How long can you realistically dry camp?
Never having dry camped before, we plan to do so on our trip out west this summer. We'll be gone for 3 months, and we'll be looking for ways to camp a little cheaper for some nights. We have a gener...
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We do it quite comfortably with our 255AH Battery setup and a 2KW Honda Generator.
We run all of the 120VAC items we want to use from an INVERTER connected to the battery bank and 12VDC items direct connected to the 12VDC distribution panel.
Our game plan is use the BATTERIES until they drop in capacity to around 12.0VDC which is telling us they are approximately at 50% charge state. This has been planned out to occur around 8AM each morning where we are allowed to run our generator for a few hours. We connect the shore power cable form the trailer to the generator and power up the on-board smart mode converter/charger which will re-charge our 255AH Battery bank back up to its 90% charge state. Using smart mode technology this will take around three hours of generator run time. In our case if we had SOLAR PANELS we could run our generator until the high current demand will drop to around 8AMP DC and then the solar panels could provide that much DC CURRENT to finish the battery bank charge while in high SUN for the remaining of the SUN DAY. If the batteries are 50% depleted they will demand around 20AMPS of DC CHARGE CURRENT per battery if you want to get them recharged in a three hour charge time.
Our 255Ah Battery bank can be cycled between 50% and 90% charge states for 12-14 times without doing damage to the batteries. Then they will need to be charged to a full 100% charge state which will take around 12-14 hours of charge time. This is usually when we head for the house. Most places here on the East side of the US will not allow the generator to run continuous for that amount of time. Even just running the generator three hours a day consumes gasoline so you have to plan for that as well...
Of course dealing with dirty water from the sink and black water disposal becomes a problem. Most places we go to usually has a close by toilet somewhere and most of the the time with fresh water. We have water totes to make runs back and forth from the remote toilet area to keep going.
We do this style of camping alot during the season. Our biggest battery drain time of course is between 6PM and 11PM when all the lighting and home entertainment items are running. We will usually draw around 20AMPS of DC Current continuous during this time frame. The we drop back to the usual 1-2AMPS for parasitic drains for the remaining time.
Camping off the power grid for us is not much different than camping at Electric sites except we don't get to use the Air COnditioner. We however do not go without all of the other items. Watch HDTV from the local towns everynight keeping tabs on the weather and keep in touch with kids - pay some bills-and surf the internet. I also get in a bunch of HAM RADIO ops... Not like the tent camping days where a bag full of D-CELLS and a jug of white gasoline for the bright lamps outside was all you needed with flashlights and candles...
Roy and Carolyn
We run all of the 120VAC items we want to use from an INVERTER connected to the battery bank and 12VDC items direct connected to the 12VDC distribution panel.
Our game plan is use the BATTERIES until they drop in capacity to around 12.0VDC which is telling us they are approximately at 50% charge state. This has been planned out to occur around 8AM each morning where we are allowed to run our generator for a few hours. We connect the shore power cable form the trailer to the generator and power up the on-board smart mode converter/charger which will re-charge our 255AH Battery bank back up to its 90% charge state. Using smart mode technology this will take around three hours of generator run time. In our case if we had SOLAR PANELS we could run our generator until the high current demand will drop to around 8AMP DC and then the solar panels could provide that much DC CURRENT to finish the battery bank charge while in high SUN for the remaining of the SUN DAY. If the batteries are 50% depleted they will demand around 20AMPS of DC CHARGE CURRENT per battery if you want to get them recharged in a three hour charge time.
Our 255Ah Battery bank can be cycled between 50% and 90% charge states for 12-14 times without doing damage to the batteries. Then they will need to be charged to a full 100% charge state which will take around 12-14 hours of charge time. This is usually when we head for the house. Most places here on the East side of the US will not allow the generator to run continuous for that amount of time. Even just running the generator three hours a day consumes gasoline so you have to plan for that as well...
Of course dealing with dirty water from the sink and black water disposal becomes a problem. Most places we go to usually has a close by toilet somewhere and most of the the time with fresh water. We have water totes to make runs back and forth from the remote toilet area to keep going.
We do this style of camping alot during the season. Our biggest battery drain time of course is between 6PM and 11PM when all the lighting and home entertainment items are running. We will usually draw around 20AMPS of DC Current continuous during this time frame. The we drop back to the usual 1-2AMPS for parasitic drains for the remaining time.
Camping off the power grid for us is not much different than camping at Electric sites except we don't get to use the Air COnditioner. We however do not go without all of the other items. Watch HDTV from the local towns everynight keeping tabs on the weather and keep in touch with kids - pay some bills-and surf the internet. I also get in a bunch of HAM RADIO ops... Not like the tent camping days where a bag full of D-CELLS and a jug of white gasoline for the bright lamps outside was all you needed with flashlights and candles...
Roy and Carolyn
