Boondocking modifications to a Solaris T-1950

[Tod Osier]

We just got our 2006 T-1950 home (http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f75/new-t-1950-a-12990.html). I am working on a list of modifications for boondocking for an upcoming trip to South Dakota in a couple weeks. The relevant options the trailer has are: 30# propane tanks and a dual group 24 battery bank, otherwise it is equipped as standard. We have done a fair bit of dry camping in our former trailer (2006 Evolution E2 pop-up) in colder weather, so I’m familiar with the management of the different systems and their consumables.

In towing it home it is clear that we need to flip the axles to be able to get it where we would want to use it. I have the parts ordered from Dexter.

I’m also going to upgrade much of the lighting to LEDs.

What would be the top modifications/additions I should think about to take a standard T-1950 on a week long dry camping trip to South Dakota in mid October. I'm looking for bang for the buck or essential things I can do in the next couple weeks.

Temps can get down into the low 20’s at night, but usually pop up nicely during the days. I doubt that the furnace would get used during the days at all and overall battery use would be minimal (i.e., we will be out all day and cooking or asleep when in the coach). All supplies are available in a 30 minute drive, so the propane and water can be refreshed. I’ll probably need another set of batteries for 5-6-7 nights with the furnace running, right? Generator is not probably an option. I could charge batteries off site and bring them back.

Thoughts? Ideas?


Thanks,

Tod

[mainah]

Camper lights are energy hogs a single 1156 bulb is about 25 watts a bright LED is 2.5 watts so you can run 10 for the energy cost of one bulb. I figured if I turned on my original lighting all at once it would have been 350 watts! Motors draw about 220% more power to start that they do to run installing an accumulator on you water system will dramatically reduce the pump cycling. Heater motors are a big current draw turn it down and buy some good quilts and don’t run it during the day if you can at all. Your tow vehicle will charge your batteries if it wired for it at the 7 pin but some how running a 200+HP generator seems counter productive guess you can weight how long it will take to drive some where to charge you batteries. Buy a decent volt meter and don’t let you batteries run down to far there are charts on line that will show you the % of charge verses battery voltage. I use a little 1500 watt generator and a modern efficient converter/charger most stock earlier converter/chargers were not real good battery chargers maybe only 3 or 4 amps but a modern one is an efficient 45 amp or more unit that is highly regulated and won’t over charge your batteries. With generators you pay dearly for quiet my little generator is not super quiet you know it’s running but I paid $180 for it just could not bring my self to pay $1000 for a super quiet generator for some thing that I would not use that much. I only use mine to charge the batteries and only run it when it won’t irritate any one. Solar would be nice but expensive you could probably buy a quiet generator or two for the cost of a solar system.

[Tweety]

We spent 4 night boondocking in the cold once so we aren't experts, but here are a few things we did. We bought a Little Heater Buddy from Lowes so that we wouldn't use the 2 batteries to blow the ducted heat when we were awake. I think it was about $70 and well worth it. At night we just turned the regular ducted heat on low and it only came on a couple of times. We didn't switch to LEDs but were just conservative with the lights. We had 2 batteries and no way to charge them, and had absolutely no problem. I even used the shower in the camper so the pump was running for that 4 times. Mr. Tweety went to the bath house. Solar sure would be nice but it's expensive.

[Tod Osier]

Originally Posted by mainah

Camper lights are energy hogs a single 1156 bulb is about 25 watts a bright LED is 2.5 watts so you can run 10 for the energy cost of one bulb. I figured if I turned on my original lighting all at once it would have been 350 watts! Motors draw about 220% more power to start that they do to run installing an accumulator on you water system will dramatically reduce the pump cycling. Heater motors are a big current draw turn it down and buy some good quilts and don’t run it during the day if you can at all. Your tow vehicle will charge your batteries if it wired for it at the 7 pin but some how running a 200+HP generator seems counter productive guess you can weight how long it will take to drive some where to charge you batteries. Buy a decent volt meter and don’t let you batteries run down to far there are charts on line that will show you the % of charge verses battery voltage. I use a little 1500 watt generator and a modern efficient converter/charger most stock earlier converter/chargers were not real good battery chargers maybe only 3 or 4 amps but a modern one is an efficient 45 amp or more unit that is highly regulated and won’t over charge your batteries. With generators you pay dearly for quiet my little generator is not super quiet you know it’s running but I paid $180 for it just could not bring my self to pay $1000 for a super quiet generator for some thing that I would not use that much. I only use mine to charge the batteries and only run it when it won’t irritate any one. Solar would be nice but expensive you could probably buy a quiet generator or two for the cost of a solar system.

Thanks Mainah,

I've ordered 12 LEDs and that will ahve to do for this trip, that will be 12 of 19 bulbs replaced. Several of the lights are redundant, so I think 99% of the usage will be LEDs vs incandescent.

I'll look at an accumulator, they would be easy to put in, I just need to find out what I can fit and do some research.

I've got a good digital volt meter, so I'm set there. I have found over the years that they are something not to leave home without when dragging a trailer of any kind.

Finally on the generator, I may bite the bullet. We will "need" one for next summer, so might as well have one now, it would take the pressure off in a lot of ways.

[Tod Osier]

Originally Posted by Tweety

We spent 4 night boondocking in the cold once so we aren't experts, but here are a few things we did. We bought a Little Heater Buddy from Lowes so that we wouldn't use the 2 batteries to blow the ducted heat when we were awake. I think it was about $70 and well worth it. At night we just turned the heat down low and it only came on a couple of times. We didn't switch to LEDs but were just conservative with the lights. We had 2 batteries and no way to charge them, and had absolutely no problem. I even used the shower in the camper so the pump was running for that 4 times. Mr. Tweety went to the bath house. Solar sure would be nice but it's expensive.

Thanks Tweety, we even have a mr. Buddy that we used with the tent, so that wouldn't be a problem.

[bdichristina]

Electricity
I did the LED dome light conversion which made a huge difference in my current draw. This can be as simple as replacing the 1165 bulbs with their LED equivalents, but can get expensive as I’ve seen these bayonet style bulbs from as little as $10 to as much as $40 each. But if you have some simple soldering skills, you can install raw LED clusters with what I feel is a much better result as far as how much light they give off.

I like to consider myself “thrifty” (Kathy prefers the word “cheap”), so I purchased raw, G-4 lamps, which each have a cluster of 24 SMD LEDs on a flat disk. They are about as big around as a nickel. I purchased 12 of these online for $1.79 ea. with free shipping. It is quite easy to remove the 1156 bulb from your dome lights and solder in the LED disks. I used double sided tape to hold the LEDs in the fixtures. So for a total of $21.48 and about an hour to solder in 12 lamps, I reduced my current draw from 300 Watts to 30, with all the lights on at once. This might be in line with the “bang-for-the-buck” you asked about. I can do a step-by-step with pictures in the mods section if anyone is interested.

Solar is nice and yes it IS expensive for the super efficient systems, but I have had a few friends get very good results with the $180, Harbor Freight, solar kit. Though I heard the panels tend to break down after a few years. If I did a lot of dry camping, I might think $180 every couple years is a small price to pay for having fully charged batteries every day. But again; “thrifty”.

You might wish to take a look at your converter. Since you’ll be out of the camper most of the day, do you need it to be on? Unless you are pilotless and need it to ignite your appliances, a simple on/off switch on the power lead from the battery might not be a bad idea. The same applies if you have an inverter.

Heat
Like Tweety said, the “Little Heater Buddy” by Mr. Heater is awesome. I used to use one tent camping. You get about 5 or 6 hours of heat from a 1 pound propane bottle, for about 100 sq/ft. If you go this route, you might want to go with the “Portable Buddy” (the next larger size). It’s only about $30 more but more efficient and can heat up to 200 sq/ft. You can also get an adapter so you can use your large propane tanks. Close the bathroom door at night to keep the heat in the living space and park your camp side facing the morning sun to help take the chill off.

Water
You mentioned supplies being 30 minutes away. I’m sure you don’t wish to break down camp and pull the trailer when you go on this run. A portable dump tank would allow you to take just the “honey”, or expand your grey and black water capacity till you depart.

As with the portable dump tank, a portable water bladder would allow you to bring back water to replenish your fresh tank. These take up almost no space when empty and will let you easily bring 30 or 40 gallons of water back to camp in the bed of your Tacoma. As an alternative, you can get a couple collapsible, 5 gallon containers pretty cheap at clearance or liquidation stores. Though I have found they are not the most durable things.

Run your hot water heater only when you are going to need it then shut it down after. Save the fresh water from the tap when waiting for the hot water to reach the faucet; you can use it elsewhere (washing, brushing teeth, doing dishes, etc.). Make sure everyone knows there is an on/off valve in the shower head (on-wet, off-soap, on-rinse).

Food Storage
Another one of your big energy consumers is going to be your refrigerator. Investing in a circulating fan for inside the fridge makes a world of difference in the fridge’s efficiency. Or like “Mr. Trifty” here does; rip the 12v fan out of that “you’ll never need more power than this” computer you bought 3 years ago, that has since been replaced and is now sitting unused in the basement. Connect it to a rechargeable RC model battery, an airsoft battery, or even a lantern battery. Anything from about 6 to 15 volts will work. I had a 9.6 volt, 2000 Ah airsoft battery lying around, that powers this fan 24/7 for about 25 days on a full charge. It has cut down the amount of time my fridge runs and has all but eliminated cold-spots.

Then there’s age old tricks like starting with frozen foods that will thaw by this time you are ready to eat them; start out with everything in a quality cooler with ice and don’t power on the fridge till you need to; use blocked ice instead of cubes; keep the fridge side of your RV (or cooler) in the shade.

Safety
Lastly, and this has nothing to do with resource consumption; make sure you have fresh batteries in your smoke, CO2 and propane detectors. If you are going to be sealing her up at night due to the cold, we want to make sure you come back to the forum to let us know how the trip went!

[Tod Osier]

Originally Posted by bdichristina

Electricity
I did the LED dome light conversion which made a huge difference in my current draw. This can be as simple as replacing the 1165 bulbs with their LED equivalents, but can get expensive as I’ve seen these bayonet style bulbs from as little as $10 to as much as $40 each. But if you have some simple soldering skills, you can install raw LED clusters with what I feel is a much better result as far as how much light they give off.


I like to consider myself “thrifty” (Kathy prefers the word “cheap”), so I purchased raw, G-4 lamps, which each have a cluster of 24 SMD LEDs on a flat disk. They are about as big around as a nickel. I purchased 12 of these online for $1.79 ea. with free shipping. It is quite easy to remove the 1156 bulb from your dome lights and solder in the LED disks. I used double sided tape to hold the LEDs in the fixtures. So for a total of $21.48 and about an hour to solder in 12 lamps, I reduced my current draw from 300 Watts to 30, with all the lights on at once. This might be in line with the “bang-for-the-buck” you asked about. I can do a step-by-step with pictures in the mods section if anyone is interested.

Ouch. After I did a bunch of research Sunday on the best replacement LEDs, I went ahead and bought a bunch of premade ones. I hadn't considered just wiring direct, which would be an easy couple hour job. Fool and his money.... Thanks, that is great advice - why didn't I think of it?

Originally Posted by bdichristina

Solar is nice and yes it IS expensive for the super efficient systems, but I have had a few friends get very good results with the $180, Harbor Freight, solar kit. Though I heard the panels tend to break down after a few years. If I did a lot of dry camping, I might think $180 every couple years is a small price to pay for having fully charged batteries every day. But again; “thrifty”.

I'll look at the harbor freight kit. We do a bunch of stuff in the off seasons, during lower light periods (both intensity and duration) - I don't know if that matters.

Originally Posted by bdichristina

You might wish to take a look at your converter. Since you’ll be out of the camper most of the day, do you need it to be on? Unless you are pilotless and need it to ignite your appliances, a simple on/off switch on the power lead from the battery might not be a bad idea. The same applies if you have an inverter.

The trailer has the main shutoff at the batterys, so we are good there. We are pilotless, but can wait for warm water.

Originally Posted by bdichristina

Heat
Like Tweety said, the “Little Heater Buddy” by Mr. Heater is awesome. I used to use one tent camping. You get about 5 or 6 hours of heat from a 1 pound propane bottle, for about 100 sq/ft. If you go this route, you might want to go with the “Portable Buddy” (the next larger size). It’s only about $30 more but more efficient and can heat up to 200 sq/ft. You can also get an adapter so you can use your large propane tanks. Close the bathroom door at night to keep the heat in the living space and park your camp side facing the morning sun to help take the chill off.

Our Mr. Buddy is the medium sized one and I have the hose to run it off a 20 or 30# tank.

Originally Posted by bdichristina

Water
You mentioned supplies being 30 minutes away. I’m sure you don’t wish to break down camp and pull the trailer when you go on this run. A portable dump tank would allow you to take just the “honey”, or expand your grey and black water capacity till you depart.

As with the portable dump tank, a portable water bladder would allow you to bring back water to replenish your fresh tank. These take up almost no space when empty and will let you easily bring 30 or 40 gallons of water back to camp in the bed of your Tacoma. As an alternative, you can get a couple collapsible, 5 gallon containers pretty cheap at clearance or liquidation stores. Though I have found they are not the most durable things.

It is likely that there will be facilities, so we can manage our honey accumulation. We have a ton of 5 gallon water cans, so if we don't need to dump, we can just make a water run and be fine.

Originally Posted by bdichristina

Run your hot water heater only when you are going to need it then shut it down after. Save the fresh water from the tap when waiting for the hot water to reach the faucet; you can use it elsewhere (washing, brushing teeth, doing dishes, etc.). Make sure everyone knows there is an on/off valve in the shower head (on-wet, off-soap, on-rinse).

Food Storage
Another one of your big energy consumers is going to be your refrigerator. Investing in a circulating fan for inside the fridge makes a world of difference in the fridge’s efficiency. Or like “Mr. Trifty” here does; rip the 12v fan out of that “you’ll never need more power than this” computer you bought 3 years ago, that has since been replaced and is now sitting unused in the basement. Connect it to a rechargeable RC model battery, an airsoft battery, or even a lantern battery. Anything from about 6 to 15 volts will work. I had a 9.6 volt, 2000 Ah airsoft battery lying around, that powers this fan 24/7 for about 25 days on a full charge. It has cut down the amount of time my fridge runs and has all but eliminated cold-spots.

Thanks for the run down on the fridge. We have never had one big enough to worry about, so I haven't really used one. I'd be happy to go with coolers if the energy draw was such that it made it worth it. Temps should be perfect for coolers.

Originally Posted by bdichristina

Then there’s age old tricks like starting with frozen foods that will thaw by this time you are ready to eat them; start out with everything in a quality cooler with ice and don’t power on the fridge till you need to; use blocked ice instead of cubes; keep the fridge side of your RV (or cooler) in the shade.

Safety
Lastly, and this has nothing to do with resource consumption; make sure you have fresh batteries in your smoke, CO2 and propane detectors. If you are going to be sealing her up at night due to the cold, we want to make sure you come back to the forum to let us know how the trip went!

Gotya on the safety! Thanks for all the tips, some stuff I knew, but there was a lot fo stuff in there to chew on.

[QUOTE=bdichristina;98905]

[MACK C-85]

Safety
Lastly, and this has nothing to do with resource consumption; make sure you have fresh batteries in your smoke, CO2 and propane detectors. If you are going to be sealing her up at night due to the cold, we want to make sure you come back to the forum to let us know how the trip went!

I love my Mr. Buddy, too. It keeps a goose pit or a deer blind nice and toasty!!!

But, off comes the camo cap and on goes the fire helmet!!!

Do NOT "seal up" if you are going to use any unvented Portable LP fired heater inside!!! Be sure to read the warnings on the unit. An unvented propane heater requires oxygen to burn and it gets it from the air inside your "sealed up" camper. Won't be long before there is no oxygen left for you to breathe and there is no low Oxygen alarm. Make sure you leave a window or vent open an inch or two to let fresh air into the camper while the unvented heater is burning.

The warnings specifically say not to sleep with the heater on in an enclosed space.

BTW, your furnance is vented to the outside and draws it's combustion air from the outside so, it doesn't cause the same issues.

Mack

[GKLarson]

We picked up our 1950 last Oct & 2 wks later headed to SW for 6 months of boondocking. Having the generator made that easy. We'll soon be returning for another Winter of same & my advice would mirrror what's already been stated:
We converted to leds & recently "flipped the axels" & installed an accumulator tank. The 24oz model from Shurflo fit perfectly right next to pump mounted in the vertical (recommended) position onto that chipboard that divides the under-bed storage from mechanical area. It's a blessing. Not only does it really reduce pump cycling & thus batt use but is also much more quiet. Also added insulation under & around pump for noise reduction.
We don't have auxiliary heat but wife has been looking @ Little Buddy or equivalent. For mid-teens mornings on S rim of Grand canyon I'd turn on furnace for few min before arising to take chill off. Snuggling's good for during the night.
While wife preferred indoor facilities, I didn't mind @ all answering nature's call off somewhere private outside. As we were mostly way off by ourselves in middle of nowhere this was easy.
Kept 3-4 lg jugs of water in back of the truck. Would dump some into a basin & more into a pot to heat for doing dishes on tailgate. Why crank on water heater when you need less than gal of hot for both wash & rinse. As "it ain't greywater 'till it's in tank" used dishwater was dumped on ground. I'd strain the washwater 1st if it contained chunky residue from unscraped plates
In the sunny, mild SW a $7 solar shower also works great(but likely not so well in a Dakota Oct trip)
I also pulled the radio/CD fuse & would only reinstall it when in use thus likely saving 1 watt over 6 months
For a trip of 1 wk you wouldn't have to bother w/ my more extreme methods. Have a great trip !

[mainah]

If you fridge is gas it will run for months on gas the flame is not much bigger then a candle. Mac C-85 is right the Mr. Buddy needs out side air they are catalytic but they still need O2 in order to burn so you need to have an open window close to the heater tent are leaky campers are not so much I had one and it gave me wicked head aches CO detector are a good thing but they do not make low O2 alarms and it's the lack of that that's the killer. I usually do not run my heat unless is 20 or colder outside but I jump up turn on the heat and the water for coffee then get back under the covers until the kettle sings and by that time the heater has every thing nice and warm. My water heater is a pilot type and once the water is hot if it is not used over night or during the day the pilot keeps the water hot.

[pwb01]

Two 24's (batteries) will last three days for sure. You'll need more if you can't charge them beyond that.

Suggestion, add an accumulator tank to the water system. It saves power by eliminating all those stops and starts on the water pump.

[Tod Osier]

Originally Posted by GKLarson

We picked up our 1950 last Oct & 2 wks later headed to SW for 6 months of boondocking. Having the generator made that easy. We'll soon be returning for another Winter of same & my advice would mirrror what's already been stated:
We converted to leds & recently "flipped the axels" & installed an accumulator tank. The 24oz model from Shurflo fit perfectly right next to pump mounted in the vertical (recommended) position onto that chipboard that divides the under-bed storage from mechanical area. It's a blessing. Not only does it really reduce pump cycling & thus batt use but is also much more quiet. Also added insulation under & around pump for noise reduction.
We don't have auxiliary heat but wife has been looking @ Little Buddy or equivalent. For mid-teens mornings on S rim of Grand canyon I'd turn on furnace for few min before arising to take chill off. Snuggling's good for during the night.
While wife preferred indoor facilities, I didn't mind @ all answering nature's call off somewhere private outside. As we were mostly way off by ourselves in middle of nowhere this was easy.
Kept 3-4 lg jugs of water in back of the truck. Would dump some into a basin & more into a pot to heat for doing dishes on tailgate. Why crank on water heater when you need less than gal of hot for both wash & rinse. As "it ain't greywater 'till it's in tank" used dishwater was dumped on ground. I'd strain the washwater 1st if it contained chunky residue from unscraped plates
In the sunny, mild SW a $7 solar shower also works great(but likely not so well in a Dakota Oct trip)
I also pulled the radio/CD fuse & would only reinstall it when in use thus likely saving 1 watt over 6 months
For a trip of 1 wk you wouldn't have to bother w/ my more extreme methods. Have a great trip !

Thanks GK, we are getting along on the list. We spent the better part of yesterday flipping the axles and will bring it to our mechanic to tack the saddles on next week.

Accumulator tank is on the list and when I'm in there I think I'll add a winterizing kit to be able to draw right off a gallon of antifreeze to winterize.

Thanks a ton, the advice based on personal experiance is really useful.

T

[Tod Osier]

Originally Posted by pwb01

Two 24's (batteries) will last three days for sure. You'll need more if you can't charge them beyond that.

Suggestion, add an accumulator tank to the water system. It saves power by eliminating all those stops and starts on the water pump.

Thanks for the suggestions... Accumulator is on the list and from what I've read your battery suggestion is right on. We bit the bullet and ordered a generator. We bought Yamaha's 2400 inverter generator - it was the best compromise of watts, size and price that will run our AC without question. The 2000 watt Hondas would have been nicer, but I read too many posts where people couldn't get them to run the 11K btw AC that we have. The former owner of our sunline had a honda and it wouldn't run the AC.

Thanks!

[Tod Osier]

Originally Posted by MACK C-85

I love my Mr. Buddy, too. It keeps a goose pit or a deer blind nice and toasty!!!

But, off comes the camo cap and on goes the fire helmet!!!

Do NOT "seal up" if you are going to use any unvented Portable LP fired heater inside!!! Be sure to read the warnings on the unit. An unvented propane heater requires oxygen to burn and it gets it from the air inside your "sealed up" camper. Won't be long before there is no oxygen left for you to breathe and there is no low Oxygen alarm. Make sure you leave a window or vent open an inch or two to let fresh air into the camper while the unvented heater is burning.

The warnings specifically say not to sleep with the heater on in an enclosed space.

BTW, your furnance is vented to the outside and draws it's combustion air from the outside so, it doesn't cause the same issues.

Mack

Yep on the Mr Buddy. Works great in a tent, not so good sealed up. Thanks for making sure I knew that.

T

[Tod Osier]

Originally Posted by mainah

If you fridge is gas it will run for months on gas the flame is not much bigger then a candle. Mac C-85 is right the Mr. Buddy needs out side air they are catalytic but they still need O2 in order to burn so you need to have an open window close to the heater tent are leaky campers are not so much I had one and it gave me wicked head aches CO detector are a good thing but they do not make low O2 alarms and it's the lack of that that's the killer. I usually do not run my heat unless is 20 or colder outside but I jump up turn on the heat and the water for coffee then get back under the covers until the kettle sings and by that time the heater has every thing nice and warm. My water heater is a pilot type and once the water is hot if it is not used over night or during the day the pilot keeps the water hot.

Mainah, thanks for the info - very helpful. I haven't used the fridge, I'm going to power it up on propane today and see how it goes.

[GKLarson]

With a generator you'll find boondocking/dry camping easier than rollin' offa log. You likely won't have to run it & AC too long to cool off your 1950 in a Dakota Oct

[Tod Osier]

Originally Posted by GKLarson

With a generator you'll find boondocking/dry camping easier than rollin' offa log. You likely won't have to run it & AC too long to cool off your 1950 in a Dakota Oct

Now you are making me feel like a wuss . I should have blamed the generator on the wife .

[GKLarson]

keeping the wife happy is best way to insure a good camping experience

[JohnB]

Hi Tod

Seems like you have the power consumption under control. I'll add one thing about cool weather camping in a TT. You really need to vent the thing or it will build up with a ton of condensation inside.

At night I crack open a good full inch the roof vent on the far end of the camper from the bed room. That let's the moisture from night time breathing get out. Also vent the bathroom if you take a shower. Crack a window open if boiling water etc.

If you do not vent enough you can wake up to wet walls. This really is a bigger issue the colder out side it gets. The only other way out of venting is to get a dehumidifier. But they suck power and if your boondocking it, the vent trick is the power miser way.

Good luck and happy camping

John

[Tod Osier]

Originally Posted by JohnB

Hi Tod

Seems like you have the power consumption under control. I'll add one thing about cool weather camping in a TT. You really need to vent the thing or it will build up with a ton of condensation inside.

At night I crack open a good full inch the roof vent on the far end of the camper from the bed room. That let's the moisture from night time breathing get out. Also vent the bathroom if you take a shower. Crack a window open if boiling water etc.

If you do not vent enough you can wake up to wet walls. This really is a bigger issue the colder out side it gets. The only other way out of venting is to get a dehumidifier. But they suck power and if your boondocking it, the vent trick is the power miser way.

Good luck and happy camping

John

Thanks for the suggestion. I have read about condensation problems vis-a-vis living in the TT and it makes sense. On this particular trip we will have a lot of respiring meat in the trailer as it is 3 guys and 3 dogs. Luckally it is South Dakota, so we should be able to get the humidity down day-to-day, but we can crack the windows/vents at night if we have problems.

Tod