Little boondocking setup help?

professer dan, i do not know if my battery voltage drops to 12.1 volts .
i never measure it .
i was an electrician when i was a kid in the late 1960's .
i learned about the refer control being voltage critical within the first dry camping we did in about 1995.
the refer tells me if my voltage is too low .
my rv batteries get charged on 120V the day before each trip and i fully disconnect the rv batts fully charged when i store my trailer .
i did upgrade to AGM Exide Edge for the 2 batts in my pickup.
my rv batts are old but work well . i will find some serious RV batts soon , even though i have no issues now .
we dry camp with others . i stole the 4 battery jumper cable trick from one of the older campers after observing him .
since then we have had never lost our refer controller .
the kind of camping we do always involves at least one other camper .
sometimes 8 or 9 units .
sometimes in a forest service type campground but just as often dispersed camping that is readily available .
a lot of our camping is outside .
we spend our days walking , hiking, mountain biking , in the lake , etc.
we always build large campfires and spend the evening retelling the same old stories until it is time to turn in .
we use the various LED headlamps and lanterns , but always use our propane coleman lantern to take the chill off the travel trailer while getting ready for bed .
we have a propane bottle mr buddy heater that does not use up battery capacity but will heat up our 21T komfort .
in the morning we always boil water on the inside stove for tea / hot chocolate .
this takes the chill off the trailer also.
we often do an early october campout with a big circle of friends .
the campfire runs all day and into the evening and is about a 4 foot diameter .
everybody helps get firewood because we like the warmth and comraderie .
we still do not stay in our trailers much .
we use a couple of EZ-UP Quik-Shades ourselves and so do our friends .
we mostly cook on a coleman stove and a portable grill .
so the trailer for us is just a place to sleep , take a shower , have a clean bathroom , and transport our gear to the camp spot .
we have an aftermarket mattress , use a down comforter , plenty of fleece blankets and are cozy even without 120V .

Different people have different things that work for them and this is simply what works for us:
1. We carry extra fresh water in refillable 6 gal jerry jugs to put back in the onboard tank
2. I put real tires on our waste water tote do take gray water to the dump station
3. For electrical- use LED lights and turn off everything that you do not need. If you tow with an open truck, you can carry as many batteries in the back as you can afford or have room for. I have two sets of heavy duty jumper cables that I cut the ends off of. One set is hard wired to the onboard battery with a winch connector on the other end. Extra batteries are wired parallel in the back of the truck with the other set of cables attached and another winch connector. When I get to where I am going and unhook, I just hook the winch connectors together. This works for us.

First, get a Honda eu2000i Companion, which does have the 30A plug, although you will need an adapter from the generator to the RV's 30A connector. Then you can go from there. Another 2000 watt Honda can be paired via a set of parallel cables, giving 3500 usable watts so you can run the A/C and such.

Having a reliable generator is the first step before even thinking of solar.

You also want to think about things you don't want sucking power. Do you have any 12V TV, or stereo that have remotes? Well in order to "hear" the remote they need power which means you have a parasitic load. Unplug them or put hard switches on them to kill them off dead. anything that is plugged into 12 volts may have a parasitic load even when turned off.

It's pretty cheap these days to convert your lights to LEDs which will help. They draw a fraction of the power of incandescent bulbs.

Catalytic heater.

Others have covered the generator thing pretty well.

Dakzuki wrote:
...Do you have any 12V TV, or stereo that have remotes? Well in order to "hear" the remote they need power which means you have a parasitic load....

Good point, I never thought of that. In one trailer the tv works from an inverter so I turn the inverter off when not in use. In the other trailer though, the tv is plugged directly into 12v. I'm going to check how much current the 12v tv is using in standby.

the batteries are easy postive to negative to connect them together then hook up the remaining two as normal..first thing i would do was figure out your power draws..stuff like the fridge sometimes has 12v power for lighting the burners and running electronics.. convert to leds if can..
this may help shows how two six volts are wired

http://www.rvdoctor.com/2011/02/charging-6-volt-rv-batteries.html

mlts22 wrote:
First, get a Honda eu2000i Companion, which does have the 30A plug, although you will need an adapter from the generator to the RV's 30A connector. Then you can go from there. Another 2000 watt Honda can be paired via a set of parallel cables, giving 3500 usable watts so you can run the A/C and such.

Having a reliable generator is the first step before even thinking of solar.

That is good advice.

mlts22 wrote:
First, get a Honda eu2000i Companion, which does have the 30A plug, although you will need an adapter from the generator to the RV's 30A connector. Then you can go from there. Another 2000 watt Honda can be paired via a set of parallel cables, giving 3500 usable watts so you can run the A/C and such.

Having a reliable generator is the first step before even thinking of solar.

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AMEN - I have two Honda Eu2000i - one alone will not run the A/C on the 5er, but using two Honda's with the parallel kit I can plug in the 30amp plug from the RV.

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Kach,

Your situation can be made very simple - no need to make it more complex than necessary. Just wire your two 6V batteries in series as you say, using cable as heavy as automotive jumper cables along with the proper lead or brass battery connectors available at any automotive parts store.

If you don't need air conditioning, but want to both charge your batteries and operate a small (900 watts or less) microwave in your RV (plus small appliances such as a TV, computer, etc.) all you need is a quiet little 1000 watt generator - such as a Honda EU1000i. You can plug any 30 amp RV almost directly into the Honda's 120V AC receptacle using a simple 30 amp to 15 amp adapter that plugs onto the end of your RV's 30 amp hookup cable and then plugging the adapter into the Honda's connector. We ordered our adapter from Camping World for a few bucks to do this.

We just completed a 9 day dry camping trip (parked in the shade the whole time) with two Group 29 12V batteries wired in parallel (about equal in capacity to your two 6V golf cart batteries in series) using a tiny little ultra-quiet Honda EX650 (650 watt) generator to top up the batteries about every 3rd day. This little generator runs at full power almost as quiet (54dBA) as a Honda UE1000i does when it's idling (53dBA).

We do have a microwave in the RV and air conditioning - which we use a large built-in generator for whenever needed ... but this large generator is not needed at all for any of our battery charging. We consider it as a boondocking luxury item mainly useful when the DW wants to dry her hair or when we're camping in the extreme heat.

We could go many weeks (not counting the grey, black, and fresh water tank capacities) this way regardless of whether the sun is shining or not ... how long we can go depends upon how much EX650 fuel we carry and how much propane we carry.

Thanks for the tips! I'm getting ready for our first multi-day boondock in August (I will hopefully do some driveway testing ahead of time). I still need to buy a generator and may even try to rent one until I can further determine what I need/want. I'm having second thoughts about living without AC...