Truck Campers 10 years from now?

Jeepers92 wrote:
Being close to the new year, was just wondering what kind of camper our children might be driving ....

I can see them being much more " Off Grid ", than what we have now. Using newer designed photo cells to charge nickle metal battery packs controlled by an on board central computer system. Think of a battery system 1/2 the size, and 4 times the capacity of our current best spiral batteries.
How about smaller generators running on a fuel cell, also tied to the central computer system. It would automatically sense all power use and charge, making the best choices for you. It would also sense propane usage, auto tune your TV, be your radio, weather station, Co2 monitor,etc...and provide this info to a small touch pad monitor.

Flexible plastic outer bodies with an integrated aluminum frame, 2 or 3 slides, using a hydraulic system. The slides would sealed with accordion silicone seals to reduce leaks. How about the opposing slides to one track for counter balance.

All the outside to inside outlets ( AC, vents, etc.), would be sealed with ridge type aluminum seals requiring no sealant and all accessable from the outside.
The black water system would contain a compaction system, and dry disposal to reduce requirements on the black tank. How about a system to take the gray water and use it to supply the commode?

A water system that would collect rain, dew, exc.

Oh well, enough musing. My spring project is rebuilding the nose on my Fox.

I can see Li-Ion batteries in the next ten years! Yes they are light, and probably going to be in the 400 amp hour range without going over 12" square and 12" tall. Though it might be thin panels, and several of them, with air space to dissipate heat when charging or discharging. There is already a post more than 1 year old of a full timer who was frustrated with the generator run time required by his inverter and all electric refrigerator. Personally I think that his electric refrigerator was drawing to much power, or not working properly, (or low on freon and both) or the wrong brand (Samsung hold up well to inverter power, and use much less power daily). So he had to replace a year old $800 battery pack, so bought a Li-Ion battery pack for a un-disclosed sum of money, and promised to send the factory some test data in real life situations. Thus he got a demonstration battery, hand assembled from several smaller 10 AH batteries to become his new battery pack.

What I am more interested in seeing is larger slide outs! Or perhaps a slide out, where the roof slides in, but the walls do not slide in nearly as far, or at all! We have all seen a roll top desk, why not slide the wall someplace else other then into the passenger compartment? Perhaps you have seen how easy it is to move a cubical at work, and taking out a wall section is fairly easy - why not have a removable wall section? I have a couple of other ideas too- so if you are a manufacture call me!

As for collecting dew and drinking it - the water processor would be expensive, and expensive to keep it working. What is in the Space Lab is drinking the "Dew" - it probably costs well over $10 per gallon of water processed, but it is much less expensive than bringing a new gallon of water to the space station for each person per day.

Someone asked about taking condensation from a A/C unit and using that for drinking water. While it might be fine to add a battery, and collect a gallon or two per month, I would not drink it, as there is dirt from the A/C coils, and other debris in the "Collected water". And I pointed out that the most energy efficient de-humidifiers consume 1 KW of power while taking 5 liters of water from the 80% humid air, or 200 watts per liter. If you pay $0.10 per KW, that is really expensive water. Imagine filling your 50 gallon water tank for 'only $4'. But at 40% RH and 60F, then the dehumidifier would only make about 1-2 liters per KW, or $12 per tank of water.

My 1972 camper came with a brochure for a 'waste disposal system' where the black and grey water is sprayed onto the hot section of exhaust pipe, and it all "Evaporates" into thin air! While it might work to evaporate 10 gallons on a 100 mile drive, it is not really practical, and probably dribbled enough water to make it not work at all. Anyway those systems are not for sale anymore - for some reason.

Probably will see more RV's with 2-3 A/C units (especially in the south) and more will come with 50 amp service than a 30 amp service.

You can already buy a inverter/charger that can sync with the campground grid, and with a 20 amp service, you could in theory run a 15 amp air conditioner, and other items. When the inverter senses output is less than 20 amps, it will slowly charge the battery, so that input never exceeds 20 amps (or user setpoint from 5-30 amps in 5 amp steps) and if the output exceeds 20 amps, the inverter can take power from the battery to make up what extra is required, up to the battery capacity and inverter capacity. Trace made the SW2512 back in 1997 that would do this - up to 2,500 watt capacity, and whatever your batteries or solar could provide!

As for energy efficiency, you will probably see more of the 15,000 Btu air conditioners that only consume the power of the older 13,500 Btu units. You will see much more efficient engines, such as the 3.5L 365 HP Ecoboost engine start to make it into motorhome chassis, and other places. Not this year though. Ford's 3.5L Ecoboost is not on the cab and chassis t-350 this year, but perhaps in the next 2 years it will be offered! And Ford has a copyright on the T-450 and T-550 names, so they will produce larger GVWR chassis sometime - lets hope sooner than later!

Have fun camping!

Fred.