Electricity Usage

The following should have been at the top of my post.

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For electricity usage, the elephant in the room is a 3-way fridge which effectively even in mild ambient temperatures in UK run 24/7, mostly often without ever shutting down.

When these are installed in European Caravans / Motorhomes they often come fitted with 12v fans to assist in cooling the radiator as standard, BUT not in UK to my knowledge. Even with these fans they give very poor performance.

I installed a similar meter in my van about three years ago. Quite a simple installation.  However, whilst it's very useful for monitoring the current being drawn at any one time, I don't find the total consumption over a given period to be very accurate.

It’s camping Jim, but not as we know it………😁

I actually enjoy the more rudimentary aspects of touring, regardless of whether it’s a tent, a caravan or a motorhome. Happy to leave all the tech stuff for home, but if it’s something you are interested in, and it helps, then go for it 👍

Our pvc came with a compressor fridge. We have installed lithium to ensure we can manage off grid. I saw a couple of reviews of the recent Düsseldorf show and even some caravans are having compressor fridges installed. I get the feeling that European manufacturers of new vans are more likely to install compressor fridges and there are quite a few people changing their fridges to compressor. I suspect that uk manufacturers are inclined to put in three way fridges because they always have! Another advantage of compressor fridges is you get more space inside the fridge than a three way of the same physical size.

While we’re unhappy with the cooling capability of our Dometic 3 way fridge (-16 deg below ambient is specified), it does assist off grid camping, giving access to more ‘back to nature’ sites. The weight penalty of hugely larger solar panels needed to power à compresser fridge may be offset by lighter Lithium batteries, except that you’d need greater battery capacity/ size to offset the increased drain. Reference to continental vans using compressor driven fridges as slightly misleading because, commonly, continental canners; use electric hookups, public ablutions, site washing up facilities and minimal on board cooking facilities. You’ll rarely see a water barrel too. That’s not universally true, but common. Warm weather encourages salad based meals, AirCon and outdoor living, as experienced in more southerly climes than our own, creates a different usage profile. Back in Britain, our 120w of solar panels couldn’t keep pace with demand despite the fridge and heating running on gas during an off grid stay in the inclement summer of 2021 weather. Fortunately we carried a spare battery, which is unconventionally charged from the car’s circuitry when not towing. We’d be sorry to lose our current off grid capability, but delighted to have a fridge capable of properly cooling in 30+ deg weather. Payload limitations preclude some ‘like to have’ compromises.

I've installed two computer fans linked to a temperature (adjustable) switch to our Bailey Alicanto.  So far no problems getting it down to a low temperature and the freezer compartment keeps stuff frozen, ice cubes etc.  In the UK.  the problem with compressor fridges is that it removes the 'gas' option.  Given sufficient battery reserve and enough sun/solar then I would happily go with a compressor,  More efficient but in the depths of winter with little solar and 7 days infront of us the battery calculations add up to a heck of a lot of lithium, (yes we have been lithium for 4 years now and no way would I go back). but for the winter the sums just do not add up yet.  I'm thinking of buying a 40 litre compressor fridge/freezer as an over flow unit for some trips. we shall see what power that uses in the real world.

We have 120w solar and 230 v lithium and we seem to manage off grid with our compressor fridge. We rarely use site facilities. I am not sure where cooking comes into it, we use gas.

Managing for a long period off grid (without driving to recharge) is a balancing act...pitting usage (water pump, lighting, charging phones, charging ebike batteries) running tv, a compressor fridge etc) against input (solar or from storage..your batteries).

we have 300w of solar and for three seasons (or anytime when in Spain) there's enough juice daily to service all our needs and our two ancient AGM 95ah batteries are still going strong after many years.

do I need lithium...in a nutshell, no. My touring pattern has us in Europe twice a year (early autumn and late winter early spring) over a total of about 20 weeks....when we are at home it's summer and the sun is hopefully shining.

the big difference for us was adding two extra 100w panels to the existing one. 300w makes such a difference when sun is patchier...

add this to the two batteries and a refillable gas system and, despite doing a couple of weeks at a time on THS non EHU sites) we really don't need a B2B charger or lithium or....

the only thing I would change (for us) is I would upgrade our small 500w inverter (runs mains only Sky+ box and mains ebike chargers) to something that can run OH hair drier for 2-3 mins a day...

understanding requirements based on real touring patterns should dictate the kit required to underpin it.