Battery power

Just a note: On Facebook I see a bunch of adds for systems like the one in the Original Post for prices that are very attractive.

So much so I smell a nearby fish market even though there is no nearby fish market. (Something smells fishy)

I'd love to hear from someone who gets "hooked".

Definitely!

Your RV already has the battery. All you need is a solar panel and charge controller - both of which are dirt-cheap nowadays.

Here's a handy, inexpensive way of hooking solar panels up to just about any trailer - without making any modifications to the trailer whatsoever:

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You simply plug your trailer's hitch connector into it. Power from the charge controller (Renogy's $20 Wanderer 10A PWM model) is supplied to your RV's house batteries through the Charging wire in the hitch connector.

The $13 Harbor Freight Apache 1800 protective case case is waterproof (when the lid is closed), so this rig can be left outdoors indefinitely.

I use it with a 100 watt solar panel (around $85) connected by 50 feet of wire. This portable arrangement allows the panel to be moved around to whatever part of the campsite has strong sunlight, and allows the panel to be quickly removed and stowed.

Why go through that process and just not hook up the solar controller right to the battery?

Thermoguy wrote:

Igotaname wrote:
What has been your experience with battery back up with Bluetti, Jackery, Goal Zero? I am thinking of boondocking and think the quite power with solar would be good.

How long to you plan to boondock? The batteries in your trailer might allow you to go 2 or 3 days without doing anything. Maybe you need to add a second, 3rd or 4th battery to get the job done. If your only going a couple days, you might not need to do anything, if you want to go a week, you might need to add something. You can get by with far less than those units, they include the battery which you have...

I treat boondocking like an extension of tent camping. I only use power when I need it and only mostly use lights, fridge, and water. We don't sit in the trailer with the lights on at night, we sit by the fire with the lights off. Just saying, you might not need much power to get through a nice long weekend trip.

The only thing I would add to this very good post is if you have tent camped in the past and have minimal battery requirements you would be wasting your money on Jackery or solar. I dry camp 95% of the time and never run out of battery power in a week worth of camping. Water has always been the limiting factor, after 7 days I am almost out of water but my 2 6v GC batteries are still at 50% SOC or higher. If you have a single 12 battery replace it with 2 6v golf cart batteries wired in series and you will have plenty of power for a weeks worth of camping. What is the size of your FW tank?

Igotaname wrote:
What has been your experience with battery back up with Bluetti, Jackery, Goal Zero? I am thinking of boondocking and think the quite power with solar would be good.

How long to you plan to boondock? The batteries in your trailer might allow you to go 2 or 3 days without doing anything. Maybe you need to add a second, 3rd or 4th battery to get the job done. If your only going a couple days, you might not need to do anything, if you want to go a week, you might need to add something. You can get by with far less than those units, they include the battery which you have...

I treat boondocking like an extension of tent camping. I only use power when I need it and only mostly use lights, fridge, and water. We don't sit in the trailer with the lights on at night, we sit by the fire with the lights off. Just saying, you might not need much power to get through a nice long weekend trip.

Skibane wrote:

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Those devices are convenient, but significantly over priced !

Definitely!

Your RV already has the battery. All you need is a solar panel and charge controller - both of which are dirt-cheap nowadays.

Here's a handy, inexpensive way of hooking solar panels up to just about any trailer - without making any modifications to the trailer whatsoever:





You simply plug your trailer's hitch connector into it. Power from the charge controller (Renogy's $20 Wanderer 10A PWM model) is supplied to your RV's house batteries through the Charging wire in the hitch connector.

The $13 Harbor Freight Apache 1800 protective case case is waterproof (when the lid is closed), so this rig can be left outdoors indefinitely.

I use it with a 100 watt solar panel (around $85) connected by 50 feet of wire. This portable arrangement allows the panel to be moved around to whatever part of the campsite has strong sunlight, and allows the panel to be quickly removed and stowed.

That's a pretty good kit!

Skibane wrote:

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Those devices are convenient, but significantly over priced !

Definitely!

Your RV already has the battery. All you need is a solar panel and charge controller - both of which are dirt-cheap nowadays.

Here's a handy, inexpensive way of hooking solar panels up to just about any trailer - without making any modifications to the trailer whatsoever:





You simply plug your trailer's hitch connector into it. Power from the charge controller (Renogy's $20 Wanderer 10A PWM model) is supplied to your RV's house batteries through the Charging wire in the hitch connector.

The $13 Harbor Freight Apache 1800 protective case case is waterproof (when the lid is closed), so this rig can be left outdoors indefinitely.

I use it with a 100 watt solar panel (around $85) connected by 50 feet of wire. This portable arrangement allows the panel to be moved around to whatever part of the campsite has strong sunlight, and allows the panel to be quickly removed and stowed.

For what it’s worth, this is a good, basic example to start with. I like the simplicity of set up and ease of use for minimal needs. New to RVing folks, as well as anyone interested in getting started with a basic solar power supply, can easily use this example and begin their own set up, exactly or modified to their own needs. Good job on the post!

Firstly, what are your power needs while boondocking?
They call it a "generator" but it generates nothing. The battery already HAS power, it is just storing the power like any battery and no battery is a generator.
Solar panels can "generate" power, then feed it into the battery for storage.
The battery has a limit of how much power it can store, termed in amp hours.

You might have a 100 amp hour lead acid battery already on RV, and you can use half of that or less if you want to take care of your battery.
With li-ion batteries you can use nearly 100% of the amp hours (same as your phone battery where you can deplete it to zero, charge back and everything is fine).
So, a 100 amp hour li-ion battery can give you nearly 100 amp hours of power, all at 12 volts, and the lead acid maybe 45a/h - where also lead acid battery's voltage drops as the battery is depleted.

You will never run your air conditioner on either of these - you need a very big bank of batteries to run a/c and that is crazy. People who full-time do it, but it makes more sense for those who have skills and needs. Run the gas generator for the a/c.

Most everything else can run off a couple of lead acid batteries or the bigger Jackereey type systems.

Boonocking requires you learn how to live off of DC power. Forget the inverter for all your household appliances. It is needed to charge your laptop, but do everything else off of the DC that you can. Cooking off of propane, and 200-330 watts of solar or more.

There is endless ways to go about it, and endless needs, everyone is different and every need can be met slightly differently and with different configurations. We cannot guess on yours.

I will say this about many of the systems in the OP's post.

I've seen their adds. And I've visited their websites
They talk like they can run everything in your house in the event of a power outage... They can't. Now they might run the Fridge for one cool down cycle say 4 hours into an outage but they are no way good enough to last say 18 yours (The last power fail near me (NOTE near. as in one building east, I had power).

+4. You can do more for less $ The attractiveness of Jackedy and similar is mostly marketing imo. At least for RVs which can easily be upgraded.

Not nearly enough capacity to be useful--unless you tent. Overpriced, too.

This may help you understand: https://freecampsites.net/adding-solar/