How to thrive on a non 240v site!
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Yes I've fitted them to the roof. Its not a difficult job. Just requires a bit of thought. If you are going to drill the roof investing in a 19mm? hole saw makes a pretty neat job. Tube of Sikaflex. Top tip if you if you are going to roof mount most panels come with MC4 connectors. You can buy extension lengths of solar cable with a male MC4 on one end and a female the other. Buy one that is twice the length you need to go to the controller and then you can connect up the panel cut the cable in half you can then connect to the controller.
Good luck!
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Anybody know of a current version of this? It is a hair dryer that runs off a gas ring!!!
Ideal for off grid and better than trying to run a 2kW inverter.
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Have to say I had my 135w panel fitted professionally. Silaflex is good stuff but they use a filler that dries rock hard around the gland etc. I have had no issues with mineIt’s not a technically demanding job but you need to plan it. I think any additional panel will be a suitcase type. I have saved payload just recently by going over to 1 X 100ah Lithium Battery as against 2x 110ah lead acids- a quarter of the weight! As far as a hair dryer is concerned, a micro fibre towel will virtually dry the hair I understand- not my area of expertise though!!
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Hi, going back to my laptop query...is this the sort of thing that would work
I know nothing about wattage or anything and tried to find something on HP or PC World sites but nothing came up.
Re the hairdryer..I've given up off grid and just choose a very sunny day to wash my hair. Whilst a micro fibre towel is better and a 12v hairdryer will dry if you have an hour to spare, if you have long hair I have decided that the sun is the best way and being not to bothered about what you look like.
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Merve
I think you should share the video you "starred in" in your disscusion thread. For any one interested in installing a lithium battery here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNB5pCIving&t=318s0 -
No problem John. Enjoying offgrid caravanning in Wales at the moment- been watching the Wimbledon Men’s Final and other stuff and the battery is still 100% State of Charge. This really is living the dream!! Hope others get something out of it.
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Very interesting video but isn't the toast rather expensive with this system?
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I travel the world and never find campsites without mains electricity. It's time some primitive Uk campsites moved on.
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🤣 No not at all! Every time I make some I have saved. I don’t even have to use Safefill gas! I have only compared to CLs but if I compared to CMHC sites the savings are mouth watering!
Look, I am now retired. As a result I can ‘live the dream’ I, like many others was sold a private pension years ago with promises of 70 or 80k a year. What a load of crap- the payback is pathetic so how was I to do what I had set my heart on ie travel the U.K. with the caravan when I was paying on average £15 a night? The facts were that I would have had to cut down my nights away due to the cost so how could I do it? Cut down the cost of my caravanning that’s how and I have managed to very successfully, with the aid of modern technologies, and expert advice, managed to do just that. Now I know we have some people on here that light there fags with a fiver, but I ain’t one of them. I have reinvested my savings back into the power systems on the van and now I am more than happy with what I have achieved.
All I am doing is saying to people- there is an alternative- you don’t have to do it now the way you’ve always done it - you can break away from the matrix and be free from the Stranglehold of Calor and EHU sites that charge about a tenner extra for the EHU EACH day from which you take about 20ps with of electricity a day - if that. I’m not having a go at EHU sites- they have to cover their costs but it’s a cost I don’t wish to cover. I paddle my own kayak (as I have been doing this morning) and I am very happy doing it. The other side of the coin is the Safefill Cylinder- another massive saver for the person who doesn’t want to support multi million pound businesses any more- Calor for instance. Or Flo? But I also know, as if I could be anything other than convinced, that there are those who absolutely refuse for one reason or another to investigate an alternative- that’s fine!! I have no problem with that, but I am a little saddened that I am attacked for trying to bring savings to my fellow caravaners! But , as I say it takes all sorts. If they are happy I’m happy. To the people who have emailed me to say that they have tried what I have suggested I am glad that you are all enjoying the benefits of offgrid caravanning and saving serious money in the process. Lithium was the next stage for me in an evolution that started some 6 years ago and I am - so far, very impressed indeed. It’s like I said- wild camping with hook up! Over the next few years the savings will allow me to live the dream. I am more than happy to invest in technology if it’s going to make my life easier and more comfortable- and it unquestionably does. And as a footnote has led me to some of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. It’s a win win situation for me.
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Merve seems happy to accept mains water but has an antipathy to mains electricity. I expect a modern campsite to provide both.
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There you go, Merve. A challenge - set up a solar still to supply your own water unless you want to go the "Bear Grylls route" and recycle your own wee.
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While it maybe true the majority of sites "over there" supply EHU you do have a choice of whether to pay for the service or not which could be of a very low power output or charged at a high rate via metering. It is still best to have your own sources of power which also gives you great flexibility of what to use and where to stay.
For UK sites to move on they need to give more choice and meter electricity usage.
peedee
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PD, I’m struggling with this-‘For UK sites to move on they need to give more choice & meter electricity usage’ what is more choice?, what has metering electricity to do with moving on?. Merve understands choice, He & His fellow off gridders choose their lifestyle without expecting the choosers of EHU use to change. The C&MC seems to be getting their mix spot on judging by the £turnover success. You seem to be on a mission to change things to match your own individual mantra🤔☹️
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I would imagine that if metering was introduced, those who were mostly summer campers would gain and all year/high consumers would lose. The issue in the UK seems, for the most part, about the choice to plug or not to plug. The electrically self-sufficient among us often have to pay for a facility that they do not require, as with toilet blocks. One wonders if there was a more 'menu driven' tariff whether there would be less inclination to 'wild-camp'.
It is somewhat akin to yachting where, mostly, it is a choice between anchoring in a sheltered spot or paying for full-on services in a marina.
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Maybe because that’s not the reason? You’re assuming it is, Boff, but you don’t know for sure.
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How could anybody object when they are metered at home? Many also have water meters. Utilities are valuable resources which should not be wasted so in principle all members should support metering, however, whether it is cost effective for the Club to install meters is questionable.
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Do you think I sit and watch you, Boff? Don’t flatter yourself!
All I did was point out what would have been obvious if you’d stopped and thought before suggesting other posters aren’t being honest.
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+1. I have both & I’m a big fan of em too. You know where you stand & are in total control👍🏻
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Flattered? By you? I can assure you I cannot conceive of any circumstance whiere by I could be flattered by you. Twisting my remarks yes, accusations again yes. Actually answering a question absolutely not. As a self appointed arbiter of what is allowable on this forum, why you you answer questions?
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What are you asking? It’s indecipherable.
This all stems from you suggesting that posters are being less that honest in their comments about metering. That’s fact, not accusation and is twisting nothing. Go back and read your earlier post if you don’t believe me.
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Look, Boff, I have no idea why you decided to pounce on me following my initial post which was not inflammatory and merely stated that what you were saying about people not giving honest views may not be the case.
A lot of people will be upset if this thread is closed due to your response to my post and the subsequent comments so, for their sakes, I propose to leave it there.
As for metering, I couldn’t care less one way or the other so have neither an axe to grind, nor any strong views.
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