2014 Camping Thread

[ken0042]

For those looking for an inexpensive solar panel, the one I have is on sale right now. (Sale ends today.)
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/co...l#.U6buA3j4CY0

Obviously won't give you as much power as a generator, but it should extend your dry camping trip without having to worry about noise, hauling gasoline, etc.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by ken0042

For those looking for an inexpensive solar panel, the one I have is on sale right now. (Sale ends today.)
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/co...l#.U6buA3j4CY0

Obviously won't give you as much power as a generator, but it should extend your dry camping trip without having to worry about noise, hauling gasoline, etc.

just bought two of them and some strips of LEDs from aliexpress. hoping to wire my cabin for some quiet light at night (no generator).

[ken0042]

Let me know how you end up wiring it; if you use both charge controllers or end up putting both panels through the same controller.

Also sounds like an interesting project; having a solar cabin. I have land in Manitoba and knowing what I know now about 12 volt power, I was considering having just solar out there as well.

[MacDaddy77]

Originally Posted by ken0042

For those looking for an inexpensive solar panel, the one I have is on sale right now. (Sale ends today.)
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/co...l#.U6buA3j4CY0

Obviously won't give you as much power as a generator, but it should extend your dry camping trip without having to worry about noise, hauling gasoline, etc.

How well does this keep your batteries charged? 2 6volt in series?

[hedge]

deleted

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Let me know how you end up wiring it; if you use both charge controllers or end up putting both panels through the same controller.

Also sounds like an interesting project; having a solar cabin. I have land in Manitoba and knowing what I know now about 12 volt power, I was considering having just solar out there as well.

my cabin is actually about 20km from the MB border, about two hours north of Flin Flon.

The current plan is to run 3 - 5m strips of 300 SMD5630 LEDs throughout the cabin. This will draw up to 450W if they are all on (most of the night we will only be using 100W or so. Every meter of LED strip should be equal to about 4 40W bulbs.

We really only use the cabin for 2 weeks a year so we are hoping to bring fully charged batteries up with us and top them up with the solar panels.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

How well does this keep your batteries charged? 2 6volt in series?

That question is like asking somebody how many dollars worth of gas do they use in a week. Without knowing km driven, the answer doesn't mean much.

The key is this panel will put back about 2 amps of power during peak sun. So assuming 5 hours of peak sun per day, it can put back 10 amp hours back into your battery(ies). Let's say you have a 100 amp hour battery, you don't want it to go below 50 AH. If you use 20 AH per day, you will use your batteries up in 2.5 days. Adding this solar setup would extend that to 5 full days.

You having two 6 volt batteries is not relevant; other than you likely have more than 100 amp hours available. (Or if you were asking what I have; it's just a single 12 volt 100 AH battery.)

My last camping trip was my only real test. We thought we had power until just before we arrived, so I wasn't fully prepared for dry camping. We watch movies before going to bed, and I didn't have the 12 volt adapter for the blu ray player. I have a Motomaster powerpack that we used to power the BD player. My son and I both forgot to turn off the BD player, so we had ran the powerpack out of power; and discovered this at 5pm. Using the solar panel; moving it around and aiming it correctly, I was able to put a good 6 or 7 amps back into the powerpack. That satisfied the needs.

The single most important thing to keep in mind that there are far more things you can do to conserve power. Meaning you can extend your camping trip further by reducing power consumption than you can by simply adding solar. LED lights are the biggest power saver; using 10-20% of the power of incandescent.

[MacDaddy77]

Thanks. I've been reading through these threads to get ready for buying a trailer. There's a lot of really good information

[ranchlandsselling]

Well - after another weekend at it I've maybe solved the battery issue. Would a mostly dead battery as part of 2 6 volts in series blow a fuse?

I bought a smart charger charged them both up bring one back from 25% to 50-75% and the other from 50-75% also used a buddy's normal charger (the big looking ones you use on cars) that also had a deep cycle setting and managed to bring the two (since it only did 12 volts) to full charge as a pair. Pretty much had the chargers going most of the weekend. On Sunday we disconnected from the 30 amp, put the fuse into the fuse holder (picture in earlier posts) and we had full power. Fridge, lights, water pump, heater, etc. Used battery power for a few hours, and left mid day Sunday, got home this afternoon and the lights still work.

Pretty far from being a full test - but things seems to be working. Which is why I'm now wondering if one mostly dead battery could have been the cause of the fuse blowing?

Really enjoying the trailer too! Both weekends I've been pretty chilled by night time. We've used the furnace three of the four weekend nights we've been away.

No luck fishing, decent weather though and it's pretty relaxing. That said, now that the testing phase is over I need to start getting more active. It'll be a pretty weight gain filled summer if I keep going away for the weekend and drinking beer and tinkering with electronics, water tanks, etc.

At least I used my mountain bike both weekends for an hour or so each time.

[Diemenz]

I picked up a Weber 2200 that i converted over to low pressure to work with my trailer so I have a RV BBQ with bumper bracket if anyone wants it. The bracket attaches to your bumper and swings out to whatever angle you want.
This is the exact model http://www.keyobbq.com/index/cn/picshow-58-201.html
I had absolutely no clue that you could use the mounting bracket as a stand until I saw that picture and have never tried I always used it on the bumper bracket. It was used for one summer and everything functions just might need some cleaning.

If someone needs it just toss me a PM.

[Hockeyguy15]

Brought the trailer home and filled it with water and it turns out I have a small leak, it looks like it's coming from the joint of where the water tank meets up with a hose. Anyone ever had this before? I am wondering if I tighten the clamp a little it will fix the drip (one drip every minute or two)

[Diemenz]

^ tightening will possibly help. You might have to wait until the water is drained to make a more permanent fix.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

^ tightening will possibly help. You might have to wait until the water is drained to make a more permanent fix.

I'm heading out camping with a plumber, so hopefully he will have some putty or something if tightening the clamp doesn't work.

It's not the end of the world since it's a very slow leak, just a bit of a downer seeing that wet spot this morning.

[Russic]

I'm legitimately happy everybody loves this sort of camping, but this thread has convinced me that I never want to own a trailer. I get bent out of shape when my wifi doesn't perform as expected, so I can't imagine the level of frustration I'd feel if I was confronted with some of these issues.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Russic

I'm legitimately happy everybody loves this sort of camping, but this thread has convinced me that I never want to own a trailer. I get bent out of shape when my wifi doesn't perform as expected, so I can't imagine the level of frustration I'd feel if I was confronted with some of these issues.

I thought that too until I got one, but I find the trailer much more enjoyable than tent camping. Maybe it's because my wife complains less about being cold, or wet, or tired but that is worth more to me than the issues I run into with the trailer.

[Diemenz]

Originally Posted by Russic

I'm legitimately happy everybody loves this sort of camping, but this thread has convinced me that I never want to own a trailer. I get bent out of shape when my wifi doesn't perform as expected, so I can't imagine the level of frustration I'd feel if I was confronted with some of these issues.

Haha. Small pains can get frustrating but they are normally easy fixes.

I dropped my trailer off Wednesday and noticed I was unable even with a breaker bar to get my stairs to extend on either door. I picked up some PB Blaster and I'm hoping that I can spray some on today and it will break but the rust or whatever has it seized. Other wise I have a rather large step to get into the trailer for the next 4 days.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by Diemenz

Haha. Small pains can get frustrating but they are normally easy fixes.

I dropped my trailer off Wednesday and noticed I was unable even with a breaker bar to get my stairs to extend on either door. I picked up some PB Blaster and I'm hoping that I can spray some on today and it will break but the rust or whatever has it seized. Other wise I have a rather large step to get into the trailer for the next 4 days.

Don't worry, 4-6 beers in ya and the solution will magically appear.

Likely in the form of a hammer or an axe, but it'll all makes sense at the time.

[ranchlandsselling]

Yeah, all my problems have more been first timer set up stuff.
I'd rather deal with trying to figure out a battery that really has no bearing on my camping experience until month 3 as I'm booked at plugin sites. Also was easily solved by charging properly. Something a more qualified person might have known at day 1.

I enjoyed two weekends already that I wouldn't have in a tent. I'm still amazed I went camping and turned on a furnace and warmed up while I slept.

One of the biggest things for me was wildlife protection. Not that I generally think bears eat tenters on a reg. basis, but still. . . . Nice to have wife/kid/dog a bit more safe than in a tent. Not to mention a fridge/furnace/sink/toilet/shower

[ranchlandsselling]

More on topic - anyone camping this weekend? Where?

[Ace]

Where can a person get Bear Spray?

Edit: looks like Canadian Tire or MEC