Took delivery of our new campervan in early May and have now been on a couple of camping trips to try it out. The first trip - a two-nighter in Northumberland on EHU - was a general shake-down of the conversion and a familiarisation exercise. The primary purpose of the second trip - a 6-nighter in Cornwall, without EHU - was to test how long we could comfortably exist off-grid with the installed power system.
The power system consists of two 110ah LiFePo4 batteries, a 300W roof-mounted solar panel, a Victron 30A DC/DC charger and a Victron MPPT, which all sounds plentiful, especially considering the wall-to-wall sunshine we've had this last week and the day-tripping we did most days. However, on the load front we have a 3kW inverter, a Quooker boiling-water tap, a portable induction hob (2.1kW on max setting), a [domestic] toaster and the usual array of phones, tablets, fridges and lighting (not to mention the possible future addition of wifey things such as hair-straighteners and a hairdryer
).
The biggest power test was probably on the very first night. After a nightmare 10-hour journey, we managed to get set up just before it got dark. At this point we had a 100% SOC, but obviously no prospect of solar input until sunrise and we weren't going anywhere in the van as we were too knackered, so no alternator input either. We then made our evening meal - a pre-prepared curry (heated on the induction hob), naan breads (toasted in the toaster) and pot of tea (courtesy of the boiling-water tap). The inverter managed just fine (although, admittedly, at no point was the hob on full chat) and when we went to bed with the SOC sitting at 80%.
I was quite happy with that - even with little sunlight, zero van movement and a hot meal/drink each day, that would mean at least 4 days off-grid, maybe even 5 days at a stretch. Even better, when we got up at 8am the following morning, SOC was already back up at 100%. Obviously SOC went back down as we prepared breakfast but, again, it was back at 100% before we set off on the days travels. providing the tantalising prospect of unlimited off-griding subject to either sunny weather or an amount of touring in the van. Happily, it was like that for the remainder of the trip - that's what I call a result.
Apologies for the long post and thanks for reading 'til the end.
PS, Apologies also to any old-schoolers on here who probably think induction hobs and boiling-water taps are an abomination to the camping ethos. Sorry if I've made your p!ss boil.
The power system consists of two 110ah LiFePo4 batteries, a 300W roof-mounted solar panel, a Victron 30A DC/DC charger and a Victron MPPT, which all sounds plentiful, especially considering the wall-to-wall sunshine we've had this last week and the day-tripping we did most days. However, on the load front we have a 3kW inverter, a Quooker boiling-water tap, a portable induction hob (2.1kW on max setting), a [domestic] toaster and the usual array of phones, tablets, fridges and lighting (not to mention the possible future addition of wifey things such as hair-straighteners and a hairdryer
).The biggest power test was probably on the very first night. After a nightmare 10-hour journey, we managed to get set up just before it got dark. At this point we had a 100% SOC, but obviously no prospect of solar input until sunrise and we weren't going anywhere in the van as we were too knackered, so no alternator input either. We then made our evening meal - a pre-prepared curry (heated on the induction hob), naan breads (toasted in the toaster) and pot of tea (courtesy of the boiling-water tap). The inverter managed just fine (although, admittedly, at no point was the hob on full chat) and when we went to bed with the SOC sitting at 80%.
I was quite happy with that - even with little sunlight, zero van movement and a hot meal/drink each day, that would mean at least 4 days off-grid, maybe even 5 days at a stretch. Even better, when we got up at 8am the following morning, SOC was already back up at 100%. Obviously SOC went back down as we prepared breakfast but, again, it was back at 100% before we set off on the days travels. providing the tantalising prospect of unlimited off-griding subject to either sunny weather or an amount of touring in the van. Happily, it was like that for the remainder of the trip - that's what I call a result.
Apologies for the long post and thanks for reading 'til the end.
PS, Apologies also to any old-schoolers on here who probably think induction hobs and boiling-water taps are an abomination to the camping ethos. Sorry if I've made your p!ss boil.
