total newbie question for boondocking

spfrancis65

I have a 2019 Nucamp 320s.   For the first time we are going to boondocking.  I know that I can run the Heater, and the fridge with our propane tank.  I'm guessing that I can't run the AC, nor the lights...or that they will try to run off of the battery.  So we have a blackstone grill, so I'm guessing that I can't run that, unless i have some sort of inverter to run that.  Can someone help with how best to boondock with a Nucamp.
Going on Wednesday.

ybakos

Have fun! Most of it you'll figure out after the first time out.

The only things that don't work on battery-only power are: Alde on electric mode, air conditioning.

pthomas745

What battery do you have?  That will give you a baseline on how much you can "use".  How long will you be out there in the wild?

Do you have solar?  Assuming you do...do you have the Victron app?  Something to monitor your battery to sort out how much power you actually have left?  The "best" way to boondock is by knowing how much power you have.  A monitor (Victron, or multimeter, etc) is the key.

Practice, if you can, with your Alde on propane.  Have those basics down now, and make sure it works, before heading out.  If the Alde has not been used in a while, it can be cranky and throw errors.  Better to let it be cranky in your driveway instead of when you are cold at a campsite.  Driveway practice=boondock success.

So: what battery?  What do you have to monitor the battery? 

Slackers

Precool the fridge at home (by hooking up electric to home 120v with proper adapter). Freeze a couple water bottles and then place them in the fridge. If your destination won't have freezing temps and you are comfortable driving with a full tank of water fill it at home. Otherwise fill the tank just before you get there. Top off the battery at home. Make sure you have plenty of propane. Your Blackstone shouldn't need to be plugged into any electrical source, but you'll probably need another tank. Be a miser with regard to use of electric and water. Don't leave lights on, use just enough water for any task. There is a long list of suggestions, but as @ybakos said you'll figure it out and have fun.

spfrancis65

Hey thanks for the input.  So I have a brand new lead battery...is that what you mean by what type of battery?  I have seen that some people talk about Lithium batteries.

spfrancis65

so we are going to be in Eastern Shore of MD.  I am not super worried about cold temps for this week, as the lows will be hight 40's , and the highs in the 60s.  So I do have an electric based Blackstone, since we figured 90% of our camping will be with power...but this location does not have power.  We are only going for 2 nights, so the worst case, we will be eating sandwiches...haha

Slackers

We had an 80 amp hour lead acid battery to start and could do what you want to do. Yeah, you won't be able to use the electric Blackstone. With the lead-acid battery we turned on the battery (at the cut-off switch) only when we needed power (lights, Alde-to power its internal recirculating pump, fresh water tank pump, etc). Our CSS has a two-way electric fridge so we used it more like a cooler and didn't leave it running. Your 3-way can run off propane so you don't have that issue and use it as you like.

pthomas745

@spfrancis65 Do you have solar?  Do you have the Victron app?  Depending on what battery you have, is is probably rated at about 35-40 usuable "amp hours".  Which...can be more than enough with a bit of solar input.  Many owners have managed two days of boondocking on that sort of battery and a little solar.  BUT: without some monitoring of the battery and how it is doing, you are driving in the dark without a gas gauge. 

The trailer is remarkably efficient.  If your propane fridge is working, and your solar is charging your battery reasonably well during the day, you should have no issues at all. 

Most likely: your battery is a "Group 24" (the size designation in inches) 80 amp hour (the "power capacity" of the battery) 12 volt battery.  This is known as the "stock" battery, which many owners in the pioneer days before lithiums managed quite successfully with!

Cherokee

We boondock our 2019 320 with two 6V golf cart batteries and a portable 95wat solar panel to recharge the batteries during the day. The 3-way ref will run on very little gas. We can watch DVD's at night thanks to the californium sun! 

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY_eQO6Ge40&t=143s

RTWCTS

spfrancis65 said:

so we are going to be in Eastern Shore of MD.  I am not super worried about cold temps for this week, as the lows will be hight 40's , and the highs in the 60s.  So I do have an electric based Blackstone, since we figured 90% of our camping will be with power...but this location does not have power.  We are only going for 2 nights, so the worst case, we will be eating sandwiches...haha

Are you headed to Assateague by chance?
You may just want to look for some things to heat on the stove in the camper using gas. You WILL NOT run through a full LP tank over a weekend using ALDE, fridge and cooktop. Battery can be close if you aren't careful with what you use (lights, fan etc.) or resupplying it somehow.

Basil48192

I have 2, 6 volt AGM batteries which provide a total of 235 amp/hours in my 2021 320S.  On my most recent boondocking trip, I was in a very shady area so didn't get much solar recovery.  When I left for home on day 4, I was only down to about 75% on my battery charge (with AGM batteries, I don't let them go past 50%). 
I basically use all of the techniques described above.  My 12 volt fridge was on the entire time.  I watched a little TV, used my lights, used the shower a few times, did dishes, and ran my roof fan quite a bit.  Hope this helps! 

spfrancis65

Yeah we are heading to Assateaque!!  Have not been there, but are super amped to head out there.  Yeah, I have been thinking about investing in a Solar setup.  We do have a Tesla MY, so that is good that we can charge our electronics with the car, and don't need to use our 12V.

Bill&Suze

spfrancis65 said:

Yeah we are heading to Assateaque!!  Have not been there, but are super amped to head out there.  Yeah, I have been thinking about investing in a Solar setup.  We do have a Tesla MY, so that is good that we can charge our electronics with the car, and don't need to use our 12V.

Hi @spfrancis65, it's encouraging to hear that you also are towing with an EV. Please let us know how you find your range and efficiency impacted after the trip. I'll be curious to hear if it's a 50% ± reduction, similar to what we get. Best of luck!

spfrancis65

Yeah, so I will charge to 100%, and I will only go 100 miles, and generally plan out stops about 100 miles out, at the most.  At that point I will be below 100 miles, which gets me anxious.

spfrancis65

So we are camping out last night and noticed a couple of issues while we were camping. There was a dripping sound from the rear of the camper.  We also notice a real hotness eminating from the back driver side wall of the camper.  This is the first that we were using the Aldi’s heat for the camper.
another issue we were seeing on the pump for pushing grey water… it was really pretty loud and vibrating the camper.  We have used the pump before on shore power and didn’t have that issue.
the other issue we are having at Assateaque is the one plant age with burrs…that is playing. Havoc with our pups…which is crazy.  They seem to be everywhere…🙄

pthomas745

I think your Alde expansion tank is there in the back corner of the trailer.  If the "dripping" isn't something coming from under the trailer, the "trickling sound" is the glycol circulating through the tank.

The Alde itself is under the driver's side bench.  Depending on how warm you are asking the trailer to be, there will be some heat coming form that area, and through the "vent" across the back of the trailer cabin.

The fresh water pump can "bang" and sound a lot noisier at times.  There are places to look that may be causing pipes to "rattle" against the walls that can be quieted with insulation, etc, so if you can give a close listen to where you are hearing the banging there are threads that address the issue.