Boon-docking

[organize4u]

Hi all,

I am a fairly new owner of a Roadtrek 190 Popular 2008. I am going on an extended trip with a friend early September. I am trying to understand how boon-docking works. Do I have this right:

1. The Inverter automatically converts DC to AC working off the house battery. This will power everything: lights, heat and air, electrical outlets, TV, DVD, fridge. Is that correct?

2. Or do I have to run the generator for certain things like AC and microwave??

3. I am not sure about the hot water or the heat. I really would prefer not to use the generator or propane.

4. If I decide to go solar, will it power everything that house battery powers?

5. When running off the house battery, how often do you need to run the van and for how long to keep it charged?

Thanks,
Marie

[Rlum]

Originally Posted by organize4u

Hi all,

I am a fairly new owner of a Roadtrek 190 Popular 2008. I am going on an extended trip with a friend early September. I am trying to understand how boon-docking works. Do I have this right:

1. The Inverter automatically converts DC to AC working off the house battery. This will power everything: lights, heat and air, electrical outlets, TV, DVD, fridge. Is that correct?

It will depend on size of your inverter. How many watts. Some inverters will only power small devices like DVD player. Also large devices require larger battery bank. More Ah or batteries will run down quickly.

2. Or do I have to run the generator for certain things like AC and microwave??

Those are high demand(wattage) appliances. You will require large battery bank and inverter to run off your battery bank. Most likely will have to run generator or be connector to shore power.

3. I am not sure about the hot water or the heat. I really would prefer not to use the generator or propane.

Most hot water and heat require propane since it is more efficient. The generator is primarily for 110 volt appliances and charging of your battery bank.


4. If I decide to go solar, will it power everything that house battery powers?

I will depend upon you panels. On class B, one will be limited to # of panels because of the lack of real estate. Solar will keep your batteries topped off. Maybe enough daily charge(depending upon sun) to run a compressor refrigerator.

5. When running off the house battery, how often do you need to run the van and for how long to keep it charged?

You should/will have some battery monitoring gauge. At least you will know the house battery voltage. The voltage will give you an idea state of charge depending battery type. The length of time running van will depend upon charging system connected to your house batteries.

Thanks,
Marie

Lots of questions. Don't worry There is a learning curve on how to use the energy resources of one's van

[booster]

Originally Posted by organize4u

Hi all,

I am a fairly new owner of a Roadtrek 190 Popular 2008. I am going on an extended trip with a friend early September. I am trying to understand how boon-docking works. Do I have this right: We have essentially the identical vehicle in a 2007 that has the new in late 2007 features like new roof and kitchen designs. Do you have one or two gp27 batteries? Extended boondocking in the stock form with one battery is tough at best. With two it is more tolerable but will require frequent engine running or driving.


1. The Inverter automatically converts DC to AC working off the house battery. This will power everything: lights, heat and air, electrical outlets, TV, DVD, fridge. Is that correct? No it won't as it only powers the one outlet in the kitchen and the one in the audio cabinet. It might also power the outlet on the armoir but not all had that. Ours did. It is a small modified sine wave inverter so some things won't run well on it like electronics of various types and motors. It is only 750 watts so very limited.

2. Or do I have to run the generator for certain things like AC and microwave?? Yes.

3. I am not sure about the hot water or the heat. I really would prefer not to use the generator or propane. The water heater is propane and it is not one with an electric element like some are. If you want hot water you need to use propane, but you also need propane for the frig heat and stove, so hard to go without it. I have no issue with having and using propane, including the grille running hose that quick connects in the rear. We use almost every day we are out.

4. If I decide to go solar, will it power everything that house battery powers? It may not have enough power for everything directly, but it does supplement the battery in running all the stuff, and charges the battery when it has more power than needed for what is running at the time.

5. When running off the house battery, how often do you need to run the van and for how long to keep it charged? If you need to keep the batteries full, it will take a very long time as in many hours. If you need to just replace a day's use, it depends on how much power you use. Most with a propane frig like you have will use between 20 and 50 amp hours a day, and depending on what state of charge the batteries are in could be about an hour or less. If the batteries are nearing full, it will take much longer as charging slows down as you near full batteries.

Thanks,
Marie

See comments in red above.

[mkguitar]

suggest you "practice camp" in the driveway so you know the capability, capacity of your systems
that's what I did, cause all this stuff was new to us when we bought our van.
all my tools, manuals and internet access were at hand in the driveway



in most cases if you want air conditioning or microwave you need to run the genny or be plugged into shore power


for a genny to be in good shape it needs to be run for an hour or so monthly with a load placed on it, such as the AC...I use mine to power my leaf blower and hedge trimmer, rather than run a 200' ext cord from the house



the propane ( available at flying J or uhaul or rv shops) will supply furnace, cooking, hot water and run the fridge most efficiently
reconsider your stance on propane


most of the 3 way fridges work best on propane, 2nd best on AC power and on DC may feebly hold cold while you are driving



I have a small folding solar cell which restores to the battery a small amount of power
solar on the roof would require you to park in the sun.
I prefer to park in the shade when we can- hot van no fun


charging the RV battery from the motor depends on the battery and the alternator- variables


when the Rv or "coach" battery gets low it is likely that your gas alarms will alert.





how we do it:
the lighting is LED, the tv is DC native ( we have no inverter).


we turn off stuff we aren't using ( like water pump, just in case there is a leak)



propane runs the fridge, hot water, cooker and furnace if needed


we also use a camping shower bag in the sun to get hot water


we have never used our genny camping- I don;t really need the microwave- that is used more for our plates and bowl storage


we try to go places where we don;t need the ac- have switched it on a few times on shore power in campgrounds


we go 5 or 6 days off grid and time our groceries, water and laundry around that interval


mike

[organize4u]

Thanks everyone for the detailed information. It is a lot to learn. I am gun shy about propane because a leak was discovered the other day when I went to have a backup camera installed. You could really smell it and understandably they would not do the work. I was really worried about driving it to the dealership, so I had it towed today; about an hour away! We will see what the problem is.

If time permits, I will "camp in the driveway". BTW to run your leaf blower off the generator, I imagine you just plugged into your van with gen running Good idea. I can use my corded electric mower and edger. Kill two birds with one stone.

Thanks,
Marie

[organize4u]

Forgot to ask: I know you run the Inverter when using the house battery Do you also run it when using the generator. I am thinking not.

Thanks

[RAA357]

If you have a propane leak I would not run the generator as it is mounted very close to.your propane tank and it would be a source of ignition for that propane leak.

Take your RV to a propane dealer and have them check not out.

[booster]

Originally Posted by organize4u

Forgot to ask: I know you run the Inverter when using the house battery Do you also run it when using the generator. I am thinking not.

Thanks

The inverter runs off the batteries or the engine running and will run down the batteries fairly quickly when it is running and even when on but not running anything. It should stay off all the time unless needed.


You don't use the inverter if the generator is running.


Re your original comment about preferring to not use propane or generator when boondocking. With the configuration of power in your van stock it would be essentially impossible to do, IMO, for anything more than a day unless you did a lot of engine running. You would still not have hot water or heat other than the engine running and no cooking ability for much of anything, but you would have no refrigeration either so not much issue.

[organize4u]

RAA, won't be running anything. Towed off this morning to be chked.

Thanks all.

M

[RAA357]

Let us know what the outcome is.

[organize4u]

Being worked on as we speak. Will let you know.
Marie

[michaelingp]

Originally Posted by organize4u

I am gun shy about propane because a leak was discovered the other day when I went to have a backup camera installed.

Did you try turning off the propane at the tank? It would be pretty rare to have a leak that didn't stop when you turned off the valve at the tank. Then you wouldn't have to drive around with propane leaking. and no big hurry to get it fixed.

I know a propane leak is scary. I had one on our Roadtrek, and it freaked me out so much our current van doesn't even have propane. My advice to you is don't let it freak you out. The propane system is incredibly safe.

In my case the leak was in the gas valve for the water heater.

[organize4u]

Michaingp, thanks for the note. To my knowledge it was turned off. My original plan was to design my own RV/van w/o propane then this came along. Did u build yours?
Marie

[michaelingp]

Originally Posted by organize4u

Michaingp, thanks for the note. To my knowledge it was turned off. My original plan was to design my own RV/van w/o propane then this came along. Did u build yours?
Marie

No, it's a Safari Condo. The stove uses those little Coleman propane bottles. The water heater is 120V electric, but we never use it. The furnace runs on gasoline and is noisy and occasionally smelly. The fridge (actually two) run on 12V. Even with 200 watts of solar panels, it's not great for boon-docking.

The thing about propane is it's really economical. In our Roadtrek the fridge would run almost forever on propane, so boon docking was much more doable. (Leveling the van was more of a challenge.) Everything else you could just not use, so you could go a long time without charging the batteries. With our current van, the fridges have to run all the time, so you don't have the option of turning them off, so it uses a lot more electricity. The solar panels don't help that much. You need to park in the sun for them to work well, but if you park in the sun, it heats up the van, so the fridges have to work harder and use more electricity.

[organize4u]

$600 later the leak is fixed. I cannot believe the hourly rates being charged today, $140/hour! The part was $13, a regulator.

Thanks for your input everyone.

Marie

[Rlum]

Originally Posted by organize4u

$600 later the leak is fixed. I cannot believe the hourly rates being charged today, $140/hour! The part was $13, a regulator.

Thanks for your input everyone.

Marie

Good idea to get some inexpensive tools. Learn to do simple DIY fixes. Post questions about problems. Lots of people here own similar models and repaired themselves.

1. Sniffer(digital tool to check for propane leaks, $30)
2. Digital manometer to check propane pressure in water column inches
3. multimeter to check voltage, continuity.

Best of Luck

[michaelingp]

Originally Posted by organize4u

$600 later the leak is fixed. I cannot believe the hourly rates being charged today, $140/hour! The part was $13, a regulator.

The $140 an hour doesn't surprise me, but 4 hours to diagnose and replace a regulator seems a little high.

[booster]

Originally Posted by michaelingp

The $140 an hour doesn't surprise me, but 4 hours to diagnose and replace a regulator seems a little high.

They probably had to drop the tank as it is a Roadtrek which is very tight in that area.



I hope they replaced the rubber hoses there while they were there. I know the grille output is one and there may be one other.

[organize4u]

Thanks Rlum. No indication that hoses were replaced.
M

[MsBhaven]

Originally Posted by booster

See comments in red above.

Great info Booster for us not electronically incline.
On a slightly different topic, can you tell me what the male 110/120 AC plug is under the hood strapped to the separator (I believe) is for. My thought was a block heater plug but wondering if it might also keep chassis battery charge during storage.