do you caravan without mains mains power? check this out!

[(RIP) PLANK]

I like to caravan with no mains power or facilities, as such I have a few leisure batteries and 2 generators, I have tried solar panels but find them more troubel than they are worth. I recently came across these, I have no plans to buy one but just wondered what everyone else thought!

http://www.caravanstuff4u.co.uk/efoy.html

[Deleted Member D]

Look and sound ideal for your type of vanning.
You'd need a plan to buy one tho. Very expensive.
Wonder how heavy they are ? Good for long middle of nowhere camping.

[(RIP) PLANK]

I find that in the middle of nowhere a generator is good as there is no one to complain :wink: and you could buy a lot of fuel for a generator for that kind of cash as they dont seem to have a very big output.

Having said that they are difanatley simething to think abiut if they cme down to a reasonable price as all technology seems to it would be good bit of kit.

[willow]

So banks of batteries in mini form
Hummm good idea
Price too much
Wait and see if the idea moves on and comes down in price
I need power in remote places (save the jokes for the pub) and in all the years I have needed it I have used a car battery and 12 volt lighting and a generator'
Alll have worked ok never let me down :?:
Wind power would be nice I have watched the cost comming down and the goverment have to offer grants for it but still along wat off my pocket :smile: :smile: :wink:

[jims-terrano]

I used to manage quite happily with a 12v leasure battery for a 2 week hol, all we had were lights, water pump and an old black n white telly. Telly had been given to me free and it was one of those with the single tuning knob, found that loads easier than having to reprogramme each preset.
We then graduated straight on to super pitch which had electric, your own tap and your own drain. Extra long waste pipe into drain and just kept filler pipe on tap and turned it on every now and then. Made life easier but we often went back to CL's and didn't really miss the luxury. We had a trailer tent for a year or so and I fitted hook up on there but found it a bit of a waste.

Jim T

[Bat21]

I run a 150w inverter that runs off the second Yellow top battery in the Patrol, we use it for laptop, camera chargers etc. The split charge system ensures we always have a good battery to start the motor if we're parked up for any length of time... those things seem damn expensive 8O

[(RIP) PLANK]

they do seem very exspensive and they run on methanol which is also pretty exspensive!

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

always feel getting away from it and generators 2 terms dont go together.

each to own but reckon if you really cant do with out 240v be from a cable or genny for a weekend then it time to give over. a decent
leasure battery should see you thru light pun use. of course if you have
special 240 stuff like breathing machine then got medial exeption.

we rally without, done cls and holidays upto a week without 240 but endured others noisey gennys instead. going to teach kayla to live
without games console, for few days atleast and enjoy the quiet??

[(RIP) PLANK]

I know what you mean rbrt, but as you know for me caravaning is often for far longer than an odd weekend and so the generators come into play.

My lngest straight strectch in a caravan this year has been just under 9 weeks, we have one small generator that runs up to 650 watts and we run it for an hour or two on some evenings so we can recharge the leisure batteries in 2 to 3 caravans at the same time and watch the box while it is on.

The other big generator which is seldom used for the caravan I take to run power tools etc. but we do fire it up to run bigger things like the hoover, iron the clothes etc. but that is on even fewer occasions!

bear in mind we are in places that are not even sites of any description and have no facilities whatsoever usualy not even a tap, and no one to complain about the noise of a generator,

If i were indulging in a weekend away, like yourself i just wouldn't bother.

One of the hings i like to do is, turn all te lights off open the caravan blinds let your eyes get used to the darkness and just look out at the world, the clear stars and all the little things that come out when no one is arround, your caravan can be like a hide and once the wild life get used to it you can sit and watch in comfort :wink:

[willow]

I remember caravaning when i was a we girl
We had gas lighting and no telly :smile:
We played games and listened to the wild life .
Great :smile: :wink:

[floyd500b]

I remember caravaning when i was a we girl
We had gas lighting and no telly :smile:
We played games and listened to the wild life .
Great :smile: :wink:

That's the same memory I have have Willow :smile:

Ahhhh, the sound and smell of a gas mantle

Cheers

Graham

[(RIP) PLANK]

I think burning butane, though you dont realy seem to smell it at the time, is a very nostalgia provoking thing, and the hiss of the old gas lights is something I remember well.

[willow]

Why did they go out of favour :?:

[floyd500b]

Why did they go out of favour :?:

IIRC if you so much as look at a gas mantle the wrong way it broke :smile:

[willow]

O yes
:o :o I remember my dad for ever replacing them they went into holes didnt they.

Still liked them :smile:

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

ah yes would be nice to have a gas light, just for old times sake.
recall did produce some heat certainly more than a 12v tube and
a cosier light...then theres the hiss ah.

the wild life, would that the disco on the next door holiday park then?

no really recall watching electric storms with van lights off and then
theres my favourite being woken in middle of night by a downpour
banging on the roof, and feeling so snug in my sleeping bag.

[(RIP) PLANK]

Yes they came 'pre-burnt' with a little ceramic ring at the bottom in a card box and they were incredibly fragile and hard to store.

Having said that wit a modern caravan they just wouldnt work well, for a start burning gas causes a lot of moisture in the air so the dreaded damp is encouraged, they give off a lot of heat, and with better sealed and insulated caravans the carbon monoxide from burning gas must be an issue? Ans i supppose to be fair the quality fo the light wasn't brilliant it was allways a bit yellowish and flickery not ideal for reading a nice book or maybe the lable on your bottle of wine :wink:

I can also imagine they are more likely to be a source of fire than a battery powered light!

then there is the cost, i would assume a nice glass shade and a well made valve plus pipe work would be more to make and labout to fit!

I could go on, but I have proved I an a sad gas lamp anorak so I will stop there :lol:

All the above are just my opinions by the way!

[willow]

Ummmm
Happy days :lol: :smile:

[(RIP) PLANK]

I also like rain on the carvan roof!

I remeber a few years ago we were up in Cumbria for Appleby-horse fair and stopped for a few nights just outside appleby on the moors in abig old Buccaneer with a wood burning stove and all cut glasss mirrors etc.

There was a bit of bad weather and we were on a high spot and could see three different electrical storms dancing on the hills around us with the wood fire crackling and the evening light fading, magic :wink:

[mir60899]

the first van the mrs and me used was my parents old Robin. Gas light at each end and one was next to a small window so light would get into the loo compartment.
Moved on a bit since then, via a trailer tent, then a Sprite Alpine which I was given in 1988 when it was 16 years old and finally parted with it last year after 20 years. Usually ran it on batteries, although I had fitted a full mains kit, carried two leisure types both charged before leaving home and a small solar panel to help along the way. Used to light the awning with a couple of Tilley lamps in the evenings, great light and heat sources.
Now we have an Elddis Jetstream with all the bells and whistles but as hardened campers we still prefer a minimum facility site, all we ask for is a stand pipe and somewhere to empty the loo. But the awning is still home to two roaring Tilleys of an evening.

Steve

[(RIP) PLANK]

simple sites are the best, it would break my heart to pay some of the prices they charge!

[tezzer]

my mate has found a site £5.00 p/n inc electric, and free fishing (river), free showers
and thats cheap down this part of country and it's 1 mile off A12, i'll be having some of that in march as it's only 15 mile from me, just nice for cheap break, :thumb2








tezzer

[andrewk]

I run a 150w inverter that runs off the second Yellow top battery in the Patrol, we use it for laptop, camera chargers etc. The split charge system ensures we always have a good battery to start the motor if we're parked up for any length of time... those things seem damn expensive 8O

And the inverter 240v output is simply connected to the caravan via your normal EHU lead? That is a good idea - must look at doing that (not that I often use sites without a EHU).

Cheers
Andrew

[(RIP) PLANK]

my mate has found a site £5.00 p/n inc electric, and free fishing (river), free showers
and thats cheap down this part of country and it's 1 mile off A12, i'll be having some of that in march as it's only 15 mile from me, just nice for cheap break, :thumb2tezzer


Sounds like my sort of place Tezzer! :thumbs