Power pack help.

lorrchamb1

lorrchamb1

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Feb 24, 2021
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AUTOTRAIL CHIEFTEN
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We have an Autotrail chieften and quite often use her off grid.we had considered solar panels and an inverter but have decided we don’t think we will actually need that.instead we are just thinking of buying a good power pack.we have looked at the Ecoflow models but my question is will we be able to power our 12v tv adequately ie. A couple of hours in an evening for a film for example.we have 2 good leisure batteries that we seem to manage really well for everything else.
Also is it best to buy a power pack with a portable solar panel to be able to charge it whilst away?the longest we do is a week off grid!
Many thanks for any advice!
 
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The TV will be more efficient when operated direct from 12v rather than when using a 230v to 12v step-down transformer/adaptor plug.

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That’s great advice Thankyou.just to sound dense if the 12v tv is not plugged into a power pack for its power source how is it connected?I know I sound incredibly dense but although we have decided on the tv we haven’t bought it yet!🤪
 
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lorrchamb1 have you got any 12v outlets in the back of your van like cigarette type outlets or Clipsil ? How do you charge mobiles etc ?

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lorrchamb1 said:
That’s great advice Thankyou.just to sound dense if the 12v tv is not plugged into a power pack for its power source how is it connected?I know I sound incredibly dense but although we have decided on the tv we haven’t bought it yet!🤪
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The autotrail will have some 12 v outlets in the back I assume, (cigarette type sockets)
and your 12v tv can plug onto them, and in turn they will draw power from your leisure batteries.
 
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Solar panels will give you free electricity whereas the power pack will need charging and electricity is expensive… solar will be there all the time keeping your leisure batteries topped up, most things can run on 12v now…

Solar will be much cheaper too..😎
 
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Thanks so much for all the advice we do have the two pin Clipsil points and we have now just ordered the cigarette type socket to plug the tv into.as it turns out doing a ‘Google’ of the proper names like clipsil lol means we’ve worked out what we need and that will be just as you said Just Smiffy solar panels to keep the batteries topped up.we’ve been off grid for 4 days and our leisure batteries are still reading 11.8 at the mo so we are obviously quite conservative users!thanks again for the advice 😊
 
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Do you know the chemistry of your batteries? If their lead acid/ AGM their quite discharged at 11.8 v. This will shorten their life span. Even a humble 120w folding panel will recharge your leisure batteries over a couple of hours with some good sun.
Mike.
 
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BouncyBoatFolk said:
Do you know the chemistry of your batteries? If their lead acid/ AGM their quite discharged at 11.8 v. This will shorten their life span. Even a humble 120w folding panel will recharge your leisure batteries over a couple of hours with some good sun.
Mike.
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Yes they are lead acid/AGM and we didn’t realise this,we are learning as we go along!we’ve already started researching solar panels to get them fitted ASAP.just posting on this forum we have got so much help!

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You can buy TV with built in battery I think ours is a cello TV?? Just a thought....

Cheers🍻
 
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lorrchamb1 said:
Thanks so much for all the advice we do have the two pin Clipsil points and we have now just ordered the cigarette type socket to plug the tv into.as it turns out doing a ‘Google’ of the proper names like clipsil lol means we’ve worked out what we need and that will be just as you said Just Smiffy solar panels to keep the batteries topped up.we’ve been off grid for 4 days and our leisure batteries are still reading 11.8 at the mo so we are obviously quite conservative users!thanks again for the advice 😊
Click to expand...

If your battery is reading 11.8 then it’s going to die anytime now, you are doing it unrecoverable damage and may already be too late.. you need to charge it asap…😎
 
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lorrchamb1 said:
Thankyou that is a big help we are definitely learning!!!
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Don’t ever be afraid of asking any questions on this forum… you will get sensible answers, there is no silly questions on here although there is a fair amount of banter…😎
 
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A 12 volt battery is not actually 12v.
11.8v is depleted and needs charging, as already mentioned.

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lorrchamb1 said:
Thankyou that is a big help we are definitely learning!!!
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But wait...if your battery is being used at the time you measure, it will show lower..if you switch off loads and check an hour or so later you will get a true reading.
dont worry too much about the odd low reading, just make sure you check it when no loads.
 
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lorrchamb1 said:
I am actually just looking at Cello tvs for Hettie 🚌👍🏻
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I had a cello, and apart form slightly tinny sound on some settings it was bang on for the money, got the smart version with chromecast built in, lasted till I got rid of the van.
 
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Thankyou we switched everything off,which tbh wasn’t much and then did a reading without a load after a while and it reads 12.4 that chart is really helpful.in all honesty we very naively thought that the reading would keep going down and down and that’s why we didn’t realise the true levels of the batteries.🙈we’ve definitely decided on solar panels.we think she may have them before but someone has removed them as there are brackets on the roof already.

We have decided too on the Cello tv so it’s great to hear an opinion from someone who has one.my only confusion with them is they are stated as A rating but then show as an F!

Thanks everyone!!
 
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Solar is definatly the way to go... (y)
At worst case if its a new to you van and you dont know the history on the batteries ( ie they may have been overused etc) better to invest in solar and 2 x new batteries. We had the Autotrail 700 with 2 batteries and just a single 120w solar panel. Did the job for us for years.
A lot may depend on your style of camping. Going off grid between the spring and early Autumn should not be a problem, More daylight so extra charge off the solar plus you dont tend to use lights or watch TV as much.

DIY solar is not difficult, lots of advise on here and youtube has a wealth on videos on the subject. Kit is fairly priced and available, depending on what year your Autotrail is and what Sargent unit is fitted then it may already have a solar regulator fitted.
 
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We tend to go away a couple of times in the winter but would probably be on hookup so no problem there.from Easter onwards that would be when we would be more likely to be off grid and yes I can see that would make perfect sense for solar as the sun would hopefully be around more!I was surprised to hear a 120w solar panel was enough….I have seen vans when the roof is covered lol so I guessed that’s what everyone would need.I think we are conservative users after assessing what we do,or would use.

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We are light users and last year, although admittedly last year the weather was good, we managed fine with 2x100AH lead acid batteries and a single 100 watt solar panel.
Batteries never went below 12.4v which is about 80% and we were fully charged by lunchtime/early afternoon.
We did 24 consecutive nights off grid and solar coped fine.
 
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Depending on your use, you might struggle with 120w, we have 400+w and currently it is only giving us 50 w sat in gloomy Bradford on Avon. It is great on a sunny day, but you may either need more battery backup or far more solar.
 
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Vanbitz, who have 2 members on here eddievanbitz and AshVanBitz , will fit a 100 watt panel, Victron MPPT solar controller and Battery Master (which keeps your starter battery fully charged) for £550 less a 10% Fun discount.
Plus you get a free night on their campsite so they can start work on your van first thing.
They are based in Taunton.
 
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Wow!🤩do you have a 12v tv that you use with that solar set up?and yes we are currently sat in a very gloomy Morecambe although it has been glorious til today!
John doesn’t feel that he would be confident in fitting it himself but the chap we use for our repairs etc is brilliant so I’m sure he will be able to help sort the solar out.😎
 
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lorrchamb1 FYI we run a 24' mains powered TV from a small inverter.
It uses about 4 amps/hour.
If it were a 12v TV it would use maybe 1amp less.
Depending on usage we use between 10 and 30 amps a day.
As a rule of thumb on a nice UK summer's day a 100 watt panel will produce about 30 amps.
On a superb day like last year's heatwave weather it will produce about 40 amps.
We will use a bit more power this year so I've just fitted a second 100 watt panel.
 
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