Charging in remote areas

[cyberhero32]

I am considering a CT but noticing the places we often go especially with a camper is pretty remote and sometimes any charger on trip planner is atleast 40 miles away sometimes 75. How do u charge in that situation?

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[UberNoob]

Run it up to 100% at the last charger, you will get there (campsite) with about 80%. Depends if your using the plugs while there but average drain is 5-10% per day, relax till you get down to 20-40% depending how far that charger was, make a trip and top off if needed. Just keep an eye on it so you have enough to make it back to a charger. Some camp sites have power there, use a mobile charger and get back 1-3 miles per hour that way.

some people bring solar panels for when they are parked, others have generators or backup batteries.

 

[kpanda17]

boondoggling, do it near an SC as advised leave it at 100%, if not boondoggling, RV sites almost always have charging, bring your TT30 and 14-50 adapters for your Tesla mobile charger, L2 at its best
its not stressful, just plan ahead

 

[Friday]

Take 2 Cybertrucks, 1 can charge the other and then do a power up run.

 

[J.Graham]

I bring this along just in case!
Haven't needed to use it yet, but better safe than sorry.

 

[samuelz]

I bring this along just in case!
Haven't needed to use it yet, but better safe than sorry.

That is awesome

 

[jeniferkey]

I bring my charging cable and find electricity at an RV or state park when needed.

 

[CT_AZ_4x4]

I am considering a CT but noticing the places we often go especially with a camper is pretty remote and sometimes any charger on trip planner is atleast 40 miles away sometimes 75. How do u charge in that situation?

RV parks are your friend. They are literally everywhere and most have 30 and 50 amp electric service. Great for camping!

 

[HaulingAss]

I bring this along just in case!
Haven't needed to use it yet, but better safe than sorry.

That's not going to add much range before that propane tank runs dry!

Many years ago I worked for a company with a small fleet of 4x4 pickups that had all been converted to run on propane instead of gasoline. They had a tank this size permanently mounted behind the cab:

They had a range of about 200 miles so we had to fill them up every time we used them because the round-trip was a bit over 100 miles. It was a stinky process bleeding off all the extra pressure as we filled the tank and it took around 15 minutes as I recall. They were about 20% more gutless than the gutless gas V8s the trucks came with. We had two Dodge Powerwagons, one F-150, and a GMC box truck, as I recall.

Pros:

Small fuel savings
Excellent ability to start in extreme cold
Less stinky exhaust
Potentially longer engine life and extended oil changes (less carbon buildup)

Cons:

Inconvenient to fuel
Gutless
Loss of bed space
More weight

I'm guessing a small propane tank will only add about 15-20 miles of range before running out. For extended boondocking my preference would be solar panels that could be deployed on the ground.

 

[Eka]

Out Of Spec Testing is now using a large "solar" generator to partially recharge the car after running it until it stops.

I've been thinking of doing similar, but I may roll my own solar generator from batteries and parts. It should be possible to automate solar charging with a small hardware mod to an OpenEVSE EVSE plus some software. The mod is needed to talk to Victron compatible batteries to find their state of charge. It might even be possible to use a tablet or a WIFI capable Raspberry Pi to monitor the battery bank and control the OpenEVSE. I'm wondering if it is possible for the OpenEVSE to be the controller of the charge process. I don't see any reason it can't do the battery monitoring it's self.

This WIFI call is very handy. It allows dynamically changing the maximum current allowed to be drawn. https://openevse.stoplight.io/docs/openevse-wifi-v4/e0ab0a4ad5e1e-set-the-manual-override

The basics of J1772: https://openev.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/6000052074-basics-of-sae-j1772 I could implement this myself, but why duplicate the effort OpenEVSE has already done....

 

[webspeedracer]

I am considering a CT but noticing the places we often go especially with a camper is pretty remote and sometimes any charger on trip planner is atleast 40 miles away sometimes 75. How do u charge in that situation?

The recharging is onboard with all of these, would free you up to drive to slot canyons etc during the day, return to camp and recharge your CT at night:
https://www.evotrex.com/
https://lightshiprv.com/
https://pebblelife.com/pebble-flow

 

[Outdoors]

boondoggling, do it near an SC as advised leave it at 100%, if not boondoggling, RV sites almost always have charging, bring your TT30 and 14-50 adapters for your Tesla mobile charger, L2 at its best
its not stressful, just plan ahead

I love to go on boondoggles when people pay for them. I think you're referring to boondocking.

 

[J.Graham]

That's not going to add much range before that propane tank runs dry!

Many years ago I worked for a company with a small fleet of 4x4 pickups that had all been converted to run on propane instead of gasoline. They had a tank this size permanently mounted behind the cab:

They had a range of about 200 miles so we had to fill them up every time we used them because the round-trip was a bit over 100 miles. It was a stinky process bleeding off all the extra pressure as we filled the tank and it took around 15 minutes as I recall. They were about 20% more gutless than the gutless gas V8s the trucks came with. We had two Dodge Powerwagons, one F-150, and a GMC box truck, as I recall.

Pros:

Small fuel savings
Excellent ability to start in extreme cold
Less stinky exhaust
Potentially longer engine life and extended oil changes (less carbon buildup)

Cons:

Inconvenient to fuel
Gutless
Loss of bed space
More weight

I'm guessing a small propane tank will only add about 15-20 miles of range before running out. For extended boondocking my preference would be solar panels that could be deployed on the ground.

All valid points and I agree, probably not the best set up for Boondocking. And now you've spurred me on to do a test run with a 20 pound tank and see exactly how many miles I get... that would be good to know!
This is just cheap insurance, I have several propane tanks and this compact unit only ran me about $800.
I do love the idea of a solar set up, but that gets pretty spendy!
cheers

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