I agree with the post that spoke of camping with no hookups being fun. Actually the doing without is not what makes it fun but where you camp without them it what makes it fun. Camping on public lands and primative campsites are nearly always less crowded cleaner and quieter, not to mention less expensive. Making your electrical supply last is just part of the conservation that's necessary. That however can be part of the fun. It can be kept very simple or very complicated.
Personally a small generator and a small automotive battery charger is all we use. We have one battery, 25gallon fresh water and 21 gallon combination gray-black tank. We have stayed out 6 days on this. No showers of course but we wash and stayed clean none the less. Some people enjoy the gadgets, solar units even wind generators and that's all fine if you enjoy it and feel you need it. Agin it can be as simple or complicted as you like.--Pieman
I agree with the post that spoke of camping with no hookups being fun. Actually the doing without is not what makes it fun but where you camp without them it what makes it fun. Camping on public lands and primative campsites are nearly always less crowded cleaner and quieter, not to mention less expensive. Making your electrical supply last is just part of the conservation that's necessary. That however can be part of the fun. It can be kept very simple or very complicated.
Personally a small generator and a small automotive battery charger is all we use. We have one battery, 25gallon fresh water and 21 gallon combination gray-black tank. We have stayed out 6 days on this. No showers of course but we wash and stayed clean none the less. Some people enjoy the gadgets, solar units even wind generators and that's all fine if you enjoy it and feel you need it. Agin it can be as simple or complicted as you like.--Pieman
RoadKingMoe --just pointed out something I didn't think anyone would notice. The tank capacities I mentioned are for a 16 ft. Bambi and my owner info states we own a 25' Classic. Actually both are correct. We have traded our Bambi and are leaving tomorrow to pick up our new classic. Didn't want anyone to think I was pulling your leg. Guess I was a little premature in changing my info.----Pieman
Having no batteries in the coach isn't the same as having two heavily discharged batteries in the coach. The trailer power wire on my F250 isn't going to be connected unless the engine is running and the alternator putting out charging voltage. There is already going to be significant current running through the 20 amp fuse and 12 gauge wiring to the trailer connector charging the heavily discharged batteries. Adding the trailer jack load to an already significant load (that wouldn't exist with no batteries in the coach) might blow the fuse in that line. I don't know for sure... just making the point that you can't compare no batteries to heavily discharged batteries.
Maurice, thanks for the clarification. I have found with multiple tow vehicles and trailers, that the current draw via the tow vehicle wiring is hard pressed to provide significant charge and power for other needs. The hitch jack draws significant amperage and for all intents its just not available if the battery recharge is drawing significant current. Operating without batteries is a complete different situation and in that case the tow vehicle charging system can direct all its power to the hitch.
Before I learned the secret of using the master disconnect switch when storing the trailer I allowed the battery on my Safari to run down. Bottom line connecting to the tow vehicle provided little solace since the small amount of power available could only make the jack groan. I ended up pulling the battery out and taking it home for a quick recharge.
Jack
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Jack Canavera
STL Mo. AIR #56
'04 Classic 30' S.O.,'03 GMC Savana 2500,'08 Vespa GTS 250
Maurice, thanks for the clarification. I have found with multiple tow vehicles and trailers, that the current draw via the tow vehicle wiring is hard pressed to provide significant charge and power for other needs. The hitch jack draws significant amperage and for all intents its just not available if the battery recharge is drawing significant current. Operating without batteries is a complete different situation and in that case the tow vehicle charging system can direct all its power to the hitch.
Before I learned the secret of using the master disconnect switch when storing the trailer I allowed the battery on my Safari to run down. Bottom line connecting to the tow vehicle provided little solace since the small amount of power available could only make the jack groan. I ended up pulling the battery out and taking it home for a quick recharge.
Jack
Then if you found yourself in this situation, couldn't you turn off the "master switch" and run the jack from your TV no problem?
You know, I'll be real honest. After two coaches with the smaller tanks (19' Bambi and 25' Safari Six Sleeper), it really isn't all that bad.
We spent a total of about 8 days where we couldn't dump the black tank and it was not full, not anywhere near full on either 18 gal black tank coaches. Maybe a bit more than half. The grey tank was also barely half as I held the tank before purging the grey tank (state forrest allows it where we were).
So yes, the smaller black tanks can pose a problem for folks that must fill the bowl for each use, but the average camper should have no problem for about 10 days. Grey tank, about the same or longer.
The 25' Classic has center black tanks and as such has larger capacity--should last even longer, but again, if you are filling the bowl each use, you're gonna fill the larger black tank too, just might take a bit longer to do-- and you have more fresh water in which to fill the bowl.
Bottom line is that we found the smaller tanks on the 19' and 25' to be good for a 10 day boondock for 3 people. More than that, you'd want to conserve a bit, but by no means take away from the actual needs.
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Jack has me scratching my head and wondering if I had my bases covered. I have an auxillary crank handle that's suppose to operate the power jack when the batteries are too low. Granted - the ratio is low enough to take a lot of cranking - but that's probably easier than pulling the battery and recharging. Since I've never tried this procedure with the handle, what am I missing???
If the trailer batteries are heavily discharged, just disconnect the cables from their negative sides and use the tow vehicle's charging system to operate the jack and get hooked up.
Jack has me scratching my head and wondering if I had my bases covered. I have an auxillary crank handle that's suppose to operate the power jack when the batteries are too low. Granted - the ratio is low enough to take a lot of cranking - but that's probably easier than pulling the battery and recharging. Since I've never tried this procedure with the handle, what am I missing???
The biggest problem with this procedure is the need to resyncronize the head of the jack with the gears. If you don't do this, you ruin the gears. I used the manual crank on my Safari when I had a short in the wiring. I didn't resync the head and ended up messing up the gears. According to the dealer the gear repair is not covered under warranty.
Jack
__________________
Jack Canavera
STL Mo. AIR #56
'04 Classic 30' S.O.,'03 GMC Savana 2500,'08 Vespa GTS 250
Thanks for the "heads up" Jack! I never would have thought that manually cranking the jack would take it out of syncronization. I know how to "re-syncronize" it - but I would have probably blown it by the time I realized I was doing something wrong! Somehow that impresses me as being a built-in design flaw.
Jack is correct in synchronizing the gears. Our gears blew up on our way home from the dealer with our new 2005 Classic last fall. I found out that the manual cranking was not strenuous. Airstream also replaced the power jack head under warranty at no charge. Not being near a dealer, they shipped it to me and I installed it myself following the synchronization instructions very carefully.
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