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Old 01-02-2015, 11:36 PM   #43
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Put this stuff in all your windows for the night....adds lots of insulation.


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Old 01-03-2015, 12:29 AM   #44
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Depending on his route he will not have to drive as far as Nashville to find an open campground. I am in Oklahoma and there are several here that are open. I camp a lot in Arkansas and there are a lot of year round Rv parks. I was going to camp in my favorite park in Arkansas in January and could not get a reservation they were full. I was amazed. It seems like a lot of parks have extended stay RVers. I am assuming if they have people living in them full time they will be open during the winter. If he is a good sam member he can use their mapping service and it will tell him all the parks on his route and he can just call and find one. Or he can take other advice and park at Walmart. run the generator all night or hope his batteries will hold up. I can say this much for sure. At 15 degrees I would not expect my 4 6 volt batteries to run the furnaces all night. A lot of current going into running those fans. The only time I have boondocked at Walmart was because I was going to take my camper to have some service work done and I got there after they closed. I decided to just stay in Walmart parking lot until they opened the next day. We had just came in from a trip and had our bedding in being washed because we had not expected to stay the night. We started our generator and for the first time in two years it decided not to run. It would run about 30 minutes then stop ( found out the next day the fuel filter needed changed) We had to go to Walmart and get sheets and blankets. It got pretty chilly and it was no where near 15 degrees.
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Old 01-03-2015, 01:28 AM   #45
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If your thermostat has a (fan on) switch, change it to (on cont.)! What takes the most power is starting the fans, and if they cycle on and off it take's a lot more amp's to start them! They use very little power once they are spinning, just let the furnace flame kick on and off as needed to keep you warm! I found this out by running my house in the country on a generator when the power was off for a week one time! When I fired up the furnace the first time, the generator bogged down with the load of starting the fans on the furnace up, and then smoothed out after they got up to speed, just switched the thermostat to cont. after up and running, all good! If you are worried about your battery's staying up, run the generator! Period! What it is there for! Use it! Step out side, wet your finger, get the direction of the wind and face your MH so the wind takes the exhaust away from you! Enjoy your MH, and use the comforts of it accordingly! Its why you bought it! Rail!
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Old 01-03-2015, 06:30 AM   #46
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drive at night when it's the coldest and sleep during the day.
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Old 01-03-2015, 10:56 AM   #47
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Don't over think it. I spend 3 days a week during the winter boon docking in freezing temps..... You'll be fine. You are already winterized so the worst thing that could happen is you get cold. Since you have a generator, you can fire that up in the event battery's are low.
I generally don't need my genny but also have 2 8d house batteries.
Side note: I've observed many winter RVers using catalytic heat with great success.....draws zero power.

Have fun!
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Old 01-03-2015, 11:43 AM   #48
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Old toolmaker here from the Vintage RV list saying, Don't Sweat the Details. You can start your generator from the chassis battery after you start your chassis engine, if you have to. You might not make it through the night on that pair of 6V batteries but then again you might. With the chassis battery separate from the house batteries you can always start the chassis engine.
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Old 01-03-2015, 12:50 PM   #49
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Guess I forgot to mention that we have a Samsung 197ACRS in place of our Norcold 4 dr and it draws from those 4 six volt house batteries via the 2k watt MSW inverter, too. Also forgot you were already set with antifreeze in lines. I remember those days before moving to the Yukon of Florida, but now I am spoiled, gotta have my shower. Remember to drain water from the filter trap in your washer/dryer, as it cannot be blown out with air.
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Old 01-03-2015, 04:56 PM   #50
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If u are near Nebraska, south of Omaha at Nebraska City and Auburn the campgrounds are open.
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Old 01-03-2015, 08:50 PM   #51
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Just run the generator, that's what it's for.

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Old 01-04-2015, 03:57 AM   #52
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Old toolmaker here from the Vintage RV list saying, Don't Sweat the Details. You can start your generator from the chassis battery after you start your chassis engine, if you have to. You might not make it through the night on that pair of 6V batteries but then again you might. With the chassis battery separate from the house batteries you can always start the chassis engine.
That's what I do, "Sweat the Details", I can't help it, might be age.

They're forecasting 8 degrees for our departure time tomorrow. I'm now worried about the generator starting. I'm all plugged in at home but I don't think the block heater heats the generator. It's 7 degrees now, I could go out and see if it starts. If it would help I could aim a kerosene bullet heater at it but it's windy so I don't know how well that would work.

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Old 01-04-2015, 07:49 AM   #53
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That's what I do, "Sweat the Details", I can't help it, might be age.

They're forecasting 8 degrees for our departure time tomorrow. I'm now worried about the generator starting. I'm all plugged in at home but I don't think the block heater heats the generator. It's 7 degrees now, I could go out and see if it starts. If it would help I could aim a kerosene bullet heater at it but it's windy so I don't know how well that would work.

Robby

I've had that birthday also. Murphy's law states "what ever can go wrong, will go wrong". My personal belief is that Murphy was an optimist. Things go wrong that can't go wrong.

Please give us an up date when you launch and along the way.

I wish you an uneventful trip. Hopefully your pre planning will pay off.


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Old 01-04-2015, 01:14 PM   #54
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Run your generator - that's why you have it - the batteries probably won't last all night and you don't want to find that out late in the game...the rest should be fine.
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Old 01-04-2015, 01:33 PM   #55
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If you are going to florida you should be getting to warmer areas pretty soon. You might post a general list of your route and people could give you some tips on where to stop. If you have to stay in a parking lot then by all means you need to run your generator almost as soon as you park. I am sure others will say you can start it later but if you run down your coach batteries on most coaches you cannot start your generator at that point. Unless you start your engine and let it charge your coach batteries and then start your generator. Bottom line is easier to run the generator. There is a post of someone on east coast that tried to run off his coach batteries all night and they almost froze if I can find it I will post the link

Interesting that your two 6 volt batteries have more capacity than 2 12 volt batteries what sized are they. You cannot add the amp hours on 2 6 volt batteries because they are being used in series. (2) 220 amp hour 6 volt batteries just equals 220amp hours. (2) 220 amp hour 12 volt batteries costs a lot but equal 440 amp hours because they are in parallel.
It's about the size and weight, not the voltage, really. For group 27 size batteries 2 six volt wired in series is the same as 2 12 volt wired in Parallel.

We would need the size of the six volt to estimate the AH capacity but if they fit in the same space as a set of 12v they will have the same capacity.

Just saying.
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Old 01-04-2015, 03:27 PM   #56
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Boondocking 15 degrees any advice.

Gas is cheap. Diesel's cheap. Get a genny. Run your genny. Exercise it. 5-6 hrs at a time. Give it a break for a few hours in between.


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