2014 Camping Thread

[Slava]

I have no experience with that! Are you saying it fell right through the floor?

[Hockeyguy15]

I don't have an enclosed belly so it didn't bust through the floor. The support closest to the hitch is welded to the frame, then the support closest to the bumper is screwed into the metal frame on the passenger side. The fun part is on the driver side the support never was screwed to the frame, so it looks like the support moved and the water tank dropped down onto the axle.

I'm thinking had the axle not been there it would have fallen right out and ripped all my plumbing with it, and possibly hurt/killed someone behind me on the highway.

[Hevishot]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

Looks like the freshwater tank on my trailer was not bolted in correctly (at all). I have had it for a couple years now and the one side of it fell down from the supports this weekend.

Weird question I know, but I'm just seeing if anyone has had this issue before? I don't think there is any damage to anything else since it was resting on the trailers axle.

My buddies last toyhauler had this happen and I guess it is a pretty common Problem. There were only 2 tiny straps holding up a huge @ss water tank. He ended up making his own "strapping" and re welding/fastening as needed. The dealership which is located south of calgary in some sort of "autoplex" wanted nothing to do with the problem even though it was still under "warranty".

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Hevishot

My buddies last toyhauler had this happen and I guess it is a pretty common Problem. There were only 2 tiny straps holding up a huge @ss water tank. He ended up making his own "strapping" and re welding/fastening as needed. The dealership which is located south of calgary in some sort of "autoplex" wanted nothing to do with the problem even though it was still under "warranty".

I don't have any straps holding mine, it's held in on three sides with the frame and then the other side with the angle iron. I think it would be sturdy enough if it was actually screwed in like it was supposed to be.

I guess we will see what they say at the dealership, I just hope nothing else was damaged.

[Canehdianman]

There might have been screws there originally, but they corroded off.

Make sure the screws resist corrosion

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

There might have been screws there originally, but they corroded off.

Make sure the screws resist corrosion

The one side was never screwed in, there were no holes in the frame.

[Canehdianman]

Ah that's pretty ####ty work then. Good luck with the dealer.

[Hevishot]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

The one side was never screwed in, there were no holes in the frame.

Thats irritating I hope your dealers service center will take care of you. You figure for the amount of money people spend on RVs the quality on some of them could be a heck of alot better. When you spend 40-100k on a travel trailer/5th wheel it should not be put together with skinny staples and finishing nails.

[Slava]

Anyone have any insight on how to extend or increase my battery capacity? I have a single 12v at this point and my furnace was on this weekend, but not over the whole time (just at night), and only one night because the battery died. I have a solar panel, but that didn't get enough charge to run it again the next night.

Any ideas? I really suck at electrical types of things, so I have no idea other than just add another battery somehow.

[Canehdianman]

Was the battery fully charged before you left? If this was your first trip of the year, it might have just been really low.

I have also heard that switching to a 2-6V battery system (golf cart batteries) allows you to drain the batteries much lower before they stop working, effectively, giving you much more power on them.

I am debating getting the 70W solar panel+ charge controller setup from costco for my RV. Does anyone have any feedback on how well it would keep the batteries topped up?

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Slava

Anyone have any insight on how to extend or increase my battery capacity? I have a single 12v at this point and my furnace was on this weekend, but not over the whole time (just at night), and only one night because the battery died. I have a solar panel, but that didn't get enough charge to run it again the next night.

Any ideas? I really suck at electrical types of things, so I have no idea other than just add another battery somehow.

Probably the easiest ones would be to put in LED lights, turn off the pump and hot water heater when you don't use them.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I bought a DC power meter designed for people who have model airplanes, and used it to test how much power various things draw off the batteries. The numbers are all watts, so divide by 12 to get amps. A few things that I tested:

Stereo (in standby mode) and CO detector- 2 watts (Both are on same circuit)
1157 LED bulbs- 3.3 watts (each)
921 LED bulbs- 1.1 watts (each)
Stereo playing USB video; volume between 2 to 4- 14 watts
Stereo playing USB video; volume at 12- 18 watts
Furnace motor- 33 watts
RCA 19” TV- 20 watts
Antenna power booster- 1.5 watts
Water pump- 36 watts normally, 48 watts surge at startup
Water heater- 8 watts constant
Fridge- 3.5 watts constant

The water heater was a bit of a surprise. So even when it isn't firing it has a significant drain on your battery. That will take 16 of your amp hours away per day if you left it on 24/7. So now when I dry camp I only fire it up when I need it.

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I seem to recall my test on an incandescent 921 bulb was right around 20 watts. So the LED bulbs are significant in how little power they draw.

Slava this post was pretty good to show where your power goes.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Slava

Anyone have any insight on how to extend or increase my battery capacity? I have a single 12v at this point and my furnace was on this weekend, but not over the whole time (just at night), and only one night because the battery died. I have a solar panel, but that didn't get enough charge to run it again the next night.

Any ideas? I really suck at electrical types of things, so I have no idea other than just add another battery somehow.

I just take along an extra battery. In my trailer, one will not last a long weekend running only the two thermostats and water pump. I alos fully charge them with a battery charger prior to leaving town. Or of you are my Brother Inlaw you just idle your truck all weekend.

[Madman]

Slava, make sure when you return from a dry camping trip you fully charge your battery back up before returning your trailer to storage. Running a battery down to empty, and then simply putting it away dead after your trip is a sure fire way to kill that battery for good.

[polak]

Vision quest was a success.

Weather was fantastic around Koocanusa.

[ken0042]

Slava- how many watts is your solar panel? (And brand if you know.) I can do some quick math to show you what you really get out of it.

For example the Coleman "40 watt" solar panel only puts ~24 watts back into your battery in full sun.

[chedder]

You need at least one more battery if you're going to run your furnace. I have 2 Costco big 12/volts and can easily get 3-4 nights. LED lights help too but it's the furnace fan that's the killer. One battery just isn't enough in my opinion. Some of the big 5 th wheels and motorhomes have 4-6 6 volt batteries on board.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Slava- how many watts is your solar panel? (And brand if you know.) I can do some quick math to show you what you really get out of it.

For example the Coleman "40 watt" solar panel only puts ~24 watts back into your battery in full sun.

I know its a Coleman and I just can't remember the wattage. I want to say 50w, but in all honesty I'm just making that up!

[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by polak

Vision quest was a success.

Weather was fantastic around Koocanusa.

How was the traffic heading back to Calgary? I heard it was horrible all afternoon

[polak]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

How was the traffic heading back to Calgary? I heard it was horrible all afternoon

Woke up early and left the site at 9:00 am specifically to avoid that so I didn't see any traffic, but there are a couple of construction areas along the way so I'm sure it was bad later on in the day.