I have put my foot down and finally got approval to buy a camper.  I am tired of packing for camping.  I am tired of loading random bins into the truck to go camping, but mostly I am sick of tents, I am sick of sticky small tents haha. 

 

I have been looking into used Truck bed campers of the Popup variety.   We do a lot of off the beaten road camping so a large camper isn't going to happen.  We also have goals of getting a horse trailer at some point and going places to ride for a weekend. 

 

So that leaves me with the popup slide in style.  Am I off base here?   We have ~$2000-$3000 budget for this.  I have been looking on Craigslist for a few weeks now and spotted a few that would work, anywhere from $700-$5000.   Most have good roofs and canvas, but beyond that I am not sure what I am looking for.  Anything I should be looking for?  Any brands that I should be avoiding?

I am in a similar boat in terms of what I want out of my solar system. I am going with, already purchased but not installed, a 100w panel and a 10A controller. 

so in theory you should see 60 amp hours in a perfect world?  

If I had the cash for bigger panel...

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Grape-Solar-265-Watt-Polycrystalline-Solar-Panel-GS-P60-265-Fab2/206365796

 

That would handle all my electrical needs easy and still be charging. Even my current 45w Harbor freight setup is still more than enough to hold the batteries at 13.2 volts while watching TV all day long. Also powering the fridge, water heater, and water pump when it does cycle on. I would like a bit more charging power but even with the 45w still no problem. Last trip out I was completely boondocking with no hookup just the solar panel.

 

 

Just remember I've only got 400w (eight 50w panels) on a entire two story house with 4,000w of inverter and been living this way for more than 20 years now. So it comes down to how much storage do you have and how much money you want to put on solar panels.

 

Edited May 23, 20168 yr by Mopar1973Man

so really 50w should be PLENTY for my needs?  I likely could get away with 25w?

1 hour ago, Me78569 said:

so really 50w should be PLENTY for my needs?  I likely could get away with 25w?

 

50w would likely be the minimum I would get.

 

I have a 10W panel now and it's not even enough to get me to ±0.0A with full sun and nothing on but the standard draws such as fridge, clock on the radio, etc. I draw about 1.1-1.4A with just the minimum stuff powered, no lights, etc. 

 

25W can charge at 1.73AH at 14.4V. That means I would need to get a good charge for 19.4 hours a day to just break even and not use a heater, lights, etc. 

 

With 100W I need a minimum of 4.8 hours of good sunlight and even being flat on the roof I will get that most times of the year. It may not completely recharge me but it will greatly slow my depletion which is what I am after. 

 

If it's that hot out and I am completely parked in the shade there is a good chance I will run the A/C before putting the kids to bed. An hour of A/C will put up to 55AH back into the batteries and I am good to go again. 

 

So it all depends on how you use your camper, but 50W is the bare minimum I would look into installing. 

 

2 hours ago, Me78569 said:

so in theory you should see 60 amp hours in a perfect world?  

 

8 hours would be closer to 55AH because they charge at ±14.4V.

So I did the math, ugh sometimes I hate being informed.....

 

If everything I have power wise is running at 125% rated W at the same time I pull less than 4 amps total.

 

So 8 hours per day , which again is longer than I need, is 32 amp hr to run everything at 125%.

 

So in theory on a good day a 50w panel should be able to keep up plus some, correct?  

It should be. 

 

Have you considered a 2nd battery?

Yep, but I don't see a need.  I can currently do 2 days and still be good battery wise.  Throw in a solar panel and extend that to 3 or 4 and I am happy.

 

And again if I get in a tight spot I can just flip the switch that allows me to charge via the 7 pin connector.

 

 

I suppose I technically have 3 group 31's that I am able to run off of right now

Edited May 24, 20168 yr by Me78569

Head off to catch some big northern pike at Williams fork res.

 

 

 

Go get em. Hope The fishing is good.

not one single bite......FML  in a lake full of northern Pike.  Never have I struggle to get a northern to bite.

 

I hate fish sometimes they are jerks.

20 minutes ago, Me78569 said:

 

I hate fish sometimes they are jerks.

 

Pictures of the campsite

 

 

3 days of power use, lights, radio, water pump, and charge cell phones.   left the site with 12.4v on the group 31 that runs the camper.  I filled the propane at the start of the trip, 

 

last trip was near 0 outside 2 days heater running the whole time used 1 gallon of propane.  

 

Very happy with how the camper worked.

 

And the dogs in their spots.  

 

 

Little small, but you get used to it.  I never did like tent camping ( always slept under the stars) but I could never go back now haha.

 

All I can say is, I can make coffee in the morning without starting a fire. 

 

It's beautiful up that way. Did you go up Berthoud or up through silver thorn? I dropped my mom off at my sisters in steamboat Wednesday, worked in Silverthorn and around Blackhawk until Sunday. Did you get any snow? I had a dusting Thursday night north of Blackhawk 

We drove up i-25 to 70 then up to hwy 40 to granby, then over to williams fork res.  We didn't see any snow falling.  

Nothing like having a nice truck to go with it. Looks nice for sure.

 

Now you are ready to meet up with all the rest of us at the 2017 full eclipse in western Idaho, Right?

We'll be there.

You never told us the camper came with kennels built in.The dogs seem to like them.

Enough treats and the dogs will like any hole you put them in.  

 

We found that due to the limited amount of floor space we needed to have them tucked away so we ditched the storage, rearranged, and shoved the dogs in there with treats.

 

That plus in the winter I am sure they will like  being tucked in there with blankets.  

Man that's a nice setup. Exactly what I'd like to be able to do with the wife n kid! Too bad about the fish... hope you guys still enjoyed yourselves!