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Pickups Pickups - Archived Discussions Cabover Campers & Camper Trailers (pickups) 
1377 messages, Last post on Nov 20, 2003 at 2:43 PM
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I run the heater occassionally when the temps are dropping down into the 40s at night. I only run it at night for eight hours or so. It does put a drain on the battery. I run my generator about 20-30 minutes in the morning and 20-30 minutes in the evening and the battery has plenty of juice to run it the next night. My friend does not have a generator. He runs the truck 20-30 minutes in the morning and evening and accomplishes the same thing when he runs his furnace. It sounds like running the truck may actually charge the battery faster than the generator. For winter camping, when temps are down in the teens and 20s, a standard deep cycle battery wouldn't likely last all night before being drained. Plus, you would probably want to run the furnace all the time, day and night, even if you set it low when you were not in the camper. You would either need to get a generator or run the truck fairly often. My friend bought a 1000 amp one that he carries along for cold weather camping that works good for him. I've got a Onan Microlite 2500. I had planned to do some winter camping this year, but I ended up buying a house. The house will be finished December, so my winter is going to be preoccupied with moving into the new house. I am exploring two options for future winter camping. One is to run two deep cycle batteries and the other is to buy a big full-timer battery. Both options might get me through cold winter nights without needing the generator or truck engine, although I will still need to run the generator periodically during the day to maintain a good charge. I'm going to winterize the camper this week. We've had temps in the low to mid 30s a couple of nights. All the trees and mountains are orange and red. The days are getting shorter. Winter is on the way..... |
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Are regular where I live/camp. My twin 6V golf cart batteries will go a weekend (220amp-hours) running heat and ..... Would not be happy without a 20000 BTU propane furnace.... |
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When out camping, we set our thermostat at 34 at night, so it will prevent freezups and nothing else. The down comforter keeps us comfortable. During waking hours, we keep it 65-70 inside, and turn it down when we leave. Ran the battery down once when I left the refrig on DC and again this week when we have been camped in the driveway for 10 days and only moved the truck once for the fumigators. A couple of lights (3 Amps ea?) for a couple of hours a night finally brought the battery down. The furnace only runs for a few minutes at a time and doesn't seem to pull the battery down much. May be a real advantage to having a very small camper? Mike L |
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I have two 12V deep cycle batteries and do just fine for a few days easy. I run the furnace at at least 70 while awake and set it to 50-55 at night. It comes on quite a bit but the batteries hold out fine. Having new batteries helps. Also it's not below freezing too often. You do not need a generator just for the heater. Running the truck a few minutes is a reasonable alternative. A second battery helps too, I put one under the hood. I measured the actual current used by everything in the camper some time ago. I'll pass on my findings. Single light 1.4A (1146 automotive bulb) Stereo 0.5A Range fan 1.1A Heater fan 2.7A Water pump 3.6A I think my heater is 14000 BTU or so. My last camper had a catalytic heater so I've lived with both. The cat is by far a better heater: warmer, way more efficient, quiet, constant heat, works just fine with the door open, no battery required. Given all that I'd still take the furnace for one reason--it's vented. The cat burns clean but does have a little odor. It also uses oxygen so you must leave something open. I usually left a vent open to let the fumes exit and a window open for fresh intake. The cat is so hot it can burn things. I melted a pair of wet shoes once, and I had to keep an eye on the dog's tail too. If you have kids it is dangerous. It made me a bit nervous to leave it on at night so I usually didn't. Mine didn't have a thermostat, that is a feature of the furnace I like very much. I suspect they make cat heaters with thermostats and electric start though. One of my most favorite things was to be in a beautiful place and have the door wide open no matter how cold it was outside. Sitting in front of that heater we would be toasty warm. I can't do that anymore because the furnace will hardly ever turn off and when it does you get cold in minutes. I've considered adding a cat heater just for this purpose but haven't gone that far yet. So I'd recommend a beefy battery setup with a furnace and live with that awhile before considering a generator. |
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My wife and I camp well into November and here in Idaho, November in the mountains means single digits. We are going this weekend and are expecting mid 20's. Our cat furnace has no problem keeping us warm. In fact, I am usually half out of the covers to cool down. I will admit that the floor of the camper gets pretty chilly in the morning, but that's what shoes are for. I don't plan on changing anything. On battery life, I run two deep cycles batteries in parallel and can get four days of running lights, water pump (no shower), a 6" fan all night, and a TV before a recharge. I borrow a friend's Honda 1100 generator which is super quiet and brings everything back to a full charge in 1-2 hours. If I am going to be gone longer, I don't run the fan at night. |
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I went to an RV show yesterday and I’ve decided to forget cabover campers. I'm going to get one of those $350,000 motor homes. The heck with worrying about little furnaces and stuff like that; I want tile floors, marble countertops, crystal lamps, and Corinthian leather. Now that’s the way to go camping! Let’s see – what did I do with that lottery ticket? |
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What's the matter, they wouldn't let you into the really nice $600,000+ models? It seems hard to consider it camping when you have all the comforts of home and more. Sometimes even the popup camper doesn't seem much like camping. Now a tent, that is camping! That doesn't mean I don't like my portable motel, I do enjoy it. I must admit, the storage area under one of those big buses means you don't have to leave anything home; or more correctly, everything is home since that behemoth is your moveable home. And that is more than a portable motel. I wonder how those big buses do off road? I could see one next to a little stream 3 miles off the road in the mountains. Mike L |
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Well Vince, I did it. I broke down and bought those PIAA Driving/Fog lights (PIAA 980). Now I have to figure out how to wire them up. I will use the factory fog light controller to power the fog lights. I will probably install a switch over by the Passenger Air Bag On/Off Switch for the driving lights. I want to wire them so they only come on when the high beams are on. It looks like there is a wire from a 'Roof Beacon' switch option that already runs through the firewall and I will try to use that. Another option might be to try and use a wire that is meant for the AutoTrac option. You might think that I don't want to run a wire through the firewall, and you'd be right. I will find an existing wire and use it, even if I have to cut it free at both ends. This weekend I will try to mount the lights, and then the wiring. And maybe work on my friend's Motorcycle that doesn't run. And work on my fence. And mow the grass. And then there is the Honey Do list. Later, Mike L |
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| If you have not seen it check out the new Sunlite trailbreaker 1000 sl. Its their new slide-out camper. (Sunliteinc.com). I would really have to get a new truck for this one. | |
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Well, they are installed and working. Took a couple of hours to fabricate brackets to mount them, a couple of hours more to wade through the wiring diagrams and decide on how to wire them, a couple of hours more to actually do the wiring. The foglight portion works through the factory foglight switch. I added a switch for the driving lights in the small pocket where the autotrac switches would be if I had them. I had to fabricate a small metal panel to fit in that spot and hold the switch and an LED (to tell me when the driving lights are on). The driving lights only come on when the high beams are on. Since I have the relay that has high and low beams come on at the same time, I now have Hi Beams, Low Beams and Driving Lights at the same time. If I can't see at night, I better get new glasses. See pictures of the dual PIAAs at: http://community.webshots.com/user/mledtje Anybody want to buy a factory foglight? I have both the right and the left available - $25 each. Mike L |
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