How long will single battery last with heater running?
We may have our first opportunity to dry camp mid winter for one night. Do I stand a chance of surviving on a single deep cycle 12V battery, or should I just plan on buying my first i2000?
Forum Discussion
- I like it to get out of bed into 18 degree air (the bunkhouse in Ennis MT), put my feet on a 2F floor, go to the pot belly stove, shovel kindling in it and get the fire re-ignited, then dress for a 100 yard walk to the "facility" using a hurricane lantern. Don't dare sit in there, you'd stick. A half inch rope with lodgepole posts guide a person through the white out. Lose the guide rope, you die. I guess this changes a person forever when they are fifteen years of age.
Smoky the dog loved it. When the stove warmed up he'd whine then uncurl and lay flat belly to the stove until he started panting, then incrementally he'd move away from the stove and as the fire died down back toward it. At 0600 he would be curled tighter than a diamondback.
And it wasn't a hermit that woke we at two ahem in Zacatecas. Not by a long shot. Not with all the screeching coming from his rig. - Thank you for all the great answers.
We're making a trip in early winter. Trailer will be winterized, before we leave, question which I have to answer before we leave, will it be warm enough to carry water in the tank, or wait until we get to our destination.
Destination is too far for one day of driving. I'm generally about the destination instead of the journey. So, do I leave on Friday after work and put in several hours of travel, or wait until Saturday and plan two days of travel?
Not quite dry camping, but wasn't sure how to ask the question. Overnight in WM or rest area, or something like that, would battery last long enough to provide heat through the night? Sounds like since it's a brand new battery, unless it's stupid cold out, we should be ok. I can see other advantages to having a portable generator, maybe two in the future to run A/C ;) philh wrote:
We may have our first opportunity to dry camp mid winter for one night. Do I stand a chance of surviving on a single deep cycle 12V battery, or should I just plan on buying my first i2000?
Maybe you should instead pass on the opportunity and winterize your unit instead, and step into cold weather camping gradually. A lot can depend on the weather forecast for the night you choose to camp overnight, so there is no good answer, unless you subscribe to the Boy Scout Theory of Be Prepared, for anything, which could get expensive.- Put the trailer in your drive and turn on the furnace blower on for 20 minutes, off for 20 minutes over and over while watching the battery voltage. It doesn't need to be cold or at night and the burner doesn't have to fire up to run the blower. You should get a rough idea of how long the battery will last.
Every trailer is different, even more so with different users. Our trailer has gone two nights and three days with the furnace set low on nights with temps in the mid 20's. All we had as a battery was a grp 27, 95 Ah marine and I knew it wouldn't make it when we extended the trip. After the third day we turned the truck around and hooked up a heavy set of jumper cables while running the truck a hour or so before bedtime. It wasn't the most efficient or even the best charge for the battery but we never ran out of power either. SoundGuy wrote:
philh wrote:
We may have our first opportunity to dry camp mid winter for one night. Do I stand a chance of surviving on a single deep cycle 12V battery, or should I just plan on buying my first i2000?
Seriously?!! You'd actually BUY a genset just for ONE NIGHT of camping?!! :h Surely it would be dramatically cheaper to just "buy, beg, or steal" a second battery for ONE NIGHT! If that's not convincing enough then why would you not just RENT a genset for a day ... good grief! :S
As for all the Chicken Little "the sky is falling" comments about winter camping and freezing pipes - nonsense. We have several campgrounds here in Ontario that are open year 'round (Valens Lake Conservation Area, MacGregor Provincial Park, Pinery Provincial Park, Mew Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park, etc) and offer winter camping that many take advantage of, no problems at all ... you just gotta approach it rationally but it can and is easily done every winter by legions of campers, 'though personally I don't see the thrill in standing around a campfire when it's -25C outside. :E
While I agree with you for one night, you are wrong about the Chicken Little comment.SoundGuy wrote:
. . . As for all the Chicken Little "the sky is falling" comments about winter camping and freezing pipes - nonsense. We have several campgrounds here in Ontario that are open year 'round (Valens Lake Conservation Area, MacGregor Provincial Park, Pinery Provincial Park, Mew Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park, etc) and offer winter camping that many take advantage of, no problems at all ... you just gotta approach it rationally but it can and is easily done every winter by legions of campers, 'though personally I don't see the thrill in standing around a campfire when it's -25C outside. :E
I suspect that RV’s sold in Canada, especially those purchased by folks who plan to camp during the Canadian winter, tend to be a little better insulated than the vast majority of those sold in the US. For a typical US RV with minimal insulation, exposed tanks, and pipes with minimal covering from the elements, anything below about 20*F probably means frozen pipes, which will not thaw until the weather is again above freezing for a while.
Waynephilh wrote:
We may have our first opportunity to dry camp mid winter for one night. Do I stand a chance of surviving on a single deep cycle 12V battery, or should I just plan on buying my first i2000?
Seriously?!! You'd actually BUY a genset just for ONE NIGHT of camping?!! :h Surely it would be dramatically cheaper to just "buy, beg, or steal" a second battery for ONE NIGHT! If that's not convincing enough then why would you not just RENT a genset for a day ... good grief! :S
As for all the Chicken Little "the sky is falling" comments about winter camping and freezing pipes - nonsense. We have several campgrounds here in Ontario that are open year 'round (Valens Lake Conservation Area, MacGregor Provincial Park, Pinery Provincial Park, Mew Lake in Algonquin Provincial Park, etc) and offer winter camping that many take advantage of, no problems at all ... you just gotta approach it rationally but it can and is easily done every winter by legions of campers, 'though personally I don't see the thrill in standing around a campfire when it's -25C outside. :EAllegroD wrote:
smkettner wrote:
Second battery should make it easy and a lot less $$ than a Honda 2000.
I'll help spend your money. Get both. As Mex pointed out, there are a lot of things to consider and I was estimating 3 AM. Then after a few recharges it will be 2 AM, then 1 AM, as the battery now is and will not fully recover. Draining below 50% will kill it early. Most modern furnaces will not ignite with batteries too low. (Now can we discuss Peukert’s Law?)
And as someone pointed out, cold days and not being able to run the genny all night will make things immediately worse and as someone else pointed out, if the pipes freeze, it is immediate disaster.
You are in a cold land.smkettner wrote:
Second battery should make it easy and a lot less $$ than a Honda 2000.
I'll help spend your money. Get both. As Mex pointed out, there are a lot of things to consider and I was estimating 3 AM. Then after a few recharges it will be 2 AM, then 1 AM, as the battery now is and will not fully recover. Draining below 50% will kill it early.
And as someone pointed out, cold days and not being able to run the genny all night will make things immediately worse and as someone else pointed out, if the pipes freeze, it is immediate disaster.
You are in a cold land.- How cold is winter and how warm do you expect to be in the RV?
With conservation and a good battery you should be fine.
Second battery should make it easy and a lot less $$ than a Honda 2000.
