Another Noobie with a FLX (2108TB)

[STR8.SHOOTER]

Greetings, this is post #1 for me. I am brand new to the forum, and brand new to Trailer camping.

I just purchased the 2022 Micro Minnie FLX (twin bed) - and was super excited about the advertised "up to 5 days boondocking" capability - as my intended use case is 36-48 hour hunting weekends deep in the boondocks in Florida where I live.

Well imagine my disappointment when my first overnight started at around 7pm with 100% battery, and was completely drained to the 10% reserve cutover by 3am that same night! What? (up to) 5 DAYS? I got 8 HOURS!

So, I am here to learn all about configuration settings and setup, to try and get the advertised results. Otherwise, I'm going to feel quite duped.

And, I will pile on that my dealer (Lazy something) also didn't know the first thing about the FLX package. My orientation was the equivalent of "that's the hitch, those are the wheels, this is the slide out, any questions?"

Anyhow, looking forward to benefiting from the knowledge and insight of this group and hopefully getting my TT set up to actually boondock. Thanks!

 

[creativepart]

Hi and welcome!

Congrats on the new RV. As to your dealer - this seems very common and unfortunately, the FLX is unique enough that it really seems universal. Lazy Days is known for doing great up until you sign on the dotted line and then it's "who are you again?"

As you are finding out "UP TO" means that all bets are off when it comes to capability. I'm sure 5-days is a theoretical number and it means you are not using any power on the RV but are parked in full sun for all five days for the solar to keep up with parasitic loads.

Your actions and your lifestyle will make the biggest difference in how long your batteries will last. A first step is learning just how much power everything uses. You can learn about this in your drive way. But go into it knowing a few upfront basics.

A/C uses a TON of power. Yes, there are big brags about being able to run your A/C on batteries and... you can. For a very short while, when not using anything else and the knowledge that you'll be totally out of power after an hour or two.

The 12v power hogs are the furnace blower and 12v fridge. The fridge will use nearly all your battery in 24 hours or less. Especially if it's hot in the trailer. The furnace blower uses less power but can take a big hit if you have your propane furnace set to "toasty."

Everything else is pretty much inverted 110v power and anything that creates heat via resistance will gobble up massive amounts of battery power. This list includes: hair dryers, coffee makers, CPAP heaters and the biggest of all the Microwave.

Small items like lights, TVs, DVD players, phone chargers etc use very little battery power to operate. Some will be 12v and some will be 110v inverted power.

A first step is to objectively look at each power load and come to grips with it's cost in battery power. Add to the task figuring out if your FLX is correctly setup. Dealers are well known in selling these with totally incorrect settings for the solar charge controller, the inverter/charger and the Lithionics battery.

 

[STR8.SHOOTER]

Thanks creativepart! I appreciate the info.

Your post immediately made me think... is the FLX package really the right kit for boondocking?

Is 320AH really adequate? What if you added a second Lithionics battery? What about 2 more? Would another 190W panel on the roof make any meaningful difference? That is the limit of the charge controller - wait, is a 600W charge controller adequate?

I can see how far you could go with this - where would it ever end!?

 

[creativepart]

I can see how far you could go with this - where would it ever end!?

The joke answer is never - but actually, the more you use what you have the more you'll find the sweet spot.

The FLX is a MAJOR step forward. But as you suggest more battery, more solar are always a plus.

The easy cheap solution is to carry a 2200w quiet generator. This not only can power the A/C and microwave indefinitely but it can recharge your 320Ah battery faster than the sun and even in the rain.

Many boondockers dig in their feet and claim "no generators for me". And they find they need to spend 4-times the cost of a single genset to have more than enough power to do what they want to do.

Right now, verify your settings and then start using the RV for short trips close to home. Test out everything. Learn everything. Then you'll know if you need more power or if you can be fine with what you have.

 

[STR8.SHOOTER]

sounds like sage advice to me! Again, thank you!

 

[Trax]

Welcome to the club. I'm new here also with an FLX. We're planning our first no hook up trip this weekend and while I don't expect 5 days I was hopping I could get two out of it. Your post makes me nervous now. Hopefully others will post their experiences as well so we can get an idea what to expect. High's in the 50's here in Michigan this weekend so I imagine my furnace blower use a fair amount of the battery. I think I can turn the heat off on my CPAP so maybe that will help. I used my CPAP last weekend while plugged in and monitoring my load it added around 40W . I was thinking the same thing about the battery. I looked at a second Lithionics battery at 320Ah and it's around $4K. Ouch.

You described my dealership experience to a T. I bought mine through a privately owned (not chain) dealership and the guy would point to things that are labeled and tell us what they are. My wife was impressed that he didn't realize we could read.

I will share my experience after the weekend.

 

[creativepart]

Trax, keep in mind that Str8.Shooter didn't tell us what loads his FLX was running when he failed to last the night on battery power.

I have 400Ah of lithium and 300w of solar panels on my 38' motorhome. Unlike you guys, my large residential 3-door fridge runs on 110v power - so the inverter has to make that out of my 12v batteries.

I can easily run all night even with the furnace running (Thermostat set at 63 degrees) off of my batteries. I make sure that we end the night at 90% or higher state of charge on my batteries and wake with usually 65% or more state of charge left in my system.

So, I would say that in general you should be able to make it through the night without issue assuming you start the night at a full state of charge and don't have too many high loads running all night long.

Experience is the key. The more you know about your systems and how they act the more confidence you'll have in the abilities of your FLX.

 

[STR8.SHOOTER]

That’s fair, I didn’t.

As you pointed out previously, the 12v fridge is always on. In addition I ran the Tv for about an hour (on inverter), I had 2 interior lights on for a little while (led), I had the Truma AC running in Auto mode with the thermostat set on 70, and I had 2 cell phones plugged into USB chargers.

It was about 83 degrees outside that night.


Using the Xantrex app today, I recreated the same load while on shore power, minus the TV and it looked to be pulling between 120-130w at 120v.

 

[creativepart]

The A/C was the thing that tripped you up. Keep in mind your A/C has a fan and a separate compressor. When just the fan is running your power usage will be lower but when the compressor kicks in the amps will shoot way up for a short period and then settle but still be higher as long as the compressor runs.

It's this FAN > Compressor Start > Compressor Run that uses all the power.

The lights, the TV, the cell chargers they are nothing compared to the Fridge and A/C.

Water heater on Propane? Right? I think your FLX just has a truma propane water heater.

 

[STR8.SHOOTER]

Correct, the water heater is a Truma AquaGo tankless gas heater.

 

[tinglett]

I just purchased the 2022 Micro Minnie FLX (twin bed) - and was super excited about the advertised "up to 5 days boondocking" capability - as my intended use case is 36-48 hour hunting weekends deep in the boondocks in Florida where I live.

We routinely "camp" with 200Ah of lithium battery for 5 days and I usually don't even pack our Honda EU2200i generator unless we plan to stay longer. BUT...note that I said "camp." We aren't using the trailer as a second home or a cabin.

First, we have an absorption refrigerator (propane). The 12v compressor fridge takes 50Ah per day if I recall. @Marine359 on this forum can provide all the details. And second, we don't use any 115v appliances at all. No A/C, no microwave, no TV, no electric drip coffee maker. We do have solar panels on the roof, but they generally produce nothing. You'd need to locate yourself in strong sunlight and then they'd do ok.

So I suppose you could give Winnebago a break on this one. If you didn't use the fridge, TV, microwave, and A/C, you are probably in good shape. The real tough one here is the fridge. Another common question is "well, what's left?" There actually are a lot of 12v things consuming power. I have a CPAP, you have the lights, car stereo (haha), water pump, fans, and the water heater still needs 12v to "think".

I wouldn't count on solar to get you through, UNLESS you view the effort as a new hobby. Many pursue it as a hobby, whether they realize or not, and seem to have a lot of fun pursuing the challenge. A nice generator is the best answer. And remember that more battery means a lot more generator runtime to replenish. If you run the generator each day for a while, you won't need more battery. 320Ah is a lot of battery! It'll take 10 hours to charge from zero if you can only put 32A in. Something to think about, especially when talking about doubling it.

 

[STR8.SHOOTER]

We routinely "camp" with 200Ah of lithium battery for 5 days and I usually don't even pack our Honda EU2200i generator unless we plan to stay longer. BUT...note that I said "camp." We aren't using the trailer as a second home or a cabin.

Thank you for your input. It makes perfect sense, and the logic is hard to argue against.

However, having said that... not using all of the powered devices you spoke about, doesn't that reduce the experience to exactly the verb you specifically used, "camp"? Meaning essentially, one would have paid roughly $50K for Travel Trailer, only to get the experience equivalent of tent camping, right?

Not to mention having paid the extra $15 - $20K for the FLX package - specifically with the designated intent to power those devices.

I mean - I know you are right. I am not arguing that. But I am starting to question myself - why buy the TT, and specifically why pay extra for the FLX, if the only way you can "really" use it is without powered devices - basically same as a tent?

 

[creativepart]

The reality you have is that your FLX is so much more capable than a non-FLX Micro Minnie. A stock Micro Minnie has a 65Ah battery, no inverter and no solar. These are all things you'd have to spend $5000 or more to buy and another $5000 for installation if you were not capable of doing the project yourself.

Where you feel "limited" in the amount of things you can run when boondocking it's vastly more than if you didn't have all that your TT came with. It would make the difference between being able to boondock with limited functions versus not being able to boondock at all.

Leave out the A/C and try it again. You may not get 5-days but certainly 2 to 3 days would be likely.

 

[STR8.SHOOTER]

Of course you are right… I need to get out of my own head and get out into the wild!!

 

[tinglett]

Ha, well it is "enhanced tent camping" in the sense that we have a nice bed, running (hot) water and shower, bathroom, heat, etc. But you know that!

I agree you just need to get out there. Our first adventures with a lead-acid battery were just a disaster. You are already way on top of that with a mighty fine rig! Just play around and figure out what uses the juice, what doesn't, how much power you typically use per day, and when/if you want a generator. And remember if you do run a generator to top off batteries, you can also do some extra power-hungry stuff like run a drip coffee maker, the microwave, or even the A/C to chill it down a bit.

And please report back over in the travel trailer forum. I know there are a few FLX owners there, but there are others like myself who would be very interested to know how your equipment works. Future upgrades are always fun to think about .

 

[Marine359]

All you FLX owners:
You have one of the most advanced travel trailers available. It’s ready to boondock right off the shelf! If the FLX were available when I bought my 2108ds, I definitely would have bought the flex. Although I’ve done major electrical upgrades myself at a cost of roughly $4,000, I cannot upgrade to the most important FLX feature: the Truma system. That is truly the bomb. I’ve thought of trading in to get a FLX, but it still isn’t a 4-season camper. So, I’ll get through life being frustrated, and envious of the FLX crowd. We’ll see you out in the boondocks and check each other out.

 

[Trax]

Said I would report my results from the weekend. Bought and brought a generator but never took it out of my truck. Running heat and the fridge all weekend (two nights) CPAP at night some lights here and there microwave a couple times and water pump as needed we returned home at 40%. Our site was shaded so only real solar was from the 2 hour drive home. I am pleased with the results. Side note, the Honda EU2200i took less than 2 hours and a tank of gas to get me back to full charge after returning home.

 

[tinglett]

Said I would report my results from the weekend. Bought and brought a generator but never took it out of my truck. Running heat and the fridge all weekend (two nights) CPAP at night some lights here and there microwave a couple times and water pump as needed we returned home at 40%. Our site was shaded so only real solar was from the 2 hour drive home. I am pleased with the results. Side note, the Honda EU2200i took less than 2 hours and a tank of gas to get me back to full charge after returning home.

Very nice! So you were able to put in nearly 100A continuous while charging via the generator? That's a huge difference from the non-FLX models. What model charger does the FLX have installed? And I assume the batteries must be right next to the charger (where they should be). This recharge speed is a big, big deal, in my opinion.

 

[Trax]

Very nice! So you were able to put in nearly 100A continuous while charging via the generator? That's a huge difference from the non-FLX models. What model charger does the FLX have installed? And I assume the batteries must be right next to the charger (where they should be). This recharge speed is a big, big deal, in my opinion.

They have the Xantrex XC Pro 3000 inverter/charger. The battery is indeed right next to the inverter/charger. I was also in in the sun so I’m assuming there was help from the solar. Here’s a screenshot of my battery app when I started charging showing charge current of 131A.

 

[JohnnyD49]

All great info. The real deal is getting the experience about how everything works and what power is available and being used. You'll get better and better at this in time.

For me, I just bought a Ford F-150 Powerboost hybrid truck with a 30A circuit in the bed if I need the help. So far, not much, but it's nice to know it's there. You know, just in case...