boondocking
We have been loving our new to us travel trailer this summer. This weekend we are boondocking/no electric hookup. We had moved up from a popup so we know ways to conserve a little, but I was wonderi...
Forum Discussion
Huntindog wrote:Crabbypatty wrote:Plugging into the car will NOT run the TT charger (convertor). You need 110 AC for this (shorepower)
Use portable lights instead of house lights. The water pump will kill the battery for sure, so use it sparingly. Your tow vehicle will charge the battery when plugged in. So hook it up and run car for an hour a day. Depending on your TT charger that could put 30 amps back in the battery. Use the campground showers or use baby wipes. When you get some extra cash add a second battery. As for a future generator stay away from the cheap loud ones and wait until you can buy a Yamaha or Honda inverter series gen. They run for a long time, use little fuel and as importantly they are quiet. So you and your neighbors will get along better.
It will charge a little off of the altenator.. But is so slow as to make it pretty much useless.
I tried this when I first started out and measured 1.6 amps going to the battery. About as inefficient as it gets for a V8 powered generator. :B
I wouldn't worry about the water pump draw. Sure it draws a lot of amps, but it can only do it until the water runs out.
At 2.8 gallons a minute, a 28 gallon tank is empty in 10 min. 42 gallons in 15. Water consumption is more of a problem than the 12 volt power the pump uses.
