That's not a great idea, some folks seem to think that because it's 12V its safe. It's safe from shock hazards, sure, but not from fire hazards.  Batteries can put out plenty of current (hundreds of amps) to melt the insulation off of conductors and cause fires. Treat your 12Vdc circuits the same way as you would your 120Vac circuits and be safe. 

That's a great idea. The yellow porch light seems okay;but, a nice led lamp to light up the ground would bee nice. Or, a string of LED tape lights( I'm not sure what you call them, I have 12 feet of the stuff) would be awesome.

Welcome to the forum and happy camping to you!

One caveat to the above: Do pay attention to the speed when driving in flat territory. State speed limits for towing are often lower than the speed limits for vehicles not towing. That limit is often not posted. For example, California has a towing speed limit of 55 mph. It used to be that more states had lower speeds for towing, but that seems to be changing. The charts I used to look at now show conflicting information. However, this should serve as a general guide:

Otherwise, I agree that you don't necessarily have to be the first one up the mountain. You just have to make it up safely. Relax and enjoy the drive. The journey is part of the adventure.

Do you use overdrive? Is it Okay to go from drive to overdrive and back down again while you are moving? I appreciate your info.

Congratulations on picking up your Pod.  I hope you enjoy it.... and go slowly and watch the scenery. 

We finally picked up an 2015 R-pod 177. My 1994 GMC Sonoma pulled it fine except for long steep upgrades where the speed limit was 55 or over. It would only get up to 40 or 50 mph.I did notice a difference when I used High octane gas instead of the lower octane. I also noticed there was no way to keep it in drive going down the freeway. I put it in overdrive and it seemed to perform better. I took a wrong exit in the Pittsburgh area and ran into some moderately steep hills. The speed limit was only 35 MPH and the truck did okay. I was trying to think of ways to increase horse power;but, I always wanted to keep my truck stock. I guess we will stay off the freeway while negotiating the Appalachians. If we decide to cross the country we'll have to upgrade our vehicle and my GMC will become a lawn ornament.

Thanks for the info. Seems like the connector isn't very useful? Maybe hook a volt meter to it?

K.I.S.S.!

Originally posted by noatakme I would like to ask about the solar option. I've seen advertised that there is a plug on the outside to hook up a solar panel. They didn't mention anything else about it. I understand there is more to recharging batteries than plugging in a solar panel. Do the R-pods come with everything you need to recharge a battery or two? What year did they start offering solar prep? Do the different years and models have different set ups?

The so-called "solar connector" is nothing more than the connector and the wires from the connector to the battery/ies. On our RP-179, the Zamp connector is on the back side of the R-pod, and the batteries are on the front. More often than not, the best location for the solar panels is actually on the side where the batteries are. So the solar option only seems to add a little over 20' of wires to the connection. The other issue is that there is not integrated solar controller, so you still have to add a solar controller, not matter what.

In my mind it is as easy, if not easier, to just have a solar setup with alligator clips to connect to the batteries.

A quick search yielded the following "RV-sharing" site, for example: https://rvshare.com/rv-rental/pennsylvania

Let us know what you decide to do!

If this is your vehicle, I would say you are good to go podding! Good luck!!