All Electric and Boondocking

[The Renegade]

Trying to figure out if this is even an option or not. If we had an all electric coach with solar panels and was boon docking a few days, how would this go? Would I constantly be running the generator to make this work? The air would have to be running in the environment I would be in just to help with info. 2 people showering and would need the frig. Any experience would be appreciated.

Also if this is not a good idea, should we go gas instead. Coach is ordered and running out of time to make any changes. We ordered the all electric but still confused if that was right for us or not. Thanks for any input.

[jerrybb]

You were good till you said the AC had to be running. 2or 4 good batteries plus solar would prob handle the rest but the AC must have the gen running. If you ordered already and want to do much boondocking make sure you have 4 batteries. I'm sure others will add their advice.

[oscarvan]

AC? You'll be running the generator whether you go gas or all electric. There's no gas AC.

You got a LOT of reading to do... I'm sorry I don't have two hours right now.

BIG solar panels will JUST power/battery charge a 120V fridge, lights, chargers and other small stuff.

Hot water is either propane or generator. Assuming it's a tank you can make some in the morning and evening for showers and dishes.

Propane fridge is independent, but $$$.

Residential needs a stout inverter. It does come with at least a 2000W inverter right? And a 400+Ah house bank....

There's more.... much more.

[Outbound]

I like gas and electric, I may be in the minority on this one.

[toddb]

Well, like many things, it depends.
We have 750W of solar on the roof and all electric except for the gas stove (and we are still on the original tank of propane after 8 years). We also have 6 AGM house batteries. Leaving AC out of it for a minute, and assuming it’s sunny, we can quite comfortably boondock and only hit the generator when we want to run the convection oven for extended cooking, the rest of the time solar does a nice job of charging the batteries during the day. Our limiting factor boondocking is fresh water supply, black, and grey tank capacities not power. We can make 4 days easy and stretch to 5. If you need the AC on you have to have the generator running. I’m sure it would be theoretically possible to have a big enough inverter and custom wiring done to run the AC off the house batteries, but you’d be measuring your battery time in minutes then.

Bottom line, an all electric rig or one with gas refrigerator, essentially makes no difference wrt boondocking if you need to run the genset for AC.

[Crasher]

We boondock with an all electric coach. I have six 300 amp batteries for 900 amps of battery. Only 620 watts of solar on the roof. I run the generator for 1.5-2 hr in the morning while making breakfast and a couple hours at night to top off the batteries. We use the tv, satellite, vcr etc when we want to. Our hot water is Aqua hot. No matter what coach you buy, whenever you need to run the AC, the generator will have to be running. That could also be your recharge time instead of morning and night. We like all electric and would not want to go back to propane.

[leroybrown]

We went all electric and I would never go back to any gas on board again. We boondock all the time and it works great. And solar is a overpriced joke that just makes green people feel good. And if your running AC a lot like we do, it’s a mute point anyway. I never have to worry about the propane level, and trying to find it in a remote aera on a Sunday. Just keep diesel in the tank, and your good to go. And propane is very flammable and dangerous, and probably the leading cause of RV fires. Anything but all electric, is rving in the Stone Age like Fred Flintstone!

[jcussen]

Originally Posted by Outbound

I like gas and electric, I may be in the minority on this one.

I am in the minority too. Had my inverter go south one time while boondocking, still had my outside gas grill, and cold beer and cold and frozen food. Guess I am a prepper.

[MRUSA14]

All electric is fine for boondocking. In cool weather I run my generator just 2 or 3 hours a day and my 8 AGM batteries do the rest. As noted above, if you need air conditioning the generator must be running anyhow so the battery charging is just a side effect. If AC not needed, then the generator will start itself as needed to recharge the batteries. I would never go back to propane.

[dix39]

Count us as being in the minority also. We've been living in the stone age since the late '70's and don't see any good reason to change. Propane has worked well for us all that time and we almost exclusively boondock/dry camp.

Steve

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by oscarvan

AC? You'll be running the generator whether you go gas or all electric. There's no gas AC.

You got a LOT of reading to do... I'm sorry I don't have two hours right now.

BIG solar panels will JUST power/battery charge a 120V fridge, lights, chargers and other small stuff.

Hot water is either propane or generator. Assuming it's a tank you can make some in the morning and evening for showers and dishes.

Propane fridge is independent, but $$$.

Residential needs a stout inverter. It does come with at least a 2000W inverter right? And a 400+Ah house bank....

There's more.... much more.

Hot water and heat can also be hydronic, AquaHot ir Hurricane. So far all I've done is a couple nights with a days driving in between. Have 400 watts solar, 4 8D 12 volt Lifeline AGM's 255 amp hours each and 12.5 kw genset. All electric by changing to an induction cooktop. If the rig had been ordered as all electic it would have had 6 8D batteries and a second 3000 watt PSW inverter. Yes, it's a power hog. I have changed over 60 interior lights from halogen to LED's.

[Cassy]

I love being in the minority. I have a propane and electric fridge, I added an electric element to my propane water heater, propane stove, added a microair easy start for the air-conditioner that I am able to run off my battery/solar is doing the peak time of the sun which is when the air is needed. I also added an extender stay for an external propane tank. Purchased 12 volt ceiling fans to circulate the air.

[153stars]

i would like to get a new magnum Hybrid inverter . You could run a 2000w ultra quite inverter gas genny the hybrid inverter will kick in to start one AC.. then no prob after its running. Add good dose of solar .

[vsheetz]

We dry camp often. 1500w solar. Six 6v GC2 batteries. Typically need a generator run to top up batteries prior to quiet time.

Air conditioning requires generator running.