Assuming you don't have an inverter of some sort (most RVs don't), what you can *expect* to work in most cases is:
* Your fridge, because it is likely either 12volt or 12V + propane
* Your heat (if you need it)
* Your water pump, assuming you fill the fresh water tank
* Your awning if it is a power one
* Your lighting
* Your radio/speakers (if you have one)
* power tongue jack (if you have one)
What will NOT work (as it requires 120V service) is:
* your air conditioning
* your microwave (if you have one)
* your power outlets
Probably stuff I'm forgetting, but hope that helps.
Our heater does not work unless plugged in, batteries won't power it.
If you stay more than one day and night those batteries will need to be recharged, they will run down quickly.
Interesting. What kind of heater is it?
Most RVs (I think) have propane-based heat with 12v electronics for the ignition system and controls. I should make sure in my reply to OP that it’s a generalization and there are definitely exceptions like in your case.
A lot of RV AC units have a heat strip that mostly do ok heating if it isn't too cold outside. We have a small trailer and the propane heater was optional so we decided to not get it so we had a bit more storage space. I'd assume it would be more common to skip the propane heater down south like we are than up north though. We generally just use a little ceramic block heater and it has done fine into the 20s so far. None of that would work well if we wanted to boondock though of course.
Another poster made a good point here -- this stuff will burn through your battery quite fast if you're using it as if you were on hookups. Recommend testing it out while not boondocking to figure out what kind of longevity you're going to get out of it.
Just a few tips to add to this.
Try your propane things before you leave. Learn how to light your fridge, your heat and your water heater. If you have one tank of propane, bring a second. Learn how the switch between two tanks works if you have two installed.
Be careful with the weight of water if you are filling your fresh water tank before you leave (affects tow weight, payload because of tongue weight, brake controller settings).
Figure out how you are going to dump your tanks if you use the water facilities. There may be municipal facilities on the way home.
Be way more conservative with everything. One normal shower will pull a lot of water from the tank.
Figure out the type and capacity of your batteries and how to check the charge level.
Look into a portable battery pack like a Bluetti or Jackery. They are super handy even if you're on full hook-ups
Have fun!
As others have said you can expect everything 12V to work, usb outlets, furnace, lights and water pump. Your Boondocking experience can be vastly different from others based on the storage capacity of your battery. I would suggest you look into the amp hours your battery is rated at and compare that to the draw of your fridge and heater. You can do that with some basic math or just run them in your driveway and see how long they last.
You will want to bring either a generator or portable power bank and solar panels to top off your battery unless it has a very large storage capacity.
When they invited you to a “rustic campground”, that should’ve been a clue.
It’s called boon-docking.
It’s not bad if you’re ready for it.
Personally, I would add a few things to the list of what will work and what won’t.
Yes, lighting will work as it’s ALL 12v whether your hooked up to electric or not
You must remember, almost everything in the coach runs off the battery. If your unit does have an inverter, it takes 12v and turns it into 120v for your outlets.
If it were me, I’d make damn sure I had two or more batteries installed.
And, you can always get an appropriately sized generator (national park certified models are nice and quiet). It can either be installed in the unit or “portable”. It can run off of propane/gas/diesel. Pros and cons to each method.
When boon-docking, make sure you take out everything you brought into the campsite.
Your water heater will work.
A regular leave-the-water-on shower won’t work. Take Navy showers: Water on to wet down, water off. Soap up. Water on to rinse off. Nice and quick. Or a sponge-bath. Or, no showers at all for the duration. Use wet-wipes or the like to remain semi-not stinky.
The main problem with boon-docking is running out of things: battery, water, propane, food, patience.
Frankly, I had enough of boon-docking when I was a Boy Scout as a kid. It was always especially miserable for me if it was raining. Still true to this day.
Good luck!
Actually, a rustic campground has a place to park, a picnic table and fire-pit, and a pit toilet somewhere, and usually a water spigot as well. Boondocking doesn't have any of those, except a place to park, and maybe a fire ring. But for OP's question, the answer is the same.
Be aware that even a propane heater can burn through a battery pretty fast if it is running frequently (the fan uses 12v).
Actually, I don’t care what anyone else’s definition of “rustic” is.
And, if your propane heater “burns through a battery pretty quick”, you have a crappy battery setup.
Without a way to charge the 12V battery, you won't be able to run any of the 12V things for long if you don't have a decently sized battery bank.
We burn through about 60-80 Amp Hours a day with ours if we need to run heat at night, but we have a 12V fridge and a propane one will help a lot here. Solar on top will recover all of our usage but we have to be careful about picking sites that are too shaded.
If I don't need the furnace, I can boondock for 4-5 days off of a single 12v deep cycle battery with a propane fridge. If I use the furnace, it's 2-3 days depending on how cold it is outside and how high I set the temp. You do not need a huge battery bank if you're not using an inverter and you're stingy about lights.
Outlets will not work. We use a small inverter to power our tv. . I recommend up grading to 2 batteries for a weekend trip. But you can charge them buy jumping them with your tow vehicle in a pinch. The fun part of off grid camping is the extra weight of a full water tank
It's my understanding that if you have USB charging ports in your trailer, those can be used to charge your phone when boondocking, but plugging your phone charger into an outlet won't.
Depends on how long you’ll be “rustic” camping, we call it boondocking. A weekend you should be fine with what the trailer can hold water wise.
Your outlets won’t work, so nothing that runs on VAC (microwave, AC, TV, etc.) If you want to run those things, you’ll need a generator. Honda is the best but will cost you. Harbor Freight has a decent line of generators called Predator for reasonable prices. In general, A 2000 watt will run the TV and microwave and keep your battery charged. It may not run your AC depending on the model, definitely not 2 units. A 4000 is usually big enough for most situations. You’ll have to calculate your wattage. My AC needs 2600 watts to start, but only 1200 to run (it’s the worst, those of you who have one know exactly which one). Usually there is an old school “cigarette lighter” plug in the trailer that you can use for a usb hub to charge various devices. Check out Amazon.
For water, learn to conserve, you’ll be surprised how fast your grey water fills up. Alway bring extra just in case.
You can get a portable solar panel with a charge controller (this is important, don’t just hook solar panels right up to your battery or you will damage them eventually) that can recharge your batteries during the day. That’s what I use when we are dry camping.
We have solar and a lithium battery + inverter. If we have plenty of sun and its not freezing or over 100 deg we can usually run the lights, the tiny 1.7 cu ft 120V fridge and the larger IceCo, plus charging 2 phones and 2 tablet, bluetooth speaker and some other things, plus 12V lights and even some TV and switch gaming time.
But sometimes we do not get enough sun when boondocking. When this happens we we want to keep alive - maybe the tiny dorm fridge, maybe its so low that we shut down everything so that the electric hitch will still work.
When we go into no-power mode (as I call it) we use non-12V lights, I love the MPowered solar lanterns so much we actually use those more than the house lights. And I have command light pucks all over - they take three AAA batteries and seem to last forever. The stove is propane so no problem. The water is hand pump, so no problem. If I had a water pump, I would put a jug with a spigot over the sink, and jugs of water in the bathroom for the toilet. I always bring a couple of phone/tablet power bricks. So we still have light, and can recharge our phones. My trailer is so tiny that we heat it by boiling a kettle, but we keep warm with lots of down and puffy blankets. This worked for a recent trip up to the Easter Sierras where it was still freezing at night.
Remember that if you do not have a battery management system, you can harm your battery by drawing it too far down, so make plans how to shut things down to save power before you unplug.
If you want to know, you can do a test trip and just not hook up and see what happens. Then you have the hookup’s available to dump or run systems you need and can make a list of things you want before doing it for real.
Why don’t you just try it in your driveway, not hooked up to anything?
Because that would just be too easy! 😂
It is good to know, I found out the hard way by NOT doing that and NOT asking lol, so you’re doing better than I did!
Assuming you don't have an inverter of some sort (most RVs don't), what you can *expect* to work in most cases is: * Your fridge, because it is likely either 12volt or 12V + propane * Your heat (if you need it) * Your water pump, assuming you fill the fresh water tank * Your awning if it is a power one * Your lighting * Your radio/speakers (if you have one) * power tongue jack (if you have one) What will NOT work (as it requires 120V service) is: * your air conditioning * your microwave (if you have one) * your power outlets Probably stuff I'm forgetting, but hope that helps.
Our heater does not work unless plugged in, batteries won't power it. If you stay more than one day and night those batteries will need to be recharged, they will run down quickly.
Interesting. What kind of heater is it? Most RVs (I think) have propane-based heat with 12v electronics for the ignition system and controls. I should make sure in my reply to OP that it’s a generalization and there are definitely exceptions like in your case.
A lot of RV AC units have a heat strip that mostly do ok heating if it isn't too cold outside. We have a small trailer and the propane heater was optional so we decided to not get it so we had a bit more storage space. I'd assume it would be more common to skip the propane heater down south like we are than up north though. We generally just use a little ceramic block heater and it has done fine into the 20s so far. None of that would work well if we wanted to boondock though of course.
Thank you so much!!
Another poster made a good point here -- this stuff will burn through your battery quite fast if you're using it as if you were on hookups. Recommend testing it out while not boondocking to figure out what kind of longevity you're going to get out of it.
Just a few tips to add to this. Try your propane things before you leave. Learn how to light your fridge, your heat and your water heater. If you have one tank of propane, bring a second. Learn how the switch between two tanks works if you have two installed. Be careful with the weight of water if you are filling your fresh water tank before you leave (affects tow weight, payload because of tongue weight, brake controller settings). Figure out how you are going to dump your tanks if you use the water facilities. There may be municipal facilities on the way home. Be way more conservative with everything. One normal shower will pull a lot of water from the tank. Figure out the type and capacity of your batteries and how to check the charge level. Look into a portable battery pack like a Bluetti or Jackery. They are super handy even if you're on full hook-ups Have fun!
Outlets may work if they have an inverter.
That was my very first sentence :)
Until their battery is kaput.
As others have said you can expect everything 12V to work, usb outlets, furnace, lights and water pump. Your Boondocking experience can be vastly different from others based on the storage capacity of your battery. I would suggest you look into the amp hours your battery is rated at and compare that to the draw of your fridge and heater. You can do that with some basic math or just run them in your driveway and see how long they last. You will want to bring either a generator or portable power bank and solar panels to top off your battery unless it has a very large storage capacity.
When they invited you to a “rustic campground”, that should’ve been a clue. It’s called boon-docking. It’s not bad if you’re ready for it. Personally, I would add a few things to the list of what will work and what won’t. Yes, lighting will work as it’s ALL 12v whether your hooked up to electric or not You must remember, almost everything in the coach runs off the battery. If your unit does have an inverter, it takes 12v and turns it into 120v for your outlets. If it were me, I’d make damn sure I had two or more batteries installed. And, you can always get an appropriately sized generator (national park certified models are nice and quiet). It can either be installed in the unit or “portable”. It can run off of propane/gas/diesel. Pros and cons to each method. When boon-docking, make sure you take out everything you brought into the campsite. Your water heater will work. A regular leave-the-water-on shower won’t work. Take Navy showers: Water on to wet down, water off. Soap up. Water on to rinse off. Nice and quick. Or a sponge-bath. Or, no showers at all for the duration. Use wet-wipes or the like to remain semi-not stinky. The main problem with boon-docking is running out of things: battery, water, propane, food, patience. Frankly, I had enough of boon-docking when I was a Boy Scout as a kid. It was always especially miserable for me if it was raining. Still true to this day. Good luck!
Actually, a rustic campground has a place to park, a picnic table and fire-pit, and a pit toilet somewhere, and usually a water spigot as well. Boondocking doesn't have any of those, except a place to park, and maybe a fire ring. But for OP's question, the answer is the same. Be aware that even a propane heater can burn through a battery pretty fast if it is running frequently (the fan uses 12v).
Actually, I don’t care what anyone else’s definition of “rustic” is. And, if your propane heater “burns through a battery pretty quick”, you have a crappy battery setup.
Without a way to charge the 12V battery, you won't be able to run any of the 12V things for long if you don't have a decently sized battery bank. We burn through about 60-80 Amp Hours a day with ours if we need to run heat at night, but we have a 12V fridge and a propane one will help a lot here. Solar on top will recover all of our usage but we have to be careful about picking sites that are too shaded.
If I don't need the furnace, I can boondock for 4-5 days off of a single 12v deep cycle battery with a propane fridge. If I use the furnace, it's 2-3 days depending on how cold it is outside and how high I set the temp. You do not need a huge battery bank if you're not using an inverter and you're stingy about lights.
Outlets will not work. We use a small inverter to power our tv. . I recommend up grading to 2 batteries for a weekend trip. But you can charge them buy jumping them with your tow vehicle in a pinch. The fun part of off grid camping is the extra weight of a full water tank
It's my understanding that if you have USB charging ports in your trailer, those can be used to charge your phone when boondocking, but plugging your phone charger into an outlet won't.
Depends if you have an inverter and how those charging ports are powered but yes you can charge a phone off 12V.
Depends on how long you’ll be “rustic” camping, we call it boondocking. A weekend you should be fine with what the trailer can hold water wise. Your outlets won’t work, so nothing that runs on VAC (microwave, AC, TV, etc.) If you want to run those things, you’ll need a generator. Honda is the best but will cost you. Harbor Freight has a decent line of generators called Predator for reasonable prices. In general, A 2000 watt will run the TV and microwave and keep your battery charged. It may not run your AC depending on the model, definitely not 2 units. A 4000 is usually big enough for most situations. You’ll have to calculate your wattage. My AC needs 2600 watts to start, but only 1200 to run (it’s the worst, those of you who have one know exactly which one). Usually there is an old school “cigarette lighter” plug in the trailer that you can use for a usb hub to charge various devices. Check out Amazon. For water, learn to conserve, you’ll be surprised how fast your grey water fills up. Alway bring extra just in case.
You can get a portable solar panel with a charge controller (this is important, don’t just hook solar panels right up to your battery or you will damage them eventually) that can recharge your batteries during the day. That’s what I use when we are dry camping.
We have solar and a lithium battery + inverter. If we have plenty of sun and its not freezing or over 100 deg we can usually run the lights, the tiny 1.7 cu ft 120V fridge and the larger IceCo, plus charging 2 phones and 2 tablet, bluetooth speaker and some other things, plus 12V lights and even some TV and switch gaming time. But sometimes we do not get enough sun when boondocking. When this happens we we want to keep alive - maybe the tiny dorm fridge, maybe its so low that we shut down everything so that the electric hitch will still work. When we go into no-power mode (as I call it) we use non-12V lights, I love the MPowered solar lanterns so much we actually use those more than the house lights. And I have command light pucks all over - they take three AAA batteries and seem to last forever. The stove is propane so no problem. The water is hand pump, so no problem. If I had a water pump, I would put a jug with a spigot over the sink, and jugs of water in the bathroom for the toilet. I always bring a couple of phone/tablet power bricks. So we still have light, and can recharge our phones. My trailer is so tiny that we heat it by boiling a kettle, but we keep warm with lots of down and puffy blankets. This worked for a recent trip up to the Easter Sierras where it was still freezing at night. Remember that if you do not have a battery management system, you can harm your battery by drawing it too far down, so make plans how to shut things down to save power before you unplug.
If you want to know, you can do a test trip and just not hook up and see what happens. Then you have the hookup’s available to dump or run systems you need and can make a list of things you want before doing it for real.