Club 80-90 Forums

I know I can't run some stuff off it but will things like phone charger, DVD player, hand held dustbuster and slowcooker be ok?
Tia

hello tia, running off a leisure battery is all dependent on how much you use them. it will be phone to run phone and ipod chargers from it and of course your interior lights. if you sited without a hookup you could do with a leisure battery of at least 85ah and above. you could also consider fitting a solar panel, this will give you greater battery life and are easy to fit. running a slow cooker may be possible but depending on the wattage and size of your battery you may struggle. if you buy a cheap invertor you can have mains electricity away from any hook up. to get a good leisure battery system you can spend £50 to £100 for a good leisure battery, £55 to £80 for a twenty watt solar panel, about twenty pounds for a solar panel charge controller (essential for solar panels over 15 watts) and £25 to £60 for a mains invertor. i hope ive answered your question but i am no expert it just the expereince ive had. bye

Volt times amps equals watts. Watts divided by volts equals amps.
Phone / ipod chargers are usually not a problem.
DVD player uses more, but still not too bad. 85 amp hour battery will run 3 amps at 12 volts for about 15 hours before battery needs a good charge.
Slow cooker is probably a no-go as they draw . 350 watt slow cooker is 1.6 amps on 220 volts or 30 amps on 12 volt so would run for less then 1.5 hours before needing charged. Use your camper's hob or portable camp stove in the awning. We cook up the things that need slow cooking (Chili, stew, etc., then freeze and take them in a small cooler. Have kept chili for 4 days before heating and eating.

Thanks Orange and Lloyd.

I am scientifically and mathematically challenged but I do get the concept that you're talking about.

Didn't think the slowcooker would be an option but thought I'd ask just in case.

Solar panel sounds like a great idea, will put it on my list for 2010 I reckon along with a COBB BBQ!

You can get a nice little generator for about 1/2 the cost of solar panel that will really do 1/4 as much.

We have a gas fired Cadac Safari Chef that cost us less then £50 and love it. For another £13 you can get the baking/roasting pan, but don't think it's really necessary. I tested it frying bacon on entire flat grill and edges cooked same speed as center.
http://www.busyoutdoors.com/shop/outdoo ... bb41764db7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

lloyd wrote:You can get a nice little generator for about 1/2 the cost of solar panel that will really do 1/4 as much.

We have a gas fired Cadac Safari Chef that cost us less then £50 and love it. For another £13 you can get the baking/roasting pan, but don't think it's really necessary. I tested it frying bacon on entire flat grill and edges cooked same speed as center.
http://www.busyoutdoors.com/shop/outdoo ... bb41764db7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I second the generator. Here's a picture of us last weekend at Volksworld.



By the way, you can even run special low-wattage microwave ovens assuming you have a 1200 watt inverter and a 240v-to-12v charger with replenishes your leisure battery when the vehicle is plugged into the mains and you have a split charger which recharges your battery when driving. You may already have these, and not be aware of it.

By the way, I wrote a thread on ovens that you can take with you, for more info.

https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=48832" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Aha! I see you got your tent up then eh?!

The thought of a generator just seems a little overkill tbh altho I expect it would pay for itself in not having to book pitches with hook up. Don't they seriously annoy your fellow campers tho really?

Also, I live in a flat therefore don't really have the space to store all these "accessories", at the moment my nice new (I hope, haven't tried it yet!) Kyham motordome awning is lurking in my bedroom between the bed and window. Considered storing it in the van but it would just tempt thieving gits.

I'll check out the Cadac, haven't even figured out how my gas burners work yet!

some campsites and festival organisers specify that generators aren't allowed. Anyhow, do you really want to be lugging around microwaves, generators, TVs, ovens etc.? It's easy to get a bit carried away with the amount of kit you stuff into the van. No offence intended - I've had to stop myself from buying various bits of kit which I didn't really need.

Nope, that's a fair point as far as I am concerned. I used to be able to travel very light but these days I get a bit carried away with STUFF! Having a 3yr old doesn't help LOL.

I think generators etc are a good thing if you're going to wild camp a lot tho.

I do want to keep things to a minimum but a versatile minimum I guess! If I can charge my phone & ipod I'll be happy, if the portable DVD player will work then T will be happy (thus I will be happy) when it's not such great weather etc. I'd love a COBB or similar but I might be tempted by the slowcooker if we've got EHU and we're not using the van to get somewhere - nothing better than coming home to a ready cooked meal!

I'm just continuing on my steep learning curve and expect it'll take a few trips to shake everything down and get the operation running smoothly!

yeah i spose if you're not going to have a few home comforts you might as well be in a tent and it's true that having young children on board seriously increases the amount of kit you take. I take a portable DVD player too and it's great. I'll always remember the time I pitched up next to people who were watching Corry outside their tent and then put a hoover around their groundsheet and it made me wonder if they might not have been happier if they'd just stayed at home, each to their own i spose.

Could you not double up on your leisure batteries? take 2 with you and swap over as one gets low - cuts down on the 'stuff' thing and if your only away for a day or two then they should give you enough juice to suffice...just a thought

Small generator is not much bigger then a battery and cost the same or less.

Don't get either a generator or a solar panel. Solar panels are very expensive and don't generate very much power. What you should look at is one of these. -> http://www.sterling-power.com/products-altbatt.htm It is a clever box of tricks that will charge your batteries 5x faster than a standard alternator. It does some magic with the voltage and current to supply a constant 13.8v to the batteries. You can recharge a flagging leisure battery by running the van for a short time. A generator you need to run all the time and a solar panel just trickles the power in.

Another hint is to look for used GEL batteries out of a UPS (battery backup for computers) on ebay. Hold about 100 Amp hours worth of juice but best of all were quite cheap. The GEL batteries are the best you can get for leisure use. The car audio boys and the 4wd boys use them for their big amps and power sucking winches.

Gel makes safety sense too.. no liqud acid to potentially 'spill' when over charged/tipped over etc

slobbo wrote:A generator you need to run all the time and a solar panel just trickles the power in.

Not necessarily. You can run a fast battery charger off 220 volts to charge up your batteries whilst your generator is running. Once charged, you can shut your generator off and enjoy the quiet scenery. Most suitcase-portable generators are much quieter than running your engine anyway. At a VW festival during common hours, no one minds the gentle hum of a generator.

Campsites that ban generators usually have mains power points so generators are redundant.

As for solar panel, the initial investment is high, but you will eventually recoup. Plus it's noiseless and energy generation is free. Makes sense for those who have meager demands from their campers.

I view my camper more as a mini-motorhome and less of a tent-on-wheels. Especially with a family of five to keep entertained when the weather turns cold and damp.