How to thrive on a non 240v site!

When I was young all our caravanning was off-grid. We had gas mantles for light, a gas stove and a little car battery to run the 12v portable black and white 10 inch telly that inevitably ran out after 2 days watching the soaps and would be jury-rigged to charge from the car while we were out to the beach.

The water pump was foot operated and that was the sum total of the "luxuries". No shower, no hot water system, no central heating. 

Certainly the 2 weeks holiday was fun and we didn't have all the electronics we have these days, but if you want a long off-grid holiday all you have to do is not use the modern conveniences of your van.

Weight and balance need to be considered if you're adding more lead-acid batteries, they are very heavy and might push you over your load limit if you're not careful. AGM batteries, although more expensive than flooded lead-acid, do tend to last longer being bounced around in a caravan and can cope with a little more abuse than a basic cheap battery.  

Oh, and as for the OT gas situation with fossil fuel use.  Well, we are making "town gas" from sewage using bacteria.  I'm sure we'll be able to make a renewable version of LPG/propane or alternative if we need to.

I remember the days of the foot pump and the gas mantle light- I nearly melted with the heat they gave out!! These days we can have our cake AND eat it. Weight is definitely a consideration but with the advent of Lithium Ion batteries, even that is being addressed! However, until I transfer over LI batteries  I will continue to load the car instead of the van to stay within limits. We travel light anyway and have never found a problem with weight. The new technologies give you everything off grid that you didn't have in the 1950s. 

I have just completed a load/charge test on my LiFePo4 batteries. My compressor fridge would run for about 2 to 3 days on battery alone from the old 200Ah AGM battery bank.

I got a whole week from a single 100Ah LiFePo4 battery, not too bad at all and it wasn't fully discharged either, but based on the wattmeter it was probably around 20% which is about as low as you want to take them for longevity. It's now charging nicely off the solar.

So yes, we're progressing with lighter batteries with more capacity which is very useful if you have your central heating on, and your alarm, and the extraction hood on the cooker etc.

I suppose if you wanted more lead acid batteries you could put them in a storage box and keep them in the car when travelling to keep the van weight down. 

We were in New Zealand in February touring by car and I couldn't help but notice that every garage seemed to have LPG gas and people were bringing their empty BBQ cylinders in and refilling them. I guess there is a bigger market there as BBQ is more  popular.

I was watching Andrew Ditton on YouTube.  He has the refillable cylinder in his AirStream and he was commenting that he is seeing more and more of the petrol stations removing LPG from the forecourt.

He's recommending that people get a backup standard Calor cylinder just in case. 

I suppose with more efficient petrol engines the automotive need isn't as much as it once was and it's not economically viable to keep the lpg tanks and pumps. 

Present price of exchange REPSOL standard 12.5kg butane cylinder in Spain is eu13.5 .....making it about £0.47 /litre. (Cheaper than LPG at a filling station!)

Is it  normaly cheaper or is it just the bottle company hasn't caught up with current costs? The cheapest I saw LPG at the pumps in Spain recently was 64 cents p.l. Some were pricing it at 88 cents p.l.!

peedee

I was watching Andrew Ditton on YouTube. He has the refillable cylinder in his AirStream and he was commenting that he is seeing more and more of the petrol stations removing LPG from the forecourt.

Now you mention it I have not noticed the LPG being used at our local garage of late.

As I understand it, the retail price of gas in the ubiquitous 11/12.5kg steel cylinders (propane/butane) used by most households is regulated by the State. The price actually increased to e13.50 in January while we were out there and was reported in the local Press. Prices for other cylinders (such as 'light' versions) don't seem to be regulated. (Shades of Calor Lite!)

The difference in price to LPG at filling stations may be due to VAT/Duty?. (It's rather amusing to think of locals decanting from cylinders INTO their LPG cars!  .... rather like red diesel in the UK.)

By my calculations, and assuming 80% efficiency, heating by gas in Spain works out at around 10p /kWH.   Typically sites charge 30c /kWH for metered electricity, although this option is usually only available if you are staying at least 30 days.

I hope that's a typo error "100 amp fuse", if not what with Li-Ion batteries I think you may need a very big fire extinguisher. Better still hitch up a Fire Tender to your tow-bar