How to thrive on a non 240v site!

Not trying to shoot you down.  But if you look on amazon or Ebay.  You can get solar panels for around about £1 per Watt.  The controller that looks identical to the one badged as Truma can be had for around £30 pounds from photonics universe, sure it would available in other places as well. As long as you steer clear of special panels designed for the Leisure industry, pure marketing BS imho.  Solar setups are cheap. The other proof of this the number of new vans offered with factory fit panels as standard. We all know the British caravan ( cottage) industry, loves bling, hates paying for it. 

Thanks for a mention Merve.

Anyone came come and stay and there is no charge to use the Solar Unit - so you can try a setup before purchasing your own!

For booking/enquires - book on-line or email: newton.grove@btconnect.com
See our Facebook page
Regards, John Clifton
NEWTON GROVE, Barford Road, South Newington, BANBURY, OX15 4LN
E: newton.grove@btconnect.com
P: 07722 918265
W: newtongrove.co.uk
See Sites Directory 2017/2018” on page 440, entry no: 1273,

Sorry John, I was racking my brains to remember the details but I am in the Lakes and haven't got my caravan 'bible ' with me- yes, Newton Grove. Now, here's an opportunity for any interested party or, dare I say, the doubters, to go and try it for a week! What have you got to lose? Nothing and you have everything to gain. Again John, sorry for not remembering your quite brilliant site with such a forward thinking owner! How's it going by the way. Please, whenever possible, regail us with your stories of people's reaction when they unplug from the matrix and become truly independent!! We look forward to it.

It pays to buy quality Boff, no doubt about that. The caravan industry has a golden opportunity to lead the way in showing what SPs can do- unfortunately it's the designers that dictate and they are always about 5 yrs behind the times. What are the technicians doing- I'll tell you- they are more interested in making vans more power hungry than ever rather than building a van with the equipment where it is as happy off grid as it is on- it would suggest that these people are not caravanners- not the best platform to work off might I suggest-  a 100 w panel is the most I've heard of fitted to a van by a manufacturer - it's better than nothing but it only just about starting level- 150w is more like it. 

Not a problem Merve I appreciate you even remembering I was in Oxfordshire, I follow this great thread anyway and also have a link from my website to it.

We had our first ever full site for one night this week (after 4 years of being open) although there was a mass exodus the next morning for the Fairport Convention at Cropredy!

Have had two guests return so far that have said will great satisfaction “don’t need the solar unit this time as we have our own”.

Keep up the good work. All the best John

That is good news John. On both counts. It must have been the fact that they tried it that convinced them it could be done- you are a trend setter! 

I would say that a 100W panel is a lot better than nothing.  I don't anyone here to use it as an excuse.  For example we would go off grid but we only have got a 100W panel.  

The point I was trying to make was that manufacturers must be able to get solar systems really cheaply they fit them as a feature not a benefit. Because they arent a benefit if you never go off hook up. 

I suppose it all depends how far you want to go with this and of course, there are different levels of offgrid activity. A 100w will certainly charge a battery and keep it charged allowing the occupant to run lights, pumps, charge electronic gear like phones and tablets etc etc. Then there are the "let's go the while hog" guys like me who want to use all the facilities on the van like the microwave, vacuum, toaster and blender through an inverter etc. For me, although a 100w would be useful, it would be struggling at times. Having said that, I have modified my behaviour on board slightly as I have learned and discovered  more. For instance, I now have a USB chargeable toothbrush which takes milliamps rather than putting a 75w inverter in one of the 12v sockets to charge a toothbrush on 240v. Rather than listen to the built in radio I stream music from the internet to my echo dot and on to Bluetooth speaker-again, using milliamps rather than the drain of a radio. It's all a learning curve and great fun. The one thing I do value above everything though is the valuable input of folk who can show me a better and more efficient way of doing things. One can always learn and that's the great strength of this forum, we all help each other.

At present I'm stuck with being an armchair caravanner until some surgery takes place, hopefully soon, but am following this with great interest.
Our very limited experience so far is of an even smaller (Photonics) panel, at 80W, but since we've come from tenting, up until last year, we're delighted just to have lighting, water pumps, phone /etc  charging, plus the use of the motor mover, and our little panel kept those very happy. So I'd say it's worth starting small if you're not sure, and maybe buying more gear later if a need arises. We'll be adding a 12v radio, but I'm sure the panel will cope with that too.

we had a 120w panel on pur previous Carthago (80w on the Bolero before that) but, due to downsizing the van, the fitter couldnt fit the 120w into a convenient space (5 rooflights, SOG roof chimney, cooker vent, satellite system etc.) so put in a 100w. this has worked really well (we have two biggish batteries, too) as our touring takes us to sunny spots in the winter (Spain) and sunny spots in the summer (France and the UK) so we do ok.

there is room for a second 100w opposite to the one we have and i may go for that at some point.

but, we are 'light' users of resources.....water and power...just using water pump, heating fan, charging tablets/phones via USB and some TV.

Biggest drain is likely to be the charging of electric bike batteries via the inverter, but with their extended range now, we dont need to charge after every trip....OH one day, mine the next is a good way of eking out the power....

we also use a small Lidl battery powered radio, the vast head unit in our van would drain the power pretty soon....