We were prepared for boondocking.

[DonandBonnie]

Tonight the winds blew, the lightning flashed, thunder clapped and the rain and hail fell. The local power has gone off and with it the campground's well stopped pumping. Power is out in a multi-county area so there is no telling when the power will come back on. So here we sit. The built in generator that we rarely use is right now paying for itself. The campground was kind enough to let us in four days before their seasonal opening date. They could not assure that all of the water would be turned on and tested before our arrival. They recommended that we fill our holding tank before arrival, just in case. The water was working so here we are with a full holding tank. Hopefully the power will be restored shortly. If not, we can boondock for a few days.

[onekla]

Sounds like life is good!

[DQDick]

Glad you had no problem with the storm and you have a generator. We had a laugh last winter when the power went off where we were working. We didn't use our solar much because we got free electricity, but we did have the inverter on stand by. It was dark and we were watching tv when we got a knock on the door. The other workers were trying to figure out why all our lights were blazing when they had no power. We hadn't even noticed the power failed.

[DonandBonnie]

Power was restored about 5 this morning. We got water back a few minutes ago at 10am.

DQDick tell us more about your solar setup. I thought solar just kept the batteries charged. What all can you power with your inverter?

[Mudchief]

DonandBonnie, I have a solar system and it is nice if you boondock a lot like we do. But even if you don't go full solar there are some advantage to going part solar. Like you I also have a built in generator. If you have the proper inverter and a battery bank you want care if the power goes off. The inverter will take over and supply the 120 volts and when the battery voltage gets to a set point it will start the generator and charge them back up then shut off.
For that generator you rarely use put a remote start on it and 20 minutes before you get to a campground in the summer start it and you will have a nice cool unit to go into when you stop.

[Dam Worker]

That ability to start the generator to cool off the unit before I got to the campground is part of the reason that I ordered the generator. I figured I would pull over, get inside and open the door to all the electrical switches and start the generator so the AC would turn on. Little did I know that they would cheap out and put the switch in the bedroom closet so you would have to crawl over the bed or open the slide to access the generator switch. I will have to spend more money to get a wireless remote to accomplish that.
I am still happy that I have the generator for situations like you experienced with the storm. No solar yet but it is on the list. :-)

Tom Marty