Boondockin' With A Baby Monitor?

Hi Everyone! I'm a newbie with our first fifth wheel. We've got some trips coming up some of which will be boondocking. We probably will not boondock more than 5 consecutive nights (most trips will be 3 nights). Anyway, I need to figure out how to have a power source to power up my baby's video monitor (the camera portion) all night without running the generator. I have been researching portable inverters but I have no idea what I am doing. Is there a power source out there that will power the video monitor all night long without having to be plugged into a battery?

Sure there is, just run your generator.




The information is out there, all you have to do is let it in.

The baby monitor draws very little power.    A small inverter that plugs into the 12volt power socket should be more then enouf to power the unit.  Hope it dose t need a internet single yo work

robertusa123 said:

The baby monitor draws very little power.    A small inverter that plugs into the 12volt power socket should be more then enouf to power the unit.  Hope it dose t need a internet single yo work

Click to expand...

OP made it clear they didn't want to run the genset.

As robertusa stated, they draw almost nothing. Literally the smallest portable inverter (made to plug into 12v socket) you could find would work. Been a long time since I had kids but I think they use frequencies similar to portable phones. You'll need two, one for the receiver end also.

Second option: I think all those monitors actually run off low voltage and use a transformer "brick" to plug into AC. You can find out the voltage needed by reading the tiny print for output on the brick. If you're lucky and it's 12v you can cut the wires and attach a "cigarette lighter" plug on the end. If a lower voltage you can get a step down converter (Amazon, cheap) to go from 12v down to needed voltage. A little fussy and maybe more than you wanted to do. If so, back to the small inverters.

I got one of them running a Nintendo 64 in my conversion van.   

Howdy WestCoastRoadWarrior, take a look at your monitor and it should list its power requirements in watts.  This is a reasonable starting point for an inverter (if that is the route you take).  I bet it is a very small number - probably less than 100 watts.  For very small inverters like that (100 watts), Walmart, Amazon, and such are fine sources.

If you are electronics oriented, I like Scott's idea - use your existing 12 volt DC source without all the voltage conversions.

This all assumes that you have a 12 volt battery bank in your RV.

Thanks everyone!

The generator option would work to charge our batteries in the mornings, however, running it all night long may make us bad neighbors! 

I'm looking at inverters now. Thank you for the wonderful suggestions! I am  buying a baby monitor specificlly for our RV so I do not know the voltage requiments at this time. I should know in the next day or so for sure and will wait to purchase my inverter.

Have any of you used an inverter to power something for long periods of time (i.e. run a baby monitor most of the night or charge a cell phone)? If so, how long before you drain your battery? Also, how does it take running your generator to charge your battery fully? I know this is just an approximation since every rig is different. We plan to camp Yosemite in the fall. The park is 100% boodocking and they have strict ruls about running the generator. I'm just trying to get an idea.

We plan to boondock for the weekend in our yard to get things figured out, but I'd love some input. We really have NO IDEA what we are doing. This weekend (in our yard) will be the first time we've even plugged the rig in. Hopefully we can figure out the sewer situation!  ;D Thank goodness for YouTube and you guys!

Most of our camping is boondocking, and our coach has a large residential fridge that runs 24 hours a day off the inverter - not to mention the TVs, lights, cell phone and laptop chargers. The inverter itself also draws a fair amount of power, because it's a 2800 watt system, but as long as we've got sunshine, our solar keeps us fully charged.

Kev

We run a 12 in table fan on the inverter. Runs all night no problem
When the power level drops the battery to 11 volts the inverter shuts down. Still leaving enouf power for light and water pump

robertusa123 said:

When the power level drops the battery to 11 volts the inverter shuts down. Still leaving enouf power for light and water pump

Click to expand...

Discharging a battery to the 11 volt range is basically dead or zero percent state of charge.  This is very damaging to a battery and will result in a very short life span.

WestCoastRoadWarrior said:

Anyway, I need to figure out how to have a power source to power up my baby's video monitor

Click to expand...

Just asking,
Does it need to be a video monitor? While I'm sure it doesn't use much power, the plain old audio monitors use even less power. I just wondered if the camera was a necessity?

WestCoastRoadWarrior said:

Hi Everyone! I'm a newbie with our first fifth wheel. We've got some trips coming up some of which will be boondocking. We probably will not boondock more than 5 consecutive nights (most trips will be 3 nights). Anyway, I need to figure out how to have a power source to power up my baby's video monitor (the camera portion) all night without running the generator. I have been researching portable inverters but I have no idea what I am doing. Is there a power source out there that will power the video monitor all night long without having to be plugged into a battery?

Click to expand...

What did you end up doing?
(I bought a AAA battery operated audio only monitor for the next trip. I also have a portable battery with USB ports that I can plug the baby (non mobile) monitor into).

I run my CPAP off a DC cigarette lighter port on a battery as well. It works well for 3-4 nights, then I have to charge the battery.

CAGLAMPER said:

What did you end up doing?
(I bought a AAA battery operated audio only monitor for the next trip. I also have a portable battery with USB ports that I can plug the baby (non mobile) monitor into).

I run my CPAP off a DC cigarette lighter port on a battery as well. It works well for 3-4 nights, then I have to charge the battery.

Click to expand...

Low chance the OP will answer... Hasn't been in the forum since 2018.

CAGLAMPER said:

What did you end up doing?
(I bought a AAA battery operated audio only monitor for the next trip. I also have a portable battery with USB ports that I can plug the baby (non mobile) monitor into).

I run my CPAP off a DC cigarette lighter port on a battery as well. It works well for 3-4 nights, then I have to charge the battery.

Click to expand...

I would recommend you start a new post detailing what you want to do. This will save everyone for having to read this entire post. Thanks.

Also times have changed in the last 6+ years since this question was asked, one new alternative are the ever popular lithium battery packs often marketed as "solar generators" or the like even though they are nothing more than a battery pack with an inverter built in. Such as this random one listing on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/ALLWEI-Portable-Generator-78000mAh-Emergency/dp/B08CXN4TZR/

Given this was the only thread from the OP and there was no useful conclusion, deleting it would be more beneficial than keeping it.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM