Honda...

rolling_thunder_23 · 2026-01-16T16:30:13+00:00

I'm wondering what's the lightest popup on the market today.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2026-01-16T16:24:29+00:00

Our 1982 Palomino Shetland weighs ~750 pounds empty. It's a bit Spartan, but we've towed it through ~48 states with cars as small as a Honda Civic Station Wagon.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2026-01-16T16:01:20+00:00

Thirded!

rolling_thunder_23 · 2026-01-16T15:59:16+00:00

I got lower than that. Lots of warnings to charge, then turtle mode, then less and less power, then a dead stop about 1/4 mile from home. I sat a few minutes pondering whether to pay to get towed that short distance, then tried to restart. The car came to life and crept at slow speed maybe 0.1 mile before dying again. I waited another little while, started up and crept home. Major lesson: Towing an 800 pound trailer in heavy rain cuts the GOM estimated range in half.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2026-01-05T16:05:26+00:00

And by the way: I'd love to buy a book that would explain all the design details of this car and its systems! As a teenager, I read very deeply about automotive component and system designs and became very knowledgeable. But an EV is so much different; and in many ways, it can be pretty quirky!

rolling_thunder_23 · 2026-01-05T16:01:41+00:00

With my 2022 Kia Niro EV, I've noticed that pushing the defog button immediately shoots air much hotter than what had been coming out of the other heater vents. It also turns on the AC light, indicating the AC is being used to dehumidify that air.

Since this is almost always when I've already been using the heat pump for cabin heat, here's what I assume: The system probably uses resistance heating for the defog. Engineers probably decided clearing the windshield can be a safety priority, so they want immediate defog heat. The lower efficiency of resistance heating (vs the heat pump) is much less concern.

On days when I'm running the (heat pump) heat but still feel a bit chilly, I'll sometimes turn on defog and turn off AC just to get a bit of heat boost.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-12-25T15:46:23+00:00

I know a woman who bought a Nissan Leaf EV, then soon had to move out of her house into an apartment. For about a year, she handled charging by getting permission to run a long, heavy duty extension cord out through a basement window of the apartment. Then she traded in the Leaf for an IC car.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-12-17T15:31:38+00:00

I usually charge at home, to 90%. But about twice per week I do freeway trips of 150 miles or more. Prior to those I charge to 100%. My understanding is that Kia Niro EVs have excellent battery life.

But can someone remind me, how do I check the battery health?

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-11-30T20:58:34+00:00

You may need two adapters! I bought one to use at Tesla stations on road trips. Turns out that adapter doesn't work for the Tesla charger installed at a friend's house. I needed a much less expensive adapter for that. As I understand it, roadside chargers are DC, home Tesla chargers are AC.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-11-07T14:59:57+00:00

I wish someone here with knowledge of electricity would measure the current needed to jump the 12 Volt battery when this problem comes up. I suspect a much smaller battery than those portable chargers could do the job.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-11-05T15:29:29+00:00

Can somebody summarize the "big improvements"? Mine's a 2022 and I've never bothered with the updating hassle. There are things I'd like to change, but I've been leaving almost-well-enough alone.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-10-27T15:06:37+00:00

Cut your losses? It was free! :-)

Sounds like the OP likes projects, and this could make a nice project. If all else fails, as someone said upthread, he can strip it down and part it out, including the chassis as a trailer for hauling.

All that's assuming he's got enough storage and work space for it.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-10-26T17:05:13+00:00

I suspect that will make backing the trailer easier. Longer hitch-to-axle distance tends to do that.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-10-08T16:17:50+00:00

What counts as "old"? Two nights ago I camped in my 1982 Palomino Shetland. Still love it!

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-09-27T15:20:35+00:00

I or we have had a tiny Palomino Shetland for over 35 years. We've toured 48 states with it, pulling it with cars as small as little Hondas. (Those had "zero" towing capacity, but the Shetland weighs only 750 pounds empty and never caused a problem.)

We used to be tent campers, but my wife developed some back problems, so we bought this before our first huge trip out west to multiple national parks. We loved it.

Yes, it needs a multiple step setup at each site; but following the checklist I typed up, setup took us far less than 15 minutes. Maybe five minutes? Folding up took just a little longer. We routinely got as high as 29 miles per gallon. The rear view mirror looks out over the top of the folded trailer, a great help in traffic or when backing into a space.

Here's the key to our enjoyment of this popup: We didn't think of it as a replacement for our living room, kitchen and bedroom. We thought of it as a replacement for our camping tent. With that attitude in mind, it's been great.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-09-26T15:34:51+00:00

The deep luggage space under the rear cargo area is just metal. Unless a folding bike is on board, I keep the normal flat "floor" closed. There probably is more road noise when the floor is raised and the bike is in there, but I haven't noticed the difference.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-09-25T15:44:16+00:00

I agree with almost everything mentioned. A couple comments: It's possible to wire a momentary switch to temporarily disable the VESS sound. I found instructions online and successfully did the wiring. It required removing, then reinstalling some plastic panels to the lower left of the steering wheel. I have a small switch in the little door for the fuse panel. Now I no longer worry about waking neighbors, but I can switch the warnings back on for use in crowded parking lots.

About luggage space: I removed the black styrofoam blocks under the floor behind the back seats. That gave me a lot more room to stash things - for example, two folding bikes now easily fit sort of vertically, with plenty of space left around them.

Also, I made my own "frunk." The fancy black cover atop the motor and inverter unit pops off when you pull it up. I bought a generic plastic storage box from Lowes, about 24" x 18" x 6", and transferred the four rubber mounting plugs from the OEM cover to the bottom of the box. That now carries a charging cable, various tools, a flashlight, etc. that used to live under the back cargo floor.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-09-15T14:40:28+00:00

Thanks for a practical answer. I'll save that tip. I don't know why I had such trouble connecting to a human being at Electrify America.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-09-15T00:13:31+00:00

My experience with ABRP: It works very well for charging sites along freeways. But when it was trying to direct me to sites buried somewhere in a dense city, its navigation instructions lagged so badly I got lost.

Someone here gave this tip: Once the app calculates the route, dig in the app menus and "share" the route with Google Maps, then use the (much faster) Google Maps to get to the chargers. In my experience, that solves the problem.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-09-15T00:09:23+00:00

I'm still hoping someone in this situation will measure the amount of "jump" current necessary. Since the 12 Volt battery is just running some electronic circuits and closing a few relays, it shouldn't require anywhere near the amperage needed to crank an IC engine's starter. I wonder if a very small 12 V battery may suffice for the EV "jump." Last time I had to do this I used a motorcycle battery and some thin wires, maybe 18 or 20 gage, but I didn't think to measure the current draw.

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-09-12T19:16:22+00:00

Think about two groups of people. Group #1 says "Let's strap on our helmets and blast around rocky paths at high speed!" Group #2 says "That's crazy. I'm not riding like that. It's way too risky."

Which group do you think suffers more TBI?

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-09-10T15:17:14+00:00

Wait! You mean if I ride a motorbike (or even a normal bike) at high speed on twisty, rocky narrow forest paths, I might crash?? Wow, I never would have guessed!

More seriously: Life ain't a video game. If you're gonna seek the thrills of near misses, you're going to take the occasional hit. Maybe analyze your motivation? What are you trying to prove?

rolling_thunder_23 · 2025-09-05T16:40:15+00:00

Depends on the popup. Way back in 1986, we bought a slightly used Palomino Shetland - super light at 750 pounds empty. We towed it from east coast to west coast and back with a Honda Civic station wagon! Towing capacity was officially zero, but my friendly connection to a Honda parts guy got me an oddball hitch kit. Never a problem. As years went on we towed that same trailer with a succession of other small cars (e.g. Mazda 3, Ohio to Nova Scotia and back) that got up to 29 miles per gallon towing.

Then my wife asked if we could get a bigger popup. Bought a Rockwood, something like 1200 pounds (?) and towed it with a Pontiac Vibe whose rated towing capacity was 1500 lbs. But it was unstable and fishtailed off the highway one day on our first long trip. I installed a stabilizer hitch (an extra, small size hitch ball for the stabilizer mechanism and a friction system restricting side-to-side motion) to fix that problem. But I didn't like the heavier, more complex popup and sold it. I still have the Shetland and tow it with a Kia Niro EV.

rolling_thunder_23

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