Leaving Parking Lights on at Rest Stops?

[Neal]

Well, my $.02 is... Rest areas are not just for trucks. They are for autos, RV's and yes trucks. There are some "Truck Only rest areas, but they don't have many amenities and are used for truckers to take their required time off.

A rest area is there to allow a tired traveler to take time from driving and relax for safety reasons. There is no real time limit, but yes some do say no overnight parking, but catching 3/4 hrs sleep is fine if you need that much rest. Now I don't necessarily "stay" at a rest stop, but I do stay as long as I need to be safe. If I am traveling a long distance I often stop at a rest stop for 30 min to an hour to take a break and take a nap. You would be surprised how far you can go being refreshed and relaxed. Many rest stops link in FL have security guards for that added security

Concur. I'll stop at rest areas and have lunch, walk the dog, stretch my legs. I will not "plan" to spend the night at one, ever. I don't leave a CG without a destination reserved for the next stop. If needed, take a nap, I've done that long ago in a long car trip when I had a poor nights' sleep the prior night. An hour power nap does wonders.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

The LEO contingent in our family forbids us to overnight at rest areas. To many responses to those areas because bad things are happening. No Walmart’s either. Cabelas and
Bass Pro are usually OK.

TJ

 

[J&JD]

I guess because of my early days of being a teacher, I actually enjoy the research, and planning for our trips. So far we have not had to resort to any of the above mentioned options. Tonight, we had a stop needed on our trip in Wells, Nevada. I had a bit of doubt about the rv park, “Welcome Station”, but after driving across the desert today, we found it to be a simple, well-organized oasis with a creek,grass, and mostty just rvers, not semi-permanents.I have found the sources I use most are Campground Reviews, and Big Rigs.
These are unusual times, and there are sadly more financially stressed folks out there. I think we have to enjoy travel with a bit more safety in mind. Judy D

 

[CaptainGizmo]

Good grief...the way these threads can go sideways and never answer the poor OP’s question. Sorry, a pet peeve of mine and try to catch myself.

John,
If you have LED markers, I’d be almost CERTAIN you could easily last all night with them on.

Next week, have a Tech run an ammeter on your chassis batteries with your markers on.

Please circle back and let me know!

 

[MapNerd]

Good grief...the way these threads can go sideways and never answer the poor OP’s question. Sorry, a pet peeve of mine and try to catch myself.

John,
If you have LED markers, I’d be almost CERTAIN you could easily last all night with them on.

Next week, have a Tech run an ammeter on your chassis batteries with your markers on.

Please circle back and let me know!

I stopped paying attention to it a while ago. Figured I’d find my answer at Newmar. This thread left me pretty disappointed in the forum.

 

[Neal]

Answering the OP's post is no fun!

Question: If you turn on your "parking lights" whatever those are, is your dash going to beep? I know if my headlights are left on they beep but I can't remember if that also occurs with the "parking lights" on.

Edit: Because rest area use is an important topic for RVers IMHO
Edit2: Answering your deleted post, no, I would not turn my lights on. You stated it's well lit. I don't know why trucks do that or maybe that's because they leave their engine running? I think? I don't know. Does leaving your lights on mean it's occupied?

 

[MapNerd]

Answering the OP's post is no fun!

His name is Robert Paulson

Question: If you turn on your "parking lights" whatever those are, is your dash going to beep? I know if my headlights are left on they beep but I can't remember if that also occurs with the "parking lights" on.

I cannot speak to what other units do, they all seem to be built a little differently but mine does not beep if the parking lights are on, engine is off and keys are in the ignition. It does occur if the headlights are on, engine off and keys in the ignition.

Edit: Because rest area use is an important topic for RVers IMHO

I agree, it can be an important topic but it wasn’t my intended topic.

Edit2: Answering your deleted post, no, I would not turn my lights on. You stated it's well lit. I don't know why trucks do that or maybe that's because they leave their engine running? I think? I don't know. Does leaving your lights on mean it's occupied?

Well lit is relative. I would hope that any truck driver would be able to see the 60’ long 13’ tall RV parked in a spot but if parking lights on, which in your RV basically equates to marker lights on makes a bit of difference, then I’m a fan of it. I’d leave em on at a Cabellas, a Cracker Barrel, a Lowes, wherever I was that wasn’t a campground.

Where I was parked was never the intended subject of the conversation.

...also, deleted post?
Edit: oh yeah I see. I just deleted that separate postand added it into post #8 instead of having two separate posts from myself back to back.

 

[Neal]

I think it comes down to you just need to make the best decision in the interest of your safety and that of the vehicle. Only you can decide. What I’m not sure of is which battery bank is powering those lights whether chassis or house batteries. I think it’s chassis and if you end up in a no start situation or damaging the chassis batteries it could be a concern. You have the battery boost option to help the situation but I don’t know I'd want to test that situation. More to consider. Use your instinct and do as you wish.

You did start down a path of AGS settings which may be good in another thread. I would not trust Newmar on that setup but instead fellow RVers. The techs do not know these systems like some think. They have templates to set to but beyond that beware. AGS settings are very important to know and trust. AGS is only for house batteries.

 

[MapNerd]

I think it comes down to you just need to make the best decision in the interest of your safety and that of the vehicle. Only you can decide. What I’m not sure of is which battery bank is powering those lights whether chassis or house batteries. I think it’s chassis and if you end up in a no start situation or damaging the chassis batteries it could be a concern. You have the battery boost option to help the situation but I don’t know I'd want to test that situation. More to consider. Use your instinct and do as you wish.

You did start down a path of AGS settings which may be good in another thread. I would not trust Newmar on that setup but instead fellow RVers. The techs do not know these systems like some think. They have templates to set to but beyond that beware. AGS settings are very important to know and trust. AGS is only for house batteries.

I spent an afternoon reading the manual and setting it up. The tech at CPU had disabled it. I suppose that’s better than setting it up wrong.

 

[Neal]

I spent an afternoon reading the manual and setting it up. The tech at CPU had disabled it. I suppose that’s better than setting it up wrong.

That may be a common thing when going into service anywhere so a good idea to review anytime getting the coach back. Good for you to disable before giving to service which is what I do unless discussed with them first.

 

[Neal]

I spent an afternoon reading the manual and setting it up. The tech at CPU had disabled it. I suppose that’s better than setting it up wrong.

I’d be happy to help along with the other electrical gurus here such as @Chuggs and @redbaron among others. Great system to have.

 

[redbaron]

@MapNerd

We too often stop in Rest stops. There are many rest stops that are spacious, and we feel very safe spending 6-8 hours in. When I park, I always leave my marker lights on, and my docking lights on. My reason for doing so is because the 360 camera's don't work so well at night, and the extra light gives my parameter light enough for the cameras. I keep the generator set to auto start, and depending on the weather, the AC will usually call for Generator more than enough time for me to worry about battery drain. I also have the low voltage rules setup to start the generator. Never had a problem.

I have never had a problem in the rest areas we choose. We also use Cabellas, Walmart, Sams Club, Home Depot, Lowes, and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) frequently. We travel a lot in the RV, and sometimes the travel is under a schedule, which means we stop when we need to and continue going when we are ready.

When we are not under schedule, we prefer 400 mile days, stopping before 3p, and staying in a full hookup park. Each trip has its own critiera, and thankfully we have an RV that works for us. I can't imagine how we would use it as often as we do if we had to always be in a campground before a certain time.

 

[redbaron]

We have the AGS set so the generator will come on, but I’m not sure if the generator would run the parking lights. Those are running off the chassis batteries I’d expect and I’m not sure if the generator will charge up the chassis batteries or not. I know it’ll charge the house batteries and then I could jump the chassis from the house, but obviously no one wants to do that unless there’s a real reason to. Thus far, I’ve just been turning on a couple of rechargable bike tail lights on the few occasions we do find ourselves there.

Your generator will charge the chassis. I have run for 8 hours with docking lights and parking lights on with no generator, and was able to start the coach no trouble. If for some reason your coach doesn't want to start due to low voltage of the starting batteries, you can use the boost to tie the house and charging batteries together and get it to start. I have had to do this before. I have also had a situation where both where too low to start the main engine, but was able to get the generator started. Once it ran for about 10 minutes, the main engine was able to start.

 

[Neal]

No reason not to leave your generator running if that makes you feel better about the power situation but it can also help block some of the external noise in these locations. Besides, most RVers do not run their generator enough allowing it to maintain proper lubrication and clear out the particles from sitting, i.e. keeping it exercised.

Overnight I thought of some things I actually have installed to help illumination one of which doesn't draw any coach power. A separate thread provided to assist anyone interested.

Tip - Tips for improving visibility around your RV while parked

A recent discussion reminded me of various things I do to improve visibility around my RV while parked. I'll share these tips and what I use for anyone interested in learning from what I learned. When I went to Newmar to pickup my motorhome I had the great opportunity of meeting others there...

rvforums.com

 

[texskeet]

I guess I am the rare one here. I love to save money my saving every dollar I could is the reason I can afford this life style now. I stay in all of the free place while in rut. I am a good shot and anyone that tries ant thing will have 3 or 4 wholes in chest very fast. I don't use parking lights.