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Old 05-05-2021, 05:03 PM   #1
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View 24D Boondock on LiPo

I’ll be doing a few Harvest Host overnights on an upcoming trip to NH and ME and assuming no gen or even 15A available. Still cold nights and am wondering if the LiPo’s will handle 12 -14 hrs of fridge, a few lights, the furnace and keeping the water heater in eco mode and occasional use. Plan to be judicious with energy but not Spartan either
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Old 05-05-2021, 07:19 PM   #2
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We've had two periods of unplanned boondocking with our 21VD with 480W solar and two 125Ah Lithionics batteries (and a diesel generator).

The first time was 3 nights in Phoenix in early December without any shore power. Nighttime temperatures were cool - but not below freezing.

The second time was on Galveston during the winter storm when the island lost power - we had 48 hours with temperatures below freezing and no shore power (or water). In the morning, the lithium batteries had about 50% charge. Even with clear skies, the solar panels couldn't provide a full charge, so we needed to run the generator for a short period to get back to a full charge by nightfall.

Both times, the combination of the lithium batteries plus solar helped. With below freezing temperatures (down to around 20 degrees) - I was running the tank heaters all night - which used more power. In the morning, the lithium hit the reserve cutoff level when I turned on the microwave to heat breakfast. When this happens, the batteries turn off. By manually pressing the power buttons on the battery, they provided power to the coach - and I was able to start the generator and recharge the batteries in a few hours.

Note that during this storm, most of the RVs around me were running their generators all night - with the lithium batteries, I could go all night just on the batteries and wait until the next day to recharge from solar and the diesel generator.

As long as temperatures are above freezing (and you aren't running the tank heating pads - and you're using gas heating - not the heat pump), you should be OK overnight. Set the refrigerator to night mode. And, if you want to save a little power, turn off the inverter overnight (the refrigerator, lights, water heater, water pump and USB/12V outlets will still be powered).

After our two unplanned boondocking periods - and spending much more time than we anticipated using our View in sub-freezing temperatures (down to 15 degrees), we're glad that we chose the diesel generator when we purchased our View last summer - so we use the propane only for the gas and water heaters - and the generator runs off the much larger chassis fuel tank (enough to run the generator for several days continuously...).
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Old 05-05-2021, 08:27 PM   #3
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Thanks, that is very helpful. Night time temps won’t be below freezing, but enough to want to run the furnace which I believe ignites and is controlled off of 12V. Will only need AC for the Keurig in the morning
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Old 05-05-2021, 08:31 PM   #4
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When boondocking, without shore power, your only option is the gas heater for heat or using the ceiling fan (you can use the remote to lower the fan speed and also have it turn on based on temperature).

Since the ceiling HVAC won't run off the batteries - then heat pump or A/C aren't an option - they would use too much power anyway...

We often play online games with our laptops - since we've got gaming laptops - they can also use a lot of power when they are running...
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Old 05-06-2021, 08:59 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 37NG View Post
I’ll be doing a few Harvest Host overnights on an upcoming trip to NH and ME and assuming no gen or even 15A available. Still cold nights and am wondering if the LiPo’s will handle 12 -14 hrs of fridge, a few lights, the furnace and keeping the water heater in eco mode and occasional use. Plan to be judicious with energy but not Spartan either
If you have a Dometic 12v only fridge, I tested it. It will draw 25AH per day @ ambient daytime temp of 60 degrees F. Probably will draw 30ah at higher ambient temp.
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Old 05-06-2021, 01:55 PM   #6
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New Views should come with Norcold 12V refrigerators.

According to their specifications, it will draw 5.7A in standard mode and 3.7A in night mode.

Assuming 16 hours at standard and 8 hours in night mode, that would be 130Ah per day. I suspect this is worst case, and if you open the refrigerator or freezer doors only occasionally - and the coach temperature is kept at a comfortable range, the refrigerator will do better than 130Ah per day.
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Old 05-06-2021, 02:42 PM   #7
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New Views should come with Norcold 12V refrigerators.

According to their specifications, it will draw 5.7A in standard mode and 3.7A in night.
The spec likely indicates current draw with compressor running 100% of the time. The actual current need will drop when the compressor is not running. Someone with the Norcold should do a 24 hr test using a shunt monitor to record actual amps used over 24hr period.
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Old 05-06-2021, 05:27 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 37NG View Post
I’ll be doing a few Harvest Host overnights on an upcoming trip to NH and ME and assuming no gen or even 15A available. Still cold nights and am wondering if the LiPo’s will handle 12 -14 hrs of fridge, a few lights, the furnace and keeping the water heater in eco mode and occasional use. Plan to be judicious with energy but not Spartan either
You should have no problem. I have a 20J with the factory lithium option. While boondocking starting at around 100% at sunset I’m usually at 70% by morning. That’s taking no serious efforts to conserve power. It includes some TV watch, lights on, fridge I usually put into night mode at bedtime but that’s not a huge savings, charging laptop, phones, etc. , and running a CPAP (without humidifier) all night. Assuming you do some driving the next day your batteries should recharge. The stock solar is not enough to recharge the batteries fully.
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Old 05-09-2021, 08:30 PM   #9
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Plan to run the generator every other day to recharge the batteries or add more panels to the roof. With 200W of solar and no use of the RV other than to have the fridge running the batteries were at 50% SOC after a couple of days in December. The plus side is that the lithium phosphate batteries charge three times as fast as the lead acid batteries and so run times for the generator will be relatively short.

The factory installed Zamp solar kit has a tri-port roof cap rated for 510W and the Zamp charge controller is rated for 510 Watts as well so I added a 100W panel and a 190W panel to the roof of our 24D for 490W in total. No space for larger or more panels so no need to upgrade the Zamp controller. Winnebago is selling the Ekko motorhome with 455W of solar so someone woke up and realized that more output is a selling item for the RVs.
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Old 05-24-2021, 12:16 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 37NG View Post
I’ll be doing a few Harvest Host overnights on an upcoming trip to NH and ME and assuming no gen or even 15A available. Still cold nights and am wondering if the LiPo’s will handle 12 -14 hrs of fridge, a few lights, the furnace and keeping the water heater in eco mode and occasional use. Plan to be judicious with energy but not Spartan either
For no gen or no 15A Harvest Host camping ... or any other noise sensitive drycamping ... you can just idle the RV's engine a bit for fast battery partial or full recharging from the motor's alternator.

Idling the chassis engine is a very quiet and unobtrusive way to top up motorhome batteries.

Doing the above, you shouldn't have to be Spartan with electricity use at all. We do this fairly often with our Class C motorhome and it works out very well.
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