buying a generator is great for some. For me and the way I use my pop-up, just buying a second battery made the most fiscal sense. I carry the second, fully charged, battery in the back of my SUV and switch batteries when needed. Given the way I use my pop-up, your mileage may vary, I can boondock for a week this way.
oldfrat wrote: It is not hard to figure out, but does require some research on your power needs. Your battery is rated in amp hours -- amps used X hours you use them. You should only use 1/2 of your rated amp hours or you will shorten your battery's useful life.
If most of your battery use is for lights, it may be very economical for you to replace your current bulbs with LED ones. I did that. I get even better light quality at a fraction of the amps.
In my case, I run my refrigerator on propane, so that is not an amp hour factor. My furnace fan is an amp hog, though, so I turn the furnace off at night if I can get by with just another blanket and a sleeping hat.
Once you have figured out how you use your pop-up for boondocking, you can look at three options. Buying a solar recharging system is great for some. Buying a generator is great for some. For me and the way I use my pop-up, just buying a second battery made the most fiscal sense. I carry the second, fully charged, battery in the back of my SUV and switch batteries when needed. Given the way I use my pop-up, your mileage may vary, I can boondock for a week this way.
Hope this helps.
This is pretty much how I have been doing it. I upgraded the wiring and added Anderson SB 50 amp connectors on the PUP and battery boxes, also a pigtail for my smart charger. That makes connecting batteries to the PUP and charger very quick and easy. We found 2 group 27 batteries will handle at least 4-5 days even using the furnace some at night. We are VERY frugal with lighting - I added some battery LED lights in addition to the regular fixtures along with a 12 volt flourescent that plugged in where the bunk fan normally went.
One thing that I think helps with the furnace is to replace the thermostat with a digital unit. That allows you to control the temperater (and even know what the temperature is) and also cycles the furnace more effieciently. Only $20 - $25 and a few minutes to do it.
I always knew that LED were more efficient that the incandescent bulbs, but really got an eye opener when I switched over to LED on our new (to us Travel Trailer.) I changed out 14 921 and 94 bulbs to LED. I measured the current with all of them on before and after 20.3 amps vs. 2.3 amps!!!!
I have decided to go with a Honda EU2000i generator on the travel trailer, but had very good success with 2 group 27's on the PUP. The added 120 volt appliances were the main reason.
I also carried an inverter with battery clips and a smart charger so I could go to daily "booster charges" when I stayed beyond my batteries capacity. Using the smart charger allows a 25 amp rate charge while idling the TV engine. Not the most efficient, but the few times I used it we had plenty of battery power for over 2 weeks.
Jim & JoAnne
2007 Toyota Tundra Double Cab
2004 Starcraft 11RT (Replaced by)
2011 Eclipse Milan 18CK Travel Trailer
My comments were not intended to criticize or reprimand in any way, shape, or form. My comment about using of Google images was intended to be informative for those who are not familiar with your recent posts since usually you have a disclaimer stating which images were from “public” sources, which is probably a good CYA idea. I do not have an issue with using “public” images and have done that myself a few times. As long as they are not used to sell or otherwise make a profit or intentionally passing them off as your own creative work there shouldn’t be a major issue.
I know use of your own photos isn’t intended to make me and anybody envious or jealous. My intent was to complement you on your rig. I really like it and would love to have one similar if possible in the future. Please DO NOT stop posting your photos, knowledge, experiences, and insights. I’ve gotten some really good information and ideas for modifications from them and I’m sure many others have too. You’ve been very helpful to others on this forum and for that I thank you.
In short, I apologize if any of my comments have caused anything adverse. That is never my intention. Unfortunately in written medium it’s hard to convey the subtle non-verbal communication we are all used to using (gestures, body language, tone of voice, etc).
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