new member 3120RL question

[Rick A]

Hello folks,
New owner of a 2018 3120RL here with dry camping question. My unit has new dual group 24 deep cycle Interstate batteries. We like to occasionally dry camp for three nights or so and we use lights, etc.' sparingly when dry camping. But, the 3120RL 18 cf Norcold refer interior fans seem to run constantly. This concerns me. Can anyone predict how long those batteries will last on a full charge? Night time temperatures typically in the 50's and daytime in the 70's.

Rick A

[AZ Traveler]

Rick,

Welcome to the forum! This is a great place to learn and share.

Your reefer will use very little power. Your furnace blower motor is the big power hog if you use it.

If you are going to do much boondocking at all, I would consider a bigger battery bank. Would also consider a portable genny and/or some solar.

[Rondo]

Rick, we did some boondocking a few years back and had two 12 volt Interstate's in the rig. We also carried along a Honda 2000 genny and ran it at nights when we wanted to watch the teli, and to charge the batteries if needed. Like you, we didn't use much in the way of lights and used battery powered lanterns most of the time in the rig after dark except when the genny was running. We ran our refrig on propane as well as the water heater and had no problems at all. Hope this helps some and I'm sure others will be along with further comments and helpful suggestions. Enjoy your camping!

[Texan]

I have 2 trojan 6 volt batteries and a 2000 honda generator and it works great. You just have to know your limitations. As Rondo said use propane for the water heater and fridge. I've used the heater all night but i fire up the generator in the morning to start getting the batteries back up as the heater does pull the batteries down quite a bit at night. I am a very occasional boondocker but as has already been said if you are planning on more than an occasional trip boondocking then you need more batteries and you might think about some solar.

[mtheo]

We dry camp a lot with our 2018 3120, and found that the Refrigerator eats the batteries even on propane, my 2007 3000RK could make it for 3-4 days without charging when not using heater, now lucky to get two nights. Fans seem to run continually when it is hot. I even went to the point of getting a couple of solar panels.