With the colder months coming soon I wanted to do a sanity check. Now that I'm living in my cargo trailer camper full-time I wanted to see what others' experiences have been. I'll be in the northeast (NJ,NY,PA) in December and then I'll be in the Salt Lake City area January-April.
Needless to say I will experience temperatures below freezing on a regular basis this winter. My trailer has propane heat and a LiFePO4-based solar electrical system.
When I built my trailer I made no provision for any kind of "hot box" for the batteries. My batteries are inside the trailer. In fact they are about 6" under my butt as I type this. Anyway, my thought has always been that I will keep my heat on all winter to keep the inside of the trailer above freezing. My fresh water tank is inside the trailer too so I don't want my water freezing either. When I'm out all day skiing or whatever I can turn the heater down so it just keeps the trailer at about 40º or so to avoid using too much propane all day while I'm gone.
I know there's the potential for the propane to run out but I have two 20lb tanks with an auto-switching regulator so as long as I never let both tanks get too low the heat should work when needed.
Worse case, if the heat fails for any reason, the SCC is setup to stop charging below 40º. So I should only have to worry about the batteries having a load when the temperature gets too far below freezing.
So for those that have been through this in past winters, does this seem reasonable?
Needless to say I will experience temperatures below freezing on a regular basis this winter. My trailer has propane heat and a LiFePO4-based solar electrical system.
When I built my trailer I made no provision for any kind of "hot box" for the batteries. My batteries are inside the trailer. In fact they are about 6" under my butt as I type this. Anyway, my thought has always been that I will keep my heat on all winter to keep the inside of the trailer above freezing. My fresh water tank is inside the trailer too so I don't want my water freezing either. When I'm out all day skiing or whatever I can turn the heater down so it just keeps the trailer at about 40º or so to avoid using too much propane all day while I'm gone.
I know there's the potential for the propane to run out but I have two 20lb tanks with an auto-switching regulator so as long as I never let both tanks get too low the heat should work when needed.
Worse case, if the heat fails for any reason, the SCC is setup to stop charging below 40º. So I should only have to worry about the batteries having a load when the temperature gets too far below freezing.
So for those that have been through this in past winters, does this seem reasonable?