We use a Mr Buddy heater. On low, it heats our 30’ 5th wheel. We have a 15’ hose to go out to the big propane tank. $3.00 a gl., 5gl tank, = $15. for 5 nights of heat, and no loss of battery power. We used Will Prowes video, and purchased LiTime batteries. They were cheap, and they have been very very reliable. We love them so much, we bought two, 200ah, for 400ah of batteries.
Just another excellent video, Rob. You should know that you were my inspiration for a massive lifestyle leap into RV life for me that began in March. I’m somewhat battle-tested for this winter in Quartzsite having survived the tail end of a chilly Canadian winter. I have survived off grid and ramped with solar and only once in five months have had to use my generator. That included some -18C windchill that challenged my onboard furnace in my small trailer. But today’s video added to my knowledge bank and I thank you for that! Knowledge gathered from your videos this past year fueled my journey. Keep up the outstanding and dedicated work and I look forward to seeing you and Dottie this fall! Rod and Bailey 🐶
Great video sir!! I have a 500W system that I purchased from San Tan solar in Gilbert AZ. A 12V system consisting of: Two 250W panels, Charge controller,wiring, basicly everything but batteries, gland, and fuse panel for inside...$221.00. I was able to install it all and that was three years ago and it works great. In the future I'd like to add a generator, and upgrade batteries to Lithium iron phosphate... Thank you sir for sharing your video !!
Wow, Rob! Thank you for all of your knowledge of things with us. I never understood the amps, watts, etc. I understand it better now. We get heavy wind gusts where I am in SE WA. Trampolines, garbage cans, patio umbrellas, tables, and chairs blows for miles….and let’s not forget about the tumbleweeds we have…..lol. I really look forward to your videos.
Thanks! I enjoyed this video. This coming winter will be our first Quartzite season. Looking forward to it as we have solar, lithium batteries, and being from New Mexico we experienced wind every year. This is our first year of fulltime rving. So far it's great!
Hi Rob! Our mutual newly married friend is the only person I've ever met who could explain the ins and outs of solar power to me, without my brain feeling like it was going in circles. I don't lack intelligence, but the whole electrical subject is convoluted as far as my brain is concerned. You did a nice job here; I can see several approving posts below. Kudos!
For additional tips, I think it's worth mentioning that one can also take a close examination of the appliances they intend to camp with. The reason is because some of them are huge power hogs. Example my friend was looking forward to van life and he's a gamer with a huge system and huge monitor and it gobbles huge amounts of power. He was very disappointed to find that he could not enjoy that on his camping trip. And I bring my laptop and I depend on it, but every time I want to get miserly with power usage, I just downgrade to my tablet which takes a fraction of the power and I'm just as happy with it.
Thank you so much for all of this most valuable information! I plan on retiring next year and just purchased my Class C camper to live in when that happens. I will be studying this video many times over and taking notes!
You did a decent job on the introduction of electrical I think the wind out there in quartzsite will come as a shock to anybody who has never camped in the desert. I know it shocked the heck out of me the first time.
You have "watts" and "watt hours" very confused. Watts is a measure of energy used while is use or at a "point in time". Appliances are rated in running watts. Watt Hours is a measure of watts used over an hour of time. It can be used for batteries as a measure of storage or in the case of your electric bill an amount of watts used. Your 1800w microwave will be pulling 1800w the second you turn it on. Its going to be ~15A of current at 120v which is ~1800W. Run that for an hour and it will have consumed 1800 watt hours. There is not a microwave on the planet that will only be 30w running. Your battery is rated for 1200 watt hours which means it can deliver 1200 watts for an hour before its dead. It can deliver more than 1200 watts for less than an hour.
I think the confusion is on your end. Here is a resource that may help you understand running watts vs watt usage. au.jackery.com/blogs/news/how-many-watts-does-a-microwave-use#:~:text=Based%20on%20a%20microwave's%20average,may%20use%20about%2049.1W.
Great video 👍. I had no clue how that works watts amps ect.. Great explanation I learn a lot. Thank you so much. I will watch this a few times so it can sink. 👍
I retired in 2019 and ran to Quartzsite in December from Manitoba Canada with my 23 foot travel trailer. I Have four, 6v LA batteries and 300 watts of solar on the roof. Well i was suprized!! Was super 🥶 that December and was shocked by how much battery i used up each nite! I never ran out but was close. I decided to get a better sleeping bag and turn down thermostat and was nice and toasty. I was extremely happy with propane use in 3 months that I was there, propane was never an issue.
Ok, I just found you and subscribed. I have to tell you your video has been so informative!!!! I had no clue on a few things you discussed. Thank you for breaking things down for someone who doesn’t know exp. ( electric) …having signal…did not know when everyone comes causes lack of!!! Thank you for this information. Will be looking forward to the rest of your videos. Will be investing in a great sleeping bag. Lol
Great job Rob, as a low voltage electrician and a mobile solar installer myself, i sometimes have a hard time providing this information on a level that the average nomad can understand. You sir did a fantastic job breaking it down the basic level and still got all the pertinent information out there. Great vlog.
You did a great job explaining alot of things especially the solar. I now understand more of solar. I hope i see you there. I have questions on your rig. I have a 2022 Winnebago d2108. Thanks again
Nice explanation and made the complex parts easily understandable. Thanks. Maybe I missed it but did you mention how many batteries, Solar panels and watt hours your rig has?
The wind is no joke... 👀 Usually the wind is on the same day as the rain, if it rains, or cloud covered days.. Everything that is outside your camp ie chairs, stoves, shower tent, awning, portable solar panels, might blow away, far far away... And the wind will make dust that will find its way onto everything... 👀
Are you allowed to use shower tents using your trailer outdoor system? I wasn’t sure about that in Laposa South and if grey water was a no-no? Newbie heading to the Q in November
I really don’t know the answer to this. I know you cannot dump grey water but does that include using your outdoor shower? I would guess no, but that is a guess and not fact.
@@RodHotintheDesertas I understand it you are allowed to have your shower water in a outdoor shower tent go to the ground... What they don't want is the gray water from a RV tank to be drained to the ground... I have a small Scamp camper and it has small water tanks... Two showers and everything needs to be filled and drained... I started my last winter doing this using a blueboy tank to drain my gray tank... After thinking about it I bought a shower tent and a pump and started taking outside showers... It turned into a lot less work... Mid winter I splurged and bought a perfect for me (a bit expensive, not going to lie) battery powered shower called RinseKit Cube... I fill it up with warm water and it has a digital temperature readout, power it on and it sprayed beautiful hot shower water 💦 inside my shower tent drained to the ground... I also updated my shower tent as the first one was the cheap pop open loopy tent and I didn't like it much... The second one has the external tent poles making it more windproof... I have been using a 6l tea kettle for heating my shower water for years now... It is easy...
I was told that if I want to replace the lead acid battery, that came with my trailer, with a lithium battery, I can't just drop it in and connect it. I also need to replace the trailer's inverter or converter for the fridge. I have no idea if that is correct or not. It's one of the things on my list to research. Is that something you had to do?
@M.Campbell no you can drop in a lithium. Your on board charger-converter (not inverter) is likely not optimized to charge lithium but it will still charge it slowly to about 80%. However, if you add solar with a charge controller that will charge it up to 100%. Many people do it this way. I upgraded my house charger-converter - I think it was about $300 www.boatandrvaccessories.com/products/progressive-dynamics-pd4655liv-55-amp-lithium-replacement-converter-section
@@Dottietravels I have a large Bluetti solar generator. I didn't want to bother with all the components in a standard solar set up and sacrifice the storage. (This was before I saw your clever battery storage box outside.) It's got a 30 Amp plug so I plug it in like shore power. It does charge the lead acid house battery when I'm sitting so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't also charge the lithium house battery. I may not actually need a new charger. It's not the most common set up, so information on doing it this way scarce. I appreciate the help. Ultimately, I want to add roof solar that goes to the Bluetti and just "plug and play". I figure Quartzsite is a very good place to get that done and I should be there either late this year or early 2025. In the meantime, I can moochdock, with an extension cord, or use my generator to charge the Bluetti. It charges quickly either way.
Super helpful! You are so good at explaining things - thanks!
Thank you.
I'm going to have to re-watch and make a cheat sheet for the power info.
Thank you ❤
great information, great video you nailed it on this one !!
We use a Mr Buddy heater. On low, it heats our 30’ 5th wheel. We have a 15’ hose to go out to the big propane tank. $3.00 a gl., 5gl tank, = $15. for 5 nights of heat, and no loss of battery power. We used Will Prowes video, and purchased LiTime batteries. They were cheap, and they have been very very reliable. We love them so much, we bought two, 200ah, for 400ah of batteries.
Excellent video Rob. Very descriptive in layman's terms information. Thank you very much. Take care. Hello to Dottie and George!
☮️💜😊
Great information. Thanks!
Just another excellent video, Rob. You should know that you were my inspiration for a massive lifestyle leap into RV life for me that began in March. I’m somewhat battle-tested for this winter in Quartzsite having survived the tail end of a chilly Canadian winter. I have survived off grid and ramped with solar and only once in five months have had to use my generator. That included some -18C windchill that challenged my onboard furnace in my small trailer.
But today’s video added to my knowledge bank and I thank you for that!
Knowledge gathered from your videos this past year fueled my journey.
Keep up the outstanding and dedicated work and I look forward to seeing you and Dottie this fall!
Rod and Bailey 🐶
Amazing! Can’t wait to meet!
Great video sir!! I have a 500W system that I purchased from San Tan solar in Gilbert AZ. A 12V system consisting of: Two 250W panels, Charge controller,wiring, basicly everything but batteries, gland, and fuse panel for inside...$221.00. I was able to install it all and that was three years ago and it works great. In the future I'd like to add a generator, and upgrade batteries to Lithium iron phosphate... Thank you sir for sharing your video !!
That's some interesting Stuff, Informative and Educational
👏👏
Bravo! Not only did I make it to the end... this one is now saved to my camping playlist. Thanks Rob!
Thx for the info nice explanation of things 👍
Wow, Rob! Thank you for all of your knowledge of things with us. I never understood the amps, watts, etc. I understand it better now. We get heavy wind gusts where I am in SE WA. Trampolines, garbage cans, patio umbrellas, tables, and chairs blows for miles….and let’s not forget about the tumbleweeds we have…..lol. I really look forward to your videos.
Thanks! I enjoyed this video. This coming winter will be our first Quartzite season. Looking forward to it as we have solar, lithium batteries, and being from New Mexico we experienced wind every year. This is our first year of fulltime rving. So far it's great!
I knew all this info but wanted to watch for fun! Great video for newbies Rob. Yeah I hate the wind storms.
Great Video Rob! You broke it down in very easy to understand terms.
Good work Rob!
Hi Rob! Our mutual newly married friend is the only person I've ever met who could explain the ins and outs of solar power to me, without my brain feeling like it was going in circles. I don't lack intelligence, but the whole electrical subject is convoluted as far as my brain is concerned. You did a nice job here; I can see several approving posts below. Kudos!
@@lisaroth7526 thank you!!!
For additional tips, I think it's worth mentioning that one can also take a close examination of the appliances they intend to camp with. The reason is because some of them are huge power hogs. Example my friend was looking forward to van life and he's a gamer with a huge system and huge monitor and it gobbles huge amounts of power. He was very disappointed to find that he could not enjoy that on his camping trip.
And I bring my laptop and I depend on it, but every time I want to get miserly with power usage, I just downgrade to my tablet which takes a fraction of the power and I'm just as happy with it.
Thank you so much for all of this most valuable information! I plan on retiring next year and just purchased my Class C camper to live in when that happens. I will be studying this video many times over and taking notes!
You did a decent job on the introduction of electrical
I think the wind out there in quartzsite will come as a shock to anybody who has never camped in the desert. I know it shocked the heck out of me the first time.
You have "watts" and "watt hours" very confused.
Watts is a measure of energy used while is use or at a "point in time". Appliances are rated in running watts.
Watt Hours is a measure of watts used over an hour of time. It can be used for batteries as a measure of storage or in the case of your electric bill an amount of watts used.
Your 1800w microwave will be pulling 1800w the second you turn it on. Its going to be ~15A of current at 120v which is ~1800W. Run that for an hour and it will have consumed 1800 watt hours. There is not a microwave on the planet that will only be 30w running.
Your battery is rated for 1200 watt hours which means it can deliver 1200 watts for an hour before its dead. It can deliver more than 1200 watts for less than an hour.
I think the confusion is on your end. Here is a resource that may help you understand running watts vs watt usage.
au.jackery.com/blogs/news/how-many-watts-does-a-microwave-use#:~:text=Based%20on%20a%20microwave's%20average,may%20use%20about%2049.1W.
Wattage made clear.
Great video 👍. I had no clue how that works watts amps ect.. Great explanation I learn a lot. Thank you so much. I will watch this a few times so it can sink. 👍
I retired in 2019 and ran to Quartzsite in December from Manitoba Canada with my 23 foot travel trailer. I Have four, 6v LA batteries and 300 watts of solar on the roof. Well i was suprized!! Was super 🥶 that December and was shocked by how much battery i used up each nite! I never ran out but was close. I decided to get a better sleeping bag and turn down thermostat and was nice and toasty. I was extremely happy with propane use in 3 months that I was there, propane was never an issue.
Ok, I just found you and subscribed. I have to tell you your video has been so informative!!!! I had no clue on a few things you discussed. Thank you for breaking things down for someone who doesn’t know exp. ( electric) …having signal…did not know when everyone comes causes lack of!!! Thank you for this information. Will be looking forward to the rest of your videos. Will be investing in a great sleeping bag. Lol
Great job Rob, as a low voltage electrician and a mobile solar installer myself, i sometimes have a hard time providing this information on a level that the average nomad can understand. You sir did a fantastic job breaking it down the basic level and still got all the pertinent information out there. Great vlog.
You did a great job explaining alot of things especially the solar. I now understand more of solar. I hope i see you there. I have questions on your rig. I have a 2022 Winnebago d2108. Thanks again
Nice explanation and made the complex parts easily understandable. Thanks. Maybe I missed it but did you mention how many batteries, Solar panels and watt hours your rig has?
@@HRMike91 I have 600 amp hours of battery and 1,120 watts of solar
The wind is no joke... 👀 Usually the wind is on the same day as the rain, if it rains, or cloud covered days.. Everything that is outside your camp ie chairs, stoves, shower tent, awning, portable solar panels, might blow away, far far away... And the wind will make dust that will find its way onto everything... 👀
Are you allowed to use shower tents using your trailer outdoor system? I wasn’t sure about that in Laposa South and if grey water was a no-no? Newbie heading to the Q in November
I really don’t know the answer to this. I know you cannot dump grey water but does that include using your outdoor shower? I would guess no, but that is a guess and not fact.
@@Dottietravels maybe we could get that answered and also tips of setting up the tent with snake proof base and anti spider techniques
@@RodHotintheDesertas I understand it you are allowed to have your shower water in a outdoor shower tent go to the ground... What they don't want is the gray water from a RV tank to be drained to the ground... I have a small Scamp camper and it has small water tanks... Two showers and everything needs to be filled and drained... I started my last winter doing this using a blueboy tank to drain my gray tank... After thinking about it I bought a shower tent and a pump and started taking outside showers... It turned into a lot less work... Mid winter I splurged and bought a perfect for me (a bit expensive, not going to lie) battery powered shower called RinseKit Cube... I fill it up with warm water and it has a digital temperature readout, power it on and it sprayed beautiful hot shower water 💦 inside my shower tent drained to the ground... I also updated my shower tent as the first one was the cheap pop open loopy tent and I didn't like it much... The second one has the external tent poles making it more windproof...
I have been using a 6l tea kettle for heating my shower water for years now... It is easy...
I was told that if I want to replace the lead acid battery, that came with my trailer, with a lithium battery, I can't just drop it in and connect it. I also need to replace the trailer's inverter or converter for the fridge. I have no idea if that is correct or not. It's one of the things on my list to research. Is that something you had to do?
@M.Campbell no you can drop in a lithium. Your on board charger-converter (not inverter) is likely not optimized to charge lithium but it will still charge it slowly to about 80%. However, if you add solar with a charge controller that will charge it up to 100%. Many people do it this way. I upgraded my house charger-converter - I think it was about $300
www.boatandrvaccessories.com/products/progressive-dynamics-pd4655liv-55-amp-lithium-replacement-converter-section
@@Dottietravels I have a large Bluetti solar generator. I didn't want to bother with all the components in a standard solar set up and sacrifice the storage. (This was before I saw your clever battery storage box outside.) It's got a 30 Amp plug so I plug it in like shore power. It does charge the lead acid house battery when I'm sitting so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't also charge the lithium house battery. I may not actually need a new charger. It's not the most common set up, so information on doing it this way scarce. I appreciate the help.
Ultimately, I want to add roof solar that goes to the Bluetti and just "plug and play". I figure Quartzsite is a very good place to get that done and I should be there either late this year or early 2025. In the meantime, I can moochdock, with an extension cord, or use my generator to charge the Bluetti. It charges quickly either way.
@@M.Campbell that sounds really smart!
A lot but not all of the newer RVs have a switch to change to lithium batteries. If not, you will have to change the converter not the inverter.
Great info. Thank You !