The BEST RV Boondocking Tips For Beginners
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- Опубліковано 1 сер 2024
- Are you a beginner looking for the best RV boondocking tips out there? You're in the right place! The is part 2 of our Boondocking 101 series here in Colorado and we're telling you everything you need to know about how to boondock in your RV! As full time RVers who spend a lot of time off grid, we're going over the basics and sharing what we've learned about off grid power, water management and other boondocking tips. And then we discover what happens when your boondocking power solution FAILS.
Boondocking 101 [Part 1]: • We Made The Worst RV B...
How to find Boondocking Spots: • How To Find AMAZING RV...
Our favorite products for boondocking in our RV:
Generator: amzn.to/3ONTXhS
Water bladder: amzn.to/3KqKb2v
SAVE 5% on solar products with code WILDRVLIFE5 at SanTan Solar: bit.ly/santansolar
Water saving showerhead: amzn.to/440qUM2
Water transfer pump: bit.ly/3rZJeYw
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:46 RV off-grid power options
7:38 Boondocking Power Failure
11:44 Water & Boondocking
17:00 Transferring water to RV
19:09 Travel Day
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Who are we?
We’re Victoria & Craig, a full-time travel couple currently living the RV lifestyle! In 2021, we realized life was too short to wait to chase our dreams, so we purchased a used fifth wheel camper and completely renovated it. After selling our house in Florida, we set off on our journey as full-time RVers. Full time RV living has taken us across the United States, Baja Mexico, and Canada, where we’ve fallen in love with boondocking in stunning locations and living an epic adventure travel lifestyle. In 2023, we upgraded to a brand new Brinkley RV Model Z 3100.
Join us as we explore new destinations and embark on new adventures. From hiking, rock climbing, and paddle boarding to surfing, off-road exploring, and cooking around a campfire, we live our travel couple lifestyle to the fullest! Subscribe to our channel (bit.ly/3JF0VmZ) and come along on our adventure travel life!
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DO NOT make a FATAL mistake by putting the generator under the pin box due to the risk of rising exhaust fumes "carbon monoxide" seeping into your bedroom above. We have seen this happen while boondocking. If you must do this then orient the exhaust out and away from the rig. BE SAFE!
This is a very good point! We never sleep or spend time in the bedroom with the generator running but it is very important to stay vigilant of fumes! I would also recommend a carbon monoxide alarm because you can’t smell it like propane.
Where should you put your generator? Can you run it in the battery compartment ?
We have a Mor-ryde pull out tray in our pass thru and have the generator sitting on it. So we just pull it out when we need to use it. It is a westing house 4500 duel fuel inverter generator.
@@AbbyBond-ic8dy Unless you have a pipe running the exhaust fumes outside your rig (like some class A's or other rigs do with onboard generators), do NOT run it in the battery compartment. You want to make sure that the part where the exhaust is coming out of the generator is pointed away from your rig and not putting out the fumes right under a slide, etc. Safest is to place it out away from your rig completely, but just be aware of weather, as some generators may not be able to be run in the rain, etc.
We do much of our camping in the north west where it rains a lot. I've had good luck putting the generator under the picnic tables that are at most state and private parks. Another option is using a big plastic tub over the generator with the end where the exhaust comes out lifted.
That explanation of boondocking and intro into solar was soooo incredibly helpful! Thank you for making it so understandable! We also bought a Brinkley and would like to boondock someday. I never understood an inverter and now I understand why we need one. Thank you!!
Yay!! I was hoping that it was the right level of explaining things without having to get too technical. So glad it was helpful!
You can add different brand lithium batteries to each other. They all charge at the same voltage and discharge at the same speed. You just want to make sure that all of the batteries are topped off before you add them together. I have a couple different friends that I’ve done this over a year a year and a half with no issues.
Love your tips. Sorry about all your bad luck the last few weeks. You are so adventurous.
Victoria, you are really letting your matured video presence and speaking/presentation skills come through.
Great stuff
Very helpful! I just got a pop up camper, transitioning from a life of tent / Jeep boondocking. In those cases, no power used, brought water jugs, bedding, shelter. It is now fun to think of using my pop up camper off grid with sooomeeee power! Your suggestings super duper helpful and very fun video!!!!
I have been watching some of your videos. The length of time you can boondock is dependent on many things as you have talked about. One of the things you mentioned was the use of hot water. Your system has to purge the cold water in the pipes before hot water is available. Demand water makers don't make hot water instantly so more time or water is potentially wasted waiting on hot water. I installed a diverter valve at all of my hot water faucets. This diverts hot water back to the fresh water tank. Once the water is hot the diverter valve can be closed and hot water comes out of the faucet. I bought small SS valves which were inexpensive. Depending on which faucet I am saving between 1/2 and 1 gallon on water use each time I need hot water. The same amount of water does not go into the gray tank.
If you put a see through plastic cup in the freezer and let it freeze than put something like a quarter on top you can tell if it has thawed much and have some idea if your freezer food is bad. If your fridge freezer is auto thaw you need to take that into consideration. Can you use a shorter hose to empty the bladder? Do you have smoke/fire alarms in the battery area? You should because even the new "safe" lithium batteries burn very hot. Search "Cargo ship full of cars catches fire off Dutch Coast", it is the second one I know of that had the new safe lithium batteries in the cars and the entire ships have gone up as there is no way to put out a burning lithium fire. Hope you guys are safe and healthy.
Keep ‘em coming. I’m planning on dry camping/ boondocking most of next year so all the tips please!
Awesome!! We will keep them coming! 🙌🏼
Watching this in Leadville! So cool you were here !! Top of the world 🌎 10200ft.
We used to live in BV and it’s cool to recognize where you are when you’re driving. Beautiful area! Heard the flies were terrible this year. Another great video.
We enjoyed that area of Colorado so much, but the flies did start getting pretty bad! Especially at this spot!
As always love your videos.... What we LOVE EVEN MORE.... is that you continue to wear matching outfits. 8) Safe travels and hope to catch up with you guys in WY. - Kyle and Michelle
LOL - I don’t know how this keeps happening! 🤣 hope to meet up with you guys again too!
Water… I use a small plastic dish pan in sink for dishes and save that water for flushing toilet. You can keep a jug in the shower with that dish water for toilet flushing. Your videos are informative and fun. Just ordered that shower head for our next trip out west for more boondocking. Happy travels !
All great ideas!! Hope you enjoy that showerhead... it's actually my favorite one now! I use it the most even when we have full hookups lol
I installed a valve on the toilet water inlet line. Boondocking I keep it off so not wasting water when flushing urine, only for solid waste. Seems to save a lot of water, then I add extra water when we leave to go dump.
Great videos and tips!
Thank you!! I have a shut-off valve on our toilet and close it halfway while we are boondocking.
I need all the boondocking tips and tricks that I can get please! Love you guys, keep up the fantastic work!
Yay!! For sure! Thank you so much!
Lots of great tips, I love boondocking. Im early to rise and early to bed so that helps with power consumption lol. I use a regular drip coffe maker except it has a thermos carafe, so once the coffee is made ,no more power consumption.
We really enjoy boondocking too! It definitely helps to live by the sun 🤣 we were using a French press for a little while but we decided we liked our Ninja coffee maker too much lol. It takes 10% of our battery bank when we use it 😬😆
I relate; the coffee=power connection. We need to know the draws , amps, volts, battery banks to make the magic happen
Boondocking vids are always informative. Yeah for new batteries. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you like them! Thank you for watching!
Love the Videos!! Thanks for the good information
Thank you so much!!
Thank you.
My wife and I recently came across your channel. It was very ironic that we were boondocking at Lizard Head Pass a couple of weeks ago. We didn't see our camper in your video though. After Lizard Head, we moved and are currently boondocking at Twin Lakes near Leadville. I'm so glad we watched your video. We recognized the location you were filling with water. We have been filling jugs at Safeway and our bladder at the sanitation district dump station and water fill location. The water fill is a little too close to the dump station for my comfort. We took our recycles and found the hydrant you were filling at. We are full-timers and have been boondocking for 35 days now without having to plug in. We have 1200 watts of solar and 600 ah of battery storage and never run out of power. I hope you get your battery situation resolved. Next week we plan to head to northern Wyoming.
oh lol!! so glad you were able to find it! I saw the sanitation district listed on ioverlander too, but I also do really like when the water is more separate 😅 ...see I felt like 600ah would be a good amount, glad to hear that it's working really well for you guys!!
Thanks - more boondocking is always fun.
Yay! We love sharing our boondocking adventures!
I also have the Nautilus and you may be able to use your Milwaukee pump and have the Nautilus on -Power Fill- to pump water from the bladder on your truck to your fresh water tank. It should be faster and keep from having to use RV water pump as much. I didn’t see this suggestion in the comments so thought I too would pipe in :) Just found you - really enjoying your videos!
SOLAR. Its can save you when boondocking. Lots of solar! And yeah, if you have no sun, then you need tons of backup battery or a good generator. Good tips!
very helpful video please keep them coming!!
Thank you!! So glad it was helpful!
Santan is really good!
Love you videos, you are killing it!!
Thank you so much!!
As far as washing dishes. When we had a pop-up trailer I would have 2 dish pans (Walmart has them) one for the hot water and dish sope and the other one for my rince water. Worked well for years. Thank for another great video 😀📸
That's a good idea!!
I use dish pans whether we boon dock or are in a park. I also use a pan and plastic glass in the shower. I can take the best 2 gallon shower ever. I usually heat the water on the stove. That saves a lot of water. We tent camped for many years, instilling conservation in the brain. It’s hard to get away from.
I use two dish pans as well, also an old army trick from kitchen duty was to add a few ounces of bleach to the rinse water.
For washing dishes we use spray bottles, one with diluted soap and one just water. We also use the minnie lights that take AA batteries for accent lighting at night to get around camper.
That's a great idea. We may need to use that idea.
I sure like the bladder for transporting water. Wondering how you keep mold and mildew from growing inside? You two do a great job sharing your tips and experiences. Thank you.
The water bladder is so convenient!! We haven't actually done this yet (just being honest lol), but we plan to sanitize it similar to the way you would the fresh water tank and just putting a bit of bleach in there and filling it up and then letting all the water out. Maybe a couple of times.
So sorry to hear about your power source issues. The tips are very good.
Thank you so much!
Hi guys.... Very good Information on boondocking... So sorry about your problems with the batteries.... We use a Honda eu7000is generator For our power when we dry camp....Jeanne Says to try to use paper plates instead of dishes that you have to wash..save those for full hook ups.... She also uses aluminum foil to line her pots and pans when heating up food to cut down on washing.... that saves on water... We also have the 60 gallon water bladder along with a water pump To Replenish our fresh water.... You guys stay safe and thanks for the video.... Looking forward to next week....J&A
Yesss we definitely make use of paper plates when boondocking! While I hate to use so much disposable…it’s really just unavoidable when you’re needing to save water. I like the idea of aluminum foil on pots and pans!! Thanks for watching!
I tent camp out of a 2 door jeep and do paper plates and tin foil to conserve water too. Great for reheating on the stove if you don't have a microwave.
Thx WRVL for an informative and entertaining video with excellent production. FWIW after watching all problemz your having with your expensive solar/lithium system I think I'll stick with my 5.5kva Onan and 400wsolar/100ah battery bank for boondocking as my 40' TH has 40gal unlded tank and 20gal propane. YMMV Happy Camping U2
Thank you for watching! We definitely regret starting our system with such expensive batteries. Though, we do really love the rest of the solar system, it has worked really well! But…I hear ya! 😆
that was very informative I haven't boondocked yet so far, it's just been campgrounds with hook ups but next summer I am planning on going out west and will boondock.
Nice, I'm sure you will enjoy it!!!
Love watching you guys!
Thank you!!
@wildrvlife you guys would be fun to camp with...maybe we will see you out on the road one day. Looking to get on the road for more adventures.
Hope you carry an extra water pump. Using it to pump in your water probably at least doubled it's running time. They also make a two stage pump that will pump twice the water when not restricted like when using the winterize free flowing into the water tank.
My hubby also never stinks, and sweats very little. Your 5th wheel is my dream 5th wheel.
lol what is up with these guys?! and thank you, it is really beautiful!
ol skool boondocking b4 solar/ genny, fire, batteries. gotta now how to rotate them. use money for extensive or farther ventures
I replaced my truck batteries with marine deep cycle batteries for emergencies. Can you strap a 100 ah LiFeP04 Amazon special via aligator cips to your 12.8v marine batteries? Yes. Not everyday, but yes. $200 is the $$ off Amazon.
My set up: 1000 watts on the roof, 500 ah, 400 watts fold out solar panels, 100 ah I carry around, 200 watts on my truck.
Water, get a dehumidifier to produce water when in a bind. I have a 8000 btu portable AC with a dehumidifier as we boon doc in Arizona every so often. I can run the AC all night.
We use a dish bucket under our sink to collect the water in the kitchen. We use it to catch water from washing our hands and dishes and save water that way.
Aqua View Shower Miser is the best way to conserve water during showers.
We have been talking about getting one. It seems everyone loves them.
Like the videos very informative
So glad they’re helpful!
If your power goes off in the middle of the night your fridge will stay cool for several hours then the first thing i would have done is got the generator going then make sure everything is back on. With your type of generator and your long cord you could put it out far enough and not worry about fumes or noise. In my toyhauler i have an onboard generator and i run it alot and i know i should worry about fumes but i dont and its in the compartment below my bed. I love boondocking and i hope i can set my camper up for solar. Right now i just have a small panel and inverter to run the fridge. Im guessing ya'll know this about the generator but just making a comment. I enjoy your videos!
Yeah for sure, we did end up using the generator and honestly the solar starts charging pretty early in the morning anyways, but a couple times we forgot that we have to “reset” our fridge with a special button thing if the batteries die. It won’t just come back on when the power comes back on like our last one (kind of silly lol) so we forgot to do that a couple times and didn’t realize it and it stayed off much longer than it should have 😅
good job
Thanks!!
Get a really short hose for the water transfer. It will be faster. I use 6ft hose and park truck close
yes, good idea!!
I bought a new 30 gallon plastic trash can and a 120 volt sump pump. I fill the can and then plug the pump into the 120 outlet in the bed of my truck to fill the fresh water tank. My tank holds 98 gallons of fresh water and we barely make it a full 7 days.
Don't know about lithium batteries but when you have batteries in series if you replace one the new one gets equalized by the older ones. Like on a diesel truck if one battery goes you need to replace both or your one new one will be compromised by the older one.
Just a few simple things to save on water. Baby wipes for handwashing for us girls who pee a lot 😅 i use aluminum disposable pans for cooking & spray bottle W/water & dawn to get a good layer of food off dishes, pans,etc. Wioe w paper towel. Then a quick wash with less water is needed. Dont flush toilet every time when just a bit of pee😮put toilet paper in trash, less water to flush😅make up wipes are great! If you are going out for long periods boondocking, many rv'ers will catch that shower water to flush toilets. Having a glass for each person (name) for the day & paper plates helps. Making foil packets w/meat & veggies put on fire or grill & eating out if it=simple clean up 😂❤
Great tips!
so many good tips!! I love the idea of wiping down the pans to use less water while washing. I hadn't thought of that but it would definitely help!
I hope you get your battery issue worked out.Take care!
Thank you so much!!!
Yep, found your boondocking types helpful. Just confirms why we DON’T boondock! 😉
Hahah I can understand that!
Well lucky you, not everyone has $300-$1000 per week for campgrounds.
@@canadianwarrior5367 guess you are right! Lucky me! Even though you know nothing about me.
When it comes to dish washing some people use a spray bottle with watered down dish soap to do dishes . Less soap = easier rinse.
Always check your connections every couple of months especially in a moving rig.
definitely! Though we've barely been in this rig a couple of months, so maybe even sooner. 😆 Although the crazy thing was that this was a connection inside the battery terminal that ended up coming loose and not our connections to the battery. Not sure how long it had been like that though, it had probably been about a week or so since we last looked at the batteries.
We don't boondock but an extra water pump and extra pair of leaf springs wouldn't be a bad idea to carry. I'm kind of concerned about the Battle Born batteries after hearing you say you've read several other posts about them failing. We run 4 and so far they've been perfect (knocking on wood right now). I wish we had more room for solar panels but for now we have 1330 watts worth of panels and can still run the one A/C for a couple hours but thats it. The best we've ever done with solar was either 1190 or 1290 watts when the sun was perfect. I Donn't know if I'd do a whole system again, I see companies making up to 10,000 watt inverter/gens. under 2k with about 4k 4+ stars. But if the SHTF ever happens it will be nice to have! Good luck with the batteries I'm sure Battle Born will step up!
very true on the extra water pump and leaf springs... you never know! The good thing about them is that they have been really good with honoring the warranty, so if anything does happen, you should be covered! That is still a good amount of panels but I see what you mean with the A/C. You're bringing in just enough so that it's still going to be draining the batteries a little bit the whole time it's running.
Hi from AZ!!!
Heyyy! You’re in one of our favorite states!
I got into the RV life this year. I'm perfectly happy with a generator. I spent $700 on a generator and it sounds like it'll be several thousand for the simplest solar. And plus I'm thinking solar panels makes me look like a greeny wacko
Vibrations from Rough Roads Loosened the terminal causing it to melt.
i love your videos please besafe your friend in maryland
Thanks so much!! And we will!
What you are experiencing is the lithium battery lie.. I converted my bassboat from using 4-12v lead acid batteries to 4-12v lithium to save weight, longer usage for boat electronics, livewell, and trolling motor. After one month of usage 1 died and left me stranded with no usage of trolling motor. Basically ruined trip.
Read while they will replace battery if I send back for then to test and agree it is bad. Got mad and said when I go fishing I need reliability and lead/acid batteries have never failed me... just heavy. Took out the lithiums and went back to conventional.
I agree that reliability does not seem like lithium battery companies' priority.
For water conservation use paper products, for toilet...if it's yellow, let it mellow...if it's brown, flush it down.
hahah words to live by! 😆
I know I am a latecomer to this video, but did you ever figure out how many of your batteries died and why?
I saw the video last night and today a thought came to me... Is your system pushing too many amps into the batteries on a sunny day?
I have one 206Ah battery and 700 watts of solar. On a sunny day, if the panels are collecting the full 700 watts, the MPPTs will put out a bit more than 58 amps. My battery is rated to receive 40 amps max on normal charging and 50am on peak charging. If I push too many amps into the battery I risk damaging the batteries, so what to do about it?
My system is also Victron Energy and I also have the Cerbo GX. There is a setting inside the Cerbo GX that allows setting the max amps going to the batteries, which I have set to 40 amps. What does this mean?
Lets say the panels are pulling in 50 amps. The whole system needs 5 amp to run a few things(refrigerator, a light or two, etc), and the battery need to be charged. What the Cerbo GX does is limit the MPPT's to pull in only 45 amps, 5 to run things and 40 to go to the batteries.
I am suspicious your problem is overcharging your batteries. The raw maths states 2700 watts of solar can generate 225 amp fo power, which is GREAT for running an A/C on a sunny day! But, not good for your battery bank. Most lithium batteries have the same basic charge profile, max charging amps at about 20% of the total amps of the battery. You have 300Ah of batteries, so that is a max charge rate of 60amps.
I can see trying to push 375% the amps the batteries are rated for being a very dangerous thing :)
If you have not set the amperage charge limit in the Cerbo GX, talk to the company in which you purchased the hardware. I am sure they will be happy to walk you through this stuff to make sure it is configured correctly and you cannot overcharge the batteries while still having the power you need to run the AC.
Batteries, everyone seems to want the newest type because of less weight. The new LiFePo4 batteries are too much tech. for us and where we RV. We use the trailer in the mountains of Colorado in the winter to hunt elk. The temperature gets to 20-30 below zero. The LiFePo4 will not work in those temperatures. We use Deep cycle glass mat batteries. They are heavier and can only be discharged to half the rated value, but I use a solar charge controller that cycles and conditions the batteries. I have one of these charge controller on an older trailer and the 2015 Walmart batteries still work fine, Cost is much less than any LiFePo4 batteries. Also there is no problem mixing those batteries. they are just cells of dielectric ad round plates. If one craps out I can go to any auto store and replace it, or Walmart, Sam's, Costco Etc. Also there are porcupines, bears, mountain lions, moose, wolves and rattlesnakes in the mountains, watch the dogs up there. In our county they record black bear is 703 lbs field dressed. That is a big boy. Good luck.
Well, I would be running that generator a HOLE lot. I would place it far away from the RV as you can. Use a # 10 wire extension cord + the RV power cord. And yes I have done that. A little gas is cheaper that my food in the fridge, my opinion. And put soft starts on you ACs. You can run both of ACs at once. SAFE TRAVELS.
The problem we kept having is that the power was going off in the middle of the night and we didn’t realize it was going to happen, and a couple times with all the on and off we forgot to reset the fridge 😅 (because I doesn’t come back on automatically when the power comes back on which is dumb!) but luckily all the food in the freezer stayed frozen enough to keep! And we will be adding soft starts soon!! 🙌🏼
Hi! Maybe I missed it but is there a total costs wrap up for July video coming still? Super curious about how it went overall! Victoria, I love your budgeting spreadsheet you shared a while ago by the way, you must be an accountant!
I got a little behind on posting them from Instagram to UA-cam but I will post the last few soon! Not an accountant but I have always been pretty interested and involved in personal finance….and really love a good excel sheet 😂
Trade the old Batteries in that away u get A trade in discount.
I saved 8000ish dollars buying Chinese lifepo4 cells, the bussbars, and BMS's and the batteries are more compact and powerful than Battleborns...just FYI. $2k for 1120ah 14000+ watt hours.
I know 😭 lol I wish we knew 2 years ago what we know now. Though, there really was so many less options just two years ago, but if we were doing it all over, that’s exactly what we’d do too!
You can place a bowl under your shower/faucet when waiting on the water to get hot. Then use this water to flush your toilet. 😊
that's a good one!
Dishes…get a portable dishwasher. Water consumption is minimal compared to hand washing. Dishes definitely end up cleaner. Power consumption is minimal as long as you don’t use a heated cycle.
We’ve definitely thought about this!! Craig is always talking about getting a dishwasher 😆
Do you have a tank on your toilet I see most people put a quart mason jar in the tank and it keeps a quart of water every time you flush so it saves that court every time you flush just an idea
Well you could use a potty and only flush the toilet in the morning after dumping the potty instead of wasting gallons of water to dump a 1 or 2 during the night or day ? And use your grey water to flush the toilet by keeping a bowl in the sink to wash dishes
I do hate not flushing the toilet but it's definitely a good way to save water if you need to do an extended stay!
Did you install the (name?) start capacitor units on your new AC units to reduce the start up ampacity needed. Didn't see you do that.
Not yet. We are hoping to get some soon, though.
So when the solar set up went down, why didn’t you plug into your generator to keep the fridge cold and power other items, while you worked out the battery issue?
Craig, for not having to go outside at night to pee, getcha an empty Simply Orange Juice jug and keep it in the bathroom. Then all you got to do is pour it out in the morning and give a slight rinse plus spray a little clorox spray cleaner in it. This helps us tremendously to extend our boondocking stints and not having to worry about the black tanks. My wife doesn’t like seeing the piss jug, so I use and old kitchen towel and cover it.😂😂
👍😃🍻
hahaha i don't know, using an orange juice jug gives a little too much opportunity for a terrible mistake there... 🤣🤣🤣 good tips though, thanks!!
How do you guys clean your water bladder so it doesn’t get gross on the inside when you store it?
oh geez! use a water filter before putting it in you bladder. Use big body wipes to extend your water and also a water meter so you know you are putting in the 60 gallons into your bladder.
Do you guys leave your pump on while boondocking? Assuming it shuts off when not in use or do you turn it on/ off as needed. I was going to say use dishwater and shower water for flushing the toilet? Maybe it’s not worth the trouble saving? Collect shower water with a bucket on the floor?
We do leave the pump on, and yes that's right it just shuts off when not in use! Some people do turn of f their pumps when they leave for the day, just in case there are any issues, but we admittedly do not lol. I have heard of people using their shower water to flush too, that's a good one to make it so you don't have to get water as often!
Instead of a bucket used collapsible dish pan.
Yes! You guys tips are great and very appreciated! I use to say the same as Craig in high school in the late 80's, that I dont stink when I sweat(LOL). Probably because I wear so much Polo cologne back then🤣🤣🤣....
Hahaha!!
In the OutHouse😂😂
On the farm,if the flys are biting then it's gonna rain. 😊
Ahh I hadn’t heard that one!!
Invest in a dishwasher, you will save on water when washing dishes I have one
What batteries would you go to if not Battle Born? BTW Ouray was awesome last week!
I'm not sure possibly li time or sok. Just going off of what will prowse has said about these brands.
SOK been working great 2 years so far . Did 14 days at Twin Lake Colorado boondocking in July.
We love our LiTimes. Four months in - so far, so good! The price is hard to beat.
I'm curious as to why you chose a mega cab with the small bed and single rear wheel to tow a 5th wheel camper?
We wanted the mega cab because of traveling with our dogs back there (and because one has to ride in a crate), so it makes for a much more comfortable ride on travel days. We also preferred SRW because we use our truck for our daily driving too. Since the specs still put our campers within the weight ratings, it gave us the best of both worlds. And it still tows real well, we don't notice any swaying, etc.
@@wildrvlifethat’s the same reasons I did same thing!
Do you intentionally match your shirts or just coincidence?! Either way - super cute…. 😊
Craig here. Absolutely not. She won't quit copying me. Lol.
@@wildrvlife 😂
You said "Stuck with" Battle Born" at 6:13. Did you mean it that way?
Sounds like you want a different battery set.
From what I know they have a good reputation.
They are good, probably the best. But there are a lot of different brands that are plenty good enough for a lot cheaper.
Do you see posts from people that are not paid to pump up their brand? (I don't)
I hate when my spot I paid for is right next to a carbon monoxide producing motor home and their generator exhaust pipe is busy killing me while they enjoy their comfort
300AMP. X 12VOLT = 3200 WATT HOURS
Great videos; keep up with the consistency while your subscriber count grows. Don't give up! Thanks for sharing your real experiences with the {name redacted} battery provider. It's fascinating when companies advertise as a premium brand to justify a premium price and in less than a year 100% of their product fails. Imagine if you were offshore and had a battery or multiple battery failures; this seems completely unacceptable to me. Since I have yet to make my battery purchase this is very valuable insight! Thank you
Very glad you are finding our experiences helpful! There are pros and cons to every product and we know plenty of people who have had no issues at all, but this is just our experience. thank you for watching!
Things
Dogs that roll in poop:
Just found your channel, that sounds like your pooch is a Poodle (Ours used to roll in Cat Poop, Skunk spray, anything that you can think of that would hide its scent)
lol oh goodness!! he's a border collie but he sounds like he would have gotten along real good with your poodle!
@@wildrvlife
For a Poodle, it's the hunting instinct. Since Border Collie is a working breed, I'm surprised it's trying to hide it's scent...
Our Bull Terrier, on the other hand, rolls on the ground due to excessive itching, so you might just have a dog with a skin condition that's rolling around on the ground to relieve the itch.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I must have missed something, since you have a generator, and run it every few hours way would your food go off?
We traveled 6.5 - 7 hours with our frig off and everything was still real cold when we arrived at our campsite.
Sorry we didn’t explain this well!
We did end up using the generator and honestly the solar starts charging pretty early in the morning anyways, but a couple times we forgot that we have to “reset” our fridge with a special button thing if the batteries die. It won’t just come back on when the power comes back on like our last one (kind of silly lol) so we forgot to do that a couple times when things died unexpectedly overnight and didn’t realize it and it stayed off much longer than it should have 😅
Huh? I’m not a consultant…but I do work remotely as a Marketing Director.
Paper plates and spit baths
lol yepppp!
If your trying to run all that stuff in that big of a rig, 3 Battleborns or any ones lithium battery won’t be enough. You need at least 6 or 8 would even be better. Figure how many amps your equipment uses per hour. I assume you have 3 100 amp batteries . I believe your solar is enough to even charge 6 batteries. Possible your wire size between the batteries isn’t large enough. It should be at least 4- ott wire .good luck .
Our solar system could for sure charge more batteries, that’s why we mentioned wanting to get more in the future. But, the three batteries also works to run everything we want to during the daytime and we don’t really need to run a lot of stuff at night. We power our A/C, air fryers, coffee pots, etc and never drain our battery bank (except when our batteries break lol), it’s because the solar panels are able to replenish the batteries so quickly when the sun is out, it basically doesn’t drain them at all during the daytime because we put the energy back as soon as we are taking it out.
i see a bigger problem with your charging system, i dont use 12 volt batteries , using a 12v battery if your volts go below 10.8v. one or 2 times there toasted batteries, i use for every 12 v battery 2 - 6 volt paired to make a 12volt there eason is with a 6 volt system paired , if the volts go lower or completely drain out the recovery is better then the 12volt, . i run 8 - 6volts to make up 4 - 12volts , i dont use the lithium batteries, or use the conventonal old fashion water and acid batteries, , the point is , i check them all the time for the water levels, . i ve had them in the trailer now for 5 yrs. still holding up very well, my solar panels are 4- 1000 watt panels and at night( have a 800 watt round fan solar,( run during the day as well.) . the round solar fan unit continues to charge all night long to make sure the batteries dont fail. INVERTERS ARE A MUST , 1 OR 2 IF NEEDED.
We have an inverter! It’s a Victron Multiplus 2 and we’ve been very happy with it. Are you in an RV? I’m just wondering how you fit four 1,000 watt panels…that’s a massive a system! Very cool! Lithium batteries are great because you can drain them to nearly 0% without worrying about ruining the batteries, unlike lead acid, etc. but you can definitely do a system without them!
74th 👊🏻💪🏻
🙌🏼🙌🏼
So you frig doesn’t run on propane?
No, it doesn't. Our old one did, but this one is 12v only. We kind of liked having the option on the old one, but have to admit the extra room in this one is nice too 😅
I’ve never heard of a fridge not running off of propane! You guys need to read how to do this! All the other ppl I follow know how to do this.
It’s actually pretty common now with the newer RVs for them to be 12v only, it’s why manufacturers are installing one solar panel on the roof…to keep the fridge running! I believe they are more efficient than the electric/propane fridges but you just need to not have broken batteries of course 😂
Those battleborn batteries are double the price as other Chinese brand lith batteries. I would expect better quality for the money.
Do you regret going with them?
At this point, we do kind of. There was just not as much competition in the lithium battery market when we started our system. One BB battery was the very first thing we bought to replace our old lead acid battery. The warranty is really good and customer service has been nice but I do believe that you can get just as good quality for much less. Of course, if a Chinese brand fails, then you might be stuck buying another one without a warranty but depending on how much cheaper they are….might not matter lol
Alot of good information. Thanks.
@@wildrvlife yea that’s true. I have been researching for our 5th wheel too and wonder just how good the warranty is on the cheap ones. I like the SOK brand batteries cause at least they are rebuildable and seen to have great reviews.
We're in a similar situation. We have 3 BB batteries which we bought about 3 years ago. As you said they were pricey, but do come with a 10 year warranty. And BB customer service is 5 star. It's going to be interesting to see how your warranty claim works out. My bet is BB will replace/repair your batteries. And lastly, if I had to do again and purchase new batteries, I would stick with BB. Their customer service is second to none!
Perhaps you could sell your Battleborns to someone looking to upgrade and start anew with a different brand.
You could wash in a bucket but you need to rinse in fresh clean water or you can get sick 😢
Yes, true! I think I mixed up how I said the bucket thing 😅 we usually just use a trickle of water to rinse as quickly as possible lol
@@wildrvlife oh good! 😂
My husband never stinks either, they are freaks of nature!😂
Right!!
I just watched your video again, and it looks like to me your wires between batteries are to small. What size is your inverter ? Find out how many amps your air conditioning is pulling. If your running your air from 10 to 3 your draining your batteries then your solar panels can’t recharge them by dusk. Plus the son that late in the day doesn’t charge at the same rate like at noon. I have 3 lead acid batteries and 400 watts of solar on my 20 ‘ travel trailer. It runs everything just fine but I know I can’t run the air. I still think you need more batteries to run your air . Try not running your air so long.
We have a 3000w inverter, the Victron Multiplus 2. All the wires are the correct size for the loads. And, we don’t run the A/C like non-stop during those hours, we were just saying that we can run them during those hours because that’s when the sun is out. Our Cerbo GX let’s us monitor our batteries and how much is coming in/going out, etc. During the long summer days, we can actually build the batteries back up pretty quickly in the late afternoons. Obviously, during the winter or cloudy days, you have to adjust accordingly (though we aren’t running the A/C in the winter either 😆) but the Cerbo is really great for monitoring everything, highly recommend it!
Use a spray bottle to rinse your dishes
that is a good idea!