How to thrive on a non 240v site!

The thought of having an inverter to power such devices as our microwave is attractive. However it seems to me that the current draw from our battery to feed a 900 watt microwave could be very destructive of the battery, or am I missing something?

Yes, at least 75amps plus inefficiencies, and very heavy cables on the 12v side.

Yeah, it’s pretty good cody. My nightmare is sharing a site with 200 other vans, but everyone to their own. Small is beautiful to me. 

That's what I thought. So would it be better to use a car battery instead of a leisure battery to feed a 1000w inverter? 

As you know a leisure battery is designed for small(ish) continuous long draw of power, but a car battery is for short high current. If high draw from a battery is going to be a regular thing then perhaps a car type battery should be considered.

Well, I guess five to ten minutes each morning drawing around 80 to 100 amps should be called regular. It's also another 30Kg off the carrying capacity of our van so I think I will forget the idea and rely on gas. 

Good idea, an individuals choice to what suits best.

A good leisure battery will supply that sort of amperage for a few minutes- you don’t need a starter battery. I used (you’ll notice I said used) 2 x 110ah ‘leisure’ batteries for three years without problem. In this 4th year they are being kicked out for the next generation battery as they have become tired and won’t hold much charge now- certainly not enough to use the toaster or microwave etc. They are Elecsol batteries which regulars will remember were supplied by the rudest, most obnoxious man you could ever not wish to meet and when I bought mine, he was going bust (thank goodness) but his batteries were nothing like they should have been hence the much reduced efficiency of them after 4 year. They will support lighting, pumps, and a 30w tele but that’s about all. We are on site at the moment and have switched to gas (Safefill) for toast. We can’t use the microwave or the vacuum but that will change on the 1st May when our new battery system is fitted. 

Hi all Non-EHUers

Just to let you know it was suggested by a member that I start a new disscussion " Non-EHU sites list" with links to our Non-EHU CLs list and the Google Map of the same. This has now been done it is here if anyone wishes to use them https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-together/discussions/sites-touring/certificated-locations/non-ehu-sites-list/

Hi all.  I'm going to be doing lots of work on my laptop on weekends away this year :( .  I can find loads of portable solar charges for phones but little in the way of charging a lap top for times when we aren't on EHU (most of the summer).  Has anyone got any tips for a cheapest way to charge laptop (either solar or cigarette socket type thing).  

We did by an invertor from Halfords last year but it kept tripping the electric so something obviously wasn't right.