Electricity while boon docking

[Iowa Dave]

We never camped when I was a youngster. We went to a county owned river access with a pit toilet. We put the boat in and set trot lines. Then we fished. We cut limb wood off of a snag in the river with a sandvik bowsaw and went back to the landing. Cooked hot dogs over the driftwood fire. Slept rolled up in Army blankets on the ground as we did not have sleeping bags or a tent yet. Used a jacket for a pillow. Ran the lines, caught fish. In the morning we ate canned bacon from Denmark and eggs fried in a cast iron skillet. We never considered it camping, we went fishing and stayed out over night. It was a good experience. I don’t think I’m tough enough to do that now. I’d have to call a wrecker to get up off the cold ground.
Iowa Dave

[Freesufer123]

I am in the same exact boat now. funny. the entire question also pertains to my situation.

[wackyburggeezer]

Are you a 'first owner'? Your signature says 2022? Read through all of the paperwork that came with the trailer, and then reread all the paperwork while you're inside the trailer, to see just what-does-what. Are you a second owner? No paperwork from ETI? There are lots of videos on You Tube specifically for the ETI trailers. Happy viewing! After all of that----Ask away!

[Freesufer123]

thank you for the advice. Yes new camper 2022, will receive soon. Learning the ins and outs. If there's a ground zero for camping, it's where I am now.

[Carmel Clown]

After reading this thread, I get that I cannot use an induction cooktop with the standard one solar panel and two 6v. batteries. Correct?

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Carmel Clown

After reading this thread, I get that I cannot use an induction cooktop with the standard one solar panel and two 6v. batteries. Correct?

This is the reason why you have a propane stove.....

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Carmel Clown

After reading this thread, I get that I cannot use an induction cooktop with the standard one solar panel and two 6v. batteries. Correct?

with an inverter you theoretically could, but not for very long and it might take several days for the default solar panel to recharge from that usage.

[gbaglo]

What's with the preoccupation with toast?
I would like a beer tap, but then I'd have to have refrigeration and more batteries and more solar. I'd have more lines to potentially leak and likely more electrical problems.

The alternative is beer in cans, in my existing fridge, or even in a cooler.

[DT6]

In reality, to install and use an induction cooktop you will need a much larger battery bank and solar charging capacity. Some people have modified their Escapes to do this (see Johnny Hung's 21C on the Escape FB page), but it looks to be a very large expense. Before starting a mod like this, it would be best to figure out what amount of current the cooktop draws and also how much you plan to use it each day. Then add up all the other things you need electricity for and add up how much they need. Then you should have a decent "power budget".

From here, I'm just going to make a very big WAG and say with the cooktop and your other regular uses, you will need 400Ah of battery capacity (it may be less or more, just guessing here for illustrative purposes as I don't know what an induction cooktop actually draws). A decent 200Ah LiFePO4 battery will run you $1,000 and in this scenario you need two of them. Then you need to figure out how to add enough solar to charge this, which is likely on the order of 900Watts per day and current Escape panels are 190W and you can only get two installed at the factory, so you are short at least 500W of solar. Solar seems to cost about $500 to $700 per 200W (on the low side, can be more - plus installation labor), so another $1,000 for more panel, but probably closer to $2K or $3K. You could figure out how find space for more panels on your roof, but even then you will probably not have all the roof real estate for all the panels you would need. So you might also have to add portable panels.

You might have to change out your inverter and other battery management electronics as well. Again, that might not be necessary. I'm only illustrating how quickly something like an induction cooktop can potentially require a lot of other mods.

I like Jim's idea of just sticking with Propane. Assuming you have the two-burner cooktop and want to upgrade it, it would be a lot cheaper to have a more deluxe cooktop/oven installed than going down the road of solar upgrades.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

What's with the preoccupation with toast?
I would like a beer tap, but then I'd have to have refrigeration and more batteries and more solar. I'd have more lines to potentially leak and likely more electrical problems.

The alternative is beer in cans, in my existing fridge, or even in a cooler.

I've watched this ever increasing escalating cycle of "needs" with a bit of amazement.

Before solar we spent years with our needs being met with only a propane stove and refrigeration. Now it's drag every home appliance under the sun into the trailer and adding ever increasing amounts of batteries and solar.

To each their own.

Ron

[John in Santa Cruz]

FWIW, I have a single 360W monocrystalline panel connected via a MPPT charge controller, and 2 x 12V 206AH Lithiums. Thats 5260 watt*hours of battery, and my solar seems to be able to generate at least 2000 watt*hours on a clear sunny day. The only unusual electrical load in my trailer is a Norcold N2175 DC compressor fridge, but I run the Maxxfan a lot, and was using furnace heat every night. I shut the solar off for 3 days (and 4 nights), this ran the battery down to 53% estimated, it then fully charged by 5pm on the 2nd day and the first day started out partially cloudy in the morning.

Estimating power consumption is pretty easy. Look up the watts of each device, estimate the number of hours/day it will be actually on, and multiply those to get watt*hours, then sum up the daily watt*hours for each load. Also, figure you need about 10% more solar total power than the batteries output as there's a charge efficiency factor, so if you use 2000WH, you might need 2200WH to recharge.

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by Carmel Clown

After reading this thread, I get that I cannot use an induction cooktop with the standard one solar panel and two 6v. batteries. Correct?

Correct. I installed a two burner induction cooktop recently with a van conversion. I have two 195W solar panels on the roof and last November they couldn't keep up with the significant power draw. It is 1800 watts on the highest setting. We have a Goal Zero 3000X - 280 amp hours of lithium batteries and a 2,000W inverter. After two days had to use shore power to charge back up.

Recently installed the GZ DC-DC charger- their Vehicle Integration Kit to assist in low light situations. I've seen over 900W of charging with engine running and sun on the solar panels and during a recent three week trip the GZ had no problem keeping up.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

I've watched this ever increasing escalating cycle of "needs" with a bit of amazement.

Ron

Maybe buy a restaurant?

[Dave Walter]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

I've watched this ever increasing escalating cycle of "needs" with a bit of amazement.

Before solar we spent years with our needs being met with only a propane stove and refrigeration. Now it's drag every home appliance under the sun into the trailer and adding every increasing amounts of batteries and solar.

To each their own.

Ron

I totally agree with you Ron. Too many Escape owner's and soon to be owner's see or hear of a modification done by other's and blindly assume that they need something comparable or better. With respect to power needs, we have owned our 19' since 2013 and rarely stay at sites with power. We have a single factory installed 90W solar panel on the roof and two factory supplied 6V batteries (original) that are still going strong after 9 years. We are fairly heavy users of DC power but rarely (never) bring any 120V devices along with us, and we have not once in 9 years of usage had a shortage of power in our Escape. I will likely replace the 6V batteries this year (or next) and possibly some day down the road I might add a second solar panel, but that would more than satisfy my needs. It amazes me the numbers of people who talk themselves into believing that multiple solar panels with multiple lithium batteries are an absolute must have for their trailers.

[Ooshkaboo]

Originally Posted by Dave Walter

I totally agree with you Ron. Too many Escape owner's and soon to be owner's see or hear of a modification done by other's and blindly assume that they need something comparable or better. With respect to power needs, we have owned our 19' since 2013 and rarely stay at sites with power. We have a single factory installed 90W solar panel on the roof and two factory supplied 6V batteries (original) that are still going strong after 9 years. We are fairly heavy users of DC power but rarely (never) bring any 120V devices along with us, and we have not once in 9 years of usage had a shortage of power in our Escape. I will likely replace the 6V batteries this year (or next) and possibly some day down the road I might add a second solar panel, but that would more than satisfy my needs. It amazes me the numbers of people who talk themselves into believing that multiple solar panels with multiple lithium batteries are an absolute must have for their trailers.

When I first looked into getting an RV I checked into everything A-B-C, 5th wheel, all of it.

I learned most people had what fit their particular needs and wants, just because it wasn’t a fit for me didn’t mean it wasn’t a fit for them and their lives.

Maybe starting from a point of much to learn helped me to be less judgmental of others choices.

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by Ooshkaboo

Maybe starting from a point of much to learn helped me to be less judgmental of others choices.

Yep, to each they're own said one person above after criticizing people for in essence not being like himself. Hmmm.

Remember today's luxuries are tomorrow's necessities (think vacuum cleaner).

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Remember today's luxuries are tomorrow's necessities (think vacuum cleaner).

Don't talk to me about vacuum cleaners. My wife has made me a slave to our vacuum cleaner.

[Chasing Trials]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

I've watched this ever increasing escalating cycle of "needs" with a bit of amazement.

Before solar we spent years with our needs being met with only a propane stove and refrigeration. Now it's drag every home appliance under the sun into the trailer and adding ever increasing amounts of batteries and solar.

To each their own.

Ron

Same here!? Over sized vehicles, included. I also want to stay away from the maintenance of all that too. I will have a pile of stuff that I toss in if I'm going to a Trial & have to pay for a hook up & make use of it. but otherwise most will stay home. I bought a "camp" toaster for the stove. Next to learn the trick/art to using it.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Chasing Trials

I bought a "camp" toaster for the stove. Next to learn the trick/art to using it.

No trick, just pay attention. You snooze, you're toast.

Ron

[Hamster]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

On your solar controller, push and hold the lower left "AC" button for several seconds. A small "AC" icon will appear in the upper right corner of the display, indicating that the inverter is turned on. When you turn it on, it takes a minute or two for it to go through a number of startup checks before it starts sending AC power, either to all outlets or to just one depending on which inverter option your trailer has. If it has the "all outlets" option, you will see the microwave display light up when AC power comes on. And just having the inverter on, without using any AC appliances, uses some battery power so be sure to turn it off when you are not actively using it.

Heavy usage of the inverter will draw your batteries down, after a while you will get a feel for how much you can use it, and of course it will also depend on what kind of solar charging you are getting each day. With good sunshine your batteries will usually fully recharge every day. With clouds or shade, you'll need to keep an eye on your battery status and get a feel for how much battery capacity you used each day if you are in a setting where you are not getting good solar charging.

Even with limited solar you can still easily go a few days - if the weather is not too cold and you are not having to run the furnace constantly, there's not a lot else (other than inverter usage) that takes a lot of battery power. You don't want to let your batteries get below 50% or they can be permanently adversely affected and will not hold a charge as well after that.

I’m the second owner of a 2016 5.0 . After powering up the GoPower inverter I can’t find an outlet with 120v. I can see the AC icon on the inverter. Any ideas?