Boondocking and working with no electricity
Hey all, obligatory "just started fulltiming" (class C Coachmen leprechaun 32 ft) and we have been thinking about boondocking with the weeks that we have to be away from a thousand trails campgrounds....
Forum Discussion
The standard "house battery" in a all Class C motor homes is barely adequate to run the lights for one night ! On top of that the standard converter/charger is far from optimal.
Anything you do is going to cost money. Your first investment should be a GOOD battery monitor like a Victron BMV-700. Now you will know at a quick glance how much power you are using and how much energy you have left in your batteries.
Second, will be better batteries. This a big problem on a Class C because there is never enough space for better batteries. The cheapest upgrade is two 6V golf cart batteries from Sam's or Costco. They will probably almost DOUBLE your run time for the same load.
If you are running a laptop, instead of plugging it into a 120VAC inverter, buy a 12VDC charger specific for that laptop. Mucj more efficient.
Anything you do is going to cost money. Your first investment should be a GOOD battery monitor like a Victron BMV-700. Now you will know at a quick glance how much power you are using and how much energy you have left in your batteries.
Second, will be better batteries. This a big problem on a Class C because there is never enough space for better batteries. The cheapest upgrade is two 6V golf cart batteries from Sam's or Costco. They will probably almost DOUBLE your run time for the same load.
If you are running a laptop, instead of plugging it into a 120VAC inverter, buy a 12VDC charger specific for that laptop. Mucj more efficient.
