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Hello all, We're considering getting away from the usual camp sites a few this year, and kitting ourselves out with an inverter and genny to do so.

Would apprediate any information on where to find lists of sites like farms and open fields off the beaten track in the Devon, Cornwall, Dorset areas, preferably close to the coast.  Is there anything published on this.

Also any experiences with invertors and Genny's.  I asked one of the staff at my local dealer today who advised that genny's can cause problems with a caravans electrics, so to research first.  The only thing I think I will be running off it will be lights and the tv for short periods of time, how long does the battery normally last for??  Can you just purchase one off the shelf, and fit it onto a standard caravan battery?   And is there much to gain in spending a little more money on a decent one?

Any info welcome on this.

Thanks

Tony B52

Quote: Originally posted by bobsbabes on 30/5/2011we used a genny and the whole of our leccy blew (actually blew the fridge circuit board completely) beware that id anything goes wrong your dealer may well turn round and say you shouldnt have used a genny (as ours did) to which we pointed out that it says that you can in the manual

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Personally if that is all you are running i would recomend a good solar panel

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Quote: Originally posted by bobsbabes on 30/5/2011

Quote: Originally posted by neil and lena on 30/5/2011

Quote: Originally posted by bobsbabes on 30/5/2011we used a genny and the whole of our leccy blew (actually blew the fridge circuit board completely) beware that id anything goes wrong your dealer may well turn round and say you shouldnt have used a genny (as ours did) to which we pointed out that it says that you can in the manual Personally if that is all you are running i would recomend a good solar panel

As I remember you used a cheap clark generator which was probably why you had problems if you use a quality Honda EU generator pure sine wave the voltage is as stable as your house electrics .I have used my Honda on my 2007 , 2009 Baileys and 2010 Lunar with no issues at all and perfectly stable voltage which the reason I bought it .

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Honda are by far the best and are guaranteed not to damage sensitive electrical items .
These cheapo generators are useless and only good for running building site equipment where voltage fluctuation
does not matter

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to me a genny is a genny it was run for a few minutes before use on the caravan which is what it advises in the caravan manual it does not say what type of generator to use
also the dealer did not ask what make of genny i used before saying that a genny should not be used .
also who can say if it was the make of genny that caused the issue i am just passing on the knowledge that i have about what gennys can do esp esp as the dealer had already mentioned to research the use of gennys to op

To find sites, you can search from here

Cheers Ratty

A pure sine wave generator will be fine.  Remember the same rule apples to inverters.

Do not use cheap versions of either.

Jim

Thanks all, for comments.  Not really done this before, so I wasn't looking so much to running the van from the Genny, as to re charging the battery.  Might be worth just using the car for this given the cost of a decent Genny.  I've been told that there are recharging services on some of the sites, and a second battery might well fit the bill.

We want the kids to learn there is more to caravaning than hard standings and swimming pools, but are newbee's in this area.

We've only ever used electric hook up pitches before, so are on a mission to find out as much as we can.

Any other info on likely sites would be appreciated.

Tony B

Quote: Originally posted by LegsDownKettleOn on 31/5/2011

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Try going on a rally with one of the clubs. There will be plenty of people to advise you and if you do run into problems lend a hand.

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Quote: Originally posted by Tony B52 on 31/5/2011

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Thanks all, for comments.  Not really done this before, so I wasn't looking so much to running the van from the Genny, as to re charging the battery.  Might be worth just using the car for this given the cost of a decent Genny.  I've been told that there are recharging services on some of the sites, and a second battery might well fit the bill.

We want the kids to learn there is more to caravaning than hard standings and swimming pools, but are newbee's in this area.

We've only ever used electric hook up pitches before, so are on a mission to find out as much as we can.

Any other info on likely sites would be appreciated.

 

Tony B

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