Boondocking and working with no electricity

[Cmccain13]

Hey all, obligatory "just started fulltiming" (class C Coachmen leprechaun 32 ft) and we have been thinking about boondocking with the weeks that we have to be away from a thousand trails campgrounds. However what is going to be difficult is that we wont have electricity. we do have a generator that runs off the gas in my gas tank. Now the question is im not sure how long i can work per day with working off the house battery for my monitor. i know the laptop battery wont last the full day so is there an alternative people use for a power source. I'm not really looking to get a solar bank and panels as of yet due to costs. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[jaycocreek]

With lithium batteries starting at $399,i would suggest a stand alone battery for your extras...My camper only has one house battery so using a stand alone was about my only option and it works really well for extras like cpap/tv/DVD and charging devices..It takes the load off the single house battery.

[MitchF150]

Power ain't free no matter how you choose to get it.. Choose your poison on how you wish to get it and go from there..

Mostly just have to look at your ROI on the solution you choose.

Solar costs a lot to start off with, but as long as you have sun, you can run your A/C on it if you have a system to handle it.

Gens are easy, but loud and use a lot of gas if you are running an Onan just to charge the batteries..

Better to get a little Honda 1000 or whatever to charge the batteries.

Or?? Lots of options.. We all have our own preference.. You are just going to have to find your preference and see how it works for you and adjust accordingly.

Good luck! Mitch.

[afidel]

Another thing to consider is a USB-C powered monitor, that's what I use for my second screen, it pulls its power from the laptop and sips it compared to a typical desktop monitor. That way if you power your laptop off a DC-DC power supply you've eliminated the need for an inverter to run during the work day.

[corvettekent]

The simple solution is to stop working. I stopped 12 years ago and now I can enjoy life. The next best option is to spend less $$ on gas and buy some batteries, battery monitor, inverter, solar panels, and controller.

[Almot]

smarty wrote:
You will be surprised to learn how long you will have to run you genny to charge your house battery to full every day.

Yep. The best kept secret of generator users :)... When it's not charged fully every day and not equalized once a week, it won't last long.

Definitely he needs a bigger battery bank. The cycle will become shallow-er, this will extend battery life while also making long laptop hours possible. LED interior lights is a must for a boondocker, costs less then $2 per bulb to upgrade.

[qtla9111]

100W solar panel $100 or less
MPPT Controller $50-$100
Xantrax Inverter 600W $160
Add another battery $90

For around $400 or less you can have a decent solar setup. Mine is a 235W panel, MPPT controller 30A, two 6V lead acid batteries and a Xantrax 600W inverter.

Works great and took us on a 4 1/2 month trip through the U.S. and Canada. Never did without power.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

LED lighting. Direct 12vdc to 19vdc laptop charger. A single solar panel.

[time2roll]

2oldman wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
Lithium are nice but expensive and muck it up and you can quickly destroy them.

Don't muck it up and they are nice.

The BMS will protect them and 280 usable Ah for $600 does not seem that expensive.

[DrewE]

A typical laptop battery is somewhere in the vicinity of 50-100 Wh. A pair of GC2 batteries has a usable capacity of roughly 1300 Wh. You could run the laptop for maybe a work week if you're lucky with no other loads on the GC2s with a DC-DC laptop power supply (i.e. a car adapter). Amazon, etc. have some generic car adapters that work and are not at all expensive.

Even with a single 12V house battery, and modest other house loads, you probably could work for a day with a car adapter powered by the house battery without needing the generator.

(Do remember, if using a car adapter or inverter connected to a lighter socket, that the dashboard lighter sockets are almost certainly connected to the chassis battery rather than the house battery.)

[2oldman]

valhalla360 wrote:
Lithium are nice but expensive and muck it up and you can quickly destroy them.

Don't muck it up and they are nice.

[wopachop]

Cheap route would be a 400w inverter from Amazon plugged into a cig adapter.

Start genny as needed. Add a larger battery bank if you can when the current battery ages out.

[valhalla360]

2oldman wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:
The problem is when at 50%, you can dump quite a few amps into them but as you get up around 80%, the batteries, simply won't accept as many amps...slowly tapering down until the last 5-10% takes hours at a very slow charge rate.

Which is why, if your wallet can stand it, Li's are nice. And, they don't care if they're not fully charged.

I've seen my AGMs take up to 24 hours to charge to 100% at home. Virtually impossible on a generator.

Lithium are nice but expensive and muck it up and you can quickly destroy them. I'd add a solar system first but since the OP doesn't wan to do that, keep it simple. $100 for an extra battery and some cables and you negate the issue for the most part. Since he'll be going back to a regular park periodically, they will get a full charge regularly to stay happy.

[Lwiddis]

". Now the question is im not sure how long i can work per day with working off the house battery for my monitor."

Do an energy use survey to determine how many 12 volt amps you use per day. Multiply by 1.5. You'll need batteries with at least twice that number. Three times is better. Recharge with solar most days. Otherwise use your generator.

[2oldman]

valhalla360 wrote:
The problem is when at 50%, you can dump quite a few amps into them but as you get up around 80%, the batteries, simply won't accept as many amps...slowly tapering down until the last 5-10% takes hours at a very slow charge rate.

Which is why, if your wallet can stand it, Li's are nice. And, they don't care if they're not fully charged.

I've seen my AGMs take up to 24 hours to charge to 100% at home. Virtually impossible on a generator.

[Lwiddis]

"Solar generators" are expensive, low powered. RV deep cycle batteries are much better.