Help with No electric

[Ian_374463106]

This is my first post hear so first of all I would like to say hi

I am thinking of parking a caravan on top of the Yorkshire mores wear I will not have a mains power supply and I cant rely afford to drain the battery on the car

I need to power my PC and TV and fridge frezer and a light and a few other minor things like phone chargers

I was wondering what you guys use or would use in this situation

Thanks in advance

 

[MikeJE]

There was for many years a caravan parked in a dip beside the Guisborough to Whitby road the only evidence of it's presence being a wind driven generator on top of a tall pole. I have no idea how much power was generated but there was certainly enough wind around to keep it turning at a pretty fast pace.

 

[James_374408700]

Hi Ian,

Welcome to the forum.

You do not say how long you intend to stay for and therefore it is hard to say what you will need.

If it is for more than a couple of days I would go the solar panel route. A 65w panel will do the trick if you dont go mad.

Is the fridge/freezer in the van? If so then you will run this on gas together with the hot water.

What amperage is the van battery?

Need more info

Jim

 

[James_374408700]

Hi Ian,

Welcome to the forum.

You do not say how long you intend to stay for and therefore it is hard to say what you will need.

If it is for more than a couple of days I would go the solar panel route. A 65w panel will do the trick if you dont go mad.

Is the fridge/freezer in the van? If so then you will run this on gas together with the hot water.

What amperage is the van battery?

Need more info

Jim

 

[Ian_374463106]

thanks for the reply

plan to stay in it quit a while

Was wondering if you need a 240v ac battary for a wind powerd genarator and a solar panal

Are they expencive to purchace

James Its a 12 volt car

When you say gas powered fridge is that not like desial spark plugs

A gas flam is hot and a fridge is not

 

[Ian_374463106]

Dose anyone use a petrol or disal generator

Do you need a battary for it

 

[TonyH1]

Hi Ian, a petrol powered generator will produce 240v ac and would power things like a domestic tv, fridge or lighting but would need to be pretty powerful to run all at the same time or something like a water heater or kettle. I think you will find most of the lower priced generators put out between 800 and 1100 watts.

They do usually have a 12v dc output to charge a battery at the same time although this is not a requirement but would be useful.

Regarding running a fridge on gas, trust me they do work! They use the heat of a flame to create a convection current in the refrigerant which causes it to circulate the same as a pump.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jennifer_374461363]

Hi Ian, Have you already got this caravan? What one is it, or will it be if you are still looking?

Most caravans will have a fridge that runs off gas (like Calor Gas), many can also run off 230v electricity.

Heating and hot water will run off gas, again, most newer vans can also run these on 230v.

Cooking will be by gas.

So you are left with needing to power lights, TV, laptop etc. You also need 12v to get the fridge and heating/hot water started up.

You will need a good big battery, say 110amp hour, to run these off, and a means to charge it. This could be a generator or a solar panel, both can charge the battery directly.

You do need to be careful when using a generator as the caravan system could be damaged by one....someone more knowledgeable

than me will tell you about that.

 

[Gav]

if you want to run mostly 240 stuff i would go for a small generator, if you get a honda one there are lpg conversion kits available so you can run it from a gas bottle. that way all you have to find gas and not mess around with diesel or petrol. if you do get a diesel generator consider running it on veg oil or red diesel to save cash!

 

[Jimbob1]

Gav,

you advise Ian to use red diesel,don't let Customs and excise catch you using that ,its only for agriculture,farms and I believe canal boats.You'll get done if you use it.

 

[Michael_374464428]

Gav,

you advise Ian to use red diesel,don't let Customs and excise catch you using that ,its only for agriculture,farms and I believe canal boats.You'll get done if you use it.

Hi Ian

We have caravanned for 30 yrs without mains power, using an extension lead from the car battery. The places we stay are isolated and nobody wants a generator rumbling away all evening. We never had a problem until this year when I forgot to disconnect the lead before I drove off ...

We run fridge, water heater and cook with propane (red cylinder). It burns cleaner than butane (blue cylinder), and does not freeze up in winter. One 13kg propane lasts exactly 21 days and provides two hot showers each morning, half an hour's house heating on cold mornings, fridge non-stop, and all cooking/washing up.

We don't have TV or PC which does require considerable power, a generator is only way. PC can be used with an inverter in the car, but at 150W you must keep the engine running.

We do have good radio/cd player with four speakers in van, charge mobile overnight using car charger.

Lighting was biggest consumer. Original eqpt was four 11w 12v fluorescents, same load as one car headlamp bulb, will flatten car battery in about two hours. Instead we fitted 12v halogen spots for reading, this cut consumption by half. Couple of years ago we fitted 12v LED downlighters, all six will now run for over a week night and day before battery is affected.

We found www.ultraleds.co.uk very helpful with a wide selection.

I think the LED is the biggest advance in caravan lighting since we got rid of the gas mantle!

Today's oversize, overweight caravans are a long way from what we began with; many people ask about our car connection and are surprised that we don't even have a mains hookup cable. Life is possible without TV, Ian, you might even find its absence is part of your holiday!