Truck Camping Photo Thread

Very nice!

 

Gotcha. Either way. Truck looks good. My future plan is to have a Manley or Xventure trailer

 

Subd

 

Easy to find out west. More scare on the east coast.

 

You have to reserve spots here in Colorado as well. Especially Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day weekends. But this is for the less primitive type camping for city folk and their SUVs with "4WD" and about an hour from home.

Those of us with Tacomas and real 4WD go to the much less primitive areas. Where there are no numbered sites and you have to bring your own toilet. Where the tourists struggle to breath because it's about 10,000 feet.

 

You mean more primitive, ya? Unless I am just brain farting.

 

Yes.

 

I'll be one of these tourists in September. Can. Not. Wait.

 

Nice man, but damn those are pricey! I watched JeepAndrew build a trailer to his spec for no more than $2500 and it's badass
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/ot...-jetski-trailer-offroad-rtt-hauler-build.html

 

I've done a bit of research in the area for future plans. A deep cell will handle being discharged and recharged repeatedly better than a standard starting battery. Inverters are nice to have, but they are not effecient. They will draw more power than they produce. To get the most out of your battery between charges I would recommend led's. You can get led strips with stick back that barely draw an amp for 16 feet of light for 10 bucks, pods that draw less than 2 amps can be had for under 20 dollars, and lowes even sells a work light that plugs into a cigarette lighter that puts out a good amount of light for 22 bucks. Even a small battery should be able to handle these without going dead overnight.

 

My suggestion is to run only 12V appliances when camping. As mentioned, inverters are not power efficient.

In my last truck I ran 2 Optima YellowTop batteries, as I will in this one. It is a little overkill, since I don't power that much from the 2nd battery (fridge, lights in the teardrop, air compressor) but when the main battery won't start the truck, having a second battery to start the truck makes things so much nicer. You carry a spare tire, right? Why not a spare battery.

 

Do it the right way the first time. It isn't much more money to run managed parallel batteries efficiently. The small expense comes in when figuring in a management system(there are many to choose from and economical). An inverter can be added if you want but, as others have mentioned it could be much over kill.
The management system is well worth it's weight. The ability to auto/manual link the batteries for high amp situations and the safety starting features in case of a massive drain are just a couple of the benefits.
Anyway, do some research and always buy once, cry once .
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/au...s-lets-see-them-multiple-batterys-thread.html

 

^^ thats the best advice you'll get! Do 2 good batteries. I believe barlowrs is running 2 batteries in the stock location if finding room is of concern for you. Add a solar panel to a roof rack and you could camp for weeks without having to start the truck if thats your thing.

 

This is a good one for state parks that I use. This time around for this weekend we are hitting up the local KOA in New Bern, so I just use their KOA site. When I book for state parks, then reserveamerica is my choice. I'd love to find some public land to just drive up too and set up shop, but that's hard to do around here. I'd love to take a trip to Utah or Colorado, but that will be a while unfortunately.

 

My 2005 Tacoma camping at Mojave National Preserve.

 

Hmm. So you just want to throw a battery in the bed of your truck and use it for power until it runs out or do you want to hook it up to charge while the truck is running?

 

I'm collecting the last bit of parts for my dual battery setup. I'm actually planning on doing a triple setup for camping though...

I'm going with a battery box, using the single battery that I'm replacing with the dual setup batteries. I plan on using the quick disconnect Anderson connector that comes with the kit, to tie it into my BSS ML-ACL so it will charge while onboard.

http://www.sidewinder.com.au/page232.html

They also sell a kit with an isolator built in, which would suit steed's needs, possibly?

http://www.sidewinder.com.au/page133.html

 

I wouldn't call is silly - just uncommon.

Have you thought about a small motorcycle or lawn tractor battery? They are small, lightweight, rechargeable, and will probably have enough power for your weekend camping needs.

 

I love Mojave! What part of the preserve is this? Looks really green out there.

 

First, you should know that you should not run a battery flat. It should only be discharged to a certain level or it will be damaged and the life shortened.

If you want to educate yourself about portable/camping systems, there's a ton of good info here:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/forums/48-Power-Systems-12v-Solar-Gen

Probably, what you want is to set up a battery box that you can easily remove from your truck. You'll want to install a couple of 12V sockets in the box wired through fuses to the battery inside. You'll also want to connect your charging pigtail to the battery through a fuse. It would also be worthwhile to install a voltmeter wired to the battery through a fuse and pushbutton switch. That will allow you to simply push the button to see how run down the battery is.

In use, you'd plug your LED lights into one of the sockets and have the other available for phone or whatever. When you get home, slide the box out of the truck and connect your charger to the pigtail. Simple.

I built a setup similar to what I've described, except that I can charge the battery box from the truck, a solar panel or a 12V charger. In the picture, you can see the 12V sockets on the top right and the voltmeter and pushbutton on the top left.