Camping in a Trailer and Boon Docking

Read many posts about camping and batteries but what about those in Travel Trailers with a battery?

Our travel trailer has a 12 volt battery that charges from the vehicle. We are planning a 3 day 2 night trip to San Antonio and thinking about staying at Walmart s and the like on the way down and back.

I figure I would run a cable directly to the battery which is right outside the bed versus using any existing cable.

I'll be following your post, I have exactly the same question!

There is a long post on here about batteries (search for battery) and it's very technical (talking amps & voltage & watts) and determining how much power you need for your settings, with and without humidity. Too complicated for me.

I'm also hoping to go camping, in the middle of nowhere, with a camper. I can sleep without my CPAP but am still in the compliance period because my insurance is paying the monthly rental fee. I'm concerned about losing my eligibilty if I go a week or 10 days without it.

Look for another recent post "Tried out Dreamstation on 12V"

Chris8243 wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 21, 2018 8:18 am

Look for another recent post "Tried out Dreamstation on 12V"

Yes but I'm looking for unique ideas of how people use their trailer's battery and charging system not stand alone batteries.

Unfortunately it does have to get a little technical. You need to know how much power you need. Do you use the humidifier, or can you do without it? What DC voltage does your machine need? How many hours a night. Will you fully charge every day? What is the capacity of the battery? Is it a deep cycle battery?

If your machine uses simple 12 volts and you can go without the humidifier, and you charge every day, it should work.

Tell us about your setup.

Jim

Maybe start with battery size and type (Amp hours), what you are running on the battery, ECT!

I'll be visiting the TT today and check out the specs.

Its now at um a Trailer farm yea where it can be with other trailers and play.

AKA an outdoor storage lot.

But nothing else will run besides maybe the fan in the furnace.

chartle wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:58 am

I'll be visiting the TT today and check out the specs.

Its now at um a Trailer farm yea where it can be with other trailers and play.

AKA an outdoor storage lot.

But nothing else will run besides maybe the fan in the furnace.

If you have a "full size" deep cycle battery - that is roughly the size of a car battery but says somewhere on it "deep cycle," and its not 10 years old, then it should be more than enough to power several nights without the humidifier. We can say a lot more if we have all the particulars.

This is slightly off topic but you mentioned you are still in your compliance period.
Make sure the Boon Docks have cellular phone service for your CPAP reporting.

prodigyplace wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 21, 2018 3:09 pm

This is slightly off topic but you mentioned you are still in your compliance period.
Make sure the Boon Docks have cellular phone service for your CPAP reporting.

The PRS1 should save a considerable amount of compliance data if it can't "phone home" right away.

CapnLoki wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 21, 2018 2:07 pm

chartle wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:58 am

I'll be visiting the TT today and check out the specs.

Its now at um a Trailer farm yea where it can be with other trailers and play.

AKA an outdoor storage lot.

But nothing else will run besides maybe the fan in the furnace.

If you have a "full size" deep cycle battery - that is roughly the size of a car battery but says somewhere on it "deep cycle," and its not 10 years old, then it should be more than enough to power several nights without the humidifier. We can say a lot more if we have all the particulars.

I forgot to check the battery when I visited to day but its a new full size battery thats meant for trailers.

I think i'm past my compliance period. I've used it everyday but I think I only had to do 30 days straight and have an appt with the sleep dr within 90 days of getting the machine which is in a few weeks and was set up before I left the first appt.

We Boondock a great deal, a little over 6 weeks of dry camping last year. I've used several different setups over the years:

I tried a few stand alone batteries and jump start type setups but found they were more trouble than they were worth to me. At best they would only power my machine a night or two without being re-charged, and then only if I didn't use the humidifier.

With my last travel trailer I put a cigarette lighter plug right next to the bed. You could easily get to the back of the plug from the outside storage compartement that went right under the front of the bed area. I had it wired to the main batteries most of the time, but had used it for a short period of time hooked up to a spare battery I had that I would carry in the back of the truck, then move to the cargo bay of the trailer while we were camped. This way my cpap was on it's own battery, but this was more trouble than it was worth in my opinion.

With the current fifth wheel that we bought for our retirement I wired in a bigger battery bank of 4 golf cart batteries which are charged with 1000 watts of solar panels on the roof. The batteries power an inverter that enables us to use the regular ac wall outlets just like you would at home. With this setup we can go weeks at a time without having to run the generator. Having a lot of experience in the electrical field meant I could install everything myself which really kept the cost down. If you intend to do a lot of boondocking or dry camping it's the only way to go in my opinion.

prodigyplace wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 21, 2018 3:09 pm

This is slightly off topic but you mentioned you are still in your compliance period.
Make sure the Boon Docks have cellular phone service for your CPAP reporting.

Any idea how often they check us for compliance? I hadn't given it much thought before but now it feels a little creepy, like someone is spying on me when I'm sleeping. Sheesh.

Goofproof wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:50 am

Maybe start with battery size and type (Amp hours), what you are running on the battery, ECT!

Ok I visited the trailer and it has a Deka Marine Master Deep Cycle/Starting. I took a pic of the specs because it hard to see where its installed and I think I'm missing the top line. I now see on my pic that there is a line above this but its covered by the handle. But what I can see it says MCA@32F 675, 23 AMP AVE. 140 min. I know battery nomenclature but these specs are different than I'm used to.

Now we may go camping without power for maybe 3 nights. It all depends on if I can find a NY state park with electricity and an open spot in June.

I'm going to try to find the thread on batteries and how much juice my machine uses. This weekend I'll try a night with humidity and hose heat.