Enhance Motorhome Dry Camping Experience

Blast from the Past Tech Topic: 

7 Tips to Enhance Dry Camping Experience

Originally addressed by the CC, Inc. Service Team in August 2001

 

The simplest answer is to reduce your use of the coach's electrical system.

Here are some suggestions

1. Turn off the inverter when AC power is not required. Although the inverter has an energy saving idle or 'search' mode, in practice it never activates due to parasitic loads such as the microwave clock and 'standby circuits' in TV's and VCR's, etc. Turning the inverter off when you are sleeping, for example, can gain you as much as three to four hours of dry camping time. When plugged in, the inverter can safely remain on.

2. Avoid or limit your use of AC heat producing appliances such as small heaters, the microwave, toasters, curling irons, and coffee makers, etc. If making coffee, just make enough for one cup each and then turn the coffee maker off to prevent the 'hot plate' from discharging your batteries further. A microwave, for example, can pull over 130 amps from the batteries in use.

3. Avoid using bay freezers when dry camping, but if necessary, these should be powered by 12V with the temperature setting adjusted to a minimum.

4. When using your propane or diesel heating system, reduce the temperature settings and use warmer clothing or bedding.

5. Turn off any lights and fans, etc. that are not being used. If the icemaker in your refrigerator runs on inverter power, then this should also be turned off.

6. An important consideration when recharging your batteries is how long the generator will have to run to obtain a full charge. For heavily discharged batteries, this can vary from three hours for two 8D liquid cell batteries, to over ten hours for four AGM batteries. Owners of coaches with larger battery banks will unlikely run their generator long enough to fully charge their batteries and therefore usually experience reduced dry camping time after their initial arrival. 

7.  If your budget allows, installing solar panels will significantly increase dry camping time, and the energy they produce is free, silent, and environmentally friendly. Solar panels do have a limited output however, so maximum gains will be achieved when they are used in conjunction with the energy saving suggestions above

ANOTHER TECH QUESTION: SHOULD I DUMP ALL AIR FROM LEVELING SYTEM BEFORE LEVELING?

ANSWER: While there is no requirement to do so, it won’t harm the system and is a completely acceptable practice. There are two main advantages to dumping first which may appeal to you. The first is that the entry steps will be as low as possible once the coach is leveled. The second is that the coach may feel more “solid” and less “spongy” with some of the air springs completely empty and resting on their internal stops. The only downside (sorry, I just couldn’t help myself) is that under certain conditions it may take longer for the coach to level. Originally addressed by then Country Coach Service Technical Resources Manager in Autumn 2007

*Note: CC, Inc./CC, LLC, the original manufacturer of Country Coach Motorcoaches, closed its doors in November 2009. However, these beautiful motorcoaches are still among the finest on the roads today!  Many gather with owners of other brand coaches a Country Coach Friends rallies. Check that club out!