If you’re about to book a campsite reservation for two nights but suddenly learn it doesn’t have electric hookups, what do you do? Do you stay anyway (you don’t need electric hookups for two nights) or is it a deal-breaker?
There are many variables that will determine your answer, we know that. But please tell us below how important it is to you. And remember, we’re only asking about two nights here. Feel free to leave a comment though and tell us how long you could go without electric hookups.
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My wife and I are on oxygen and its critical for us to have electrical hookups.
I’ve had bad luck with batteries. Power lasted only a few hours running lights only. Different trailers. Would consider non-electric only if stay was for over night.
Your question asks “if staying for two days” My question is that “two full days” or “two nights” with one full day in between?
It all depends on the weather. It may be critical if it’s 100 degrees out or not necessary at all if it is 80 degrees.
We can be OK for a couple of days. However, when we travel we do hemodialysis for my husband. So we require electricity at least a few days a week. We are able to run with the generator, it’s just noisy. All of this takes planning and it’s well worth it to be able to travel.
It really depends on the weather. We travel with dogs. If it’s hot, we’ve got to be able to keep them at least comfortable. If we have to leave them for a few hours electricity and AC is a real deal breaker. On the other hand, if we’re with them the whole time, we have a bucket-fed misting fan (battery operated) that can cool our outdoor living space until it’s cool enough to go inside. We have just tested this at 2 dog Agility trials in Montana. Dry camping for $10 one trial, free at the next one. Hot (90s) then snow – we used/tested ALL systems in our RV this past weekend. And we survived comfortably.
I need the AC, my residential refrigerator needs the shore power.
Like may others, I need A/C.Otherwise, I can go for several days on propane.and battery.
If it is terribly HOT it is important otherwise we have camped 6 days with no power happily!
Completely agree. If it is super hot, having shore power is always a big plus.
Heat is the biggest issue here for me…over 90 deg and I need electric to run the A/C, that’s why in the hottest season we camp in the mountains.
Only need electric connection during hot or cold weather to run the heat pumps. Otherwise we run on solar plus occasional genny.
Have a solar system and inverter for my power. Even if I did stay in a regular campground I wouldn’t plug into power pedestal for power. Don’t need to.
I’ve been camping monthly since 2012. I have “needed” power not once. My solar panels are all I’ll ever need. I am, of course, a Southwest camper – lots of sunshine! I have also only used my air conditioner once – in Death valley in January when it was 90. Lastly, hook up spots are almost always close to other campers – the bane of my existence.
Like many others, would need to be able to run generator for a bit, morning & evening. Interestingly, when traveling from CA to FL every January, we only use electric, except once, midway when we will hook up water/sewer to dump & take a “real” shower.
Both my husband and I use CPAPs which we could survive with battery and generator to get batteries back up. However he also uses an oxygen concentrator at night and that cannot run for 8 hours on batteries.
While I prefer hookups, it is not a necessity. If I have advance knowledge that I will be without electrical hookups and fill both gas tanks on my you hauler, I can go as long as 3 or 4 weeks without power depending on how hot or cold it is. If I need to run heat or air-conditioning all day that could be shorter.
As I’m on oxygen it’s pretty important for my oxygen machine.If it wasn’t for that then the answer would be we could do with out a couple of days.Happy camping!
we recently got a few lithium ion batteries just so we could do this. First time out with them (mid June), went 3 1/2 days before we had to charge with generator. Of course if we had to run the air, the generator would have been charging the batteries more often.
I could go without electricity easily for a couple of days IF the weather were mild. In mid-summer? NO.
We can do it, we just don’t like it. As long as generator hours are available we can last more than a couple of days but our preference is to park with full hookups when we plan to stay for more than one night.