Water for toilets (bath tub full)
Drinking water for three (20 gal)
Propane stove an 3 days fuel
Cooking utensils pot an pan
Small solar gen and solar panel
Radios
Backup CPAP and battery
Tote of soups coffee,tea creamers and sweeteners
Place out of hurricanes path to stay
We have 500 watts of solar on our roof and 3 flooded batteries holding a max of 160 usable amps or about 2000 watts. With no shore power or gas generator power we can last a few cloudy days if we don’t run AC equipment (ACs, microwave, hair dryers, insta pots, etc). I could run my O2 concentrator for one night but then the batts would be almost unusable until we could recharge them. Remember RVs are designed to run on batteries and propane and no shore or gen power for a few days. In fact an Rv can run on its 12 volt system for weeks if you only run your propane ref/freezer and cook on the stovetop once or twice a day, a few led lights and keep your windows open for a it circulation. Add more 12 volt items or an AC inverter and you will be lucky to last more than a day.
In the winter only on batteries and propane running our central heater we can heat the Rv to 60 degrees for just over a day and a half if we are lucky. The electric blower fans can really drain batteries. We would still have propane for the heater but no power to blow she heat through the Rv. If we can run our main generator for just about 8 hours a day we could recharge the batteries to keep the Rv heater blower running. If no gen but we have solar and can keep the snow brushed off them they could keep the batteries charged. Assuming clear days with little or no clouds.
Note 1
For our rig with temperatures in the 20s outside we can keep temperatures in the mid 60s inside. If we have a power source for the blowers and change out a 30 pound propane tank every 4 days. If we improve our insulation some we might get an extra day on propane.
Note 2 I always keep both my solar, generator and battery bank in good shape. Plus I have a few extra propane tanks on the rig.
Our predator 3500 works well with our fifth wheel on one AC. It holds 2.5 gallons of premium leaded gas. In real world usage I get about 6 hours run time at an altitude of 4000 feet. It averages a current of 15 amps on my RV, which is 60% of its running amps 25/3000 watts.
I need to clean the spark arrester every 50-100 hours, takes 5 minutes. Change the oil every 100-200 hours for best run. Basically I can get 24+ hours run time on 4 tanks of gas or 10 gallons. Many larger generators burn throughout more fuel than this in 24 hours running at the same amperage.
Legally in my county In Wyoming in town I can only store 25 gallons of gas at my city home. That’s just over a two day run time. You also want to keep a few extra spark plugs so you have replacements. Also a couple quarts of engine oil for the generator.
I gave my son my Stanley regular size thermos. Recently I picked up a smaller one on line as with all Stanley products it works great even if you do not pre heat it for 5-10 minutes with boiling water before you pour in the coffee. I filled it yesterday day at 5am and opened it today 26 hours later it is still very warm of course I drank it🤠. Normally I drink it all unless then 12 hours and it stays piping hot for me the whole time.
Packing up so we can start our travels south in a month or so.
Will put our generator on the back cargo carrier rack. I have 10 gallons of spare diesel in the bed and five gallons of premium gas for the generator.
Since our primary generator is in the shop I bought a small backup. All I want it to do is charge our batteries and run the heater blower, the propane refrigerator thermostat and some lights. Tested it today and it ran well. I also ran 2 drop lights and tried the TV, the TV turned on the overload light but didn’t shutdown the generator so I know it’s limit.
For medical reasons we will spend the winter and summer in NE Wyoming with family.
Note today’s temperature range is 32 to 54 degrees.
Six hours in unplugged. At 1 pm 4.7 amps coming in and batteries at 13.7. Heater, ref still on plugged in portable freezer to Jackery.
This past week highs have been in the low thirties and teens. Since we did not plan to be here over a winter we have no skirting so we burn through a 30 lb tank every three days keeping temperature at 55 degrees. We also winterized our water system so no freezing issues. We can ware a sweater to stay warm. We will be moving to a stick and brick for a few weeks to months.
Plants are gone now. In the mid thirties to the 60s the tank lasted 6 days.
My first attempt at salt making. One gallon of salt water into a square 9x9 pan on a hot plate. Let’s see what one gallon of salt water makes. The idea is once I evaporate the liquid what remains is salt. I do a finish dry in a dehydrator or the oven then bottle. Please note I strained the salt water through a towel.
Above is a half a gallon of salt left to cook down in the pan.
Stanley started at 200 degrees at 6:33 am and at 6:33 pm temperature was at 150 degrees. After12 hours and still food safe.
Ozark started at 6:25 am at 12:25 pm temperature was at 150 degrees. After 8 hours and still food safe.
So Stanley is good through dinner or lunch and Ozark is good through lunch.
I have and use both and love them🤠👍
I am working to make contact on all the countries shown on the map. I have about one third now.
My antennas and the moon. I’m on 10, 20 and 40 meters HF and occasionally on our GMRS UHF.
Bought a set of 40 meter mini hamsticks and a dipole mount. Set it up with what I had off the back of the pickup and tuned it up😎
Had a nice talk/contact with Naples Italy the other day on my 10 meter inverted V dipole. From the road you can see my three antennas. Tent 10 meters is closes then the tall dipole antenna is 20 meters and last is my short UHF GMRS antenna just above my rear ladder.
Our cabbage is doing fine. Should be ready in 30 to 60 days for all five heads. Put in at different times.
