Pet-safe offgrid practices

[florida_manchild]

I've been researching boondocking and offgrid usage with a class B camper van, but i guess even with a very expensive lithium battery setup and a secondary alternator with a voltage regulator, you can only run an AC offgrid for 1-4 hours...

With a typical manufacturer setup, you can run an AC offgrid for about 30 minutes.

This is without using a gas or propane generator, which are typically very loud and not allowed to be used in a lot of places.

So, getting to my actual question, how do people keep their pets safe, if they need to go into a store or restaurant when traveling or living in their van, when it could take longer than 30 minutes, an hour, or longer?

[booster]

Originally Posted by florida_manchild

I've been researching boondocking and offgrid usage with a class B camper van, but i guess even with a very expensive lithium battery setup and a secondary alternator with a voltage regulator, you can only run an AC offgrid for 1-4 hours...

With a typical manufacturer setup, you can run an AC offgrid for about 30 minutes.

This is without using a gas or propane generator, which are typically very loud and not allowed to be used in a lot of places.

So, getting to my actual question, how do people keep their pets safe, if they need to go into a store or restaurant when traveling or living in their van, when it could take longer than 30 minutes, an hour, or longer?

How long you can run the AC is totally dependent on the battery bank size and AC power draw. Big bank and efficient AC you can run 8 hours or even more, but it will be very expensive to do and will not guaranty pet safety as the batteries or inverter or AC could glitch out. Also remember that you will need to be able to replace all that energy which can take a long time even with a bit alternator, or two.

[Punkinhead]

We have 900ah of lithium and a 12v AC so can run AC for 6 hours or so. We also have remote temperature monitoring with alarms on our phones and would never be in a situation where we couldn't get back to the van quickly to let our dog out if we saw the temperature rising due to a system glitch.

[Sleeping Dog]

We only have 200ah of lithium and the AC won't run on the battery. We do have a generator, which except for the hour a month I run it for maintenance purposes has only been run to keep our pug cool while we are in a museum or similar.

Pretty much the only time he's left in the camper is when we are somewhere that he can't be and the van is sitting in a parking lot with no one nearby to disturb, so I run the gennie. Added bennie is we return to a cool, not sun baked vehicle.

[horacecupp@gmail.com]

Bbooster, I traveled all over the south including Florida, the Gulf coast, south Texas, New Mexico,Arizona, and Southern California in my Winnebago Era with my small Havanese. I had a propane generator. I used this rarely, usually getting by with cracked windows and the roof fan. The only place that I encountered generator restrictions was at Cracker Barrells. Shopping was never a problem, nor was drive in restaurants.

[Dustylee]

This has been a big question for me as well. I bought a new class B camper & did not realize that, due to the fact that it had a pop up camper, there was only AC & no fan. I could have chosen to wait for a different layout but instead decided to replace the AC with a powerful maxx fan. I have an elderly cat that is traveling with me so I decided to take an extended trip starting in September and headed north. i would not take her in the summer unless i left early & stayed in the far north. So far, the weather has been in the 60s & 70s, so I leave her with the fan running on high and some windows cracked. I bought a temperature monitor, but have not felt the need to set it up. If I end up any place where the temp is above 80 degrees, I will have to change my plans because I certainly do not want her to be in overly hot weather. Basically this means that my travel with my cat (or any other cats I may have in the future) will not occur during the summer. They will have to stay home or I will postpone plans to cooler weather.

[SQUASHMIRE]

camping is nice in that you can vacation and bring your pet with you. i may leave the dog inside the rv while i handle a 10 or 15 minute task; but mostly i just don't do anything longer where the dog cannot join. it has never been a problem. i just adjust my plans accordingly.

[booster]

Originally Posted by horacecupp@gmail.com

Bbooster, I traveled all over the south including Florida, the Gulf coast, south Texas, New Mexico,Arizona, and Southern California in my Winnebago Era with my small Havanese. I had a propane generator. I used this rarely, usually getting by with cracked windows and the roof fan. The only place that I encountered generator restrictions was at Cracker Barrells. Shopping was never a problem, nor was drive in restaurants.

I am very surprised at the not hitting no generator rules as those are getting very common.


In general, what I am saying is that to "fool proof" pet care in the heat is very, very difficult as equipment fails. Leaver your pet in 90+ degree heat and have the AC fail or the generator fail while you are in a 3 hour movie, museum, hike, whatever and they can be dead or you could be arrested for leaving them, depending on where you are.


The police are very careful with their dogs and they still lose on to the heat once in a while, and they have multiple layers of redundancy to prevent it.

[Dave0718]

Best check if you are leaving an animal unattended in a city. i know of cities where it is illegal to leave an animal unattended in a vehicle no matter what weather conditions. Also, many locals say a passerby can break into a vehicle if they are of the opinion that the animal may possibly be in distress. I.e., legal breaking and entry to free an animal.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Dave0718

Best check if you are leaving an animal unattended in a city. i know of cities where it is illegal to leave an animal unattended in a vehicle no matter what weather conditions. Also, many locals say a passerby can break into a vehicle if they are of the opinion that the animal may possibly be in distress. I.e., legal breaking and entry to free an animal.

Not just in cities. A friend recently briefly left his dog in a car parked at Yosemite NP. Weather was mild and windows were all left partially open. Came back to find no dog. Somebody reported it and the rangers "rescued" the dog.

[MsNomer]

Originally Posted by Dustylee

Basically this means that my travel with my cat (or any other cats I may have in the future) will not occur during the summer. They will have to stay home or I will postpone plans to cooler weather.

The secret is to go high. I myself cannot tolerate heat, so we spend the summer in the upper elevations of (primarily) Colorado. AAMOF, we just yesterday came down to 5,200 feet for the first time since June.

[JonMN]

When we traveled with our dog we did set the AC to come on. We also set the generator to come on when needed.


As a safety precaution I added a wifi temp sensor. This would broadcast via my van cellular hotspot a temperature alert to my iPhone. Never happened, but it's a good feeling. I can also check temp whenever I want.

PS: I did read somewhere about someone printing a couple signs for the doors "If you hear my dog don't panic. He has A/C, food and water and is listening to Jimmy Buffett."

[Pam G]

There are temperature monitors you can get that alert you when the temps reach a certain point, so you can keep your pets safe. Waggle is one of them. I always travel with my dogs, and that's one of the reasons I wouldn't get rid of my generator. I've used it while in fast food places or an outlet mall, as well as at dog shows. If there is shade, and the temps are too bad, I'll park in shade and open windows and turn the roof fan on. I also have 2 battery operated Ryobi fans and O2 fans that I set in front of the open windows and have aimed at the dogs' crates.