Boondocking Suggestions Needed

[Photokit]

Hi all, I boondock all the time. I use a 35 watt solar panel and it trickle charges my 12v battery. I'm very conservative with lights, using candles when safe and headlamp to read. I run the pump for short bursts of water in the sinks and toilet, and wash my dishes at the picnic table by heating up some water and using a bleach mix to air dry. My frig is on propane and my heater is propane too, although at around 40 degrees I love my down blankee. I recently stayed in the Backcountry of Colorado for a week with no worries, the battery lasted, and at the end of the trip I charged the battery while driving home.
Hope this helps.

[Photokit]

BTW, I'm looking to replace my bulbs with LED's. Suggestions to retrofit?

[Photokit]

In the spring, all I had to do to turn on my Saturn heater was to adjust the setting on the thermostat. I don't remember lighting a pilot. Am I correct? I do have to light the stove and oven with a pilot so why not on the heater. Not the hwh, the propane heater. Help?

[mainah]

Originally Posted by Photokit

In the spring, all I had to do to turn on my Saturn heater was to adjust the setting on the thermostat. I don't remember lighting a pilot. Am I correct? I do have to light the stove and oven with a pilot so why not on the heater. Not the hwh, the propane heater. Help?

Heater is electronic ign. no pilot to worry about. Some modern fridges and water heaters also are electronic. No ideal why the camper stoves need a match it would be so easy to just use a BBQ push button that is on my list. The local dump is full of old BBQ grills may just remove the lighter and electrodes.

[Photokit]

So for the electronic ignition do I need to turn the breakers on?

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Photokit

So for the electronic ignition do I need to turn the breakers on?

The furnace electronic ignition runs off the battery, 12 VDC. Those that have the newer fridges and HW heaters also have electronic ignition for the gas that runs off the battery, 12 VDC.

No need to turn on 120 VAC breakers when boondocking as the shore line cord is not plugged into anything, that is unless one is charging the battery from the on board power converter and a generator. The normal switch type “breakers” are only for 120 volt AC parts of the camper. Which are not many. The microwave is the only stand alone AC device in the camper as original from Sunline. The wall outlets that you may have something plugged into them, and portions of the fridge when on electric, the HW heater when on electric and the roof AC unit use 120 VAC but they also need the battery 12 VDC to run the control boards.

My stove top has electronic ignition that runs off the 12 VDC battery as well. It works like a home gas stove, turn the knob to ignite and it starts sparking with the gas on hi then turn the knob more and the sparking stops.

The oven, well no it is still a pilot lighting setup. Do not know why they never went that route. Have to crawl in and light the pilot unless it is a “camper” safety and cost thing. I also do not know today on a brand new camper if the oven has made it to electronic ignition. Any one have one? The only reason I can think of is possibly a fire situation may be higher on the oven with the current gas valve setup. Inside the camper with the oven door closed the venting is not very good raising the risk of fire due to not having a good purge before ignition and a better gas valve system. IIRC, the gas ovens at home (when we use to have one, was a long time ago…) had a glow plug in the oven not a sparker. The control system was more sophisticated to have the glow plug warm up then the gas would come on after I “think” heat was detected high enough at the glow plug. This controls the ignition sequence better compared to the normal camper gas electronic ignition systems that have lots of moving air and vented outside when the spark starts snapping. Never thought about this even until now.

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Photokit

BTW, I'm looking to replace my bulbs with LED's. Suggestions to retrofit?

Kit, see these 2 threads for some Info on LED's. There might be a few other threads on them too but these came to mind and I could find them quick

http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f65/leds-11823.html

http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f6...lbs-10297.html

One thing to remember, ideally the LED's have a brightness rating of 100 lumnes or brighter, and you have to figure out if you want warm white or cool white light coming out of them. We picked warm white except for the 1 light Cindy uses for reading that is cool white and the spot lights as back then I could not get warm white in the spot light configuration.

[Wannabes]

Kit,

Here's another recent thread on LED upgrades:

http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f6...ses-14968.html

We have replaced over half of our inside lights with LEDs in anticipation of boondocking (altho' we haven't done it yet). We pleased with the ones we got. We went with these bulbs from this company.

194 LED Bulb - 10 SMD LED Wedge Base | Miniature Wedge Base LEDs | LED Car Bulbs | Super Bright LEDs

Had to replace one that they sent us and their customer service is very good.

Happy camping!

[JimL3222]

I own 40 acres of recreational land that is a 20 minute drive from Tawas City, MI in the northern lower peninsula. We boondock on my land regularly, up through late November and Early December. Consumers Energy wants $7,800 to pull a line 100 feet from across the road, and drop a single pole. Don't get me started. . . .

I figured I could buy a lot of generator for that. 10 years ago I bought a Honda EI-2000. It is very quiet. It will not operate the AC in the summer, but runs everything else when needed. I bought a plastic dog house and put a couple cabinet handles on it to ease the regular opening and closing of that when the generator is inside. I added some plywood to the dog house front that diverts the exhaust sound 90 degrees, away from the trailer. The doghouse is placed far away from the trailer, and I use a very heavy duty extension cord to reach it. I also have made a steel cable that I loop around a tree and through the generator's handle to prevent it from growing legs over night or while away from camp. The Honda has a switch that makes it run at 50%, quieting it down a lot. That said, if the weather is cold we run it all night to avoid draining the battery from the furnace fan. We do not run the generator at night when the weather is good and the windows are open.

We have converted from the normal bulbs to the LED lights. Mine are the cheapo blue ones that my G.F. does not care for but I think are fine. I could have upgraded to the "warm" ones but they cost a lot more at the time I converted. They may be less now. I got the blueish ones off Ebay for 50 cents each as a I recall.

Temperatures can drop into the 50's even in summer as you know. It typically is in the 20s or even less when we are hunting in November. At someone else's suggestion on this site I went to Walmart and bought a full size Sunbeam electric heated mattress pad to put onto the queen bed. Our queen mattress is shorter than a household mattress, so I went with a full size pad for the correct length. I turn that onto setting 5 or so a while before bed, then drop it to its lowest setting. It keeps the bed toasty without making the generator run on its higher setting (which is louder).

If you will be camping when it is snowing I suggest that you retract the awning. The predicted inch of snow turned into several inches, sagging the awning to the point we could not get out the door. I had to use a bail-out window then drop the awning edge to unload the snow.

I installed a tiny accumulator tank next to the pump to limit it's on/off cycles.

when we have company they sleep in the bunks in sleeping bags. I recently got a complaint that the windows were drafty and cold when it was in the teens. I think next winter I may either seal the windows with one of those kits sold in a hardware store, or try applying bubble wrap as an insulator.

I routinely leave the grey water tank valve cracked open to prevent it from freezing. I drain it after someone takes a shower. Black water is trickier. We typically drain that as needed into a blue tank, waiting until it's a warm sunny afternoon, as the black tank and valves are to the southwest.

For fresh water refills I bought a fresh water bladder kit from Camping World. It reminds me of an infant-size waterbed that holds 45 gallons. It is placed onto my hart top truck bed cover, and I create a siphon to transfer the refill water to the fresh water tank. If I leave the trailer during the week and freezing weather is expected a re-winterize everything with red-pop, draining the hot water tank (yes - it has a bypass installed) and fresh water. The extra gallons that the refill bladder holds is enough to purge the red-pop upon our return.

Oh - we have a "no shoes / boots " rule inside. Those come off and sit on a mat by the front door, to limit the ice water and mud inside.

When boondocking in late fall and winter we have found that the amount of outerwear is a real problem. I tried regular coat hooks but they would pull out. I recently bought several of the new heavy duty Command hooks from Meijers. they are white, matching the trim inside, and hold 7.5 pounds. I put four hooks up by the front door, two back by the bunks, and two up in the master bedroom. They are great to hang up the bibs and heavy coats from everyone even when we had four staying in the 27 foot trailer.

I also learned many years ago that the ground can get challenging when wet. I leave my trailer for three weeks on my land in mid November into early December. I have had tires and stabilizer pads sink into the ground a bit and freeze in place. T o solve that I bought a 2" x 12" x 10' treated board, and had it cut in half to park the tires upon. I use a couple smaller 1' square plywood pads under the stabilizer pads. If they are frozen to the
ground when I go to pull the trailer then I'll retrieve then the following spring.

I hope this helps.