TL/DR: Just did a weekend camping trip in the model 3, in prep for a week long one (shake out). So much easier setting up and tearing down a campsite. We froze our dinners in ziplock bags and brought a pot to boil them in and a backpacking stove, perfect. For coffee brought my mug and a pour over. Clean up was a cinch. Used the 110 power at campsite, no issues.
Hook up Power:
There was no 50amp service and only 30amp and 110, we didn’t have the 30amp adapter for campground so we had to use the 110 outlet at the site. We had 4 mile per hour charging rate. We ran the AC at 65 degrees with Keep Climate On. I turned off Sentry, alarm and walkaway lock. Tried to save it to camping profile, not sure it was saving. Once we were in bed, I hit the lock button on the iphone app and it turned off the screen. I have to remember to turn off the beep when locking and unlocking (midnight bathroom break). Didn’t use camp mode because we weren’t charging anything and I thought keep climate on turned off the screen, Not. Next time I’ll try camping mode and then lock the doors to see if that will turn off screen. The back shelf works great and so does the bottom of door storage, very easy to find your phone and or glasses when half asleep.
We wish the 110 adapter had the ground on top, campground outlet has it on top so you have to plug it in upside down bending the cord/cable back on itself, but it worked. Started charging at ~212miles on the screen, woke up to 240 miles. We were surprised we had gained mileage with AC running all night. There was a free EV charging station at the state park too so really had no concerns.
Back Country Roads:
Used Autopilot on the well marked back roads, speed limit ranged from 45 to 35mph. Did a pretty decent job, some curves it predicted early, others it got into them before slowing and on occasion opps, manual intervention required. Had to continually turn it off on the roller coaster portion of the roads, knew it wouldn't see over the rise and tacc would break. tacc did have a couple of the usual phantom brakes as expected, didn’t really see anything to indicate something to look out for in advance. Did not use the Stop sign/light feature, not smooth enough yet, don’t like the speed coming in before braking. One of the nice features of autopilot/tacc is when heading into or out of towns it automatically adjusts the speed for you.
Amish buggys on the screen came up as a motorcycles and bicycles as you slowly passed them. Maybe Tesla will eventually add them. I did not try Autopilot near them to see if tacc would automatically slow, it’s simply was not worth the risk. Maybe someone else on the forum lives in that area and can comment on it.
Bottom line:
Take the Tesla out to a State or National Park and go camping it is soooo easy. In the northeast, there's plenty of charging avail almost everywhere so it is a non issue. There are all kinds of mattress recommendations on this site or just use a pad and blanket, the temp stays on all night. Remember to turn on the lower vents for when your sleeping, you don't want it blowing down your neck at night. We did not remove the back seat, the angle was manageable. Takes less than 5 mins to setup the mattress and make the bed, bed sheet, blanket and pillows, my wife can even do it without getting out of the car if it is raining. If you don’t want to cook, then visit the restaurants in the area and enjoy a meal with them. Pack a cooler with ready to serve meals and drinks, done! Get outdoors and chill.
If we had 50 or 30amp service I would probably keep Sentry on to see what wildlife may have visited us while we were off in dreamland. That would be cool to see, especially with the new scrubber feature. Ohh, wait, the headlights blink and it beeps when sentry activates, scratch that idea.
Hook up Power:
There was no 50amp service and only 30amp and 110, we didn’t have the 30amp adapter for campground so we had to use the 110 outlet at the site. We had 4 mile per hour charging rate. We ran the AC at 65 degrees with Keep Climate On. I turned off Sentry, alarm and walkaway lock. Tried to save it to camping profile, not sure it was saving. Once we were in bed, I hit the lock button on the iphone app and it turned off the screen. I have to remember to turn off the beep when locking and unlocking (midnight bathroom break). Didn’t use camp mode because we weren’t charging anything and I thought keep climate on turned off the screen, Not. Next time I’ll try camping mode and then lock the doors to see if that will turn off screen. The back shelf works great and so does the bottom of door storage, very easy to find your phone and or glasses when half asleep.
We wish the 110 adapter had the ground on top, campground outlet has it on top so you have to plug it in upside down bending the cord/cable back on itself, but it worked. Started charging at ~212miles on the screen, woke up to 240 miles. We were surprised we had gained mileage with AC running all night. There was a free EV charging station at the state park too so really had no concerns.
Back Country Roads:
Used Autopilot on the well marked back roads, speed limit ranged from 45 to 35mph. Did a pretty decent job, some curves it predicted early, others it got into them before slowing and on occasion opps, manual intervention required. Had to continually turn it off on the roller coaster portion of the roads, knew it wouldn't see over the rise and tacc would break. tacc did have a couple of the usual phantom brakes as expected, didn’t really see anything to indicate something to look out for in advance. Did not use the Stop sign/light feature, not smooth enough yet, don’t like the speed coming in before braking. One of the nice features of autopilot/tacc is when heading into or out of towns it automatically adjusts the speed for you.
Amish buggys on the screen came up as a motorcycles and bicycles as you slowly passed them. Maybe Tesla will eventually add them. I did not try Autopilot near them to see if tacc would automatically slow, it’s simply was not worth the risk. Maybe someone else on the forum lives in that area and can comment on it.
Bottom line:
Take the Tesla out to a State or National Park and go camping it is soooo easy. In the northeast, there's plenty of charging avail almost everywhere so it is a non issue. There are all kinds of mattress recommendations on this site or just use a pad and blanket, the temp stays on all night. Remember to turn on the lower vents for when your sleeping, you don't want it blowing down your neck at night. We did not remove the back seat, the angle was manageable. Takes less than 5 mins to setup the mattress and make the bed, bed sheet, blanket and pillows, my wife can even do it without getting out of the car if it is raining. If you don’t want to cook, then visit the restaurants in the area and enjoy a meal with them. Pack a cooler with ready to serve meals and drinks, done! Get outdoors and chill.
If we had 50 or 30amp service I would probably keep Sentry on to see what wildlife may have visited us while we were off in dreamland. That would be cool to see, especially with the new scrubber feature. Ohh, wait, the headlights blink and it beeps when sentry activates, scratch that idea.
