# Dry Camping - Furnace



## imabeachbum (Mar 24, 2006)

Howdy all,

DW and I want to take a shot at dry camping this weekend, but being in Minnesota its starting to get a little chilly at night. DW cannot stand to be cold so the options are to run the furnace at night or dont go camping. My question is, if we observe other battery conservation ideas Ive seen posted, how long can I expect the single 12v to last with the heater cycling on/off through out the night - mainly will it get me thru the weekend? This weekend is a test as well to see if dual 6v's and/or a generator are in my future.

Thanks,

Alan


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## Justman (Jul 22, 2006)

If your batteries are good and charged, they should last you through the weekend easily.

How long they last is going to depend on how warm you like to keep it. If you keep it at around 65-70 degrees overnight, you should be good to go.

You can keep it going longer by doing all the normal things, like turning it down at night and piling up the blankets, reducing the number of times you go in and out of the camper (Keep the door closed), use some type of insulation in the roof vents, etc.

For two nights though, I don't think you'll have any trouble.


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## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

You should be okay for a weekend. When we had our popup the heater ran much more than the OB and we could get through a 3 day weekend with a single group 27 12-volt battery. That was when the outside temp was in the high 30's and windy.


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## OVTT (Mar 31, 2006)

Not sure but ours only lasts about one night with the heater, lights, etc. We tend to keep it pretty warm inside though.


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Alan,

It's going to be all about conservation. As the others have said, factors like how warm you want it, how often you open the doors, etc. all have an effect. Make sure the humidity switch inside the freezer door is off, and minimize the use of lights as much as possible (switching to lower wattage bulbs will help alot).

And, of course, there is more than one way to keep warm!









Cozy Trails,
Doug


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## Moosegut (Sep 24, 2005)

You can always cuddle.


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Your batteries should be ok to make it thru the weekend assuming they are fully charged and you do not run your lights, radio etc all weekend.

Have fun, we love dry camping.

Thor


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Just to clarify, he has a SINGLE 12v battery. You should definitely get 1 night out of it, maybe 2 if you conserve power well. Keep in mind that as the temperature drops, so does the available power from your battery. Kind of incideous really.

I would set the overnight temp to as low as you can tolerate it, add blankets, and yes....cuddle ! I also remove 1 of the light bulbs out of each fixture before dry camping. Voila! 50% reduction in lighting power needed. Takes 5 minutes to remove them all.

Good Luck


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## edt (Jan 30, 2004)

California Jim said:


> Just to clarify, he has a SINGLE 12v battery. You should definitely get 1 night out of it, maybe 2 if you conserve power well. Keep in mind that as the temperature drops, so does the available power from your battery. Kind of incideous really.
> 
> I would set the overnight temp to as low as you can tolerate it, add blankets, and yes....cuddle ! I also remove 1 of the light bulbs out of each fixture before dry camping. Voila! 50% reduction in lighting power needed. Takes 5 minutes to remove them all.
> 
> Good Luck


I concur with this. I have got three cool nights out of dual walmat 12v batteries. If you want to do lots of dry camping dual 6v is the way to go - they are what I will install next spring - my batteries are no longer fresh and now I get 2 nights and I am low... I did buy a generator this summer (yamaha ef2400). It can run the ac if required and makes my wife really happy at times - she likes showering the in trailer, dry hair is a real plus too.

<grin>
Ed


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## firemedicinstr (Apr 6, 2005)

We have done three days and could have done more....... take a set of jumper cables with you. I am sure I didnt need to go to this extreme but disconnect the TT battery from everything and hook up to auto just like you were going to do a jump start, start the TV and you are charging up the battery......run the vehicle for maybe 30 minutes or so if that much............ It has been enough to keep our batteries full to about half full. We do some Virginia mountain camping in the early spring so the temps are probably what you are seeing. I will also run the heat up in the early evening and then turn way down for good "sleeping" weather.

MK


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

firemedicinstr said:


> We have done three days and could have done more....... take a set of jumper cables with you. I am sure I didnt need to go to this extreme but disconnect the TT battery from everything and hook up to auto just like you were going to do a jump start, start the TV and you are charging up the battery......run the vehicle for maybe 30 minutes or so if that much............ It has been enough to keep our batteries full to about half full. We do some Virginia mountain camping in the early spring so the temps are probably what you are seeing. I will also run the heat up in the early evening and then turn way down for good "sleeping" weather.
> 
> MK


x2, I used to do that with our old pop-up all the time in the winter when the furnace wouldn't shut off at night. I used to give it about 45 minutes and with no load and it would charge the batteries (2 12 volt Trojan deep cycle) from 9.6 amps to just over 12 amps in that time, plenty to make the entire night but not the next.

Or just buy a gen and be done with it, less hassle and they are pretty handy for more than just camping









Good luck.

Bill.


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## tripphammer (Oct 3, 2006)

I just got back from a 5 day dry camping stint in my 2006 28krs Kargoroo. Temperature never above 50 and usually around 35. Had snow two nights. The furnance ran a lot and we didn't worry about power at all. I have the 2 6-volt (wired in series) option for more power storage. It was suggest at Lakeshore RV before I went to pick up the trailer. This is especially an important option for those of us the live in the northern climes. The two 6-volts are theorized to hold about three times the charge of two 12-volt.

Take Care

Tripp


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## paylorr (Sep 27, 2006)

Also use passive techniques as much as you can: park in a sunny spot; keep curtains closed (if you have them), unless the sun is shining through and then open the curtains on that window. Then re-close when the sun moves on.

Leave your slide retracted: less power used in not moving it, and less wall area exposed to the outside.
Same for your awning(s): let the sun hit the trailer to warm it. The warmer the trailer is going into the night time, the less furnace you will need to get through.

Also, open the cabinet door where your water heater is at night: it is insulated, but will still put a little heat into the living area.

As has been said, use covers or pillows for your roof vents, even consider one for your skylight.

Conserve water pump use by showering in the bath house (if there is one).

Get a small propane lantern for light, or candles, just be very careful. Remember that although they put out light and heat, they also put out bad gases -- so the need for a vent may cancel the benefit of this idea. You decide.

If you really want to get ambitious, rig up some sort of skirt around the bottom of your trailer to close it off from the outside. Although most Outbacks have an underbelly, additional blocking of outside air can help keep things warmer.

Open inside cabinets and storage compartments only in daylight -- they will be much colder than the rest of the inside at night. Unless, of course, there are water lines in there which you are worried about for freezing -- then open the door and accept the heat loss.


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## Mgonzo2u (Aug 3, 2004)

Can someone please explain to me why some of you close up your trailers air tight at night?

The OB manual advises to leave a window open (or roof vent) to avoid condensation build up. Condensation is any trailers worst enemy over time.

If you are using the furnace, its an absolute must or the trailer gets all steamed up.


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## jgheesling (Sep 28, 2004)

My furnace pulls 12 amps while running, so for every hour it actually runs that's 12 amp hours. See what your battery amp hour rating is and divide by 12 and that's how many hours you can run the heater. But you also have to figure lights water pump etc. I have a power control panel and I notice that dry camping with the heater cycling in moderate weather and the frig running and min lights and pump the average is about 3 amp hours. I have a 75 amp hour battery so that means I can go approx 25 hours.

Defintiton of Amp Hour for Batteries

What is the Amp Hour (Ah) rating?
An amp-hour is one amp for one hour, or 10 amps for 1/10 of an hour and so forth. It is amps X hours. If you have something that pulls 20 amps, and you use it for 20 minutes, then the amp-hours used would be 20 (amps) X .333 (hours), or 6.67 AH. The accepted AH rating time period for batteries used in solar electric and backup power systems (and for nearly all deep cycle batteries) is the "20 hour rate". This means that it is discharged down to 10.5 volts over a 20 hour period while the total actual amp-hours it supplies is measured. Sometimes ratings at the 6 hour rate and 100 hour rate are also given for comparison and for different applications. The 6-hour rate is often used for industrial batteries, as that is a typical daily duty cycle. Sometimes the 100 hour rate is given just to make the battery look better than it really is, but it is also useful for figuring battery capacity for long-term backup amp-hour requirements.


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