crowart

Should I purchase the RX350, I may do some light living out of it.

For this, I have found an amazing array of 12 volt appliances that are sold. All I would need is a small microwave and a sandwich/drink cooler. Coffee maker might be nice.

If I draw, say, 1200 to 1600 Watts or so off the cigarette lighter - would that be a problem?

Perhaps I would want to upgrade the battery, or re-work the alternator somehow?

(Naturally, one should keep the engine running and also keep an emergency ignition starter handy.)

32kcolors

http://www.carliving.net/ Are you a student?

But the RX350 seems kind of cramped for living in. I'd get a bigger SUV with longer rear cargo to make for a more comfortable bed.

biff44

Yeah, that would be a problem. Even if the fuse did not blow, the insulation on the wiring would melt.

If you need to draw that sort of wattage, you would need to tap right into the battery/alternator connection, and depending on the load even that might not be enough. 1600 watts at 12 volts is 133 amps!

salimshah

Much easier and cost effective way is to buy a 12v - 110v inverters. The next thing is to ensure you dont overload the outlet you plug into ... I am not sure but lets say the cig lighter is rated at 10amps that will get you 10x12=120watts. Leaving a margin that says you can draw 100watts.

Just use the right amperage for cig lighter and you can get the max load you can subject it to. You can figure out what is possible and what is not.
(remember you will need the air freshener plug ins)

Dont bye pass any of the fuse, they provide much needed protection.

Salim

crowart

Well if I use one at a time, it would be more like 600 watts (maximum).

I also wonder about using things too long... minutes or hours. Depends on the appliance.

Grumpa72

Is this a serious post or are you pulling our leg? Who buys a $45000 and then lives out of it?

If you have enough money to buy an RX350 but you might be living out of it, why not buy a pick-up truck and pull a trailer?

crowart

Wow, interesting link.

No longer a student. Bachelor life makes one a hermit in some ways. I find it comfortable, and these little habits (instant meals, heating one room in the wintertime) save incredible time and money. Car-living is an extension of that.

32kcolors

The RX350 is not a good choice. I'd go for a bigger SUV.

crowart

I'm not so good driving large things, and I've never towed anything. (Plus the trailer would be bigger than my apartment, so there'd be no point in it.)

I would love to opt for something diesel... Not allowed in Massachusetts anymore. Even the Audi TT couldn't be sold here last year.

SilverLady

The RX, with its curved liftgate, has to be one of the last SUVs I would want to live in. Have you tried sitting in the trunk area to see if you would bump your head? The length and width back there are not great either.

Your best bet would be a van, next a minivan with fold down seats. If you want an SUV, the GX would be much better (but pricey), so something like the Toyota forerunner would work. You would probably be even better off with one of the flat fold seat SUVs (I think the Ford Explorer and Nissan Pathfinder do this) for a nice flat long bed area, although you might lose some height.

The GX will only give you a total of 100 watts through the aux power plugs (including the 120V plug for the GX), and I believe the RX is the same. There is no power with the engine/aux off, and you would drain the battery quickly with the devices you are talking about anyway.

One option is to use a portable auto battery, and charge it while driving. You could also plug it in anywhere there is a 120V outlet, and some even have a solar power blanket. I have carried these in my SUV, but I don't know if I would want to sleep near them.

There are also portable propane stoves that use small gas cannisters and all other manner of camping gear that do not use electricity.

Grumpa72

So, I still say this is a BS post.

Go buy yourself a 3 year old Dodge Grand Caravan, pull out the rear seats and sleep in that. Buy yourself a used small generator and power your toys with that.

Take the extra $25000 and:

1. put it in the bank
2. use it as a downpayment on a house and live in that
3. use it in $40 increments for a cheap motel
4. check into your local YMCA for rooms for othewise homeless people

RXSF

if you buy the car with the optional rear seat entertainment package, you get a 12 volt thing in the trunk of the car. if you dont buy the package, perhaps the car is prewired like that? might be some after market stuff to do there.

so why are we living out of the car now?

crowart

By "light living" I meant a weekend, or perhaps making breakfast and lunch while at work.

I once knew someone with a love-seat sofa in his Econoline van. I wouldn't want to live that way.

Lil4X

I've lived out of my RX for a day or two out on a work location, and while it's possible, it's not what you would call comfortable. A couple of large pillows and a blanket make naps possible in the driver's seat in a pinch, but you'd better plan meals off the tailgate and sanitation in the woods. Properly equipped it can be done. Forget the microwave and hot plate - there's nowhere near enough power available.

There are a couple of options, however:

http://www.tentsontrucks.com/suvtent.html

http://www.golittleguy.com/

____________________
Edit:

After many years cruising on a small boat, I came upon some hard-earned knowledge: Never use your electrical system when something else is available. Inverters are fine for low-current applications. I use them regularly to power a number of battery chargers for my equipment on the road. A small LCD TV, or even a DVD player is fine, but large, heating appliances are strictly off your list - unless you want to be buying alternators.

On my boat, I had two large deep-cycle batteries (like those used for golf carts and trolling motors) I ran my few electrical loads from. An air pump for the bait tank and the anchor light would devour one of these batteries overnight. A separate circuit powered the engine starter, but the batteries could be switched on and off the main buss for charging underway or emergencies. Deep cycle batteries store large amounts of readily available power and are not harmed by deep discharging - however they don't produce quite the voltage of a standard automotive battery, despite their "12-volt" rating. If you really need to spin up your engine or bring your coffee to a rolling boil, don't count on the DC's.

I carried a gimbaled single-burner alcohol stove (alcohol is preferred for marine use because plain old water extinguishes it - you are literally floating in your extinguishing medium). You might want to consider a simpler alternative - MRE-type foods. I used the Yurika product for several years (an MLM distributor out of Canada that got into legal problems after a few years of popularity among campers). I understand that a number of other suppliers like http://saratogatradingcompany.com/ now offer freeze-dried and pre-prepared food packets and similar entrees that can be warmed on your manifold for a few miles. Before you laugh, they're pretty good, and packaged with their own warming pouches, you don't even have to drive around with your dinner cooking under the hood anymore.

For more conventional camping ashore (or in your car) as my sister Scout, SilverLady says, a one or two-burner propane stove will work nicely and you don't have to pump it up, prime it, and stick your hand in the (invisible) alcohol flame to see if it is burning. I also have a small all-stainless propane grill that actually does a better job on 3-4 nice steaks or a couple of quartered chickens than my backyard grill.


Photo courtesy onlinemarine.com

Bottom line, if you are a reasonably experienced camper, there are a lot of opportunities to put that light off-roading capability to good use. Consider it an adventure, not a substitute for housing. A lot of outfitters can provide portable toilets, solar heated showers, and a number of amenities that can make a weekend or a week a great experience. Best of all, if you can find a lady who likes this kind of adventure to share it with you, it's all that much more fun . . . although it may endanger your bachelor status.

biff44

If I were camping out of the RX for a while, I would do it as follows:

1) I would actually sleep in a tent with a cot and warm sleeping bag. The cot keeps you above ground, which will be a lot warmer. In the summer, the tent should have insect netting to keep the bugs at bay.

2) I would have a tow hitch installed and get a sealed carrier to insert into the tow hitch. This is a large plastic box (maybe 2 x 2 x 4 foot) that can be used to hold things like a cooler, propane stove, cooking utensils, boxed goods. Keeps the critters out of the cherios! I would minimize the number of foods that need cooling, but if you need to, use ice or dry ice in the cooler. You can do a lot of cooking on a little bottle of propane (size of a 1 quart bottle). You can get a lamp that runs off of propane too.

3) I would stay at some cheap places. Some state parks offer tent sites with full shower/washroom services for $15 a day. You can stay quite a while if you are willing to move to a new site every few days.

4) Electricals...I would get a power inverter for the cigarette lighter. You can get a clipped sine wave model that puts out up to 150 Watts continuous, 450 watts peak. I would have a cell phone that charges by cigarette light, and some jumper cables incase I ran down the battery.

http://www.theinverterstore.com/pwri...front-rgb.html

5) A hammock would be essential.

6) Firewood in the winter to warm up!