Towing Question

[JimHol58]

Do the two propane tanks have to be completely turned off while you are towing your trailer? Also, what power mode should the refrigerator be in during towing?

[padlin]

I leave my tanks on all the time when traveling/camping. When towing, some use 12v, some turn off their fridge, some us propane. I'm one of the later.

[Jim Bennett]

You don't have to with the exception of ferries and some tunnels. Aside from that, it is a personal choice whether you use propane or 12V for the fridge. Just be aware that 12V can be a big battery hog, especially on a long haul.

[Losangeles]

we have dual solar panels on our 2017 21'

and dual 6v

the fridge runs well, when under tow, with this, so far.

[float5]

We always have the tanks off except in camp. No way that I would remember to turn them off at gas stations even if I wanted them on while towing, which I definitely do not.

[rbryan4]

We do the same as Bob. We just leave them on unless we are storing the trailer. And when towing, we've had good results running the fridge on propane. Zero issues.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Jimrules]

You've asked a common question.

If the forum started at this question, then took all the Escapes ever made and parked them end to end, it still wouldn't reach a conclusion.

It comes down to personal preference and risk aversion.

Here are a few links to previous discussions.

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f9...pane-6419.html

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f3...ling-9971.html

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f3...ours-5844.html

Good luck with your decision.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Jimrules

You've asked a common question.

If the forum started at this question, then took all the Escapes ever made and parked them end to end, it still wouldn't reach a conclusion.

It comes down to personal preference and risk aversion.

Here are a few links to previous discussions.

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f9...pane-6419.html

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f3...ling-9971.html

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f3...ours-5844.html

Good luck with your decision.

Hey Jim, you have that opinion thing right for sure. Hope you are getting out with your new rig. We've had our share and fill of big weather this spring, how about you?
Dave

[Jimrules]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Hey Jim, you have that opinion thing right for sure. Hope you are getting out with your new rig. We've had our share and fill of big weather this spring, how about you?
Dave

Yep, crazy weather.

I'm white knuckling through a tornado warning right now. I normally wouldn't worry so much, but we had an arborist at the house today to look at some questionable trees behind our garage. He rearranged his schedule so he could take one down tomorrow because it was in such bad shape.

I'll be sleeping with my fingers crossed tonight.

[SFDavis50]

Now that I am buying a lot of 'stuff" from Amazon, I have several lifetimes supply of those plastic bags of air which Amazon uses for packing. I was thinking they may be good to stuff into the empty areas of the refrigerator/freezer and if not needed they could just go into an upper cupboard. Wondering if it would decrease the on/off cycles and use less battery power while traveling. Air can still circulate around them.

[JimHol58]

Originally Posted by Losangeles

we have dual solar panels on our 2017 21'

and dual 6v

the fridge runs well, when under tow, with this, so far.

So I have the solar package & twin batteries as well. So towing in the battery mode should not be an issue since the solar/batteries will be more than enough to power the fridge during towing until we get to the destination at which time we can switch the fridge back to propane mode?

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by JimHol58

So I have the solar package & twin batteries as well. So towing in the battery mode should not be an issue since the solar/batteries will be more than enough to power the fridge during towing until we get to the destination at which time we can switch the fridge back to propane mode?

Early solar from ETI was a single 95W panel I believe. At some point a change was made to a 160W panel. Losangeles has a new trailer and indicates he has two panels. If this was done by ETI he then has 320W. Big difference between an original ETI solar install on the older trailers and an upgraded install on a new trailer. It also depends on how much charging you can accomplish from the tow vehicle.

[Losangeles]

Originally Posted by JimHol58

So I have the solar package & twin batteries as well. So towing in the battery mode should not be an issue since the solar/batteries will be more than enough to power the fridge during towing until we get to the destination at which time we can switch the fridge back to propane mode?

We have 160 w x 2 on roof of Escape. Installed by ETI. (thus "dual")

and... we had our tow vehicle modified - by a trusted towing shop - to have 10 gauge wire run from battery (with fuse installed) back to hitch.

the factory stock tow package used super thin wire, and we had issues with it back when we were towing our Casita... not running the fridge well enough on 12v.

I confirmed this too-thin wire with a senior technician at Acura central, who happened to tow. He suggested this mod, and he was correct.

If it is rainy or very cloudy , or december, in PNW, perhaps the 320 watt on the roof of Escape might not be enough to power fridge fine, and hardly deplete our dual 6v batteries.

It has been perfect for us.

YMMV.



My hunch is that just one solar panel would not be enough, reliably, to power 21' fridge while under tow, and not deplete the dual 6v.

I dont know.

john

[float5]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

Early solar from ETI was a single 95W panel I believe. At some point a change was made to a 160W panel. Losangeles has a new trailer and indicates he has two panels. If this was done by ETI he then has 320W. Big difference between an original ETI solar install on the older trailers and an upgraded install on a new trailer. It also depends on how much charging you can accomplish from the tow vehicle.

The panel was then changed from 160 to 150 so that is what we and many have. Not sure if the new ones are 150?

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by Losangeles

...
and... we had our tow vehicle modified - by a trusted towing shop - to have 10 gauge wire run from battery (with fuse installed) back to hitch.
...

If you don't mind my asking: What did they charge for the wire installation?

Thanks!
Alan

[gbaglo]

My installer charged me an extra $25 for #10 wire that he had to buy for the job, as normal install is #12.
However, he wasn't redoing a job.

[Losangeles]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

If you don't mind my asking: What did they charge for the wire installation?

Thanks!
Alan

I supplied the thick wire as they did not carry it

I think it was about $65...?

I forget

Cost of living is high in LA.

But very happy with the mod.

It works like a charm.

:-)

[steve dunham]

#12 THWN/ THHN stranded copper wire is 20 cents per foot.
#10 THWN/ THHN stranded copper wire is 32 cents per foot
Both are current prices based on 1000 ft minimum purchase
Considering that it takes about 20 ft of wire for the average vehicle the actual cost to upgrade from #12 AWG to #10 AWG is $2.40 in USD.

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by Losangeles

I think it was about $65...?
Cost of living is high in LA.

Unfortunately the cost of living in Denver isn't trivial. But $65 labor cost is, in my
mind, worth the price to be able to get proper voltage to the trailer while towing.

Thank you,
Alan

[gbaglo]

I wasn't counting labour in my cost. I paid $650 for hitch receiver, install and wiring brake controller ( I provided ). The extra $25 was for #10 wire. I guess I could have asked for the extra 980 feet that he didn't need..