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Pippi makes a good point. Coincidentally, I just came across an RV park in California that is extremely pet friendly with a fenced dog area. From their web page:
“Your canine companions are more than welcome at Durango. We offer “Buster’s Bungalow”, a fenced area to relax and let your canine play. We also have a self-serve, automatic dog-wash facility to keep your companion clean and fluffy.”
I’m still trying to picture what an “automatic” dog wash is like, but I have added it to my must see list.
I thought that might be the case. I have no other family that I can use an address from. I guess I had better get all of my ducks in a row before I make a move to full-time.
Thanks for the replys.
<It appears regular lead/flooded batteries are probably a better buy if you don’t mind topping them off with h2o.>
Correct
</Two 6V GC are probably cheaper and more durable than two 12V. But I assume that 2 6V weigh more (2X more?) than a single 12 V, so more weight to haul.>
Cheaper, not sure. More durable, absolutely. Heaver, yes, they have thicker plates, but not double the weight. Maybe 20lbs more per battery.
<I’ll make a guess that having four 6V batteries would more or less double the characteristics (power, weight, etc) of having just two 6V batteries.>
Correct.
</So, is having, for instance, 300 W of solar on the roof, and four 6V batteries in the basement a good setup?>
That very much depends on that refrigerator. There are some special small refrigerators that are designed to run on as little as 35 watts, but most RV refrigerators are not nearly that efficient. Most refrigerators consume hundreds of watts and can drain batteries in a hurry. Look at the energy consumption plate on your refrigerator to see how much power it draws. This will allow you to calculate how much battery and PV system you need.
</Would having more solar wattage (400W?) and only two 6V batteries be almost as good at maintaining charge?>
Not at all. You need those batteries. You may need more than that.
</Lastly, if the factory offers two 12 V batteries (assuming deep cycle), is that a decent setup that can be used for solar boondocking?>
Afraid not. The batteries may say deep cycle on the side, but they are not. A 12v battery at best can only be a hybrid between engine batteries and deep cycle batteries. You will kill a 12v battery in about 18 months. You need to go with 6v batteries paired in series to obtain 12v. This will give you a true deep cycle battery.
I have read two different stories lately about rving with pets that prove your move is possible. One was about two great Danes that travel full time, and the other was a story about two German Shepherds, two begals, and three cats that travel full time. Both of these stories were with a couple to do the herding instead of a single person, but it can be done.
Your biggest problem may be the desire to off-leash your dogs. This is not permitted in rv parks and may be dangerous for the animals while boondocking. Dogs can get very excited about their new surroundings and get lost just like humans can. The last thing you want to do is lose a pet in the woods.My suggestion would be to stay at parks that have an off-leash dog park within driving distance. A romp in the park for an hour or two should meet all your dogs expectations.
I came across an article that discusses different mail options for those that do not have or want to impose on family to forward their mail. It has a chart that compares some of the different features available. Basic mail forwarding can be had for only $10 per month.
Along the lines of pros and cons, I was wondering if moving to an RV would make getting a loan next to impossible. Let’s say I am making a decent income from the road, and I want to finance another vehicle (car or RV). As soon as I tell the loan officer I live in an RV, isn’t that as good as telling him/her that I am homeless? Banks like stability which seems to fly in the face of living on the road. Can anyone tell me stories of their banking encounters?
Hi Jay, that sounds like a fun project. You are wise to go with a true sine wave inverter but you will run into some limitations on your batteries. Your target to start out with is 200 amps of battery (don’t forget to buy true deep cycle batteries, not marine batteries). 200 amps @ 12 volt will render 200*12 watts, or 2400 total watts capacity. Since discharging deep cycle batteries beyond 50% will quickly destroy them, only half of that capacity is useable. So now you have 1200 watts. Take into account power lost on storage and conversion (nothing is 100% efficient) and you subtract another 20%. Now your actual usable power is 960 watts. If you really had a big load you wanted to use that 2000 watt inverter with, your batterys would last about 15 minutes (taking peukerts law of discharge into account) or about 3.5 hours with a 300 watt load. You will need a lot of batteries to feed that 2kw inverter. Just saying.
There are “virtual mail” solutions but you can expect to pay $30 on up per month for this service. They give you a street address to receive your mail at, will scan the incoming mail so you can see who sent what, and for an additional fee, scan the contents so you can read it online or shred it for you if it is junk.
https://www.earthclassmail.comIt depends how important that mail is to you.
As RBuzz mentioned, that is a lot of power. A 2kw inverter is nice but at that rate of draw you will need to have a sizeable battery bank to feed it. ie: 2000/12= 166 amps That’s how many amps you would be pulling from a battery to produce that 2kw of power. I think you would kill most battery banks within a couple hours. First determine what you really need to run on inverter, then add up your total power requirements. This will tell you what wattage inverter you need and what size battery bank is required to feed it. You should also keep in mind that inverters consume a little power themselves. The bigger the inverter, the more it will eat in standby mode.
