boondocking for the first time?

[creativepart]

Congrats on your dry camping experience! You're gaining valuable knowledge and confidence for future adventures with each trip.

FYI, there is no official nomenclature for camping without hookups. People use all the terms interchangeably. For me personally, camping in the "boonies" out in a dispersed camping area without official sites just bare spots of ground is boondocking. Camping in a parking lot, at a Harvest Host, a Walmart or Cracker Barrel or even a NFS, COE, County or City campground with officially designated sites but no services (yes they do exist) is dry camping.

But that's just me. Others are totally free to call it whatever: off-grid, dry camping, boondocking or camping without hookups - or just "camping."

[Mashmaster]

Thanks, I tried to add pictures to the message but they didn't work..... I was parked in a field... So field docking? Lol

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Mashmaster

Thanks, I tried to add pictures to the message but they didn't work

Adding pictures is super easy. Here is the process:

Here's how to post a photo inside an existing thread that you are replying to:

Click scroll down to bottom of a thread to the Quick Reply editor box.

• At the bottom of the Quick Reply box, click "go advanced" and then scroll down.
• Click "Manage attachments" A separate window will pop up.
• Click "browse" Then select the file to be uploaded from your computer, tablet or phone's photo gallery. You may select several photos to upload at the same time by repeating the last step.
• Click "Upload" After pics have loaded close the pop-up window
• Click "submit reply" to mount the text of your message - photos will automatically appear at the bottom of your post.

IF you are starting a new thread then you can skip the whole "Go Advanced" instruction because when starting a new thread you are already in the Advanced Editor. So, in this case you just scroll down to the "Manage Attachments" button in the Advanced Editor.

[Morich]

Use care when looking at any voltage monitor or test on the batteries and be aware that reading may tend to mislead you as it takes place at the posts, not the full chemical reaction thing!
Are you aware of "surface charge" and how it relates to charging and reading the voltage soon after?
If not thinkiing of it, we can get the impression that a battery charges much more quickly than actual fact.
Just a note of caution as you get used to anything new!

[BobC]

Sounds like a successful trip. You'll be an expert before long. Having to run your stove in order to purge the air from your propane lines is normal. You could do the same by just trying to light your refrigerator's pilot light over and over again but it would take much, much longer.

Most, if not all, Winnebago slides operate off the chassis (starting) battery so it's always a good idea to run the engine when operating your slides. Also, depending on your MH' setup, your chassis battery may not be receiving a charge while on shore power. You can modify your system to achieve this by adding a Trik-L-Start, Amp-L-Start or one of the many alternatives. They're an easy install:

https://www.lslproducts.net/

[Mashmaster]

Pics

[Mashmaster]

Originally Posted by Morich

Use care when looking at any voltage monitor or test on the batteries and be aware that reading may tend to mislead you as it takes place at the posts, not the full chemical reaction thing!
Are you aware of "surface charge" and how it relates to charging and reading the voltage soon after?
If not thinkiing of it, we can get the impression that a battery charges much more quickly than actual fact.
Just a note of caution as you get used to anything new!

Thanks, I didn't know that

[Mashmaster]

Originally Posted by BobC

Sounds like a successful trip. You'll be an expert before long. Having to run your stove in order to purge the air from your propane lines is normal. You could do the same by just trying to light your refrigerator's pilot light over and over again but it would take much, much longer.

Most, if not all, Winnebago slides operate off the chassis (starting) battery so it's always a good idea to run the engine when operating your slides. Also, depending on your MH' setup, your chassis battery may not be receiving a charge while on shore power. You can modify your system to achieve this by adding a Trik-L-Start, Amp-L-Start or one of the many alternatives. They're an easy install:

https://www.lslproducts.net/

Ah, that makes sense, thanks!

When I store my RV I have a trickle charger for the chasis battery as well. I like these linked systems, would keep me from having another plug. I will look into them.

[Montanwyo]

Mashmaster, sounds like your off and running, the more your out and about with your set-up, the better you'll get at understanding how all this equipment works.....
A note for you going forward.....
The "Slide" 12V Motors are actually powered from your Coach Battery's, which are Charged by the Onboard AC Power Converter, with built-in 12V-2amp Battery Charger, with either Shore Power Plugged in, or the Generator Running,,,,, Winnebago wants you to Start your Truck/Chassis Engine, that has a LARGE Alternator, mine is 155Amp, which also Charges the House Battery's, and the Chassis Start Battery when Driving, and since this LARGE Engine Driven Alternator puts out a lot Higher Charging Current, it can make sure your House Battery's have enough energy stored, so as to move that Slide out, or bring it back in.
Some of the earlier MH Models did not have this feature, and what would happen is, those House Battery's would get depleted to a point, where they were almost gone,,,, ie.... the small 12v Battery trickle Charger built into the Coaches AC Power Converter, could not keep up with the 12V power draw inside the coach,,,, so, the Side would come-in alittle maybe, or maybe not,,,,, and there you are, can't Drive the MH with the Slide-out,,,,, and your Wife is calling 911.....
Anyway, Best of Luck going forward.......

[Mashmaster]

Thanks, I am looking forward to more adventures that are out in the boonies more.

A plus was that I found out that the pilot gas station one exit from where we store the RV has a free dump so we can empty it close to our storage.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Montanwyo

Mashmaster, sounds like your off and running, the more your out and about with your set-up, the better you'll get at understanding how all this equipment works.....
A note for you going forward.....
The "Slide" 12V Motors are actually powered from your Coach Battery's, which are Charged by the Onboard AC Power Converter, with built-in 12V-2amp Battery Charger, with either Shore Power Plugged in, or the Generator Running,,,,, Winnebago wants you to Start your Truck/Chassis Engine, that has a LARGE Alternator, mine is 155Amp, which also Charges the House Battery's, and the Chassis Start Battery when Driving, and since this LARGE Engine Driven Alternator puts out a lot Higher Charging Current, it can make sure your House Battery's have enough energy stored, so as to move that Slide out, or bring it back in.
Some of the earlier MH Models did not have this feature, and what would happen is, those House Battery's would get depleted to a point, where they were almost gone,,,, ie.... the small 12v Battery trickle Charger built into the Coaches AC Power Converter, could not keep up with the 12V power draw inside the coach,,,, so, the Side would come-in alittle maybe, or maybe not,,,,, and there you are, can't Drive the MH with the Slide-out,,,,, and your Wife is calling 911.....
Anyway, Best of Luck going forward.......

Thanks, I stand corrected.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by Mashmaster

Thanks, I didn't know that

For a bit more info and easier to understand, perhaps, the way sureface charge might be explained is pretty simple as it is a chemical reaction in the batteries.

So if we compare it to something easy to think about as we can see it?
If we had a barrel of water and droppped black ink in the hole at the top, we might add 25 drops, look in and see totally black water. This is like charging a battery, adding the charge at the posts?
But if we stop adding ink and come back in a few hours, we will not see much color if any, as the ink has spread throughout the barrel and if we then take a look, there appears to be none! Same thing happens as we charge the battery, stop and then come back in a couple hours to only find a tiny charge there at the posts where we "look" with our meter as the charge chemical reaction has moved/spread throughout the total battery, not just at the post.

Important points are that the charge can't be a great big quick thing as the battery would overheat/ etc., so it has to be a slow charge and it does have to take longer than often expected. Like 6-8 hours or more to get near total charge!
Don't expect a good reliable voltage reading while charging as that is just reading the charger nor right after as you will get a misleading surface charge reading.
To get closer to the correct answer on voltage reaing, wait acouple hoursafter any charging or discharging to let the batttery become stable again.

A better idea can be found if we do a specific gravity reading on each of the six cells but that is getting into messy, tedious stuff that most of us do not want ! Specific gravity used to be a common test but now a "load test" is more common as it puts a load on the battery and shows how it reacts. Better but not a totally reliable thing , either.

Knowlegde of how the battery has been treated, history and lots of those other things can go inot a "Best guess" estimate but battery are so simple---they are really tricky!

Running the RV engine is almost always a good idea when using high power DC stuff like the jacksor slids as it is not using any single source of power but combined power from coach and start battery plus the increased voltage coming from the alternator as they are all connected when the engine runs.
It uses the same amount of current, regardless of which source is used but having all connected and the higher voltage from the alternator just lets it work more dependably.

[Morich]

The next thing you may want???

https://cleantechnica.com/2021/10/26...now-available/


What year and model of Minnie Winnie do you have? I see it as a 31C but things change year to year and I would like to look at the slide power before accepting some of the info as I have never seen the connections for the slide motors on any of the drawings I've looked at and suspect there may be some confusion as to the power. It is easy to get the idea that things are powered off one battery or the other when it can be just a matter of the controls on one battery while the actual power comes from another source.
I just like to do the checking to find what is actually done on any specific unit as things vary so much. I've always "assumed" the slide motros came off the start battery as I've never seen them on the coach drawings which we do get. Possibly a case of wrong assumptions but I like to check.

[Mashmaster]

Originally Posted by Morich

The next thing you may want???

https://cleantechnica.com/2021/10/26...now-available/


What year and model of Minnie Winnie do you have? I see it as a 31C but things change year to year and I would like to look at the slide power before accepting some of the info as I have never seen the connections for the slide motors on any of the drawings I've looked at and suspect there may be some confusion as to the power. It is easy to get the idea that things are powered off one battery or the other when it can be just a matter of the controls on one battery while the actual power comes from another source.
I just like to do the checking to find what is actually done on any specific unit as things vary so much. I've always "assumed" the slide motros came off the start battery as I've never seen them on the coach drawings which we do get. Possibly a case of wrong assumptions but I like to check.

It is a 2003 31C Minnie.

[thebunker]

I added a second house battery and use a 200W solar panel, as long as the sun shines I'm good. More often than not it fully charges the batteries by mid afternoon.

[Mashmaster]

Originally Posted by thebunker

I added a second house battery and use a 200W solar panel, as long as the sun shines I'm good. More often than not it fully charges the batteries by mid afternoon.

I already have two house batteries. I have a portable 100W panel now, could I use that to charge them?

The batteries are pretty new, otherwise I would look into replacing them from Lead Acid to something else.

[backtrack15]

Originally Posted by Morich

For a bit more info and easier to understand, perhaps, the way sureface charge might be explained is pretty simple as it is a chemical reaction in the batteries.

So if we compare it to something easy to think about as we can see it?
If we had a barrel of water and droppped black ink in the hole at the top, we might add 25 drops, look in and see totally black water. This is like charging a battery, adding the charge at the posts?
But if we stop adding ink and come back in a few hours, we will not see much color if any, as the ink has spread throughout the barrel and if we then take a look, there appears to be none! Same thing happens as we charge the battery, stop and then come back in a couple hours to only find a tiny charge there at the posts where we "look" with our meter as the charge chemical reaction has moved/spread throughout the total battery, not just at the post.
...

This is a really nice analogy. I'm glad you're still hanging around this forum.

[Morich]

Originally Posted by Mashmaster

I already have two house batteries. I have a portable 100W panel now, could I use that to charge them?

The batteries are pretty new, otherwise I would look into replacing them from Lead Acid to something else.

Yes, the 100 watt panel will charge two batteries, just like one but it also comes into play that you have two batteries( buckets?) of storage so it follows that they take twice as long to run down than compared to one but also twice as much time to refill!

If we sub in gallons instead of amp hours and onces instead of watts, it makes it easier to thing for most of us.
If we use a single five gallon bucket or tweo five gallon buckets, it is the same when we 10 ounces out of one or two buckets when we look at how long it takes to refill the buckets!
There are some small losses involved with doing any of these figures but generally it makes little difference if we drain one battery or six but what matters is how much we took out and how fast we are putting the same amount back in?
When you add a second 100 watt solar, it is kind of like adding a second hose to refill the buckets, no matter how many buckets are connected together.

I try to think simple as life seems to get hard at times and that relates to me still being involved in the forum! My son has a health situation and it is still evolving and still very much a mystery at times.
At any rate, I prefer trying to solve the elctrical problems better!

On the slide operation, if you do not have jacks, the drawing shows your Rv doesn't use the small motors at each side of the slide, as many do but has a stand alone hydraulic system, used just for the slide.

[Mashmaster]

Originally Posted by Morich

Yes, the 100 watt panel will charge two batteries, just like one but it also comes into play that you have two batteries( buckets?) of storage so it follows that they take twice as long to run down than compared to one but also twice as much time to refill!

If we sub in gallons instead of amp hours and onces instead of watts, it makes it easier to thing for most of us.
If we use a single five gallon bucket or tweo five gallon buckets, it is the same when we 10 ounces out of one or two buckets when we look at how long it takes to refill the buckets!
There are some small losses involved with doing any of these figures but generally it makes little difference if we drain one battery or six but what matters is how much we took out and how fast we are putting the same amount back in?
When you add a second 100 watt solar, it is kind of like adding a second hose to refill the buckets, no matter how many buckets are connected together.

I try to think simple as life seems to get hard at times and that relates to me still being involved in the forum! My son has a health situation and it is still evolving and still very much a mystery at times.
At any rate, I prefer trying to solve the elctrical problems better!

On the slide operation, if you do not have jacks, the drawing shows your Rv doesn't use the small motors at each side of the slide, as many do but has a stand alone hydraulic system, used just for the slide.

Yeah, I get the electrical point. For now, I will stick with what I have until I really boondock more to get a feel about what I really need.

I have no jacks, so I guess it is a hydrolic system.

[Morich]

Just info on what it shows where?

On which battery is uses? I've still not found any connection on the coach drawings and we don't get the chassis wiring, so I'm still blind on that point! I see the controls on the drawing but it is not unusual for controls to be from one place and actual power from another so it's still a question.

Just one of the many things to wonder about with a new RV....