Bourton Autosleeper

Hi All, Going away for 2 weeks without electric hookup what size generator would do the job?  Thanks Alan:confused3:

What year is your van Alan - does it have an 80 watt or larger solar panel?

If so, you may not need to annoy the neighbours with a generator!

With a little care and frugal use of power, you could survive indefinitely if the sun continues to shine. If you don't have a solar panel it may be a more useful investment than a gennie anyway?? Far easier too, as it's "fit and forget". No lugging around, fiddling about and carrying smelly fuel in the van. 

Sizing for something like a generator is going to dependent on what you use electrical power for, and this varies a lot from person to person. Some people spend most of their days out of the van and their power use is not much more than running a light so they can see what they are doing while they brush their teeth. Others may prefer to sit in the van watching satellite TV all day. Obviously power consumption will be very different between these two extremes.

In my experience it's very rare these days to come across anyone running a generator to power a camper van. Noise is one annoyance, but what people often overlook are the fumes produced. If you happen to have a day with very little breeze this can make things unpleasant.

So, as Gromit says, most people go with solar these days, and use power conservatively.

Thanks for reply so soon, I see were your coming from and maybe an extra solar panel is the way to go. thanks for your help. Alan

You don't say what size leisure battery you have.
Whilst I understand why Solar panels are so useful I have never had one in any of my vans but have increased the battery power to two circa 110amp batteries and never had a problem including the 4 to 5 days on rallies like the one at Stoneleigh where we don't move. I guess it helps a lot that we don't watch much TV and a fraction of the cost of Solar power fitting,
If you are touring whilst wild camping the driving will put the power back to the leisure batteries
I know the way we do it doesn't suit everybody but it works for us
David

Heanorboy wrote:a fraction of the cost of Solar power fitting,

That really depends on the timeframe that you are measuring over, doesn't it? It's hard to find a decent make of 110 AmpHour battery that costs less than £100, but a reasonable 100W solar panel can easily be bought for £100 these days, and total install cost should not be a lot more than £200 for a simple no-frills installation. But the solar install should have a life of 20 years, while you will be lucky if each battery lasts 5 years.

Looked at over 20 years, the solar installation should be the cheaper of the two - it just requires more money upfront.

Ok - not every owner will get 20 years out of their van, but if you buy a framed panel it should be possible to move it from one van to the next...

We haven’t tested our new Broadway in anger yet but I’ve added another battery (think they are both 110amp) and with the fitted 80w solar panel I’m not expecting any problems. On our previous IH we had 140amp battery and 100w solar panel and we’ve done 8 days off grid in the summer with no issues. 

I do carry a Honda Eu10i generator which has an LPG conversion reducing the need to carry petrol. It’s there for emergencies and for when were off grid at places like Le Mans where we run additional 12v coolbox, lights and Lyn wants to use a hairdryer. 

But before you go and buy one :- 

Make sure you have enough battery capacity which are in excellent working order.
Make sure you have led lights throughout.
Make full use of solar energy.
Keep an eye and get to understand your usage.

• Some TVs use a lot of your precious ampage.
  
• Turn everything off when not in use. Don’t leave TVs in standby mode especially overnight
  
• Be careful of what you are running off invertors, they tend to be inefficient.
  

You may well find you don’t actually need a generator. If you do I can recommend the Honda EU10i for topping up batteries and running small appliances. If you can get one with an LPG conversion all the better. Expensive but good. I managed to bag myself a bargain off ebay 7 year ago. 

Cheers

Alan


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Hi All,
For your battery, I bought my second battery from the Battery Mega Store at Tewkesbury, and found them excellent to deal with, on our Bourton the leisure battery was 105 amp and I got the same amperage and paralleled it under the passenger seat, but the Sargent control panel needs to be change from 105 to 210 amp for charging purposes. Please see link for Battery Maga Store

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Regards
Alan

I've got two 110 amp hour batteries, from Tayna [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] I also use a 1000w inverter from Maplin.
That keeps the TV going for several days, and even my wife's hairdryer, provided she doesn't use it for too long!
Motor engine alternator tops up the leisure batteries when we drive around.

We've just returned from a very hot month in France. I'm sure our solar panels would have been more than ample for our very limited needs but, being so hot and sunny, we opted for the comfort of municipal sites or aires with lots of shady trees to hide under.

Park in the sun: discomfort but your panels work. In the shade, cool but they don't.  We didn't meet anyone using a generator so perhaps the message of just how anti-social they can be has got around. Ditto roof top hab area air con.

Thanks everyone for your advice. Have a lot to take on board will check out solar panel rating on motorhome and maybe look at up grading that.Thanks again.Alan