How to thrive on a non 240v site!

Merve, you are correct about it depending how far you want to go.  I just don't want people to be daunted by what they see as a huge shopping list before they can even contemplate leaving the hookup behind.

12 years or so ago when we first had a caravan.  To go off grid we had the following special equipment.  Zero, Zilch, Nada, Nothing.  Ok we soon started to use a 13kg calor bottle.  But we had no led lights, or solar panel and that was ok for a long weekend.

Moving forward to the current day.  We have the following additional equipment.  I have put approximate costs to them to the best of my recollection.  The van is already fitted with LED lighting.

150W SP. £130
Controler  £105
Mounts, cable gland Sikaflex etc approx £60.

So the solar system cost £300 you could do it much cheaper because a controller can be had from about £10 upwards.

Safefill bottle, £105 s/h off eBay 3/4 full of gas.

and that's basically it a system that does everything I want and more £400 ish.

But for a quick weekend cost would be from £0.00 upwards.

If I wanted to I could probably afford to fit a big inverter system but for me I can happily live without an electric toothbrush and the coffee making system is  a cafetière exactly the same as home. 

What I am trying to say is there is a low tech way (my way), and a high tech way (Merve's way) each are valid, but start the journey you don't absolutely all the bells and whistles on day one.

Boff, a very fair assessment.

as you can see from my previous post, we are probably nearer to your 'level' than Merves but can easily go off grid at a THS in spring/summer for weeks without EHU....

since OH had hair cut short again, the need for a hairdryer (sometimes a deal breaker) has been eliminated....so our true 'mains only' arsenal is confined to a Sky+ HD box and the aforementioned bike battery chargers.....everything else is 12v.....or gas.

thats not to say we dont plug in when on EHU which we take when part of the inclusive price, and more so in winter, but we are equally at home without it.

as i also said, we have a 2nd leisure battery (MH and no weight issues) but this isnt really necessary.

yes, off gridding can easily be done for many, many days with a 100w SP and a 'cheaper/larger' gas supply.

once confidence increases, days roll into weeks and.....

for us, the benefits are ma y but mainly twofold.....the ability to use the CCC THS (and CL/CS) network which allows camping much closer to town/city centres than full blown sites and that we can do it for peanuts.

I have a wind up radio but my use is pretty light -  to get the news and weather if TV isn't working.  It runs on battery too so I could recharge them.  Neat little one form Mr Roberts when I found myself in Scotland before they had gone Digital! 

I would agree with every word Boff! A Safefill off EBay??? Wow- who's selling a Safefill ? 😂😂😂😂that's a find mate- well done! I think all 3 of us agree that there are various levels for offgrid. With forward thinking sites like Newton Grove in Oxfordshire, you don't have to spend a penny- just go, book a week and see for yourselves. All the folk who are now enjoying the fruits of our labours like Boff, BB, Pippah me and so many more - wouldn't we have just loved a facility like that when we started out? Boff, £400 for all that lot- you're a canny old bugger!! 😂😂😂

There's 1 on there at the moment.

Half full & "Buy it Now" for £100. To be collected from Cheadle

I would like to say mine was a result of a patient search it wasn't the first time I looked I found one.  There was one on the other week as well but they don't come up often.  The only point for consideration is that they should have an inspection every 10years the one on eBay will be about 5yrs old.

Does anyone know how much those inspections cost? 

Surely, you of all people, have investigated that?

Well, if it's anything like a diving tank, it isn't going to worry me. As Safefill are the maximum of 7 yrs old, inspections haven't been carried out yet Vic so until they start, it's impossible to say but I'm sure it won't be a hill of beans! 

Are you interested Dave? Pay for itself in no time if you use a reasonable amount of gas.