Monthly Archives: September 2010

Yosemite! (preparation)

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We live about 3 hours from Yosemite but we don't go there as much as people would think we would.  We have never camped on the valley floor.  We took a road trip there in 2008 with our new hybrid.  We actually camped there later that year.  But this year it was on the floor.  I was really looking forward to it.  Plus it was about 5 months since we had taken out the trailer.

I got the reservations in the early spring.  I used the technique of checking for reservations every 10 minutes during a day.  When they showed up, I grabbed them!  Our first night, oddly, was Labor Day Monday.  I knew the campgrounds would be full but was hoping the park would be clearing out after the holiday weekend.

Time to get the trailer ready.  As you know in the previous post, I had replaced all the lights with LED's.  It is dry camping in Yosemite and 3 nights could be a bit of test for us.  We had gone 4 nights in Albuquerque last year and had to run the generator a bit to help out.  This was going to be a good test.

Another component of power usage is the propane heater in the trailer and the water pump.  We knew it would probably be a bit chilly at night so we did need some method heating.  I have always wanted to install a catalytic heater in the trailer but they are a bit pricey for the permanent models.  A catalytic burns propane, and therefore gives heat, without any power.  All you need is a spark via some piezoelectric generator.  So I got a catalytic heater, a portable one, Mr. Heater.  I almost bought one on our Albuquerque trip.

Now, what do I do about the water pump?  We need the water pump to run any of the water in our trailer.  Or do we?  One of the blogs that I read gave me a few tips recently.  We already knew about doing dishes in a bowl as Roxie used to tent camp with her family.  The water saving valve was a good idea, I thought.  I got one for my sink at home and I like it.  I know I am saving water.  However, Roxie did not like them in the trailer and I had to show her the 'override' function and she used it extensively.  So I don't think it helped that much.

However, the ONE tip that helped the most was the water jug used to 'flush' the toilet.  The normal flushing HAS to be the biggest user of water in the trailer.  By not running the pump all the time to flush we were able to use the campgrounds water to flush.  Brilliant idea!

I also washed the trailer AND truck before the trip.  This was unheard of!  We replaced a trailer tire for good measure.  We actually shopped for groceries BEFORE we left on a trip and were very ready.

An LED obsession

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I LOVE LED lights.  I really LOVE LED lights.  The combination of bright light vs low power usage make them a no-brainer in an RV.  I have always wanted to have LED's throughout our trailer but their cost has made it prohibitive.  No longer.

OUTSIDE LED's

My first foray into transforming the trailer started in the summer of '06.  We were heading to the WBCCI International rally in Salem, OR.  I had seen some people put LED's in their taillight in a thread on Airforums.  I gave it a go.

I bought some of these:

 

Taking them apart gives you this:

 

So I take the lenses off of the trailer:

 

I wire them to the connectors and mount the LED platter to the housing.  The way I did this was use wire nuts.  I siliconed the wirenut to the housing and the platter to the wirenut.  (I don't have a photo of this but you will see something similar later on.  I then buttoned them up (this should be an animated GIF):

I

 

I did the 'high' brake light also (another animated GIF):

 

I also did the license plate light.  Here it is all done:

 

INSIDE LED's

Once again a couple of threads at Airforums served as reference and a way to pass on information.  This thread and this thread.  I knew about SuperBrightLeds but felt they were a little pricey.  I found another source, www.ledwholesalers.com.  I just purchased a single bulb to try it out.  These are 1141 replacements:

 

I first tried this test bulb in a fixture.  Here are the representative shots (I used warm white instead of bright white):

I was pleased enough with the results that I ordered bulbs for the entire trailer and replaced them.  However there were a few bulbs outside that I needed to retrofit also.

These were the outside step lights and the torch (I call it the neighbor light because all it lights up is the neighbor's RV).  I replaced those with 1141 equivalents but this time I got them in a more circular pattern, like a normal bulb.  I also got these in bright white since they are outside.  I got these bulbs, and some for my truck, from an eBay seller (ushd) at a very reasonable cost.  Here is their eBay store.

Here is the step light:

 

Here is the torch:

 

Here they are all on:

 

One other thing that I did with the flat 1141's was put them in the backup lights:

 

Here are the backups at night.  It is hard to tell in the photo but they are now bright enough to actually see something behind the trailer.  Previously they were only good to warn people about the trailer moving.

 

In conclusion, I put in LED's for many reasons.  Power savings, decreased heat, reliability, increased output and I think they are COOL!

We have yet to see about the power savings.  Our trip to Yosemite will help prove it.