Basic Off Gridding

S

Sullamon

Member
Need a sense check to make sure I’m doing the right thing / check if I’m being stupid.

We don’t do much off-gridding, if we do it’ll be at the beach for a day etc, or festivals. But I want to be able to run my starlink solidly whilst off grid, and also some other basic appliances.

I was thinking of getting a portable jackery/ano brand with solar. Whilst hooked up, we have it as a backup etc and can recharge it, whilst not-hooked up we can use it.

Likely appliances would be:

Starlink
Cooler (we don’t have a fitted fridge)
Possibly kettle

Everything else we’d run off the leisure battery.

Is this a good move, or do I just run some sockets off the leisure battery?!
 
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Off gridding is better done in darker vehicles to avoid being seen. The more vehicles that do it the greater resistance from locals and those that just do not like it. So have the smallest footprint, less crap about such as tables chairs etc and other associated camper crap leave no rubbish basically not be seen. Their is a massive shift against camper type vehicles in country areas now. Used only to see them a few times a year now their are plagues of them 365 days a year.
 
Sullamon said:
Need a sense check to make sure I’m doing the right thing / check if I’m being stupid.

We don’t do much off-gridding, if we do it’ll be at the beach for a day etc, or festivals. But I want to be able to run my starlink solidly whilst off grid, and also some other basic appliances.

I was thinking of getting a portable jackery/ano brand with solar. Whilst hooked up, we have it as a backup etc and can recharge it, whilst not-hooked up we can use it.

Likely appliances would be:

Starlink
Cooler (we don’t have a fitted fridge)
Possibly kettle

Everything else we’d run off the leisure battery.

Is this a good move, or do I just run some sockets off the leisure battery?!
Click to expand...
I run a mixture of both. Leisure battery with a 1000w invertor to run the starlink and charge a Jackery when needed.

I have a Jackery 1000 v2 with a 20 amp charger to my leisure battery. But have also run a mains extention lead to run starlink when needed.

I have an unusual setup but I can basically charge any which way. I generally use the Jackery as the hub now.

Jackery to 240v for air fryer, kettle etc.
Jackery to leisure battery charger to turn on as and when for a quick charge.

Solar to Jackery.

Leisure battery for fridge, invertor and other 12v.

DC to DC to top leisure up while driving.

Then everything will charge on hookup also.
 
Kind of Blue said:
Off gridding is better done in darker vehicles to avoid being seen. The more vehicles that do it the greater resistance from locals and those that just do not like it. So have the smallest footprint, less crap about such as tables chairs etc and other associated camper crap leave no rubbish basically not be seen. Their is a massive shift against camper type vehicles in country areas now. Used only to see them a few times a year now their are plagues of them 365 days a year.
Click to expand...
Are you thinking or Stealth camping, instead of Off Gridding, where you don't have access to the Electricity Grid, water etc?
 
soldas said:
I run a mixture of both. Leisure battery with a 1000w invertor to run the starlink and charge a Jackery when needed.

I have a Jackery 1000 v2 with a 20 amp charger to my leisure battery. But have also run a mains extention lead to run starlink when needed.

I have an unusual setup but I can basically charge any which way. I generally use the Jackery as the hub now.

Jackery to 240v for air fryer, kettle etc.
Jackery to leisure battery charger to turn on as and when for a quick charge.

Solar to Jackery.

Leisure battery for fridge, invertor and other 12v.

DC to DC to top leisure up while driving.

Then everything will charge on hookup also.
Click to expand...
Thanks for actually answering the question 😆

This sounds similar to what I’m looking to achieve. I’ll take a look into invertors and figure out where to go from there
 
Sullamon said:
Need a sense check to make sure I’m doing the right thing / check if I’m being stupid.

We don’t do much off-gridding, if we do it’ll be at the beach for a day etc, or festivals. But I want to be able to run my starlink solidly whilst off grid, and also some other basic appliances.

I was thinking of getting a portable jackery/ano brand with solar. Whilst hooked up, we have it as a backup etc and can recharge it, whilst not-hooked up we can use it.

Likely appliances would be:

Starlink
Cooler (we don’t have a fitted fridge)
Possibly kettle

Everything else we’d run off the leisure battery.

Is this a good move, or do I just run some sockets off the leisure battery?!
Click to expand...
You really need to look at how much current your total system uses, then figure out how large your battery needs to be.

For instance, I have a few low power LED lights in my van, a pair of USB charge points and my Diesel heater. My phone takes 1.5amps so my AGM 62Amp hour battery can happily charge two phones overnight at maximum 3amps, for 10 hours before my AGM battery (think lead acid) reaches 30 amps drained, and 50% of the current capacity, beyond which would start to damage the battery.

Your Starlink will have a 230V current draw. You need to work out what that would be for the time you use the system, and then that will give you an idea of how large your battery supply has to be. I don't own a Starlink but Google suggests 55-70 watts. Power (watts) = current x voltage. So 70(W) divided by 12 (V) equals 5.85 amps. A 200A/hr lithium battery can supply 6 amps for around 30 hours before it starts to go below 5-10% capacity left.

Add up the total draw of current measured in Amps, then multiple that figure by the number of hours you want to be away from an external power supply like a campsite hookup, and that will give you an idea of how much battery capacity you need. Be conservative in your estimate or the time power is available will be shorter than you plan for.
 
DaveCrampton said:
Are you thinking or Stealth camping, instead of Off Gridding, where you don't have access to the Electricity Grid, water etc?
Click to expand...
Agreed, “Off Grid” typically would be an Aire/Stellplatz etc that is basically an authorised park up, without facilities, or the most basic facilities, e.g. a tap & a drain. There are many of these in mainland Europe, and they are beginning to appear in the UK. There is an etiquette that applies, though often ignored, no furniture out/awnings/carpets etc. it should be treated as a car park for vans.
“Stealthing is when you park up for a night or 2 in an area not specifically designated for doing so, Park4Night is the goto resource for this. We often Stealth, especially when en-route to a destination. Same rules apply, be ultra considerate, don’t take the piss & be prepared to move without argument if requested. I don’t have a drink when Stealthing, should the situation arise that we have to move. Saying that, we’ve never been asked to move either by locals or police in 10 years of ownership.
 
Sullamon said:
Ok…..I want to have internet connection when I can’t plug my van into mains electricity…
Click to expand...
Depending on what you already have as a LB setup, and how long you want to be independent for AND what other consumers you’re running, you may already have sufficient capacity. We need to know the variables in order to provide a sensible answer. If you only want to run the Starlink for a couple of days, then even the most rudimentary LB setup should cope.
 
We have a Starlink that we connect to an EcoFlow river 2. Had reason to try it to the max on an off grid work day… the EcoFlow ran the Starlink for 5 ½ hours straight (back to back Teams meetings using full video) before I had to plug the Starlink into our Cali leisure battery instead. My laptop (Mac air) battery lasts for around 20 hours so does not need to be plugged into the EcoFlow. I’m considering upgrading to an EcoFlow delta 2 max which would let me run more appliances like a kettle and hair dryer which the EcoFlow river 2 does not.
 
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Some extra info..

Dellmassive

Thread 'STARLINK (Satellite Internet and WIFI) -- How I Done It --'

STARLINK (Satellite Internet and WIFI) -- How I Done It --


Starlink is starting to get more popular with the Camper and Caravan community, so i thought id take a Look.

we first saw this setup a while back on @Eli awesome waggon, he needed it to get access to the internet to work remotly while traveling Europe weeks at a time.

Then we saw @Mick with one, again used for Internet access when far and wide, plus also traveling over to Europe.

Then we see @Jollyvan joining the gang - mostly to ensure he could watch the F1 GP races on Telly.

++

The basic...
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