How My Family Uses RV Electrical Power for Dry Camping Without a Generator

For my lovely family and myself, dry camping is what we enjoy.

I can’t imagine how much of a relationship we’ve been able to bond by simply dry camping in several places. You too can enjoy this rare moment. It may be a one-time adventure, but you can’t forget it in a hurry.

Dry Camping, also known as boondocking is the art of exploring the remote places on our own without having any kind of hook-ups.

Dry camping is not like normal camping that you do on weekends. If you’re thinking about dry camping without any form of hookups, you need to conduct some research to find out all the equipment, hacks, and tricks that are needed.

Everything should be well-planned or else things can go wrong.

Let me help you out in making the right decisions by discussing a few key factors you need to know. Shall we?

RV Electric Power for Dry Camping

Recreational vehicle power is the first thing to look out for when you’re preparing for dry camping. As it will be the most important thing you have to keep in check. Most of the RVs already contain batteries but that will only be useful if you are preparing for 2 or 3 days of dry camping.

However, if you’re getting ready for long-term dry camping, which can span into months, then you will need to modify your Recreational Vehicle to suit what you’re embarking upon.

Lifestyle

As you are heading towards long dry camping, please realize that the

life there will be quite different from what you’re living now. From the consumption of water to the consumption of electricity, everything is going to be different.

You may have thought of the sponge baths for saving water but there are many other things than water that you need to consider — There are many appliances that use more electricity as they generate heat or cold.

Air Conditioners are the ones that will use the most electricity. So to be on the safer side, you can use swamp coolers for the dry climate so that you won’t need a generator and it will save more electricity as well. Instead of a generator, you can use batteries or inverters. They can be more useful and a lot lighter than a generator.

Solar Energy

If you want to utterly cut down the burden of a generator, then you should consider using solar energy. Solar panels are not so cost-effective but, if you attach enough of the solar panels to your RV’s roof, then they will fulfill your energy requirements while you’re out there.

Inverter

Better yet, you can also use an inverter as it will be useful for running the basic household appliances. In the end, it depends on you and what kind of lifestyle you are going to live while dry camping, and how long you are going to keep up with this lifestyle.

RV Dry Camping Locations

There is no fast rule anywhere that you should do dry camping in designated places. You can do it anywhere on the land, however, there are rules of dry camping that you should follow so you don’t get into trouble.

United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are some of the major and preferred areas for dry camping but there are also some areas there that are restricted to visit like, the area around the Mammoth Lake.

The National Forest of California is also a good location where you can do dry camping, and they also allow up to 42 days for you to dry camp.

Some other locations are the United States Fish and Wildlife Service area, the area of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and Grand Teton National Park.

You can equally get a permit to dry camp on the state lands of Arizona. There are some private lands where Ranches and farms are located, where you can stay for a small fee or some even allow you to stay for free.

Dry Camping Battery Power

If you are making your Recreational Vehicle free from a generator, then you have to make arrangements for batteries and power for those batteries.

Battery Types:

• Lead Acid Flooded Cell Batteries: These are the most common types of batteries and are available in both 12v as well as 6v. Their lead plates are submerged in electrolytes.
• Gel Cell batteries: These batteries are just like the previous ones. The difference is that the electrolytes used here are in gel form.
• Absorbed Glass Mat Batteries: The electrolytes here are soaked into a glass mat which is situated between the plates.

Battery Charger

There are different chargers available in the market, and even your RV has a battery charger installed on it already.

Here, you will need a smart battery charger that can control the flow of current.

That’s why you’ll need a 3-stage charger for most RVs.

Stages:

1. The first stage is also referred to as bulk charge. A smart charger supplies the current with an increasing voltage to attain a near-maximum charge.
2. The second stage is also known as absorption. The voltage held here will preset to maximum level while the flow of current remains slow until the battery is charged.
3. Also referred to as float. Here, it is required to maintain the flow of current until the battery is ready for use.

Dry Camping in a Tent

Some people also try to do dry camping in a tent. They simply do it a different way as the dry camping basically is done with an RV.

But in some cases, dry camping can be done in tents also, you just have to choose the right equipment and place.

4 Best dry camping Travel Trailers

i). Forest River Salem 26 GBD

This travel trailer comes with inbuilt accessories like a refrigerator so you can enjoy your hearty meals. Also, it is spacious and you can live here without problems.

ii). Forest River Evolution

This is also a travel trailer you can use as it cost a little lower but it’s equipped with the facilities you need for your trip.

iii). Forest River Wildwood

This beautiful trailer has some good design as well as accessories for traveling needs.

iv). Forest River Wildcat

You can live alone here and nobody will be there to disturb your silence and you can modify it according to your journey.

Travel Trailer Camping without hookups

Dry Camping without travel trailer hookups is like going for a survival adventure, where you will require basic needs for survival, and also without hookups, there will be less weight and you will experience light while driving the trailer.

Also, the less burden your trailer has the more efficiently you can do dry camping.  So, do not try to carry the things that are unnecessary, it will make your dry camping a little bit easier.