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HiHoAgRV · 07-22-2010, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

...hiho' is correct the F vents are amp hungry...
cheers
2air'

FYI

I did a little power study yesterday/today...

Fully charged batteries (3 grp 27 @ 85 AH)

One Fantastic vent on low (1.8 amps) set on "Hot" (Today was 99 outside, the fan is still running at 8:00pm), dunno what time last night it shut off - was closed at 6:30 this morning. No other loads xcept the .2 amp radio

15 W solar panel that gets sun from 9:00 to 1:00 (another little 'Xsperiment

)

Used 6% of the batteries after 24 hours...

The solar has shown to add back 2% on a no load day

So, on a single bat setup that would be 24% used up with just a fan on low for 24 hour period with no solar.

But it wasn't 112 inside like yesterday...

Dan@LED4RV · 07-22-2010, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

good report sandy...

off the grid is truly liberating.

so how was the "towing with water" issue?

were you happy with the towed water or was a fill available at the boondocking location?

keep in mind LONG sunny days and moderate temps use much less juice...

than shorter cooler spring/fall days.

hiho' is correct the F vents are amp hungry.

and with the vents UP and windows open,

passive air flow is adequate and uses much less battery power.

cheers
2air'

"off the grid" Cool

HiHoAgRV · 07-25-2010, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

FYI

I did a little power study yesterday/today...
...Used 6% of the batteries after 24 hours...
...

After 4 days it works out to 5% a day- or 15% for a single 85AH battery...Solar and all

Kickin' the Charge Wizzard 60 amp converter into "NASA" mode brought the 3 80% Batteries to 100% in just over 2 hours

baby_beluga · 08-11-2010, 04:20 PM

Thanks for the great thread! So I am in the planning stage of a resto and would like to do a fair share of Boondocking. I have a 16' Bubble and am looking to keep things as simple as possible to save money and to conserve resources. I am going with a faucet pump, 4 12v lights, Humphrey light, catalytic heater, and plan on my kid watching a movie on the computer at night. I am thinking about installing a fantastic vent. What has your experience been with a passive system on hot days vs the fantastic system. With minimal light use, will a good battery be sufficient for 2 to 3 days or should I look at a solar system?

Dan@LED4RV · 08-11-2010, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baby_beluga

.............. What has your experience been with a passive system on hot days vs the fantastic system. With minimal light use, will a good battery be sufficient for 2 to 3 days or should I look at a solar system?

No Fan, LED lights and the battery will last 2 to 3 days. I'd put the fan in for sure as it can make a big differance on cool nights. Your power plans are a "work in progress". You may decide to do a little more of this, and a little less of that, then you can always hook up your tow vehicle to get a little boost if your solar sytem does not give you enough.

The differance between "a passive system in a unit that will want to hold the heat", and a "Vent that will pull the cool night air" may be sleeping and not sleeping.

Dan

Nuvite-F · 08-12-2010, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baby_beluga

Thanks for the great thread! So I am in the planning stage of a resto and would like to do a fair share of Boondocking. I have a 16' Bubble and am looking to keep things as simple as possible to save money and to conserve resources. I am going with a faucet pump, 4 12v lights, Humphrey light, catalytic heater, and plan on my kid watching a movie on the computer at night. I am thinking about installing a fantastic vent. What has your experience been with a passive system on hot days vs the fantastic system. With minimal light use, will a good battery be sufficient for 2 to 3 days or should I look at a solar system?

A couple of comments based on our experience with our 1960 Pacer, very similar to your Bubble:

If you are going to boondock, LED lights will pay for themselves very quickly. Power consumption about 1/10 incandescent for a given amount of light.

It it's hot, you will want the Fantastic Fan. There is no comparison between the fan, even on the low speed setting, with natural convection. On the other hand, it does use power.

If it's sunny, do not underestimate the value of lots of awnings. They help a lot! You can improvise awnings inexpensively on your Bubble windows by coming up with cloth slip-over covers for the windows on the sunny side.

Our Pacer (since sold) had a pressure-tank water system which we liked quite well. (Our aluminum pressurized water tank was still intact.) Even simpler than your faucet pump. You can pressurize with a bicycle pump in the boonies.

Welcome to the forums and good luck with your restoration!

Gene · 08-12-2010, 10:46 AM

Baby',

How hot is will be at night depends on where you camp. Since you live in Ft. Collins, I expect some will be to the west in the mountains where it will cool off substantially. Still, a fan makes a lot of difference. You may have to worry about heat instead and a furnace with a fan also drains batteries.

The options available are (1) a generator, (2) solar electric, (3) more or fewer blankets, (4) LED's and/or Coleman lantern for lighting. You can combine these. A 1,000 watt generator (most buy either the Yamaha or Honda's) will keep the battery topped up and in the fall it can supplement solar when it's cloudy or you are camped under trees. If you want to run major 120 v. appliances, especially at high altitude, you may need a 2,000 watt generator (or even more for A/C). That computer needs to be recharged and if you do it via the 12 v. system you will put more drain on the battery. You may think about adding a trailer battery.

Since you are doing a restoration, include wiring for things you may need years down the road. If you don't want solar now, include wiring for it anyway. Electronic devices have to be considered. While a lot of stuff is going wireless, an external high gain antenna is a good thing for wifi and cheaper if you use wires. TV could mean wiring for satellite. Satellite radio? Satellite for an ISP? All this changes so fast, it's hard to plan ahead.

Gene

baby_beluga · 08-12-2010, 02:52 PM

Thanks for the reply's. This has definitely helped in deciding to install the vent fan. The ideas about the led lights are great as well.

Nuvite-F... The Bubble has the pressurized system. Everything looks intact, but the trailer is so moldy and old I am a little apprehensive about using the tank. Since I am doing a complete rebuild it seems like a no brainer to put in a clean light modern water tank. I will have to think about this more.

CrawfordGene... All appliances will be propane. I do like the idea of planning for the future as far as prewiring. That is a great tip.

Thanks again

Hibby · 08-15-2010, 06:12 AM

My wife and I have a 20 gallon water tank on our Sport 22. For increasing our water capacity, we have purchased six aqua-tainers (Cabela's, 7-gallon) that we fill before leaving for a trip. They certainly add weight until we use them, but they are easily carried in the front of the truck bed, and with a large flexible funnel we are able to refill our trailer water tank easily. That's 20 gallons in the tank and 42 gallons in reserve!

We also have dual batteries and a Honda 2000i Companion generator. I'm guessing we can make it a week with adequate water conservation. I too, understand the need for ice cubes for the Johnny Walker green label.

We are planning a circle tour of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, mostly boon docking, starting September 27. I'll keep u posted!

JimmyT · 08-16-2010, 10:38 PM

Sorry, I lost track of this thread....here's the details on our Denver solar project. It's been working great all summer...

Grad67 · 07-20-2011, 11:44 AM

I left home with 30gal fresh water. But found 3 hrs on the road I lost a bit from the sloshing out of the tank vent. Those curves realy know how to throw water around. Was able to refile on sight using the 7 gal wal mart jugs.
Used the generator each day to keep battery level in the green.

Beecavetx · 09-03-2011, 01:26 PM

Baby,
Just a thought,....when our hot water heater goes , we are definitely going to replace it with an on demand. It takes up less space and then you have more space to other things. Bob

Bigcgar · 09-05-2011, 08:32 PM

We just finished 5 days of boondocking at the Difficult Campground 6 miles out of Aspen CO. We attended the JazzAspenSnowmass Festival which was awesome and fly fished the "pan" and "fork" which were perfect this time of year. The Difficult campground was for the most part empty due to bear encounters in the campground on Aug 15, 2011. Labor Day weekend was way off for the camp hosts since they would not allow soft sided trailers and tent campers by order of the USFS (sighted safety concerns). Never saw the bear!

Anyways we worked it out so that power consumption was no worries with our 2011 23' International. We had 2 batteries that were able to pretty much manage everything except for the microwave rice my wife bought (will never do again), which required the Honda 2000i and we watched one movie "Open Range" which is one of my FAVs. Other that that we didn't need power back up for charging. However managing the black water seems to be the issue at least if you have any trust in the gauges that tell us what's going on. Not to be gross we managed all solids with the campground facilities, but 5 days was the maximum for us as we managed as best as possible (I take my single malt neat too).. We'll need to come up with alternative solutions for longer stays. I really don't want to pull trailer out and have to go to a dump station. oh well we had a fantastic trip andthe AS was the envy of the place.

Next trip Palisades Wine Festival in Palisades CO. Yahoo!!

Cheers,
Bigcgar

P.S. Bear photo from back of home...

TouringDan · 09-05-2011, 09:27 PM

Beecave

I am not sure I understand the reason to go with a tankless waterheater. The std 6 gal wh takes up very little space, is very realiable and is probably much less expensive. You may save a little money on operating costs, but not much. You may be able to take a longer shower but then you run out of either water or where do you store the waste.

bigcgar

We always use the campground toilet facitlities since we do not have a black water tank.

Dan

Beecavetx · 09-06-2011, 08:40 AM

I guess you are right but when you would be hooked up to water perhaps it would be better ??

baldwin6601 · 09-07-2011, 04:28 PM

I've only lost battery power once and that was on the second night. I have a generator and this was the first trip that I used it. I ran it for about 1/2 hour, then turned it off, but left it plugged into the Airstream. Six hours later the battery was nearly dead. Could the fact that I left the generator plugged in to the A/S have discharged the battery?

baldwin6601 · 09-07-2011, 04:38 PM

Five days is alot! Our black water tank is never a problem, but our gray water tank is usually full after 3-4 days. We have just started using a dish pan to wash dishes rather than in the sink, take showers outside with one of those Cabella's shower tent gizmos and we have a collapseable rubber bucket that we use to lug dish water to one of the dishwater dump sites. That seems to be helping.