I've modified my caravan to the point where the EHU was completely redundant so I just stripped out all 240v. 600w roof mounted solar, 400ah lifepo4 battery bank. Any 240v appliances run off a 1000w PSW inverter. Heating, cooking, and water heating is all gas. LED 12v lighting. Fridge is 12v compressor type. On board water tanks and upgraded pump. If you want to go full off grid, do it right. UK vans are really not made with proper off grid anything in mind so going all in on energy generation and storage is key.
Very good advice. What i am doing. I have a special trailer which is positioned next to my caravan it hold 4 heavy duty batteries connected to each other. Aside them i have a 6 thousand inverter charged.batteries by my solar panel. I can stay anywhere off grid. Its an expensive set up but it works very good 👍 I do another of fishing anywhere 😀
Some good pointers there Mark. Don't know what you think but we always run the heating, water and fridge on gas for 15 or 20 mins before we go away even if we have electricity booked on site. We just think it's good practice as one site we went to, the whole site had a power cut for 6 hours. 👏👏
Morning both, loving your videos too! Yes Very worth while running all on gas, we see so many that dont work on gas due to not being used, so will actually save you money in the long run too as you wont need repairs. 👍
Hi Mark, youve given us inspiration about some layouts, where from the Netherlands and wheve got an hobby caravan. We love some British layouts like a sprite. 2 long couches in front your caravan just don't see them in European models. Keep om showing us nice things!
Morning Mark I’ve just found your channel on TH-cam channel and I’m so impressed, you go into everything about caravanning . We’ve got a Ellis Majestic 175 motor home and want to go back to having a caravan Thankyou for the great information about the secondhand caravans you’ve got 👋☺️
Morning Mark, I gauge the contents of my gas cylinder by poring warm water down the sides. The liquid gas is cooler that the empty part of the cylinder therefor empty bit dries quicker than the bottom indicating how empty (or full) the cylinder is.
This was timed just right for us, we are caravanning on a site with no EHU and we have never done this in over thirty years caravanning ( my daughters request ). I am however taking another 12 volt battery which I happen to have. I have checked all does work on gas so good with that. Biggest problem will be no hair dryer for her in doors.
We have an old caravan and we have trouble with the whale water pump, each time we change from EHU to Off Grid we have to recalibrate the pressure switch. I am aware that there is an upgrade available but you have to buy a new more powerful Whale pump to enable the system to work. It costs about £90 for the upgrade and pump and that’s fitting the upgrade yourself. 😢
You don't need to worry about charging your mobile phone. It's only 1-1,5 Ah. If you'r caravan is a litle bit older i recomend doing a healthy check on the battery att a workshop.
Another useful video thanks, however I think you have the properties of Butane and Propane the wrong way round. As far as I understand it Butane has a slightly higher calorific value than Propane (it burns slightly hotter). You are correct that Butane (blue bottles) will not work in temperatures less than about 5 degrees centigrade, which is why most caravanners use propane (red bottles). Modern caravans have regulators that will allow either Butane or Propane to be used. Older caravans need a different regulator for each. Perhaps you could point out what to look out for. Due to a severe shortage of 6kg Propane here in the Highlands when we were away at a THS last month I took a spare Butane bottle with us which I used when our first Propane ran out.
Yes I think you are correct👍 having a quick read through again on the older systems butane will burn slightly hotter but actually hard to tell any difference.
Yes this is an option but without a way to charge they won't last very long. But saying that I haven't actually tried either so I'm not best to comment on either.
![ค้างคืนโรงเก็บกระสวยอวกาศร้างกลางทะเลทราย [Around The World Ep. 3]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/E5bWZQhABJE/mqdefault.jpg)
Mark, A video on how to connect your solar panels to the caravan battery, would be great thanks
I've modified my caravan to the point where the EHU was completely redundant so I just stripped out all 240v. 600w roof mounted solar, 400ah lifepo4 battery bank. Any 240v appliances run off a 1000w PSW inverter.
Heating, cooking, and water heating is all gas. LED 12v lighting. Fridge is 12v compressor type. On board water tanks and upgraded pump.
If you want to go full off grid, do it right. UK vans are really not made with proper off grid anything in mind so going all in on energy generation and storage is key.
How much gas do you use ?
Very good advice. What i am doing. I have a special trailer which is positioned next to my caravan it hold 4 heavy duty batteries connected to each other. Aside them i have a 6 thousand inverter charged.batteries by my solar panel. I can stay anywhere off grid. Its an expensive set up but it works very good 👍 I do another of fishing anywhere 😀
Just bought a 95 Abbey Alliance so this was very helpful!
We managed three weeks with a suitcase solar panel
Some good pointers there Mark. Don't know what you think but we always run the heating, water and fridge on gas for 15 or 20 mins before we go away even if we have electricity booked on site. We just think it's good practice as one site we went to, the whole site had a power cut for 6 hours. 👏👏
Morning both, loving your videos too! Yes Very worth while running all on gas, we see so many that dont work on gas due to not being used, so will actually save you money in the long run too as you wont need repairs. 👍
Hi Mark, youve given us inspiration about some layouts, where from the Netherlands and wheve got an hobby caravan. We love some British layouts like a sprite. 2 long couches in front your caravan just don't see them in European models. Keep om showing us nice things!
Thanks
Good morning Mark,
Thank you for the video!
Take care and stay safe 👍😎🇬🇧.
Thanks Wayne 👍
Morning Mark I’ve just found your channel on TH-cam channel and I’m so impressed, you go into everything about caravanning . We’ve got a Ellis Majestic 175 motor home and want to go back to having a caravan
Thankyou for the great information about the secondhand caravans you’ve got 👋☺️
Thanks for your comments Sarah.👍
Always something I didn't know on these videos, thanks.
Thanks for watching 👍
Great content and information. Really useful for beginners in caravaning 👍
Thanks for commenting 👍
Morning Mark,
I gauge the contents of my gas cylinder by poring warm water down the sides. The liquid gas is cooler that the empty part of the cylinder therefor empty bit dries quicker than the bottom indicating how empty (or full) the cylinder is.
Good tip 👍
This was timed just right for us, we are caravanning on a site with no EHU and we have never done this in over thirty years caravanning ( my daughters request ). I am however taking another 12 volt battery which I happen to have. I have checked all does work on gas so good with that. Biggest problem will be no hair dryer for her in doors.
It makes it all worth while when it helps someone. Thanks 👍
Nice too see like mine a onyx can still be used off grid. We have a petrol generator 4 stroke that helps with battery life.
We have an old caravan and we have trouble with the whale water pump, each time we change from EHU to Off Grid we have to recalibrate the pressure switch. I am aware that there is an upgrade available but you have to buy a new more powerful Whale pump to enable the system to work. It costs about £90 for the upgrade and pump and that’s fitting the upgrade yourself. 😢
Great. many thanks.
Nice video on off grid hope you don’t mind if I share this on my old mills CL site social media which is an off grid site?
Yes no problem at all. Thank you.
You don't need to worry about charging your mobile phone.
It's only 1-1,5 Ah.
If you'r caravan is a litle bit older i recomend doing a healthy check on the battery att a workshop.
Portable lithium ion ‘power banks’ are worth having for charging phones and iPads etc without draining the leisure battery.
This is a great way to save the caravan battery. 👍
Another useful video thanks, however I think you have the properties of Butane and Propane the wrong way round. As far as I understand it Butane has a slightly higher calorific value than Propane (it burns slightly hotter). You are correct that Butane (blue bottles) will not work in temperatures less than about 5 degrees centigrade, which is why most caravanners use propane (red bottles). Modern caravans have regulators that will allow either Butane or Propane to be used. Older caravans need a different regulator for each. Perhaps you could point out what to look out for. Due to a severe shortage of 6kg Propane here in the Highlands when we were away at a THS last month I took a spare Butane bottle with us which I used when our first Propane ran out.
Yes I think you are correct👍 having a quick read through again on the older systems butane will burn slightly hotter but actually hard to tell any difference.
How about using a Jackery or Bluetti
Yes this is an option but without a way to charge they won't last very long. But saying that I haven't actually tried either so I'm not best to comment on either.
For phones etc, we use the little battery pack charging gizmos
Those little charger packs are great aren't they. 👍
We use 2 x 6kg propane
Safe fill far superior to calor system
99 per cent of our caravanning has been on CL sites.
We didn’t use a TV
Hi can you