Minxy
LIFE MEMBER
- Aug 22, 2007
- 33,661
- 70,241
- Funster No
- 149
- MH
- Carthago Compactline
- Exp
- Since 1996, had Elddis/Swift/Rapido/Rimor/Chausson MHs. Autocruise/Globecar PVCs/Compactline i-138
Our camper has an all-electric fridge which can seriously hit the battery levels and in Spain recently, despite glorious weather and lots of sun, sun and more sun shining on our 200w of solar and supplementing it with a 50w portable panel, occasionally it meant we were rather too low on battery levels for comfort (down to 12.2 at times), so although our 2 x 78ah gel batteries can cope with going below 50% its not something I'm overly happy with. I'm going to put the portable panel on permanently as my controller can cope with 250w input but there's a limit to how much solar I can stick up there so don't want to add even more panels (changing the controller for a bigger one), and/or adding another battery would be difficult as no obvious place to put it, hence my thoughts turning to a generator.
Good points:
Needs to be reliable and easy to use
Isn't too noisy or smelly
Isn't heavy or bulky
No need for any special 'outputs' (ie 12v), just mains would be sufficient
I know there are lots on the market but don't want to buy a lemon which some seem to be and don't particularly want to spend the earth buying one as it won't be used much other than in the camper occasionally so going 'major brand' and paying to some extent for the badge on it doesn't make a lot of sense unless the rest are crap!
Suggestions please.
Good points:
- Allow us to top up the batteries when needed
- Allow us to use our Remoska to cook joints, pizzas etc (we only have a 2 ring gas hob), along with our electric ring, grill, toaster and kettle if we want
- Can be noisy and smelly (I have a husband so used to that already! )
- Needs to be stored along with fuel (we'll have space for it once I jettison the stuff we don't use)
Needs to be reliable and easy to use
Isn't too noisy or smelly
Isn't heavy or bulky
No need for any special 'outputs' (ie 12v), just mains would be sufficient
I know there are lots on the market but don't want to buy a lemon which some seem to be and don't particularly want to spend the earth buying one as it won't be used much other than in the camper occasionally so going 'major brand' and paying to some extent for the badge on it doesn't make a lot of sense unless the rest are crap!
Suggestions please.