Ohmman's Airstream Adventures

[ecarfan]

In general, the limiting factor will be our 24 gallon grey water tank. Dumping grey water is illegal in national forests, and not advised in general. I can take outdoor showers but not everyone in my family is as, uh, amenable to that idea.

Yes, using the trailer outdoor shower hose is a good way to reduce the amount of waste water going into the trailer grey water tank. My wife and I prefer taking outdoor showers — including at our house where we had one added as part of a remodel — but in a campground there are of course privacy issues. We solved that with one of these
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AT3SZ36/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

However, as @ohmman notes, there are other reasons not to take outdoor showers in campgrounds: scented bath products such as shampoo and soap may attract bears.

Thanks for the very informative trailer towing trip report!

 

[idoco]

I also have a 30 gallon Aquatank 2 water bladder.

Umm...that's 240 lbs full. Do you have a pump?

In general, the limiting factor will be our 24 gallon grey water tank

Agreed. We have 21 gallons. I have no qualms with outdoor shower.

I was concerned about vampire drain on the X

One of these days I'm going to plug in the trailer to the car overnight at home to get some more numbers on vampire drain with and without the trailer. It would be nice to use the car as a power source for the trailer if the range hit isn't too much. Save having to deal with lithium upgrades, solar, etc.

 

[ohmman]

One of these days I'm going to plug in the trailer to the car overnight at home to get some more numbers on vampire drain with and without the trailer. It would be nice to use the car as a power source for the trailer if the range hit isn't too much. Save having to deal with lithium upgrades, solar, etc.

The problem is really that the wiring is vastly undersized for a reasonable charge from the X. To do it right, you have to run thick copper from the inverter to the 12V on the camper. I’ve explored this idea and have vacillated on following through on it. Mostly, my hang up is the idea of accidentally draining the fuel supply of my tow vehicle, especially when out of cell range.

Another important camping note for some: a Taylor GS mini fits perfectly on top of my charging implements in the frunk.

 

[cpa]

Practicing those songs around the campfire, Ohmman?

"There was a Tesla owner who towed a trailer, and Ohmman was his name-O/
O-H-M-M-A-N, O-H-M-M-A-N, O-H-M-M-A-N, and Ohmman was his name-O."

Maybe mix in a little Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs?

 

[Rossy]

We are looking to upgrade to an Airstream so it’s grest to see these posts! 24k miles on our X so far but so far most towing trips under 150 mile segments.

 

[Rossy]

View attachment 317284 We are looking to upgrade to an Airstream so it’s grest to see these posts! 24k miles on our X so far but so far most towing trips under 150 mile segments.

 

[mengwong]

The problem is really that the wiring is vastly undersized for a reasonable charge from the X. To do it right, you have to run thick copper from the inverter to the 12V on the camper.

Data point: After running the fridge for ~48h my 12V house battery was down to 4.5V. I connected the 7 way cable overnight and by morning the battery was back up to 12V. The Tesla was not connected to shore power.

 

[mengwong]

Mostly, my hang up is the idea of accidentally draining the fuel supply of my tow vehicle, especially when out of cell range.

Recharging the trailer 12V did take the Tesla battery down a few kWh – TeslaFi shows it lost about 9kWh over a 20h period. I wish I had better measurements but from first principles even a 100Ah 12V shouldn't cost more than 4 to 8 kWh to recharge.

 

[idoco]

Data point: After running the fridge for ~48h my 12V house battery was down to 4.5V. I connected the 7 way cable overnight and by morning the battery was back up to 12V. The Tesla was not connected to shore power.

If you took your 12V house battery down to 4.5V you've either killed it or significantly damaged it. The only time I've ever seen a voltage that low is on permanently damaged batteries with one or more cells irreversibly damaged.

The 12v you are sering now is probably from charger. I bet as soon as you stop charging and put any load on the voltage will plummet.

 

[mengwong]

So I just boondocked for a couple of weeks at Skyline Park's horse camping section, which has water but no power. I plugged the trailer in to the Model X using the 7 way adapter several hours a day. User load was about 70W worth of monitor and laptop, plus house LED lights off the USB ports. The Tesla maintained the house battery between about 11.5 and 13 volts. Running the fridge on DC dropped the voltage by about 0.5V, so I switched that over to propane. Power loss was negligible, maybe 2–3kW a day, which includes the baseline native loss due to the car.

 

[mengwong]

Has anyone done the SF to LA run while towing? I'm looking at the coastal route on the way down and inland back. Looks like I'll want to overnight at an RV park somewhere south of Big Sur; anyone have any recommendations for overnighting?

 

[WSKCONDOR]

Paso Robles is nice. It may be further South than you want to go that day or whatever, but it has a large RV park with well maintained connections (can plug in trailer into 30A and Tesla into 50A simultaneously). There are several wineries and tasting rooms to visit right in the area, and that park also had a shuttle van that would take you to "downtown" paso robles during the state fair-not sure if they run it all the time. I stayed there overnight towing an Airstream with my Model X, and it worked well, all charged up and ready to go the next morning.
Paso Robles RV Living in California - Wine Country RV Resort

 

[WSKCONDOR]

So I just boondocked for a couple of weeks at Skyline Park's horse camping section, which has water but no power. I plugged the trailer in to the Model X using the 7 way adapter several hours a day. User load was about 70W worth of monitor and laptop, plus house LED lights off the USB ports. The Tesla maintained the house battery between about 11.5 and 13 volts. Running the fridge on DC dropped the voltage by about 0.5V, so I switched that over to propane. Power loss was negligible, maybe 2–3kW a day, which includes the baseline native loss due to the car.

Does anyone know the fuse size/max current for the 12V trailer lead OUT of the Tesla? Secondarily, I seem to find several different characterizations of how the Tesla will charge (and maybe there are several schemes as the Vin numbers have progressed - I have a June 2018 Model X) - i.e.
a) X only charges trailer when X is "ON"
b) X charges trailer whenever trailer is connected to 12V port, and X replenishes it's internal 12V battery as needed
c) ??

I ask these questions because I too recently camped with my Airstream, no hookups (and by sad chance my solar panel failed). My trailer batteries are pretty strong, but after two days and nights and using the inverter ALL night each night, the voltage started to drop a little, and got below 12V. I then plugged in the car, actually to take the trailer and run through a dump station-and the car had recharged the trailer batteries to some extent (not all the way, but significantly). Probably only a total of 60-90 minutes of towing, but of course this whole time the model X was "ON".

Any further data about electrical behavior would be appreciated. Maybe we can compile it.

 

[LL-RAN]

This is slightly off topic as it applies to pulling an Airstream with a Tesla, but since the 22' Sport is likely to be the most common Airstream for Model X, it's worth posting.

The dinette bed is 38" wide, which is officially a twin. We have two young kids that fit fine, but they'd be more comfortable with more space. I decided to make a bed extension out of 3/4" plywood that extends 14" and makes it nearly a full sized bed. The 14" number means I can use an existing back cushion and it gives me enough space to slide past the extended bed to reach the bathroom. I had some old wooden closet dowels that I used as removable legs. They have studs on them that thread into receivers on the plywood.

My wife and I were able to both lay comfortably and well supported on this bed. I'm making a custom cushion for the bottom section of the extension, and we have a memory foam topper. I'm pretty happy with the results, considering I don't know what the heck I'm doing.

View attachment 216079 View attachment 216080 View attachment 216081

You are an absolute GENIUS!!! I have been "stalking" the Airstream forum looking for the past year for just this solution!! My husband found this and we were both delighted!! We aren't "handy" but we did it thanks to all of the details you provided. Although our "extension" isn't as pretty as yours, it works & is very functional. We went camping & it worked like a charm - kids were thrilled. I posted in the Airstream Forum and gave you credit. Thanks again!!

 

[LL-RAN]

You are a GENIUS!!! I have been "trolling" the Airstream Forum looking for just this info when my husband stumbled upon your post. Neither of us are "handy" but because you provided such detailed & specific directions, we were able to pull this off. Ours doesn't look as "pretty" as yours, but the extension is functional and a major improvement. We went camping and the kids LOVED it!! I posted some instructions on the Airstream Forum and gave you credit. Thanks again!!!

 

[mengwong]

You are a GENIUS!!!

Btw your back might thank you if you move the triple-pane cushion assembly from the middle to the end where your feet are.

 

[mengwong]

a) X only charges trailer when X is "ON"
b) X charges trailer whenever trailer is connected to 12V port, and X replenishes it's internal 12V battery as needed
c) ??

Any further data about electrical behavior would be appreciated. Maybe we can compile it.

I’m guessing B on mine – 2016 MX 75D.

Proposed experimental design:

With one or two voltmeters handy, one could measure the 12VDC at the trailer and at the car’s center console and trunk outlet.

It would be particularly interesting to see what the house voltage is after the car cuts power to its 12V ports (after about a half hour in Park); when the car goes to 0, read the gauge panel for voltage, unplug the 7 way port and read it again, then plug it back in and read it again. For extra credit, directly probe the 7 way port itself to see if it’s hot when the car’s sleeping.

Speaking of sleeping another variable is the “Displays / Power Management / Energy Saving & Always Connected” settings. That might cut power to the 12V system though I suspect it just issues a shutdown command to the computers while the actual 12V lines in the car stay powered.

 

[ohmman]

Does anyone know the fuse size/max current for the 12V trailer lead OUT of the Tesla? Secondarily, I seem to find several different characterizations of how the Tesla will charge (and maybe there are several schemes as the Vin numbers have progressed - I have a June 2018 Model X) - i.e.
a) X only charges trailer when X is "ON"
b) X charges trailer whenever trailer is connected to 12V port, and X replenishes it's internal 12V battery as needed
c) ??

I ask these questions because I too recently camped with my Airstream, no hookups (and by sad chance my solar panel failed). My trailer batteries are pretty strong, but after two days and nights and using the inverter ALL night each night, the voltage started to drop a little, and got below 12V. I then plugged in the car, actually to take the trailer and run through a dump station-and the car had recharged the trailer batteries to some extent (not all the way, but significantly). Probably only a total of 60-90 minutes of towing, but of course this whole time the model X was "ON".

Any further data about electrical behavior would be appreciated. Maybe we can compile it.

I started a thread about this topic a while ago, with some observations. Probably worth discussing it there.

Charging Travel Trailer Battery from Tesla

 

[KirkNason]

Hope this helps explain what I mean by fit and finish. My understanding is that the Sport is more likely to have these issues, as it is considered the entry level Airstream trim. Once you move up to Flying Cloud, Signature, and above, things would be potentially better.

least the marked distance with a custom hitch, and potentially a bit more. I'm not sure how much impact that would have on the aerodynamic front, but dropping Cd by a few hundredths is no small matter when it comes to consumption. More to come on this.

[/QUOTE]

I have looked at the Sport 22 and the Flying Cloud 19. You can see quite a few differences, as you said entry-level vs. mid-level AS. Price is quite a jump, but at the same time margin is higher. So you can negotiate more on a FC vs Sport.

 

[ohmman]

I have looked at the Sport 22 and the Flying Cloud 19. You can see quite a few differences, as you said entry-level vs. mid-level AS. Price is quite a jump, but at the same time margin is higher. So you can negotiate more on a FC vs Sport.

The FC would exceed the tongue weight limitation of the Model X. 550 lbs dry means more like 650-700 loaded. I would only try this with the draw-tite hitch modification.