INTRO

RV batteries and everything you need to know about them. This is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVer podcast, delivering the smarts you need to enjoy the freedom of the RV lifestyle without the fear of breaking down. So, if you are watching this on YouTube, you notice there's some different things in the background.

We're making some changes to our little studio. But we're also making changes to the show and we're trying to adjust, make it better, you know, little changes, subtle changes. Maybe you notice, maybe you don't, but the point is we'd like to get your opinion on our show. If the, uh, you have some useful information that will help us.

We want to hear from you. Actually, your opinion, whatever, good, bad, or indifferent. So, you can go to TheSmartRVer.com, go to the contact us page and tell us what you think. If you have ideas, you can submit those as well. We want to hear from you, and like I said, we're making changes. We want to make changes to make the show better, so you benefit more.

RV LIFESTYLE

It's all about TheSmartRVer and learning more and making this whole RV thing that much easier to do. So, with that being said, let's get to the first segment of the show, living the RV Life. And today we're going to talk about star gazing. Oh boy. So this isn't a trip to Hollywood to look at people on Hollywood Boulevard, the stars coming out of studios or whatever.

Eric- This is about those little tinkly shiny things in the Tonight Sky Star gazing. So, Alexis, oh, by the way, Alexis is here with us today. Alexis, what can you tell us about stargazing?

Alexis- Well, I really thought we were going to go see Tom Cruise, so I have no idea. I'm just kidding. Well, um, I, I just think it's such a wonderful experience like you were saying. Um, I obviously, you know, step one, look for places that have darker skies, so not around cities. You're not going to want to go there, you're not going to get as good of a view. Um, so no populated areas. Probably more remote locations, and we'll talk about a few. The places you can go a little later, but, um, they do say that national parks are the best for obvious reasons.

Eric- Yeah. So, you know, two, you want to check out the weather forecast because you don't want to drive somewhere to look at stars. Right. And just have it be a cloudy, cloudy night that would just. Kind of bum me out, I think. Yeah, definitely. So, you got to look at that clouds and stuff. And you're planning a trip to do this.

Alexis- Yeah. You want to look at the weather, you know, it might not change the trip, but at least you have an idea what you're going for. Exactly. Exactly. Or that one night you want to make sure you have clear, uh, clear visibility of the sky. Right.

Eric- So does it just have to be a national parks or can, dark just anywhere.

Alexis- I mean, like I said, avoid populated places, but it does to say the elevation, the higher you are, the better. So if you're going to trek up a, a big hill or a mountain, that's also yeah, a really good idea.

Eric- So, when we lived in Arizona, we were no lights around us. We weren't in a city or. and we were out in the rural. And so, one thing I remember every night at almost nine o'clock, you'd see a satellite or something fly over us. Oh sure. It was like clockwork. Huh. But you could see the stars just unbelievable. Yeah. How clear it was. I'm sure. Zillions of stars. We weren't, we were sea level or below sea level, but right. So, you don't necessarily, you have to be in the mountains.

Alexis- It just helps.

Eric- True. Yeah. You see a different array of them. Yes.

Alexis- Like here where we live in. Montana and Victor, Hamilton, you can see all sorts of Oh yeah, definitely. Very cool. So, you can see different things in different areas too. Yeah. Yes.

Eric- Even though it's the vast sky. Mm-hmm. is still going to look different from different places.

Alexis- Right. Exactly. Yeah. So is there any. time of year you would say would be better or worse for this. Um, I mean, summer obviously makes it easier, especially if you're in a cold area. You don't want to necessarily be shivering outside trying to look at the stars if you're looking at it through a, a telescope.

Eric- But to, um, Yeah, I mean, there's some apps you can download, which are cool. They tell you kind of what constellations are going to be called clouds, right? So, you can kind of plan around that. You can pull them up to the sky and actually compare. I know I’ve used those before. I think they're fun.

Alexis- So that can help you out if you don't know exactly what you're doing, thanks. Warmer weather. Is better for telescopes and stuff like that. Sure. The polar weather put stuff in the atmosphere. Yeah, I believe. Yeah, I think you're right. And distorts it a little bit. Yeah. So warm weather. Good. So where would a few places be good to go. Well one, and I think we've covered this before and talked a little about it, but Arches National Park.

Eric- Oh yeah. Like very well known for being an amazing place to stargaze.

Alexis- Um, and then there's Yellowstone National Park, another really, good one. And sometimes if you ask, they do take groups out there so you can go out with a park ranger if you're kind of nervous about doing that. And you can go in a group and do it, you know, together, you might see more that. Death Valley is another good one. You're not going to have any lights, light pollution around there, , um, and then the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as well. So, there's, I mean, any national park. Yeah. I mean that's some of them, but there, you know, you go to the mountains in general.

Eric- Yeah. You go out to the desert, um, you go anywhere, there's not lights. You can see it's the light pollution that ruins it. Exactly. You know? Exactly, exactly. You're in LA you're not going to see any stars. No. Well, you see some driving down the road, but you're not going to see up in the sky. Not the, not the bright ones. Right. Okay. So that sounds cool. That's an easy thing to do. Relatively inexpensive, especially if you already live there. But if you don't, you do a little travel, but it's a great thing to incorporate into your RV trip. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Fisher. You can go someplace where you can just kick back in some chairs or some lounge chairs and look up and your families there.

Alexis- You can talk about it and look at things. Mm-hmm, you know, let, let your imagination put it all together and see what you see. You know? That's cool.

Eric- So nice. All right. Awesome. So check that out when you get a chance, and by the way, um, on your ex next rv, get. Take at least 15 pictures of nature.

That's my, that's my prescription for your next trip. 15 pictures of nature and no selfies. Mm. Everything but yourself. , . Okay. But the pictures you'll like, you know, its nature is good and they're part of the memories. Yeah. Even if this is a lame pitcher, you know where you got it and what, why you took it, you know?

Because a lot of pictures we take are lame, you know, it looks really good until you click the shutter and, oops, what was that for? You know, . But anyway, so 15 pitchers, no selfies. There you go. Now that's going to take us to staying on the road and we're going to talk about RV batteries and everything you need to know about them.

STAYING ON THE ROAD

Every single detail, well, not really, we don't have enough time for that, but we're going to cover the important things. Things that. So how many times has the dead battery killed the day for you? Get it? Dead battery. Killed the day, no pun intended. Mm-hmm. How many times has that happened? Once. Twice. Three times.

Ever. Ruined your day, Alexis?

Alexis- Oh yeah. Yes. Uh, Missoula one time. Totally. blew it and just had to sit there for hours. , you and Cole went camping last summer and Yeah. Got stuck with dead batteries. We stuck up camping.

Eric- That was now you were local enough where it wasn't a ruin trip. Huge deal. Right? It was still a inconvenience.

Alexis- Yeah, a huge one. Okay, so you've had a dead battery, or how many times have you bought a new battery? You put it in thinking, oh, everything's going to be good. and you still have the same problem. Yeah, that sucks. But it happens, how many times has someone sold you a battery maybe to shop, say, oh, that’ll fix your woes.

They put it in, same thing. You still have the problems, and they charge you for the battery and their labor. See, that's lame. . Mm-hmm. . But it happens. So you have to, well, not you have to. It is understanding batteries. can reduce some frustrations and that's why you know the Smart RV is listening to this podcast to learn about batteries and other things.

To figure out or, so you know what you really need when you need it, or at least have a good idea when you go to the shop and they're not just blowing smoke, you know, and you, you're stuck with a battery you didn't need, or you're questioning, hmm, did I really need that battery? Or did they just put one in saying I needed, it was my other battery just, you know, low or, or whatever, you know?

Mm-hmm, it takes the guesswork out of it. And then also you speak more intelligent when you go to a shop, and you have a clue what you're talking about. You keep them guys on. And sometimes they're dishonest and sometimes they just don't know any better, you know? And not every shop is bad. There are good shops out there, so every RV on the road has at least one deep cycle.

Battery. And motor homes will also have what is called a starting or cranking battery. Two separate systems. They're not connected as far as running the house lights, things like that. The deep cycle battery in a motor home is called the house battery, or typically called the house battery, so it separates it.

You have the starting or cranking battery and the house battery. The house battery is going to be a deep cycle battery. It's not interchangeable. It's a cranking battery. Some people do it, it will work, but it's not good for the battery. Deep cycles are made for running lights and all that kind of stuff, having that extended load on them.

So, in today's modern world of RVs, what batteries are being used? Hmm. Lexus got any input here, used ones, old favors X, pion 360 s. Of course, those are the lithium batteries and they are being used. Um, more and more RVs are coming out with, or, you know, leaving the assembly line with lithium’s in them, or the dealers are putting them in.

It's still not an everyday occurrence, but it is happening. Right. But you have flooded batteries, which I don't have sitting here. Um, which are your typical deep cycle batteries? Like we sell interstate and AC Delco flooded batteries, so you're just lead acid batteries. Mm-hmm, uh, most basic battery you can get.

Then you have your AGM, or excuse me, AGM battery and your gel cells Very similar. They're both sealed. Batteries can be installed in different ways, sideways, whatever. They don't vent. They're more expensive than a flooded battery. Not as expensive as a lithium battery. Then you have golf cart batteries, otherwise known as six-volt batteries and golf cart.

Batteries are most common in the flooded, but you can get them in jail and AGM and there's a lithium. Batteries are made that size, but there's still 12 volts. So if you had that size, and that's only, you can go back in, you'd have to go with the 12 volt. I don't know if there's a six-volt lithium battery yet to replace the golf cart in the truest sense, but nonetheless,

And typically if you have the golf cart batteries, you want to go eight lithium, you're just going to make the lithium normal ones work anyways, right? So, most RVs come with. A 24 or 27 series battery. Some now are coming with 30 one’s series. It depends on the rv, how it's made. Some RVs come with one battery, some come with two.

Very few come with three or more. Most of them come with one or two. Some batteries don't come with any. The dealership might put them in, might not. You might have to buy them at the time you buy the RV. You might have to bring your own. It depends on the dealership. You buy a used rv, it might have them, but the batteries might not be any good.

They might have two sitting in there, just so there's two batteries sitting in there. So, the difference between the batteries 24 series, 27 series and 31, and sometimes they can be called group 20, group 24, group 27, group 31. So, either way, 24, 27, 30. So they have different sizes and amp hours. So, a group 24 battery is generally 12 inches long by seven by nine, a 27 series battery is 13 inches long, uh, seven by nine.

A 31 series. Battery is 13 inches long, seven by nine. Get the picture here. Only one dimension changes 10, 12, or 13, a golf cart battery is, uh, 10 inches long by seven by 10, 10 high. So, it's very close to a 24 series battery. Just taller. Mm-hmm. Okay, so that's the six volts. And so, the amp hours would be the other thing.

A 27 series battery might have. Um, 85, 88. Depends amp hours. A 24 series might be 81 or so um, 31 series is going to be 98. Let's just call that a hundred-amp hour, so that's going to be almost the same. That's the same as a lithium battery. And then a golf cart battery is going to have 225-amp hours per battery.

But when you put two of them together in series, you make one 12 volt battery out of two six volts. You only have 225-amp hours. Right. You know, it's easy to think that it just doubles, but it doesn't, it becomes one battery. So, it's 225-amp hours. Yep. So, you have the different types of batteries, the different sizes, um, the different qualities, things like that.

Now, what really changes it? I mean, they all do the same thing. They run 12-volt appliances. You know, it's just how you can drain them, how much, you know, depth of discharge, recharge rate, things like that. So those are where you must consider a lot of your own personal needs, what you're doing, where you're doing it, how reliant are you going to be on your six or your, uh, batter.

If you're always plugged in, then batteries pretty much don't matter because you're always plugged into shore power and you don't need them. You know, they're just for that time when you're not plugged in, maybe traveling. So, you still want to have them. You want to keep them in good shape, but you're not going to be using them like someone who's dry camping.

So, the other thing with batteries are how do you want them to be installed? Like if you have a travel trailer, do you want them on the tongue of the trailer? or do you prefer them to be inside the RV with theft and things deteriorating? Crime rates going up. Mm-hmm. even, you know, lead acid batteries are still a, an item to steal.

They're not worth as much as, let's say, a lithium-ion battery, but people still steal stuff. Right. If they can get eight bucks for it, recite at the recycling center, they're going to steal it. Mm-hmm, but acid battery pretty much needs to be outside. You know, on the tongue of a trailer in fifth wheels, they're mounted in the front compartment, but they're in a box that's sealed, and the box itself is vented to the outside.

Okay? And the reason why is it's the gases that acid will get on everything in the compartment, and it eventually ruin everything in the compartment. That's why they're vented to the outside, sitting there. It's going to work the same, function, the same, but those gases will eventually cause everything to start corroding.

Yeah. And you know, you see how batteries in a car or something, they get that corrosion all over and it starts leaking down, draining. You get that, but you're. deep cycle batteries aren't going to have that as much as just the gassing and then it ruins stuff. Okay? So, lead acid batteries typically are going to be maybe in a lock compartment on a fifth wheel, but in travel trailers on the tongue, now you can get boxes for them to lock them in, which RV lock boxes a box that we've used.

We carry them in stock. It's a nice box. I don't recall the prices, and they just revamped their whole line, so they look a little bit different. So I don't even want to throw out a number, , but they're over 200 bucks. I'll tell you. Um, maybe three. Not sure, , but it's an option to lock them on the tongue. Now, if you want to put batteries in the side only inside the rv, maybe in a compartment, you don't want to have to have them in a sealed box.

You can't vent it to the outside. Then AGMs gel cells or lithium would be the way to go. Now AGMs are a lot more expensive than a flooded battery, and we really don't see a lot of those in RV. I've had AGMs and gel cells in my RV in the past, and I wouldn't buy them again. I don't feel I gained anything.

Okay. Some people really prefer them. That's all they'll want to put in their RV. But as far as the life, I didn't get anything out of it, and it just seemed to work the same. Hmm. So, I'm not saying they're bad, that's just my experience with. But I know they, they are good batteries, and they are sealed, so they can be mounted on their side, they can be inside, they're not going to gas, that type of thing, which is good.

Yeah. So if you have to have that situation and you don't want to spend the money on lithium or is not in the budget, , there's an alternative, but they're still not cheap. You know, you're going to be 350, $400 easy per battery, , you know, if you, and again, if you find really inexpensive ones, that means they're really cheap ones.

Yeah. The lower the price, the lower the quality. Yep. True. You know the big box stores, when they sell deep cycle batteries for $85, you're getting a very cheap battery. Yeah. It's not quality right away. It might be a good name. It might be AC Delco. Might be interstate. Mm-hmm. But it's not a quality battery because they're made cheaper for the big box store.

Right. So, we don't sell those here. We sell the better-quality higher price. So, you get more bang for your buck. Really? Mm-hmm. You know, batteries being installed inside the RV. Outside the RV on the tongue. So that's going to depend on your needs, where you'll live. Theft, the quality of the battery. If you're going to put lithium ions on your in your trailer and your only place to install them is on the tongue, then get a box for them.

Make sure they're locked up. You know, locks can be broken, boxes can be broken into, but someone really wants that. They're going to get it, but it deters. A lot of the basic thief’s from stealing it, you know? Right. The crack addict who just wants to make 20 bucks to go get his next high going to stop that guy.

Yeah. So there's no crack addicts listening to the show, I don't think. , but it doesn't matter because that's reality. Those who, those who steal a lot of stuff. Mm-hmm. , you know, people with drug problems, addiction problems, . So then which battery should you. Well, that's going to depend on various things, so that's where you must do some analyzing of, of your needs.

Now, lithium-ion batteries are the, you know what everybody's talking about nowadays. Everybody wants lithium ion, but then they look at the prices and prices really dictate the quality of the battery, especially with these. Now if you're watching, you see we have Ion 360, and this is the brand we carry.

We used to carry battle borns and we dropped them because of the significant difference in quality, better warranty, better battery. Mm-hmm, and I've talked about them in the past. On our hundredth episode, we went into this little more in a lot more in depth. And actually, I have some videos of battle borns that I haven't posted yet, and I need to do that.

I'm just going through it and just trying to fine tune them. But it really shows the difference in. and a lot of people are buying like $500 lithium batteries, and they're junk. They're not any good. They're going to last for a few years and that's it. Then you're going to be spending that money all over again.

Mm-hmm, why do that? If you're going to not, if you don't want to spend the money, buy AGMs or Gel cells. Yep. You know, put your money in that you're going to be happier with it than buying a cheap lithium. Which battery, if you're doing solar full-time in your RV all the time, using the lithium ions would probably be the best way to go.

Heavier investment. But remember, if you do sell the rv, you can take those batteries out and put them in your new one. Put in some new batteries that are a lot cheaper into the RV you sell. Mm-hmm. You know, I hate saying that kind of stuff, but it's better than just not having the batteries in there. and you know the batteries you choose might depend on your RV.

So let's say you have gel or uh, flooded batteries in your RV and you're really thinking you want to go to lithium and you want to go solar or maybe you already have solar. Well, you must make sure you're charge controller for your solar system. We'll charge the lithium batteries is adaptable to that and the converter in the RV.

You have to make sure that it will work with the lithium battery. All these batteries have different charge rates, so it's important you charge it properly. If you have a converter set up just for charging flooded batteries, it's not going to charge your lithium batteries. They will never have a full charge.

Mm-hmm. or AGM or something. Because that extra money might throw it out of the budget where it's not worth doing or you can't afford it. Mm-hmm. So those are the things to consider and that's why it becomes personal, not just your needs, but how much is in your wallet, you know, it's the bottom line in a lot of cases.

How much money do you have? And so, lithium batteries are great. The, you know, they're typically a hundred-amp hour batteries. Now the 24 series, they come in smaller, like 95-amp hour, 65 amp hour, but they're still pretty pricey. I would just try to put the 27 series in, make them fit, and just have a hundred-amp hours per battery.

be done with it. And because you can drain them lower, um, you get more usage out of them. It's uh, a hundred amp hours works out pretty good. So, it's a nice way to go. But if it's a budgetary thing or you just want simplicity, then just go with flooded batteries, AGMs, and gel cells. You got to really think about that.

Do you really need them? They are good batteries just for me. I wasn't excited about them. But, um, the flooded batteries are what in most RVs, they've been working for decades, inexpensive way to go. If they fail out on the road, it's not a hard decision to make. If you must buy two new ones, big deal. You know, it's better than trying to decide, well, gosh, this lithium battery failed on the road.

What should I do? It has a warranty, but I'm not going to be home for a while. I can't get ahold of the company. Blah, blah, blah, right? You know, suddenly, you're find yourself just buying flooded batteries anyways, you know? Yep. But, you know, talk to the, your service center where you have your work done, and if you're doing it yourself, just do some research.

Look at batteries as, you know, individual items or products, and that's going to help you make the decision. Um, and, you know, there's so many more details to batteries. I mean, you can really get into these things. You know, like the batteries, how much you know, can you use, you know, what's the depth of discharge, how much do they drain down when they're not being used?

There are all these questions, but most of the batteries have said, uh, a flooded battery, one brand is almost going to be the same as the next as far as all the specs go. Same with the glass map. Battery gel cell, lithium lithium’s are a little bit different. And the, the biggest thing about lithium’s. That I think is they can't freeze, or you don't want them to freeze.

Okay. So that becomes a problem in a lot of things. Cars, I don't know, in cars they haven't researched, but I'm sure they have a heated battery system to keep those batteries warm because you can discharge them when they're frozen, but you can't recharge them when they're frozen. Oh. Or in freezing temperatures.

So like x pion 360, they have, um, blankets made for their batteries or bags that it sits in a, um, other brands or there's other brands of those bags to keep the batteries warm. Battle born has one that's in one of the cells, a little heating element. Not keen on that. It's going to heat one cell a lot better than anything else.

It's not going to be a well distributed, uh, heating effect, you know, I suppose it works. They're doing it, but right. That doesn't always mean anything. So that's probably the biggest negative about lithium-ion batteries. And so, if you're use your RV a lot in the wintertime, you have to consider that. Mm-hmm.

it's the same with electric bikes. If you have an electric bike, you can't leave it in the garage. If the batteries are going to freeze, you have to, you know, you should take the battery out, which they come out really easy. So those are things to consider. That's one of the downsides to lithium. Um, that's probably the only downside to it.

like I said, you just can't charge it when it's freezing and there is that bottom temperature. Uh, I think it's below zero or at zero, where you know you really don't want it to go below there. Hmm. 20 below. I forget too many numbers, um, you and your tip, your, your basic batteries, you know, like a flooded battery, AGM battery.

If you have that charged and it freezes or you go into freezing temperatures, it should be okay. And so I, you know, depending on your rv, it might be better just to take them out. If they're easy to take out and you know, you're not going to use your RV all winter long for four months or five months, just take them out, put them in your shop and get a no-code battery charger, a smart one, and just set them on there and have a trickle charger, keeping them going all winter long that when you put them back in, they're fresh and trickle chargers aren't charging all the time.

The smart chargers, they, they go on and off, they cycle on and. And so, it keeps the, the everything active in the battery. Mm-hmm. Makes them actually last longer. How much longer? Who knows? Might be an hour, might be a day who knows, but you get something out of it. Right? So that's the feel-good side of it.

But, you know, if you want the specs and things like that, I'll put some stuff on the Smart RV or.com website, um, all sorts of information. Really deep dive on the specs. Which you may or may want. You know, amp hours are the main thing, and the physical size of the battery is what most people care about.

Sure. And just one other point, um, really quick here. If you're replacing a batter, you'll say you have two batteries, two flooded batteries, one goes bad, and the batteries are, you know, two years old. You really should replace both battery that old battery will bring down the new battery and diminish its life, um, very rapidly.

So you should just replace them both. And I know that can be painful. But it's well worth it. Do not have aged different batteries. You could have, you know, different brands, but just if they're different ages, replace them both. So that's just one last little tip there. But like I said, I'll have more information on our website and so you can go to TheSmartRVer.com under RV articles, and you'll see it there about batteries or something with that sort of title on it.

And as a reminder, we want to know how we're doing. So go to TheSmartRVer.com and use the contact us page and let us know, please. We're always curious. See what we need to improve on, or something you'd like to hear in the show. Mm-hmm, we'll get to it eventually. That's right. All right, so now. Is going to share some information with us in our next stop section about Lake Placid, New York.

NEXT STOP

All righties. Awesome. Awesome. , what do you want to know? I want to know everything there possibly is to know about. Oh boy. Okay, how about the usual? What are the highlights? Where do we eat? Where do we stay?

Eric- sound like it. So yeah, and that's the whole point. Everything everywhere we talk about going, there's always stuff to do. Exactly. You know, keep you busy. Right. Spend a lot of money, all that kind of stuff. Usually. Yeah. That's a family happy. Yeah, it's important. . So there's activities there. Now what about eating? Are there any awesome places that just stand out? You got to know where to go to eat. Huh?

Alexis- Um, there, there's a place called Salt of the Earth, which I just love. I love that. Um, it or. Name, name. Um, they have grilled salmon, so it's a little fancier. It's like, uh, Cornish hen they have New York strip steak, which I love. Steak, they have piccata. Um, so if you're looking for a little bit of a fancier venue, you might want to check them out. ? Yeah. Steak sounds good, isn't it? Cornish shins do with the fish now thing. Ah, I know. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then there's Wyatts, they have the Mexican, uh, food for you. They've got the burritos, the taco, the guacamole.

Eric- Yeah. Mexicans always works. Yeah. He can't go wrong. Yeah, usually. Yeah. And then they have Redneck Bistro, which is just everything BB. So right on. Yeah. Got to love that. That's probably the most unhealthy place there. I'm sure it is. That's okay. Delicious. Sometimes you got to splurge. Yeah. No, don't gimme a reason to go see your heart doctor.

Alexis- There you go. Yep.

Eric- All right. So, what about staying there? If you bring your RV, are you going to be disappointed or happy?

Alexis- No. You're going to be happy. I think there are quite a few places to stay. Um, there's Whiteface Mountain KOA um, very RV friendly, so they've got plenty of spots for your RV. There's Thorn Bush Acres RV Park. They've got full hookups, which is always good to know before you, yeah, stay somewhere. You want to know that. And they have activities for the family, so if you want to sign up for something or go check it out, they've got like games outside. All right. Um, and then there's Brookwood RV Resort, which they have a really nice supply store, so that's good to know.

Eric- Buy some RV parts while you're there. Toilet paper, you know, stuff. These, the things you need that you forgot or ran out of. So that’s always good to know though. Yes. You know it is. You can count on that. That's right. Especially if you get there. Yeah. Towards the end of the day. And you know you need something.

Alexis- Yeah, there's, you can count on that. There's always something. Yeah.

Eric- There he is, just any kind of vacation, doesn't matter. It's RV flying, driving. Mm-hmm. There's always something you forget and have to buy on the road Exactly. To run out of. Yeah. Yep. Exactly. All right. Awesome. And when's the best time of year to go there?

Alexis- Well, since there's so many things to do, um, in all the seasons really. Is good. Winter and summer activities are just abundant there. But if you're, you know, if you're a snowbird, snowbird, maybe the summer would be better.

Eric- So that's the wrong direction for a snow.

Alexis- You know, you're right. Now that I think about it,

Eric- Okay. If you're summer birds, non-snowbird. Yeah. Don't go there. Okay, we get the point. So, any time of year. All right, cool. So that sounds nice. New York does have some nice places. We don't want to discount New York. Um, Sometimes New York comes to mind, we think of crime. Right. But New York is a pretty darn cool state. You know, been there several times and I like it. Mm-hmm, um, definitely a place I'd like to go back, but yes. Farther than I like to travel. All right, cool. So, we appreciate that. Now let's get into the RV section and we're going to talk about the echo brake controller made by current. I don't have one sitting here.

RV ENVY

It's out of reach, but we can do without it. And can you get it, Alexis? I'll get it. without it becoming a, there we go. We go. All right. So, the Kurt Brake controller. So, what's unique about this thing is couple things. It comes with an app. That you can put on your smartphone and download the app and ma and work the controller.

And the other thing about the controller is it doesn't mount underneath your dash. So if you have an older vehicle where you got that brake controller mounted underneath the dash, or you have a newer vehicle where it's mounted in the dash, came from the factory with it, you know, those things do fail and sometimes you have to put a new control.

and yes, you can get a, a, a new one for in the dash, but maybe decide, hey, I want to try something different. Yeah. Because my in dash one sucks. I don't like the way it functions. It's hard to get to when I'm driving. You know, there's all these variable ones. Some of them you have to press buttons and do this and that, and you have to really focus on your speedometer or the, the cluster there.

Taking your eyes off the road, or a smartphone you can hold up and kind of look at it while you're driving. Someone else could help you with it as well. You're a co-pilot, so it plugs into the receptacle, the trailer receptacle, where all your, your seven-way plugs in for your lights. So cool. So it's pretty darn sweet, you know, it just plugs into the back of the vehicle.

The connector, the cable from the trailer plugs into it, and it's done. It's connected. Perfect. So, there's an initial setup on it. And you can also set it up for different vehicles. So, if you have a different braking, whatever for another vehicle or another trailer, you can set it up that way. But it uses the app.

It's cool. And you don't have to have the app. You can get by without it. Oh, okay. So, you can install it and use it. Cool. Very good. So, the next time I get a brake controller or need one, this is what's going on in my vehicle. Yeah. Forget the dash-mounted ones and all that. This thing just seems too easy.

Someone you know is pulling, maybe they're borrowing your trailer, or they don't have a brake controller. Here you go. Yeah. You know? Yep. It's safety. Yes. And you must have a brake controller. Driving without one is a nightmare. Yeah. Someone, you know needs to borrow or they, their, their brake controller failed and you want to help them out here, you can borrow mine for your trip.

Yep. You know, pretty sweet. Mm-hmm. and they can download the app and do what they want to do with it as well. Very nice. So, it's not like it's just locked into you forever. Hmm. So they retail for 250, I believe. Somewhere in there that might be a little off but gives you an idea and they're pretty darn cool.

So, I highly recommend these for somebody who's looking for a brake controller. So, we have something coming out just about every week now as far as videos and audio. Mm-hmm. So the audio, you know, you're getting that, the videos, you know, if you're subscribing then you know it's there. But if you check back with, our YouTube channel, you know, it's TheSmartRVer on YouTube.

I think it's YouTube at TheSmartRVer. Mm-hmm. But if you go there, you'll see the videos. Then there's already some stuff there, but we're adding to its weekly. Every podcast now is put on. Our fast tip Fridays are all, they're designed for YouTube, because they're very product specific. Mm-hmm.

So, check that out. And we're constantly adding, as I said before, maybe not in this episode, but other episodes, any products we talk about in here will become a deep dive on the Fast tip Friday. Yeah. You know, and those are generally 10 minutes or less, so we don't, uh, drown you with boring stuff. Right. , you know, all the nonsense we get into the nitty gritty, the things you need to know.

Yes. To want to use it or not help you give them, make that decision. So, I want to thank everybody for listening today and Alexis’s information she shared with us. Yeah, of course, all right, so this is Eric Stark with TheSmartRVer Podcast and been awesome hanging out with everybody today. If I don't see on the road.

Let's connect at TheSmartRVer.com.