If you’re about to book a beautiful campsite reservation for a few nights but suddenly learn it doesn’t have electric hookups, what do you do? Do you stay anyway (you don’t need electric hookups), 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 electric hookups are to you. Feel free to leave a comment below the poll and tell us how long you could go without electric hookups.
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Our trailer has solar power, but it barely lasts overnight to operate the fridge. When temps hit the 90s or above not being able to use the AC is a killer.
Our battery capacity is barely able to keep us going for 8 hours and quiet hours often preclude running our generator. So, electric is extremely important to us.
On a recent 8 week trip, we dry camped/ON or boondocked on BLM sites with no hook-ups. But if we are paying, we want W/E.
With a CPAP to use every night I need 120-v AC. Batteries don’t last overnight
we only camp with the kids on summer break or breaks. i wouldnt mind if it were just my and wife but with kids….we have to have electric and water. full hook up preferred. the black tank fills up rather quickly.
Electricity? Don’t need it. Sixteen hundred watts of solar on the roof feeding 400ah of LiFePO4 batteries. We use on average about 22% of battery capacity each day to power fridge, microwave, Keurig coffee maker, LED lights, TV, radio and recharging assorted devices.
Yes electric is necessary to run the oxygenator at night for medical. We do have a 2100 watt gen for back up in case.
We are not boondockers although we have a generator on our motorhome. Will stay one or two nights if necessary without power but no longer.
Since I have a 10k Onan on board, I could technically go “forever” without a hookup. But, I don’t want to do that and no one around me wants it either. We’ve done no hookup overnighters, but that’s it. Several days+? Nope, even though I could.
We have a larger 100+ah Group 27 AGM deep cycle battery on our camper. I am skittish about parking overnight without an AC connection. If all we use are lights and water pump sparingly (along with the refrigerator on propane – the 12v control board doesn’t draw much power), and recharge phones, I know we will be okay. But add add a couple small USB fans, or especially run the furnace or bath fan and I’m just not sure if we would make it – especially if more than one night.
I’m a boondocker, I avoid campgrounds like the plague. 900 watts of solar on the roof 400 amp hours of lithium batteries, and a Magnum Energy 3000 watt whole house inverter.
In very hot temps I must have AC for my elderly dog with a heart condition. That is one reason we have recently gone from a travel trailer to a Class A. Of course there are other advantages to the Class A. We’d probably pass on a non electric site since I can always get morning coffee in the CG Office…but it may not be drinkable.
I have a Lance 1475S trailer that I pull when I am going to be in one spot for an extended time, and having electricity is nice because it has a low capacity for storing solar energy. The Promaster Van that I have just finished, can boon dock for 5 days on the portable 2000w solar generator that I put in it, without having to be recharged. I disconnected the solar panels to see how long I could go without being in the sun. I have the van set up so I can tow the Lance with it. Now I have the best of both worlds.
That’s the reason I bought a 4500 watt generator and mounted it on a cargo rack on the rear bumper. We only travel 300 miles/day so when we stop for the night the generator fires up and we have A/C, coffee, fridge etc. it runs all night on less than 3 gal of gas and we are comfortable.
I hope you don’t have any neighbors to hear that running all night!
Agree!
I agree with you!!!
To answer this, it’s really conditional.
If it’s the middle of summer, not having power to run the A/C’s might be a dealbreaker. That same spot in the spring could change the response to a “nice to have.”
I agree.
I agree.
For our all electric Class A, electric is essential or very important. The poll didn’t mention onboard generators, and if they could be run where staying, even if for just part of the day.
With 800 AHr of lithium batteries installed we can go 3 or 4 days on battery power for everything except A/C which would require using our onboard generator which costs about $1/hour of use when including maintenance cost plus fuel so an electrical connection is nice but not necessary.
Are you sure about that number Larry?
Fuel alone should be roughly $4.00 per hour unless you snuck a siphon hose into camp….
This is why we upgraded to a 40′ DP.
Until Mr. Onan decides to function, 120 is important.
My wife almost always insist we have electric sites……even if we stay with friends in their driveway. I am always the one to instruct her on what and when any “electrical toys” can be on in combination with anything else, depending on whether we have 15 or 30 amp available.
Guess I’ll have to try to dry camp in the driveway to make absolutely sure we could survive, even if we do have 100 watt solar. I know that means “absolutely NO 120 volt appliances”. Boiling water for coffee versus the coffee maker is fine. No air conditioner if the weather dictates is fine. Water heater on LP works fine. Furnace is the biggest consumer of LP and more importantly the 2 batteries, so that will be my governing factor based on outside temps. When all else fails……we have an onboard 4000 watt generator.