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Baja, Mexico Adventure Report


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#11 todgru

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Posted 25 December 2022 - 01:01 AM

Greg - It was easier to drill a 2-inch vent hole directly through the plywood of the camper tub. This is the same area FWC installs the battery box vents. This setup used about 1 inch of vent duct to bridge the gap between the rear of the toilet and the exterior.


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#12 todgru

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Posted 25 December 2022 - 01:22 AM

and todd, am wondering why you had battery issues. with a 200ah battery or batteries, it would seem that would be plenty for your setup.  unless the starlink is a big draw.

i only have a big dometic 75l fridge, and just lights and usb, etc, and my 100ah lifepo batt with 200 w solar seemed to do well. this spring i need to connect the system to my truck system for charging while driving.

 

did u use a gps system ?

Power usage wasn't that big of an issue. The issue was my own: how low was I willing to draw the batteries down? 75%? 50%? 25%? Lithium will handle deep discharges very well. But as the voltage drops, the current increase to keep the equipment running at the same wattage. I'm not sure how fast the discharge tail would be when I'm running everything.

 

We eventually had enough sun to top off the batteries, or we had to drive to the next destination. So, the batteries eventually were fully charged. The few cloudy days we had significantly impacted how fast the batteries charged. Some days, SOC never made it to 100%.

 

Starlink draws 35 to 60 watts per hour. I turned it on at 6:30 AM, and shut it down around 7 or 8 PM when most of our group was done for the day. I don't think that's a big draw by itself.

 

Bottom line: batteries and solar have dropped in price (and weight!).  I'm totally comfortable having extra capacity. Modern lithium batteries and flexible solar panels are quite a bit lighter than their lead-acid and glass predecessors!


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#13 todgru

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Posted 25 December 2022 - 01:26 AM

PS: we used google maps for GPS. I downloaded the offline maps. This worked great for road navigation. Not so good for back-country.

 

Gaia GPS worked well for looking at satellite views and offline.

 

I use Visibile as a cell phone provider which covers Mexico. So when we did have service, the data plan helped support any last-minute mapping needs.


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#14 kmcintyre

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Posted 25 December 2022 - 01:50 PM

Hi Tod.

thx for informative baja trip notes.

we just returned from a short 10 day baja trip, and have many of the same thoughts as yours.

i do have a few questions, and comments -

 

question -

- where is campo beluga on gonzaga bay?  we camped at rancho grande and i was impressed with the beach and views. on our way home we did spend a night at Alphonsina hotel, for warm shower.

- and at bahia de los angeles, was your dispersed camp at 'la gringa'?  we were referred to it, but we did not have good gps, and didnt realize it was that far north from the town, so we stayed at a campo archelon, that had a nice little cantina. heard again that la gringa was a nice area.

- ogo toilet - do u dedicate camper space for this?, or just leave on floor, and move outside when using interior of camper for cooking, etc?  we used rv camp toilets, and had good and poor experiences... and my gal might be interested in the ogo, 

 

comment -

we stayed 1 night at the bigger rv beach camp at Santispac - and it was fine, and armaundos cantina food was good. wasnt too fond of hearing the truck exhaust brakes though !   we moved over to the smaller camp out on the sea of cortez, and it was great - we didnt get bothered by the wind.

- we spent 3 days at playa Esmeralda - which is maybe 25 miles? north of guerrero negro.  this was the best beach of our trip. we were the only campers, and the camp owners, samuel and emma, fed us 2 dinners, and a breakfast. lobster and bonito.  the best.  we will go back to this beach. it has a few palapas but while we were there, no other campers. they had a decent bathroom with cold shower. they offered to take me out sportfishing, but i had enough fish to eat, and said next time.

- we stayed in san felipe , La Palapa rv park, coming and going. we really liked it. its small - but we could walk into town for breakfast and dinner. breakfast at New Georges - great., and dinner at LaVinqa - may have spelling wrong, but the food was as good as very nice pdx restaurants, and cost low.

 

thx again for your informative report

greg

 

I think someone posted a "pin" for beluga and since I'm away for Xmas can't find my details but will if you don't get a response.

 

I can't find much about Playa Esmerelda although I know there used to be one that closed a while back.  Maybe they re-opened but if you have any more info, I may put it down for our next trip down..... we usually go for a few months at a time.

 

thanks.


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#15 kmcintyre

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Posted 25 December 2022 - 01:57 PM

I think someone posted a "pin" for beluga and since I'm away for Xmas can't find my details but will if you don't get a response.

 

I can't find much about Playa Esmerelda although I know there used to be one that closed a while back.  Maybe they re-opened but if you have any more info, I may put it down for our next trip down..... we usually go for a few months at a time.

 

thanks.

 

I found it.... they have a presence on facebook.... looks very interesting!


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#16 Vic Harder

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Posted 25 December 2022 - 10:57 PM

Power usage wasn't that big of an issue. The issue was my own: how low was I willing to draw the batteries down? 75%? 50%? 25%? Lithium will handle deep discharges very well. But as the voltage drops, the current increase to keep the equipment running at the same wattage. I'm not sure how fast the discharge tail would be when I'm running everything.

 

We eventually had enough sun to top off the batteries, or we had to drive to the next destination. So, the batteries eventually were fully charged. The few cloudy days we had significantly impacted how fast the batteries charged. Some days, SOC never made it to 100%.

 

Starlink draws 35 to 60 watts per hour. I turned it on at 6:30 AM, and shut it down around 7 or 8 PM when most of our group was done for the day. I don't think that's a big draw by itself.

 

Bottom line: batteries and solar have dropped in price (and weight!).  I'm totally comfortable having extra capacity. Modern lithium batteries and flexible solar panels are quite a bit lighter than their lead-acid and glass predecessors!

 

 

Starlink has a number of systems.  The system was designed for residential use and yet has worked for many people while on the move.  It costs about $600 and uses about 50-150 Watts, so up to 12 amps.  That's 2-4x what your fridge likely uses, and the fridge is typically the highest power usage in most of our campers in warmer weather.

 

Also, the rule of thumb for solar capacity compared to battery capacity is 2x, meaning you should have about 400W of solar to keep up with your 200AH of battery.

 

Note that Starlink now has nearly global coverage.  That includes all of Mexico and at the other extreme, all of Northern Canada and Alaska.  The recommended system for that is their new Starlink for RV, which uses a bigger, flatter antenna that is designed to be used while in motion.  It costs a LOT more ($2500) and uses a LOT more power too.


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#17 goinoregon

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Posted 30 December 2022 - 07:36 PM

I found it.... they have a presence on facebook.... looks very interesting!

hey kmc,

if you visit, u will enjoy, if you like beautiful beaches w/o many people. and samuel and emma, and family are great


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#18 kmcintyre

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Posted 31 December 2022 - 02:02 PM

hey kmc,

if you visit, u will enjoy, if you like beautiful beaches w/o many people. and samuel and emma, and family are great

 

Thanks... we never really know exactly where we are going until we get there! :-)


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