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How do you keep the batterie charged and how does a inverter work?

I must admit to leaving all this to my hubbie who has obviously decided that I do not need a hairdryer or any other techno gear to survive as he has been telling me all this time that we just can't use the power sockets!!

I am going to look deaper into this.  Then perhaps I could take my computer too.

Winhill

Let me know the site address as I will add it to my list. We adore Dorset. Cheers

Tentmad I'm with you on this one  To me that's what camping is all about avoiding the tv and playstations etc and spending quality time with familytime  that you don't seem to find when at home because there's always other things to do.The only time we ever play board games is on rainy days away in our confortmatic!

poppi

so do i need an inverter? we have got a heavy duty leisure battery and 2 original sockets,would these be 12v?

we essentially need our plugs for sandwich toastie and our sunbeam (what we cook most things on)

help please!!

Naomi :O)

If you want to just use the battery to run your electrics You would be better off using 12 volt appliances as if you use a converter to for eg use your 240 volt hairdryer you will run the battery down very quickly unless you use the appliances whilst your genny is going or you hook the van up to the car and have that running, either way you will need to keep the battery topped up on a regular basis, or failing that carry a spare most of the sites that do not have electric hook up can charge your battery overnight for a very small fee.  We discovered that it only took about 1 hour of the water boiler being on to run the battery down enough that the water pump stopped working so we just boil a kettle or hook the van to the genny.

The sockets we have in our van are 240 volts so just because they are the originals do not assume they will be 12 volt sockets.  Look in your hand book or ask the dealers.  Or failing that an electrician should be able to tell you. 

If all else fails, if you go to the tent section of the camping shops you can find an array of gadgets that you can use on the gas stoves. We use a camping toaster on our gas which does the toast lovely it looks very alien but it is the best toaster ever.

I don't know what a sunbeam is but there are a lot of cooking appliances out there that run on gas which is by far the best way to go if there is no hook up, or why not try a good old fashioned BBQ.

If you are going to a no hook up site I would advise taking a very good torch and a gas lantern -  Just in Case!!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck

There I said I would look into it I feel better informed myself now and the one luxury I will be taking with me this year will be my little travel hairdryer!!!!!!!!

A couple of things about inverters.

First, maplin have them on sale at the moment. 19.99 for a 300 watt inverter which is the cheapest I have seen them.

Second, I wont go into all the sums, but if you change 12V to 230V, then you are going to need much more current from the 12V side to supply the necessary energy The rule of thumb is that for every 10W of energy needed for the 230 V appliance, 1A is drawn from the 12V supply.

For example a portable colour TV requires about 80W (look for the wattage on a plate at the back 300W mentioned above imho is too high). The inverter will draw about 8A from the caravan battery to supply the TV.

If you have a fully charged 65 AH leisure battery it would run the TV via an inverter for just over 8 hours before being completely drained. Of course you need the battery for other things, so if you went away for the weekend with no hook up then you can probably only use the TV for 3-4 hours. Of course you could always buy a 110 AH Battery, or just have a second battery with you. I think you mentioned a hairdryer? the wattage is probably too great for a 300W inverter. The greater the wattage the more expensive they get.

Basically, an inverter can save you the cost of buying more expensive 12V appliances but the penalty is the amount of current they draw and the need to have bigger capacity batterys to supply it for a reasonable amount of time.

Hope this helps

Simon

Hi Naomi, I would think a 1990 van would have 240v sockets ( like in your house) and probably also 12v ones, they take a special plug which has flat prongs, much smaller than the 240v mains sockets.  If you are going on a site with no EHU you could use an inverteor to run a small TV or charge a mobile, but not much else or you will soon have a flat battery.  The battery already has to run the 12v lights and the water pump.  If you have no mains power available then you need to run your water heater, space heater, and fridge on gas, and you will be cooking on gas anyway.  Leave ALL other mains powered stuff at home as you won't be able to use them.  You could invest in a gas BBQ or Cadac type grill if you like to cook outside.Candles or gas lamp to use outside are good too, and a torch for emergencies.

Unless you are really desperate to "get away from it all" you would be better to use sites with EHU, lots of CC CLs (5 van sites) have EHU now as do most regular sites.

cadac the thing of my dreams.........

and thats exactly where its staying :O(

we only use disposable (choke your neighbours) barbecues,i think we will suffer and live without sunbeam and toastie thing :O(

the fridge and lights will be ok cos they can run off battery? im 100% sure the lights can,im picking up the van tonite yippeeee! so will have to get used to using fridge on gas :O( scared :O( or battery??

oh im confusing myself now :O(

ill get there eventually

thats all i need is a cadac and another gas bottle ill be fine then :O)

but u cant run fridges off cadacs

Hi Naomi , don't even THINK of using the fridge off battery, strictly mains or gas.

Lights are fine, and your water pump is run off the battery anyway.

But there is a limit to how long your battery will last if you are not recharging it.  Depends how much you use it but maybe up to a week if you are frugal.

Good idea to have a second gas bottle if you can, saves the fridge going into meltdown in the middle of the night!

Jedser

The campsite is on the Golden Cap Estate administered by the NT - it is tween Charmouth and Seatown at Morecombelake. I have been to the area but not the site but i have heard good reports - beautiful spot etc although if you go to most off these clifftop sites in the area you get very strong winds so I am not sure what it will be like. If you want the seaview then you have to put up with the wind.

PS only 15 units allowed on site.

If you want to keep power going try solar panels (40W is minimum I think) and I am looking to upgrade to 80W for touring. Also big batteries. I have 2600W geni as well but it is too anti-social for sit euse just use it at a farm we stay in derbyshire.

I found this site recently that might help.

http://www.caravanningnow.co.uk/caravanning/faq.htm