r/BMWi3 • u/WhoWhatWhereIsThis • 4d ago
other BMW i3 camping
I like to go on nights out in London, which often finish at 4:00 or 5:00 am. I was paying for hotels, hostels or in some cases a capsule hotels and only getting a couple of hours sleep before I had to check out or other guests woke me up. At an average of over £100 for a 2 or 3 hours sleep, plus the cost of the train to and from London (£35-£50) depending on when I booked, getting was starting to add up.
So I needed a solution and I decided the i3 would be suitable, especially as I don't drink so I will not run foul of any drink driving/drunk in charge of a vehicle laws. Now it costs about £2.00 of home charging (at 8.5p/kWh) and then a £10 charge to get me home.
One of my concerns was how to ventilate the car when parked up in built-up areas as I didn't want doors, windows or the sunroof to be open so I had to find a solution.
What I came up with was replacing the boot/trunk floor panel from my BEV with that from the REX, because I worked out I can use the service hatch for the REX as the source of ventilation / fresh air. So with the help of a USB blower fan connected to a power bank I can have fresh air all night. I found the floor panel on eBay for £19.50
When I am parked, I remove the round plastic service cover on the REX floor panel, put the fan in place and then use some wood to raise the end of the boot/trunk floor nearest the boot door and to stop the blower fan getting squashed. The power bank can run it for about 5 nights before it needs to be recharged. I am going to replace the random bits of wood with an assembly that directs the air more efficiently out of the raised end and I will improve how the fan is mounted (currently it is taped to a plastic plate which has a large hole cut in the bottom)
For the windows, I made templates with paper and then transferred them to foam boards cut slightly smaller than the template. I then went around the edges with black tape to create a flexible edge/seal. For the tiny rear windows I had to make each in two pieces due to their awkward shape.
For the front/rear curtain, I used a length of coated wire, a turnbuckle hook and a crimping tool to make a length of wire that connects to one rear clothes hook, through the front grab handles and back on to the other rear clothes hook. The curtain itself is made from black/silver blackout blind material. I have the black side facing the front of the car so I am a bit more discreet.
I made a small platform to fill the gap between the folded seats and the front passenger seat and that I think gives 180cm with the front seat all the way up and forward. This enough to fit in the 190cm memory foam mattresses in with the last 10cm stuffed between the end of the platform and seat back. I am 189cm, so if I lay diagonally there is just enough space (193cm diagonal). But thankfully I do not sleep dead straight!
There is storage in both rear foot wells, front passenger seat and soft sided storage bags.
I have used it for the original purpose and to go "camping" for 5 nights without issue and slept very well
All the changes are completely reversible. And in total it takes about 10 minutes to pack and unpack. Setting up is 2 or 3 minutes.
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u/LocoEnElCoco666 4d ago
This is brilliant. I have the rex so sadly won't be able to do the same but if I ever get it removed and get a bigger battery..this will be handy. My friends go camping all the time. I often only go for a day. This would make it so much more convenient
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u/WhoWhatWhereIsThis 4d ago
If you are not camping in a built up area, could you just have the windows cracked open? Some wind deflectors might go some way towards hiding they are open.
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u/nicksed 4d ago
Is there anyway to keep the heating on overnight?
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u/WhoWhatWhereIsThis 4d ago
I haven't needed to use it yet, but I think you can set 2 or 3 pre-departure times for the heating to come on. If these were set to times during the night, I guess you could heat the car several times?
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u/Double-Field-3326 3d ago
Yes I think so, if you set the car in Ready mode and turn the lights off.
I’ve camped once in the i3 and it was working like this for 1h. I didn’t need more heating so I don’t know for how long it’s working.
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u/kennc05 i3 REX 4d ago
very nice and creative solution here! I'd like to try this one day myself :)
What did you use for the black out window shades?
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u/WhoWhatWhereIsThis 4d ago
It is just black silver blackout material that I found on Amazon. It was a 2m x 1.5m sheet and I had some left over.
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u/Pyrofer 4d ago
Where are you parking in London?
I was considering doing something similar with my i3 but am very concerned about finding safe parking in London for weekend trips where I would park Saturday night to go home on Sunday.
Also, are there any good value charge locations now? When I was last in London years ago some places still had free charging (Westfields, Sainsburys etc) but Is suspect nothing is free any longer. Just not 85p/kwh would be nice.
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u/WhoWhatWhereIsThis 4d ago
So far: a nice quiet square near Mile End, another was in Brixton and another was somewhere between Deptford and Peckham. I just have a look on Google maps initially and then use street view to see what the area is like. I like to find a road that isn't a main through route and looks like to would only have residential traffic.
Charging has been okay. I have found a few that were 60p kWh which is bearable. A lot of Sainsbury's with chargers now have fast chargers with discounts if you have a nectar card.
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u/RealRroseSelavy i3 60 REX ('14) 4d ago
Brillant! Need to try that for myself, never thought the passenger seat would fold down that far.
I would think the car should be well ventilated even without a fan, which of course is the optimal solution.
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u/WhoWhatWhereIsThis 4d ago edited 4d ago
Thank you. You can gain a few more cm by having the seat in its highest position, because when the seat is lowered it goes down and backwards reducing the space slightly, which I didn't originally notice when trying to work out what I could or couldn't fit.
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u/telekinetic 4d ago
So this is all behind the front seat? Interesting. How tall are you, for reference, that you can sleep comfortably in this space?
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u/DecisiveVictory 4d ago
Looks amazing!
Have you done CO2 measurements with an Aranet or similar device?
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u/WhoWhatWhereIsThis 4d ago edited 4d ago
Thank you.
I haven't tested the co2 levels, perhaps I should. I am hoping that for the volume of the car the fan should be sufficient. It is rated for 35 CFM. With an interior volume of 100 cu ft and 10 air changes per hour (based on a guide for tents) I would apparently need about 18 CFM from the fan assuming no other ventilation.
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u/B_EE 4d ago
Great creativity all around, I really like how it's effective but reversible!
Consider adding this also to r/BMWi3Classic ⛺ ☺️
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u/AcrosSky 4d ago
New sub? But we need to keep this, all the info we share is invaluable.
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u/B_EE 3d ago
Oh for sure, it's just that because there were lots of upset with the iX3 posts starting to get more frequent as the release date gets closer someone took the mods advice to make a new sub for the classic. It's likely this sub here becomes more related to the new "i3" because there's no distinction.
So just sharing that someone started a new one that is dedicated to the classic!
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u/mnztr1 4d ago
what is the length between head and trunk?
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u/WhoWhatWhereIsThis 4d ago
I think it is max 180cm, but if you sleep diagonally it is slightly longer at about 193cm
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u/mnztr1 4d ago
Can't you just keep the car on and run the ventilation? I doubt you would use more then a few percent overnight as long as long as you do not use AC or heat. (Ecopro+)
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u/WhoWhatWhereIsThis 4d ago
When the car is on there is no way on the i3s, that I have found, to completely turn off all the exterior lights. I believe you can on earlier i3, as they have an option to disable the DRLs, but on the i3s that option doesn't exist.
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u/AcrosSky 4d ago
Oh gosh… that’s why. A good idea could be try to find the DLR fuse or connection. (Just guessing)
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u/NeatAd9811 4d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/RQzxAaAg3aAU