Ski RV's, who's sleeping in parking lots?

[altasnob]

Biodegradable dish soap is pretty benign.

I wonder what percentage of RVers use biodegradable soap for all their cleaning needs? Probably a lot less than the percentage who don't pick up their dog's shit and who leave massive tp blooms on top of their shit piles in the woods.

[Trackhead]

The idea of just dumping grey tanks anywhere you want is pretty cringeworthy to me.

I agree honestly. But people camping in the woods are doing the same thing. And those camping at campgrounds in tents, unless there is a dishwashing station.

[byates1]

It's water ffs.. ppl aren't dumping in pfoa all over the place.

You

[Cruiser]

I wonder what percentage of RVers use biodegradable soap for all their cleaning needs? Probably a lot less than the percentage who don't pick up their dog's shit and who leave massive tp blooms on top of their shit piles in the woods.

They bulldozed the parking lots, clear cut the ski runs, installed a small city's worth of infrastructure, and employ a large team of people and equipment year round to maintain the monstrosity so that you could recreate comfortably in what was once a pristine natural area but now you're concerned about the brand of diluted dish soap someone might be dumping in the parking lot?

[toast2266]

The idea of just dumping grey tanks anywhere you want is pretty cringeworthy to me.

Is this where we talk about how, up until fairly recently, train toilets just dumped straight onto the tracks?

While I am by no means advocating dumping your RV tanks into some random parking lot, humans make up 2.5% of the planet's animal biomass. The other 97.5% is pissing and shitting wherever the hell it wants. A little bit of slightly dirty water isn't going to do much damage, especially when it's mixed in with all the road salt, wiper fluid, transmission fluid, motor oil, and other junk that's floating around every single parking lot.

[byates1]

They bulldozed the parking lots, clear cut the ski runs, installed a small city's worth of infrastructure, and employ a large team of people and equipment year round to maintain the monstrosity so that you could recreate comfortably in what was once a pristine natural area but now you're concerned about the brand of diluted dish soap someone might be dumping in the parking lot?

Exactly. Color me unconcerned..

[Trackhead]

Exactly. Color me unconcerned..

You didn’t seem to notice when you parked next to us in Idaho Or perhaps the smell of bacon grease was to over powering?

[byates1]

I was preoccupied w getting rid of all my dead batteries and spare diesel fuel in the local stream..

[Trackhead]

I was preoccupied w getting rid of all my dead batteries and spare diesel fuel in the local stream..

We did that when we pulled in the night before.

[altasnob]

They bulldozed the parking lots, clear cut the ski runs, installed a small city's worth of infrastructure, and employ a large team of people and equipment year round to maintain the monstrosity so that you could recreate comfortably in what was once a pristine natural area but now you're concerned about the brand of diluted dish soap someone might be dumping in the parking lot?

I like it. The Hayduke from Monkey Wrench Gang form of environmentalism. Throw your beer cans out the window because they're trivial compared to the environmental catastrophe that is the road.

[Trackhead]

I like it. The Hayduke from Monkey Wrench Gang form of environmentalism. Throw your beer cans out the window because they're trivial compared to the environmental catastrophe that is the road.

Kinda like carbon credits

[muted reborn]

What should I start looking at for 12v battery replacement in my van? I'd like to go Lithium and would love to be pointed to a couple good options. I can't see any markings on my current batteries to figure out what they are. Lifting them up out of their hole to see more is not as easy as it sounds.

No solar and have no plan of installing solar. I'd like to have power for 3 days minimum and 5 days max without driving, and driving recharges the current batteries quickly. I need to power a 60 watt/hour fridge, a few small lights, a small clip-on fan, charge phones, and use a fairly big 8 speaker system with a 125w subwoofer which I use a few hours a day. I probably will also add a roof fan soon with no AC.

As for temps, we sleep at 10-30 degrees sometimes, but it's a cold desert and not real winter camping. A propane heater sits right near the batteries and heats them passively. I don't think I need a heated battery kit, but wtf do I know?

Finally I sleep in it about 20-30 days a year, and use it for day trips another 10-20 days (sound system is using these batteries when driving).

Current setup is for two 12v batteries. Thanks for any advice!

[Trackhead]

I’d try using a watt/amp hour calculator for all your appliances and then size accordingly.

[Snow Dog]

First you need to measure your battery compartment to figure out what will fit.

Second, your fridge will kill you. 60W/hr is 5A/hr or 120 A-hr per day. That's too much for a couple of 12V batteries.

[muted reborn]

I was trying to avoid simple math here guys. Current fridge only slightly drains the batteries so it sounds like I referenced an old manual from a long-ago replaced fridge by a previous owner.

Random thoughts since I posted - I need to attach battery straps to get the old fuckers out and see what they are, yes Snow Dog measuring the compartment is crucial so thanks for that tip, and wondering if new lithium batteries are so good I can get away with one new lithium battery instead of two...we will see?

Any brands that are a good combo of performance/value?

[evdog]

Yeah pull the batteries and see what they say. Since Lithiums can be depleted to zero rather than 50% for truck batteries in theory you should only need one 100Ah battery if each of your current ones are 100Ah. Prices are dropping on batteries. The 200Ah Renogy is pretty close to what I paid for my 100Ah a couple yrs ago. If you want to be safe for parking up to 5 days I'd just get the larger capacity.

Do you have a battery monitor right now that tells you how much power is actually being drawn when fridge and amp are running? That would be useful to know. FWIW the fridge may have a certain power rating but it won't be running all the time, especially in winter. I can't recall what mine is rated to but it draws down my 100Ah battery by 10-15% per day when it's parked in the garage. Try running the fridge alone for a few days when parked and see how much of the battery capacity it uses. The 125W amp would be a more steady draw and easier to estimate based on hours used. Most of the other items you mention would have pretty small draw that you could approximate. Compare those to battery capacity and you'll have an idea which capacity you need.

For reccos, I think Renogy is pretty good value for price. Sok batteries have also been recommended as good value but they've gone up in price and are now pretty close to Renogy. Battleborn is the high end, and looks to be 50% more to double the price of Renogy/Sok.

[altasnob]

How do you charge your batteries right now?

Why are you against solar? Don't want to mount on the roof? I can understand the aversion to solar for those who only winter camp but for parking in one spot with a 12v cooler in the summer, solar is a game changer. You can always have a simple system that you plug in as needed and run the cable outside to a portable, folding panel.

How many amps your cooler uses depends on the ambient temperature. Here is a chart for my cooler. You might be able to find something similar for yours on the nets. With solar you can use your cooler as an extra "battery" by chilling it down in the daytime when the solar is cooking, and then easing off the temp a bit at night.

[frorider]

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a4...hip-l1-camper/

Lightship intends to kick off production of its solar-powered battery-electric L1 camper trailer in late 2024. With an available 80.0-kWh battery pack (that's usable capacity, per Lightship), the L1 can motor itself about without taxing the electric motor(s) or internal combustion engine of the vehicle it's attached to.

[b0ardski]

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a4...hip-l1-camper/

so for 200k I could get a lightning/lightship but would need a big generator and gas tank in the back of the truck

[toast2266]

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a4...hip-l1-camper/

It seems like a decent concept. Basically just an electric assist built into the trailer. Pull it with a ICE vehicle and you've got a hybrid of sorts.

The battery in our hybrid Sienna is tiny (1.9 kWh), but it results in a huge bump in mileage over the ICE versions. If this could do something similar, that'd be pretty awesome.

Their interior's gonna need a bit of work though.

[toastybroski]

My TC doesn’t even have a gray tank… if I’m somewhere nice I’ll just put a 5 gallon bucket on the bed of my truck until I find somewhere to dump it.

[jackattack]

I don't have a gray tank either. We mostly dry camp, but I usually just run a hose under the truck on gravel or into a 5gal bucket with a lid if we're on asphalt.

[DanoT]

I don't have a gray tank either. We mostly dry camp, but I usually just run a hose under the truck on gravel or into a 5gal bucket with a lid if we're on asphalt.

I do have a gray tank in my truck camper but no shower stall plumbing. Instead, I heat water on the stove and shower with a portable low flow shower: http://www.hotjugz.com/
In order to prevent the gray tank drain line from freezing as it passed through the camper wall, I installed an on/off valve (aka a petcock, so now I have more than one) about a foot up the drain line from the outside wall. So it is just air between the petcock and the wall with nothing to freeze. This also works well in summer: when taking the cap off the drain and attempting to hook up a drain hose, because with the petcock in the "off" position, there is no gray water gushing all over the place as I hook up the hose.

[SchralphMacchio]

Re: preventing messes when opening the main dump cap … I have one of those Valterra bayonet twist on gate valves at the main dump cap. It serves as a backup in case either of the black or gray valves isn’t fully seated or has a trickle leak … but it also has a short clear section that helps me see what’s going on when dumping. I have a magnetic light I put right over that part, and run the San T flush until I can see the water is clear and no more bits of paper and other stuff floating about. Then switch over to gray tank.

[Trackhead]

Re: preventing messes when opening the main dump cap ….

Over the past 20 years I’ve had so many different RVs with black tanks and a few pretty catastrophic gross experiences…dry flush toilet sure is nice. No black tank epics, no search for RV dump sites….