Boondocking Questions.

Seeing that you're in Texas, I'd go solar. I'd pick up a 12V solar panel with a rating of around 100-120 watts. You can also get a decent PWM solar charge controller for around 50 bucks.

Thank you for the replies and advice. It a new battery just bought last week. I put it on the charger and charged it before I put it on the trailer. Kind of hard to estimate how much water we would use and on water restrictions here so hate to just use the water to see how much juice we go through. We have enough water in our lakes to last until this time next year then were out of water according the the smart folks in town government here. If the drought keeps up down here. So just waisting the water is out. We can get by on very little water we do it every weekend during hunting season. I am changing out the lights to led just have 8 lights in the trailer. If I were to go for a solar panel to charge the battery during the day what would be the best bang for the buck?

I can get the best part of a week out of a Group 27 battery, I may fall a day or so short. That’s with no electronics, only one light unless I temporarily need more and the water pump off until I need it. Very frugal, but so is your plan. Solar won’t work for me; I usually camp in heavy trees. The cheapest alternative might to carry a second battery you can just change out.

With 4 batteries and an inverter, and my wife in charge of electrical usage we can last about 2 hours. LOL
Dave

I first tested my 12v juice users and got an understanding of what uses what. My wife and I in conserve mode can enjoy dry camping on about 25ah per day. With our setup I can last about 4 or 5 days - and that puts our batteries at about 50%.

If you are only going to do this the one time...maybe rent a generator? You are right, not spending a whole chunk of cash for one week. However,I don't think you can get a week out of one battery. Your fridge does consume power, as well as the other items you noted.

A question..is that a 5 day work week, or a 7 day actual week? You 'might' squeeze 5..maybe, but not 7.




Gary Haupt

I doubt that you can make it, but here is a little test.
- Unplug your rig and let the battery rest for a few hours.
- Measure your battery voltage. It should be about 12.7 to 12.8 volts.
- Turn on ref, h2o heater and anything else you expect to use constantly and let it run for a week.
- Guestimate how much water you plan to use and turn on the water pump and pump that amount of water out of your tank (obviously, you will need to first put water in the tank).
- Guestimate how long you plan to leave which lights on total and turn them on and let them run for that amount of time.
- Radio or small inverter to charge cell phone batteries, same thing.
- Turn everything off and let your battery rest for a few hours and then measure your battery voltage.
If you are at 12.2 volts (or greater), then you should be good to go without doing any harm to your battery.
If lower than 12.1 volts, your battery life will be diminished over time....assuming you make a habit of doing this.

Have fun experimenting,
Steve

I have two group 31 batteries -- we do a lot of extreme boondocking --very low electricity usage. And I would not go more than 4 or 5 days on one battery -- I switch them when they get down to 12.1 volts, or 50 percent state of charge. If you go lower than that, they say you can shorten the battery life.

A solar charger will help a little -- but usually they produce only about 5 watts, not enough to matter much.

With two fresh group 31 batteries, you should be good for a week, no problem.