2108DS - How to boondock

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by MainelyScott

2108DS with the original (2018)battery,

It’s likely that your battery has been degraded over the past 2-yrs and may not offer its full capacity of amp hours

We put the slide out

This alone uses a lot of power from your battery

thought we were really fortunate that we could camp and have water and heat.

The heater fan uses a fair amount of power as well. Especially if you have it set to “at home” kind of temps like 68 degrees.

Battery was completely dead, was fully charged when we parked.

It probably wasn’t fully charged. If you looked at the voltage of the battery after parking it would likely show a higher than actual voltage from your tow vehicle.

I had unplugged the car because I wasn’t sure if the camper could draw the car battery down.

It could have drained your car battery. That was good thinking. Had you not unplugged you probably wouldn’t have run out of heat so early.

Now that you’ve had this experience I suggest you pull that battery and have it tested. See if it’s been damaged and see if it can hold a charge. Adding a second battery to your TT would also be a good idea.

One other thing, check to be sure that your tow vehicle is actually charging your battery as you drive. It probably is, but stranger things have happened and if it’s not actually charging as you drive you need to address that, as well.

[tinglett]

Originally Posted by MainelyScott

2108DS with the original (2018)battery, we stayed one night at a rest stop. We put the slide out, thought we were really fortunate that we could camp and have water and heat. Woke up about 1:00 a.m. with no heat (40 degrees outside). Battery was completely dead, was fully charged when we parked. Had to call AAA (RV Plus) to boost the battery and wind in the slide. I had unplugged the car because I wasn’t sure if the camper could draw the car battery down. I now carry a booster with me. I’m sure that a new battery would be an improvement, but not sure how long it would run the camper.

Perhaps the 2018 is wired different from the 2019, but in my case the TT gets 12V power when connected to the tow vehicle. So if this happened to me, I would simply connect up the trailer, start my vehicle, and go in and run in the slide. The jack works too. In fact, everything 12v works. I just tried this right now as I have the battery completely removed.

I have verified that my vehicle does not provide 12v through the trailer connector when not running. I believe this depends on the vehicle, but I don't think mine would have been drained if it was left connected in this case. Probably a good idea to disconnect anyway.

[Old Navy]

Originally Posted by creativepart

It’s likely that your battery has been degraded over the past 2-yrs and may not offer its full capacity of amp hours

.... Adding a second battery to your TT would also be a good idea.

Especially if it's the typical group 24 marine battery that most dealers provide. I've seen tests where even a few discharges to 50% reduced the battery's capacity by a large amount. 2 years, and at least one full discharge, I' toss this battery.

For about the same price as 2 good 12V group 24's, you could buy 2 6V GC2 batteries that are true deep cycle. Trojan T-105 and Crown CR-220 run about $130 each locally. Sams and Costco sell a similar capacity 6V battery for about $100. Not only do you get more Ah's, but if you need to discharge to 20% every once in a while, it's not going to damage your battery.

[MainelyScott]

Originally Posted by tinglett

Perhaps the 2018 is wired different from the 2019, but in my case the TT gets 12V power when connected to the tow vehicle. So if this happened to me, I would simply connect up the trailer, start my vehicle, and go in and run in the slide. The jack works too. In fact, everything 12v works. I just tried this right now as I have the battery completely removed.

I have verified that my vehicle does not provide 12v through the trailer connector when not running. I believe this depends on the vehicle, but I don't think mine would have been drained if it was left connected in this case. Probably a good idea to disconnect anyway.

Yes, the battery was fully charged, and in fact it fully recharged after a day of driving. I did start the truck and plugged the wire back in, but that alone wasn't enough to allow us to move the slide. In retrospect, maybe if I had revved the engine instead of letting it idle? In any case AAA was quick to show up and help me out. I've since bought a booster pack and intend to get the battery tested (and probably buy a better one) before I go camping again. In three years of using the camper that was the only time that we "camped" without hookups. We seem to prefer full hookups and activities that campgrounds have to offer.

[DavidM]

Yes, the slide motor takes about 20A and even with nearly dead batteries the power wire on the 7 pin connector will only pass about 10A. You could have let the TV run for 20-30 minutes and build up a charge and it might have worked then. Revving the engine won't help much as the TV's alternator has a fixed voltage output and the long wire from the alternator to the trailer's battery causes too much of a voltage drop to pass any more current.

Another way is to use jumper cables directly from your TV's battery to the trailer battery. I bet you could have moved the slide that way.

Don't give up on dry camping. As a retired couple we don't really need swimming pools and stuff, although we have camped at lots of nice rustic campgrounds that had nice shoreline beaches for swimming.

David

[MainelyScott]

Originally Posted by DavidM

Yes, the slide motor takes about 20A and even with nearly dead batteries the power wire on the 7 pin connector will only pass about 10A. You could have let the TV run for 20-30 minutes and build up a charge and it might have worked then. Revving the engine won't help much as the TV's alternator has a fixed voltage output and the long wire from the alternator to the trailer's battery causes too much of a voltage drop to pass any more current.

Another way is to use jumper cables directly from your TV's battery to the trailer battery. I bet you could have moved the slide that way.

Don't give up on dry camping. As a retired couple we don't really need swimming pools and stuff, although we have camped at lots of nice rustic campgrounds that had nice shoreline beaches for swimming.

David

Thanks David,
We're retired too, when we had the dry camping episode COVID was happening and we were on our way back from Florida, by the time we got to Connecticut the campgrounds weren't open. I thought of jumper cables, but didn't have any with me, in a way it was good to give AAA a try. It all worked out fine in the end, and I'm more prepared for the next time.

[tinglett]

Originally Posted by MainelyScott

Yes, the battery was fully charged, and in fact it fully recharged after a day of driving. I did start the truck and plugged the wire back in, but that alone wasn't enough to allow us to move the slide. In retrospect, maybe if I had revved the engine instead of letting it idle?

Interesting. I ran my slide all the way in and back out again with the TV idling. This could be explained in a few ways. Maybe the 2019 differs from the 2018, your TV produces less power, or maybe the dead battery was sucking away a lot of the juice. Dunno.

As David suggested, jumper cables may have worked and are good to carry anyway if only to help others. I'm installing a Victron battery monitor right now so I'll see what the slide motors draw once it's in place.

It's nice AAA plus worked so well. I need to look into that. But I'm also looking for ways to get out these binds before I get into them so thanks for posting!

[tinglett]

I got my Victron battery monitor installed today and tried out the slide. I turned the battery disconnect off so there was 0.0 amp draw. I switched on the slide and pulled it in and it surged briefly at 4.25A and then settled in at 3.8A for the duration. Going out the slide was pretty much fixed at 4.5A for the entire duration. This explains why my vehicle was able to power it via the towing cable connection. It's interesting that one direction takes more current than the other.

I still find it odd that the TT is wired to allow the slide to operate with the disconnect off, but for this experiment that was actually useful!

[sinergee]

i have the 2106fbs model (still wish i had seen the 2108TB!) My guess is that the battery kill switch is somehow in the off position,Obviously the wall plugs,microwave and AC wont work on battery but lights and water pump should. we took ours dry camping for a week and we used a generator for about 4-6 hours a day to keep the batteries charged and had no problems, we used the toliet but we showered with a outdoor shower tent and solar bag water heater, we had to add a few buckets of water on the 5th day but the holding tanks held up fine. We have a micro aire easy start on our ac and it runs just fine with a smaller generator. like the 2000i. We also added a max fan to our over the bed vent and didnt need to worry about AC at night.

[Marine359]

We are still trying to come to grips with the disappointment of finding out that our newly delivered 2108DS has a 12v only fridge. With the standard 60ah deep cycle, the fridge drains the battery in about 4 hrs. Makes it impossible to boondock. Trying to figure out an affordable solution without having to replace the fridge. Please comment/input

1. Single 100ah Lithium battery with new converter, and Honda 2200i, or
2. Dual 100ah Lithium’s with 100watt portable solar panel, or
3. Just replace the fridge with 12v/LP and get a better deep cycle battery.

All of the options above will cost almost $2,000.

We need to make decision soon, so thanks in advance for your input.

[Old Navy]

I would say option 1 is the best of the three.

A 100W solar panel will not charge your batteries enough to run your DC fridge. You need to get a better handle on your actual power usage to better design your system. A 100W solar panel will only give you about 30 Ah/day, and much of that will be expended running your fridge and other DC loads during the day. So at the end of the day, you might only have charged your battery with 10 Ah's. And that's on a sunny day. Starting out with 200 Ah's gives you a good "head start", so if you are only going for a few days, that might work, but each day, you will start out with less capacity.

I might modify option 1 and go with a cheaper LiFePO4 battery like the 170Ah LiFePO4 Power Block for $820 with discount, or the 200 Ah SOK battery for $1030, and the Honda genny. Then you can take your time to design and install a proper (larger) solar system. Will Prowse did a teardown of these batteries a few weeks ago.

Top 3 Budget 12V LiFePO4 Batteries Tested: SOK VS. Powerblock VS. DIY

Most people who buy LiFePO4 for their TT move them from the tongue to the storage area, both for security and to keep them out of the cold, so that would add some expense even if you DIY. LiFePO4 has different charging requirements, but your WFCO converter will probably be fine until you get around to replacing it. User tinglett installed Battle Born batteries in his Micro Minnie, and can give you great feedback and lessons learned.

[Marine359]

Thanks Old Navy!
Seems the 170ah Powerblock combined with EU2200i is the best combination for us and will pretty much cover the gamut of our camping needs. Curious why you didn’t recommend replacing the converter with one specifically made for LiFePO batteries.

[backtrack15]

Originally Posted by Marine359

We are still trying to come to grips with the disappointment of finding out that our newly delivered 2108DS has a 12v only fridge.

We need to make decision soon, so thanks in advance for your input.

That is a tough spot.

What GAWR and GVWR do you have on your trailer? Is it 2500/5000 or 3000/5500? If it is the former, you might also consider the weight of everything you’re planning to add while making your decision. I definitely would not exceed 5K (total) on the axles.

[GaryS]

Originally Posted by Marine359

We are still trying to come to grips with the disappointment of finding out that our newly delivered 2108DS has a 12v only fridge.

Wow. I just checked the Winnebago Towables page and discovered that all of the Micro Minnies, with the exception of the 1700BH, have 12V only refrigerators. What was Winnebago thinking? I would not buy a TT that had a 12V only fridge. Our 1705RD has a 110V/LP fridge and runs on LP 99% of the time and uses just a trickle of LP. We find that our boondocking is limited only by the capacity of our holding tanks.

I'm sorry Marine359, that probably isn't what you wanted to hear.

[backtrack15]

The dual mode fridge is a no-cost option.

[GaryS]

Originally Posted by backtrack15

The dual mode fridge is a no-cost option.

So I see but why did they make that optional? Weird.

[Marine359]

I called our dealer today to find out that they order all micro Minnie’s standard build with explorer option. Raised axles and heated holding tanks. So unless you’re willing to wait six months or more for a custom order, everybody, including me, the unwashed is stuck with standard build. Other dealers may have orders in for non-standard builds, but our dealer’s price was at least $4,000 less than any of the other dealers we contacted (8 of them).

[backtrack15]

Originally Posted by GaryS

So I see but why did they make that optional? Weird.

Maybe they wanted to screw up three things (as opposed to just two): GAWR, GVWR, and... 12V fridge.

[Old Navy]

Originally Posted by Marine359

. Curious why you didn’t recommend replacing the converter with one specifically made for LiFePO batteries.

Lithium batteries would be better served by a better charger, but I wouldn't consider it a top priority. If it's in your budget, then I'd go for it. But as I understand it, most LiFePO4 drop in batteries "top balance", and require 14.4 volts near the end of the charge cycle, so as long as the charger provides that, it should work. Once you add solar, the solar charge controller will provide the voltage to top balance the cells, and the converter becomes less critical.

[Marine359]

2 x 3,000 gvwr 5,500
Dry 4,140
So we have approx 1,300 lbs trailer carry cap.
Truck tow cap 7,000
Gvwr 5,000
So we should be real safe if we don’t overload the truck
We historically travel with empty tanks.