Where has it gone?

DD - my pleasure. The way caravanning is going at the moment I don't think that I am overstating it when I say that it must be one of the most important threads on here. A must read for all non EHUers and folk thinking about it. 

Well worth it though nuggy. I Agree that it should be a sticky! I asked for it. Whether we like it or not, the ability to stay off grid and be completely comfortably is here and we should encourage folk to do it and not pull off the grid. In the winter, yes, I agree it can be a little more difficult but even in winter it has its place.

I agree boff. - for a couple of days you could survive on a battery - but I wouldn't want to. That is - take the van out for 2 days and hope that the battery is up to it. If the thread doesn't appear soon a new one should be started. Call me cynical but a thread that was steering people to look at non EHU caravanning as a real alternative being 'lost' seems to play very well with the CC who have invested massively in EHUs. 

David first. Dave, when I said I agree with Boff, I was referring to the fact that you can go off grid for a couple of days without much trouble - not that the thread had got too long. It was a real mine of information and all efforts to get it back should be made as it was obviously a hugely popular thread. Im sure they are trying to `migrate` it.

Boff. I did agree with you regarding a 2 or 3 day break - yes, you wouldn't need any further equipment but I think the point here is that now that the technology is here, there is a way of staying as long as you like without worrying about whether the lights will go out. I have seen a few people asking the very same question I asked - Is it possible to do non EHU camping with an SP? HELL YES!! Firstly, the planning has to be done and the first question one needs to ask oneself is 1. `How long do I want to go away for?` well, straight away, if its more than 3 days, you need to start looking at SPs. The next question would be 2. What do I want to `run` on the van? And that would lead to question 3. What size SP do I need to achieve my goals? And 4. Do I have the battery capacity to achieve my goals. And probably aligned to question 2. `will I want to run 240v appliances on board?` I wanted to so an inverter was on the cards.

Now, having reached the age where `roughing it` is slightly less fun than it used to be, I knew I wanted ` what the 240v hook gave me` or as near to it as I could get. I looked at the basics. Cooking, heating and lighting. If I was to achieve what I had set out to achieve, I knew that something had to change between power sources. I knew for instance that I could not run an absorption fridge on electric for very long even if the sun was directly above the van and shining brightly!! But I could run it on gas!! I could also look at a compressor fridge which uses far less and could probably be run on batteries particularly the new lightweight Li ion batteries coming in that weigh half and store more but thats for another day. Again, I couldn't cook on electric (not that I ever have) but again gas was the answer and Safefil not only provided the gas but also enabled me to recoup the cost of the cylinder in pretty short order which was a massive draw! I also realised that with non EHU sites, I would also recoup my costs of the equipment bought ! So, with that in mind I paid out and I have not been disappointed., No running around like a headless chicken for me LOL. The point I am trying to make is this, yes, if you want to change your lifestyle whilst `vanning` you can but there is a cost but only initially - it comes back to you as it has with me. Don't be afraid to invest in good kit- IT IS AN INVESTMENT AND LIKE ALL GOOD INVESTMENTS ITS ONE THAT YOU WILL PROFIT FROM. Again, a question would be `How long before I see a profit?` thats easy - the more you use your van the more you save. I estimated I would have to spend about 100 nights to recoup my costs and I have - easily. But for me, although the fact was that I would get my money back, that, believe it or not was not my main concern. It was being able to be independent and use the technology that had been developed to allow me to do that - and It certainly does. The price of tech is dropping all the time and so , although I wasn't exactly a trailblazer, I did convert the van independently of any advice - I just looked at the facts. If I did it now, I would be even happier as the cost of decent SPs is down from where I bought mine. For instance, for my 135w panel (which has been perfectly adequate) i paid something like £500 but now Photonics Universe has 200w panels at £339.99!! The bigger the better as they say! I would certainly want spare capacity in the system. I would want the panel to produce more than I need rather than less.