How much power...where from??? (1 Viewer)

[errpaul]

We're planning to go to disney this christmas where we will surely freeze!

Anyway, we have one 85ah battery at the moment. We will be using some lighting in the evening, say 2hrs a day and obviously have the water pump. Heating is not blown so no power drain, just the gas for that.
We have original lights, so tubes in the ceiling and I think halogen in the cabinet fittings...(does this sound right?:Blush
How much power would these use, say every hour, and which are best to use (lowest power drain?).

Also we may want to put on a DVD to entertain our son (keep him out the way!) when were sorting things like dinner. We have a portable DVD player which we usually run from a small cigarette lighter inverter when we're driving for him or to charge the battery.

Now, does the battery charge when the engine is on and idling, and would this be ok to run/charge the portable DVD also without killing the engine battery?
Or should we get a cheap GENERATOR (got to the topic eventually)?


Thanks

 

[hilldweller]

We're planning to go to disney this christmas where we will surely freeze!

Anyway, we have one 85ah battery at the moment.
We have original lights, so tubes in the ceiling and I think halogen in the cabinet fittings...(does this sound right?:Blush
Also we may want to put on a DVD to entertain our son (keep him out the way!) when were sorting things like dinner.

Now, does the battery charge when the engine is on and idling,
Or should we get a cheap GENERATOR (got to the topic eventually)?

Thanks

3 days. Is my guess how long you last on a fully charged 85Ah battery.
"Tube" lights are nearly as good as LED.
DVD probably takes very little. We use our DVD/TV in that 3 day estimate.
Generator is good insurance. We paid £200 for a new cheap sine wave 800W Chinese one from Trent. So far we've hardly used it but it was fine when we did.

 

[pappajohn]

We will be using some lighting in the evening, say 2hrs a day

i think you may be under estimating your lighting usage......its dark by 4pm at christmas so, unless you plan on going out every evening, you will use a lot more.

an alternator starts to charge as soon as its turning but the output will be low depending on the charge state of your engine battery but it will put back what the invertor takes out.

a genny is a good standby......i lost all leisure power going to spain when the charge relay failed to kick in and i was running a standalone coolbox from the leisure battery. luckily we still had 500 miles to go so it got recharged after fixing the relay.

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[errpaul]

Our plan would be to get up and be in the park early, then go back to van around 2 to eat and have a snooze, or at least a bit of a lie down! Then go back out (dark now) and into park until late. back to van and bed for the boy shortly followed by us!
On the hunt for a cheapo:Blush: gennie at the moment. Will ask opinion before I buy

 

[pappajohn]

Our plan would be to get up and be in the park early, then go back to van around 2 to eat and have a snooze, or at least a bit of a lie down! Then go back out (dark now) and into park until late. back to van and bed for the boy shortly followed by us!
On the hunt for a cheapo:Blush: gennie at the moment. Will ask opinion before I buy

fair enough.....sounds like the useage will be about right then. :thumb:

tv and dvd will use maybe 5ah between them and a couple of lights, maybe 1 to 2ah plus water pump and heating/fridge electronics.

probably 2 or 3 days easy.

still worth carrying a genny though.

 

[robinmclaren]

see you there

we will be there on 28th december until after new year and even with our 2 solar panels and 2 x 140ah leisure batteries we are loading a generator just in case , also swapping our 2 calor lite 6kg bottles to 2 full size bottles to give ample gas for heating , cooking and fridge but as you say we will be in park early , back for tea and back in park until late so should all be fine you have our details if you need anything like a wee drop of burbon

i have been warned to take warm hat and clothing , we are taking fancy dress for new years eve thank **** i have a warm woody costume, my son has a transformer costume with plenty of room for warm clothes under it but i think my wife may freeze her bits off with her costume , no its not funny

see you there

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[errpaul]

we will be there on 28th december until after new year and even with our 2 solar panels and 2 x 140ah leisure batteries we are loading a generator just in case , also swapping our 2 calor lite 6kg bottles to 2 full size bottles to give ample gas for heating , cooking and fridge but as you say we will be in park early , back for tea and back in park until late so should all be fine you have our details if you need anything like a wee drop of burbon

i have been warned to take warm hat and clothing , we are taking fancy dress for new years eve thank **** i have a warm woody costume, my son has a transformer costume with plenty of room for warm clothes under it but i think my wife may freeze her bits off with her costume , no its not funny

see you there

I'm on the case of trying to find a cheap gennie at the moment, just to keep the batteries topped up.
We've got no room for gas bottles any bigger than the 6kg onee, so will have a couple of these.

Is this the 1st time you've been in winter? We have been at various times of year, including October, December and Feb, and it is very cold there. Much colder than you would think so yes definately need a warm hat (I have a rather embarrassing Disney one which only comes out at Disney!:Blush
We take a supply of thermals too as these are great as a thin base layer (you will need them).

We've not been for NYE before. Josh will dress up, probably as a pirate. We don't have any adult costumes
I won't ask what your wife is dressing up as then!

 

[dazzer]

Dont know how cheap you want to go but I have 1 of these in my van and it runs my drill and 5" grinder no problem :thumb:

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Its small, light, cheap and does the job but it isnt the quietest thing around and being 2 stroke needs oil in the petrol to run. Having said that what do you want for £75?? Its cheaper than a decent battery!!!!!

 

[scotjimland]

I'm on the case of trying to find a cheap gennie at the moment, just to keep the batteries topped up.

How about hiring one for trip ?

From around £40 per week... if you don't need, or don't think it was a good idea .. no big loss..

If you do decide to buy I would avoid the cheapo 2 strokes.. they are noisy and smelly... certainly won't endear you to the neighbours.



jim

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[Jim]

Take a small genny, no worries then. Don't worry too much about noise nuisance, every other van will have one running, and besides, really noisy mechanical road sweepers spend an hour cleaning the site every morning, they start regularly at 3am That said after a day chasing kids around the park, most sleep through it (though not me)

Have fun:thumb:

 

[lazydays]

We're planning to go to disney this christmas where we will surely freeze!

Anyway, we have one 85ah battery at the moment. We will be using some lighting in the evening, say 2hrs a day and obviously have the water pump. Heating is not blown so no power drain, just the gas for that.
We have original lights, so tubes in the ceiling and I think halogen in the cabinet fittings...(does this sound right?:Blush
How much power would these use, say every hour, and which are best to use (lowest power drain?).

Also we may want to put on a DVD to entertain our son (keep him out the way!) when were sorting things like dinner. We have a portable DVD player which we usually run from a small cigarette lighter inverter when we're driving for him or to charge the battery.

Now, does the battery charge when the engine is on and idling, and would this be ok to run/charge the portable DVD also without killing the engine battery?
Or should we get a cheap GENERATOR (got to the topic eventually)?


Thanks

When we bought our motor in March this year one of the extras we had fitted was an EFOY fuel cell it was an expensive outlay, but has been worth its wait in gold.

It runs off methanol and the only noise when in use is a very faint humming, monitors the battery voltage and trickle charges the battery when required. We use 5 litre fuel cartridges and we still have at least 2 litres left on the first cartridge. We had six days at a site in the New Forrest without electric hook, we have also had about eight weekends wild camping in various places and the fuel cell has taken everything in its stride. Our van has one 85 amp/hour battery to feed the water pump, blown air heating, TV/DVD as well as fluorescent, halogen and LED lighting.

If you need more info go to efoy.com

Have a great time Disney:thumb:

 

[Linda and Steph]

We'll see you there

We went last year - cold? there were brass monkeys queuing at the welders

Actually, we're cheating this year by traveling in the MH but staying in a hotel for a few nights over Christmas :Cool:

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[robinmclaren]

cold !!!

no , have not been in winter but sure am going prepared for the artic , still should be great for the kids

 

[errpaul]

We'll see you there

We went last year - cold? there were brass monkeys queuing at the welders

Actually, we're cheating this year by traveling in the MH but staying in a hotel for a few nights over Christmas :Cool:

no , have not been in winter but sure am going prepared for the artic , still should be great for the kids

See you all there! Can't wait.