When we bought our little RV four years ago it had one dead car battery to supply onboard power. We found out that it was dead on our first camping trip to Heart O’ The Hills near Port Angeles in September 2020. Wal Mart was nearby and Rob went to town and bought one battery for that trip. Later on he upgraded to two bigger batteries for longer trips.

We’re way happier camped in National Parks and State Parks without power hookups and with fewer people and more open spaces. Spending nights in RV Parks with big rigs stacked side by side on concrete pads is not why we bought a trailer – we want to get away and outdoors just like we do in our boat. That means power independence is important.

We’ve done ok so far by being very parsimonious with our power. We still have a little Honda generator we use on the boat and can recharge with that, but mostly we just try to use less energy if we’re not in a place where solar panels will give us free power. At night we listen to music on a portable Sonos speaker and use Luci Lights that are either USB or solar charge to conserve power.

I’ve been watching video blogs about cruising sailboats upgrading their old systems and including new lithium batteries. Some boats have now gone completely propane free, replacing all their cooking and heating needs with battery power. This new generation of lithium batteries are not only lightweight, but they also recharge at such a faster rate that it significantly reduces the need to conserve power.

With a big three month trip planned this summer, it seemed like a perfect time to upgrade Nonnie’s Diner and give us more power independence. One thing that drove this need for us is our power bikes. We didn’t have an inverter in the trailer now, and the bikes will only charge on 110v AC, not the 12v DC from the trailer. In the past we have used a portable inverter hooked to the trailer batteries, but that’s a pain to hook up every time we ride. I have so many places I want to explore this summer and do not want to worry about being able to have my bike ready to go.

Even though we do have the Honda generator, I despise listening to it rattle away in a quiet and peaceful spot. The frustrating thing about traditional batteries is that the recharge power curve is ridiculous. If we have 200 amps of battery available, we can only deplete them 50%, so we only get to use 100 amps. Then, if we have the generator running with a 45 amp charger, it’ll pump 45 amps back in for an hour, then drop. And the amount going back into the batteries gets slower and slower. It’s like trying to sail upwind into an increasing current, you’re forever two hours from reaching your destination as the current increases and the boat speed slows.

Included in this year’s upgrade to our power system will be three new solar panels on top of the trailer. We have two portable panels we can take out and set nearby if the trailer is in the shade, but the three new ones on top should provide significant power. There will be a new solar controller, charger and converter. We found a New Year’s sale on the batteries, so they’ve been sitting in the shop for 4 months now waiting for Rob to have time to start the install.

Part of the challenge for Rob is now learning how the RV manufacturer built our little rig. He has taken apart and replaced nearly every system in the boat, stripped our house down to subfloor and sheetrock, but the RV is a whole new type of construction. I think the RV builders don’t expect people to need to take apart what they’ve done, and they also don’t expect it to survive for 40 years (the same age as both our boat and house). The batteries are at the front of the trailer, and the AC input is at the back. Now with an inverter in the mix and the switching between AC input and solar, he needs to rewire much of the core structure.

What we learn from this install we’ll apply next year to the boat. It’s time to get rid of the old batteries there and upgrade to a more user friendly system. Some time this week I need to go down and tear apart the aft cabin and add water to the batteries on the boat, but hopefully that will be the last time. Replacing the boat batteries will be significantly easier than the trailer since we already know where and how it’s all put together. Every day is a new learning adventure when you’re a DIY team, and I’m so glad we’re getting this one done on Nonnie’s Diner now.