First time in the RV
My wife, son, and I are going camping for the firs time since we got our Flagstaff Microlite 23LB travel trailer this weekend. We won't have any hookups. Wondering if anyone can provide any last minut...
Forum Discussion
SpeakEasy wrote:
jaws,
Earlier this summer we also did a dry camping trip. Our campout was five days. Again - I have the same trailer as you. Your mileage will vary, but we got between 60 and 65 hours from our battery. (I had a second one on hand to swap out at that point, and if you can get your hands on one, that would really help ease your mind). I do not have the electric awning, so that is a factor that is different between yours and mine. If you have to raise and lower the awning several times, that will impact your battery life.
I only put about 25 or 30 gallons in my fresh water tank to start off with, and I did run out. I had to carry about 15 more gallons from a tap to my trailer to make it through our 5-day campout. Based on what you've said about your usage, I think you'll be fine on water if you start out with a full tank.
You do realize you won't be able to use air conditioning without a generator. Right? You also won't be able to use the microwave, and probably no hair dryer or coffee maker, unless you've got a pretty powerful inverter. If you do have an inverter that can handle these, you will run down the battery quickly.
-Speak
After discovering the issue with the water pump, I wanted to confirm that we'd be able to last significantly longer when there isn't an unwanted draw on power. I recreated the steps we took to go camping last weekend at home the past few days. See below:
1. Fully charged battery and let fridge completely cool down while plugged in.
2. Disconnected shore power and turned on propane for fridge.
3. Ran the water for a total of about 10 minutes (to use the pump).
4. Used the electric jack to raise/lower the trailer a few times.
5. Had a few LED lights on for a total of about 15 minutes.
6. Extended and retracted the electric awning
My battery gauge is 4 lights on the control panel (4 lights = 100%, 3 lights = 75%, etc.). After the above, I was down to 2 lights (50%) and the CO alarm started chirping because of low voltage. I don't quite understand what I'm missing if you were able to get 60 hours out of 1 battery. Our battery lasted 20 hours and then the CO alarm started beeping so we wouldn't be able to use anything anymore because I would have to disconnect the battery. Any advice would be appreciated.
