How Long will a battery/ propane last

[bassknuckles]

I never dry camped before, I will be going by myself (no kids or wife for this trip) I plan to be in Montauk NY for 3 nights/ 3 days fishing.  With a fully charged battery and 20 pounds of propane can I run the fridge using propane, heater/blower (possibly 2 hours a day) and lights (possibly 2 hours). I know there are many factors such as tempture etc.  Just wondering about how much propane I will burn for the fridge and heat and if the battery will last using the blower/ light.  I won't really be using the pump for water.  Thanks

[austinado16]

You'll have plenty of both left over.  My local RV place told me that the fridge will run almost a month on a 20lb tank.  That little amount of usage of your furnace won't burn much either.....same goes with your cook stove(s).

Right now we have one 5 day trip, a second 2 day trip, 6 days of a fridge test from last week, plus about a day worth of fridge running on propane prior to leaving, and 2 nights of running the furnace all night long...and we still haven't burned up the 20lb tank.

Our battery did fine during the 2-dayer where we used the furnace both nights.  I think it cooled down to about 51-ish and I set the furnace to about 65.

[flyfisherman]

I try to be somewhat frugal when boondocking it in those way back in, out-of-the-way, fishing trips. A big consumer of propane is the furnance so I always kept the thermostat set low, like at 55 degrees. It's easy for adults to keep covered at night with some quality bedding, another thing when you have young'uns who want to kick off the covers during the night. So for the fishing crew, I'd only bump up the heat first thing in the morning; that and heating up the morning coffee with the cook stove would get things cozy kinda fast. This not only saves propane but also uses less battery power. Along with using the overhead lights sparingly, I could get a week out of a fully charged up-to-snuff battery; and same for a 20# tank of propane.



Fly

[dthurk]

It'll take a bit of time for you to figure out dry camping.  The more you do it, the better you'll get at conserving your resources.  As you dry camp, you'll learn what the energy wasters are and figure out ways to change that still allow you to be comfortable.  Electricity will be more of a concern than propane.
 
 If your lights have 2 bulbs in a fixture (such as ceiling lights), take one out.  You don't really need 2.   Get a catalytic propane heater, such as the Mr. Buddy Heater rather than use your furnace.  You can run the Buddy heater during the day and set your thermostat at a low setting for sleeping at night.  That way, the furnace fan won't be draining your battery.  There are probably more ways to conserve electricity that you will discover as you go through the dry camp process.  It's certainly worth the effort, though.  We've enjoyed our dry camping experiences and found that's where we get our most memorable times.

[austinado16]

Good advice dthurk.  

I've just added a catalytic heater (an Olympic Wave 6) and the next little "save power" mod I'd like to do is replace the porch light bulb with an LED version, and maybe do one bulb in each of the ceiling fixtures as a 32 bulb LED.  That would bring our 12v consumption down alot.  I added one of those neat little AA battery powered 2 lamp ceiling lights over the sink and I've got AA battery powered fluorescents for in the bunks.

[wavery]

Propane is not an issue on a 3-day trip.

Your real unknown is your 12v battery. It can be fully charged and working well when you leave and fail you in the middle of your camp-out. In my mind, a 2nd deep cycle battery in a battery box, stowed away in the TV is the best investment that a dry camper can make :sombraro: . If you have a problem, it will be the best $80 you ever spent. If you never use it, it doesn't hurt a thing and you have $80 worth of "Peace-of-mind". Afterall.....isn't camping all about relaxing and de-stressing??

Think of it like car insurance. You give them $xxx.xx a year and pray that you NEVER have to use it. However, when you need it, it's there.

We dry camp all the time. We don't worry about electric or propane at all on a 3-day trip. We carry 2 series 29, deep cycle batteries. We have an inverter and even run the microwave at will. On the 3rd day of a 5 day camp-out, we will run the generator all day to charge up both batteries.

We haven't removed any bulbs or think about light or water usage at all. However, we do use a Mr Buddy heater as apposed to the camper furnace. That furnace is and energy hog on both propane and electric.

[flyfisherman]

Think of it like car insurance. You give them $xxx.xx a year and pray that you NEVER have to use it. However, when you need it, it's there.

About the time I think there may be "hope" for California, you go ahead and make a post like that!

Why go to that expense? Why carry all that extra weight?  Do like we North Carolians do (well, maybe not all!) ... wire the center 7-way plug hot so you can tap into the TV's starter battery for a back-up. Been doing that for a long time, with both popups, the previous and the present. Never has it been run down the TV battery by using it, although I do so very sparingly.



Fly


(who's always looking west, trying hard to educate the Californians, especially those who monkey around sail boats a lot!)

[AustinBoston]

About the time I think there may be "hope" for California, you go ahead and make a post like that!

Why go to that expense? Why carry all that extra weight?  Do like we North Carolians do (well, maybe not all!) ... wire the center 7-way plug hot so you can tap into the TV's starter battery for a back-up. Been doing that for a long time, with both popups, the previous and the present. Never has it been run down the TV battery by using it, although I do so very sparingly.

One man's "very sparingly" is another man's "all the time."

This would be like having insurance that, if you used it a little, all is OK, but if you really need it, they come to your house and steal one of your children.

Some of us in the west have access to very remote areas for camping.  We don't consider it "insurance" if we can kill our TV battery when it's a two day walk to civilization!

In that situation, the deep cycle is insurance for the TV battery, not the other way around.

Austin

(who doesn't always agree with Wayne, but doesn't see a TV battery as a backup)

[flyfisherman]

Some of us in the west have access to very remote areas for camping.  We don't consider it "insurance" if we can kill our TV battery when it's a two day walk to civilization!

Can't possibly be over a couple days walk!  Besides, carrying one of those jump start batteries that come in a plastic box, the one's you re-charge a couple, three times a year, would be 1/4 the weight and the expense. Also, been a long time since I left the ignition on, after closing the electric windows, and coming back to a couple of engine grunts, after setting a spell, kinda built itselt back-up a little, enough to start the engine though.


How come your taking up for Wayne anyway ...?  You know he's been left out in the sun too long!



Fly

[AustinBoston]

How come your taking up for Wayne anyway ...?  You know he's been left out in the sun too long!

I gotta admit, sometimes Wayne and I use each other for target practice... :eyecrazy:

Austin

[austinado16]

I think it's the insurance company that prays you never need to call up their funds.....not the other way around.

I luckily have trailer wiring hooked up to be hot with the TV engine running, so I can refresh the PUP battery if need be, and it does get charged while towing, along with the 12v fridge function running.

[AustinBoston]

I've got the center pin on our trailer wiring hooked up to be hot with the TV engine running, so I can refresh the PUP battery if need be, and it does get charged while towing, along with the 12v fridge function running.

I hope you know this is non-standard.  Pin 4 is the 12V/Aux pin; the center pin is for backup lights.

Austin

[austinado16]

I hope you know this is non-standard.  Pin 4 is the 12V/Aux pin; the center pin is for backup lights.

Austin

Oops, that's for catching that!  Right......my center pin does fire the backup lights, and Pin 4 is throwing 12v with the ignition on to charge the PUP battery and power the fridge on 12v.

[bassknuckles]

Thanks everyone, I guess I will be fine for the 3 nights.  Hope the fish bite