HELP! Needed to know this yesterday

Construction generators are not well liked at campgrounds - the noise is REALLY loud out in the woods - so the more you can limit the use, the better.

I would aim to do as Mbopp does - use it a bit at night just before bedtime and again first thing in the morning.

You might find that you enjoy dry camping. It's really not horrid. You can be just as comfortable dry camping as you can with hookups. And once you know you can do it without disaster, you can look into all those places you currently don't go because of no hookups.

Got the adapter stowed in the pass through, but definitely will call tomorrow and confirm on the gen hours. We used to tent camp, but that was, oh......several years ago. But I think given the circumstances and the need to support the new Ranger, if we're a bit chilly, we'll live through it.

The gen we have is pretty much like you see in a construction site....about 3' square, maybe more. It's our emergency gen for those times when the power is out for days and days. Not exactly lightweight to hoist into the truck, but we'll make it. When DH buys "tools", he buys "TOOLS"! And I'm the one who swore I would never, ever dry camp or anything close to it, but this is too important. Thanks again, all. Will report in on Camp Driveway.

I would definitely check with the ranger on using your generator. Find out when and how long you can us it...

Alot of places only allow you to use the generator from 8AM to 10AM and then again from $:30 PM to 7:30 PM... Some Natl Forest areas may allow you to use one from 8AM to 8PM. ALso some Natl Forest areas only allow certain generators to be used for fire control reasons...

Better to find all of this out before you show up with a generator.

You also should pick up a RV30A to 15A Long "DOGBONE" Adapter from WALMART. Looks like this


Try this out at CAMP DRIVEWAY connected to your generator and learn how to run your trailer off the generator. This will let your on-board converter charge up your battery. Hopefully you have a smart mode converter/charger on your trailer. Then you can re-charge in a quick three hour run time on the generator if allowed to run run your generator.

If you don't have the generator then purchase a smart mode portable battery charger and just plug that into the generator and charge you battery from that. If your charger has 20AMPS available and is a smart mode type it will charge you battery in a three hour time span. Try this out at Camp DRIVEWAY as well...

You can also nose your truck up next to the trailer battery and hookup a jumper set from the truck start battery but this will take a long time to re-charge your battery and of course your truck will have to be running all that time as well...

If you use your CAMP DRIVEWAY then no cheating when you start out - Do it just like you was at a camp ground and see how it works for the the one day/night run off the battery...

Roy Ken

Great ideas, that's why I asked y'all. Camp Driveway is free and we can do a test here. We do have a gen, but it's one of those 3' x 3' or larger...it's a monster. We already know we can't run it at night, but were thinking of charging in the afternoon, doing the candle/lantern thing overnight and then recharge if needed in the morning. We've already made the commitment to do this and picked a site that goes WAY back into the woods, hoping any gen noise will be minimal. The new Ranger told me that he has 2 Boy Scout troops, 1 Girl Scout troop and some others coming. It sounds like a lot of fun and after the tragic news we got Friday night, we are in dire need of something cheerful. Thanks for the great ideas, Camp Driveway it is.

Please, all the good thoughts and prayers for our wonderful Ranger's family...a darling wife and 3 small children. We camped there the end of the fall last year but with our longer trips this year and a couple even closer to home, this was our first trip to our home campground. This has undoubtedly been the worst trip we've ever had and so heart breaking....go camping and spend the better part of the weekend sobbing. Just turning into the entrance you could feel the stress leave and know that life would be good....or not. He was a very special young man.

You will get a range of answers because different rigs and different furnaces will provide different answers, and most especially, how cold it gets will make a huge difference. As somebody else pointed out, the really big consumer of power in such a trip will be the furnace blower motor. If it gets cold enough to run a lot, it will suck down the battery fairly quickly.

You could also go to a regular campground with electric and simply not plug in for one night.. If your battery doesn't make it, just plug back in.

Our normal routine was to run the furnace while we got ready for bed, turn it off & use more blankets, and fire it up again for breakfast.
With our P/U I learned one night of full running will deplete the battery.

You should probably make a DRY run in CAMP BACKYARD just like you would be doing camping without power.

You will find out what you need doing it this way.

One battery One night on running the furnace - The blower motor is the problem...

The automotive lights really draw the current as well. Each bulb will pull 1AMP. Four or five light bulbs lit up will drain your battery pretty quick.

I would bring along a second battery.

You mentioned the next morning you can re-charge your one battery. How are you going to do this...

Alot of public camp grounds have generator run time restrictions in place. If you planning on using a generator then you need to know if the camp ground allows you to use one. Your trailer shore power cable needs to have an adapter to be able to plug into at least a 2KW Honda type Generator so you can power up the on-board converter/charger unit to charge your battery. It will take a min of three hours if your converter puts out 14.4VDC. If you converter is a single mode type and puts out 13.6VDC then the best thing to do is bring along a smart mode 20AMP Charger and plug it into the generator 120VAC and connect to your battery terminals to charge it up.

It will take some planning...

Roy Ken

If you can park your TT at home, why don't you try it out overnight at home? Then you'll know for sure how long you can heat?

If you can't heat all night, can you heat in a.m. to warm up and use more blankets overnight?