RV LIFE Trip Wizard's Low Fuel Indicator feature provides you with a better understanding of when and where you'll need to refuel in between trip stops. This can be particularly helpful when traveling in rural areas or other places where service stations are in short supply.
How It Works
When you first started using Trip Wizard, you were asked to set up your Trip Settings. The RV Info tab (as shown below) is where you enter important vehicle/fuel tank details that will help you plan your trip. For now, we'll only be focusing on the fuel-related details.
Using the above scenario, let's say our RV gets an average of 14 miles per gallon (in red) with a fuel tank capacity of 24 gallons (in blue). When we multiply these two numbers, we get:
14 MPG x 24 total gallons = 336 total miles
This means that, on average, our RV is capable of traveling 336 total miles on a single tank of gas. Of course, we'll need to fill up before our tank goes empty. That's where the Fuel Reserve field comes in!
The Fuel Reserve feature (in red) lets you set the number of gallons you'd like to have left in your tank when the Low Fuel Indicator icon appears on your trip map. In this case, we set the number of gallons to 4. If we do the math:
14 MPG x 4 (reserve) gallons = 56 miles in reserve
This means the Low Fuel Indicator icon will appear on our trip map when we have approximately 56 miles left to travel before our tank goes completely dry. This is helpful during planning or throughout your trip, as you'll have a sense of when and where you'll need to start looking for a gas station before the needle hits Empty.
Using the Low Fuel Indicator with Your Trip Map
Now that you've created a trip, let's talk a little bit about how the Low Fuel Indicator works with your Trip Map. Let's say you created a trip like the one below. Right away, you'll see the Low Fuel Indicator icon just beyond your first stop at the Mingo RV Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Based on our calculations in the previous section, once you reach this point on your trip you have 56 miles left before your tank is empty. You'll also notice there is only one Low Fuel Indicator icon on the entire trip map, even though the total distance would require multiple fill-ups. This is because Trip Wizard cannot calculate your future gas mileage unless you add additional fuel up information.
How to Add Fuel During Your Trip
Let's say you've just reached your first trip stop -- Mingo RV Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma -- and you want to fill up here instead of waiting until your fuel tank gets any lower. Simply tap or click the Mingo RV Park stop and select Edit (the pencil icon) from the pop-up that appears on the right.
The Edit Trip window will appear. As you can see in the red-highlighted area, you've used 18.26 gallons to get to your first trip stop with 5.74 remaining.
To top off your fuel tank, you would need to add 18.26 gallons to bring the total back to 24 gallons (as we specified in our Trip Settings). Or if you added less, simply enter that amount in the Fuel Added field. For this example, we assume you filled it completely. Once you have done so, enter the fill amount in the Fuel Added Field as shown below.
Click Save and wait for Trip Wizard to return to our itinerary/map. Your mileage/range will now recalculate based on this new fuel up information. As you can see, the Low Fuel Indicator has now moved to just beyond your next trip stop outside Kansas City.
Continue to repeat this process each time you fill up to ensure you always remain up-to-date and aware of your fueling needs.
Adding a Fuel Station to Your Trip Itinerary
Some of our users like to add Fuel Stop/Gas Stations to their Trip Itinerary before they embark on their trips. You can use the Research Tab to find fuel stations and add them to your trip.
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