Electricity usage when stored/off road
I have had my caravan outside my house for the winter and kept it plugged into my household electricity.
We have had a small electric oil radiator come on at night, otherwise nothing else. I would not have thought this would have consumed much electricity yet I have seen my electric charges almost double? Surely this cannot be simply down to the caravan? I've not used anything else of significance over the winter so I am under the impression that it can only be my caravan?
If this is the case, how do other folks stop condensation and cold weather from ruining their caravans during the winter?
Has anyone else found this? Does the caravan draw that much power when it isn't being used if you leave it plugged in to the mains? How do you keep the battery charged for when you want to use the motor mover before you go on a trip?
I'd appreciate any advice or help as we are relatively new to caravaning and this is the first year we have had one or ever had one outside over winter.
Geoff
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We leave ours plugged in but only turn it on from time to time to keep the battery charged and have done so for many years with various vans. (The SP proved useless in winter.)
We don’t normally heat the van, though. The only year we did, we then had mould develop.
What is the power consumption of your radiator and do you really need to heat the van, GAH?
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Even a mini oil-filled radiator will be about 500W so that is going to chew a fair bit of electricity if it is sat there all the time. My caravan used to sit unheated outside the house. I just plugged it in to cool the fridge and give the battery a boost 24 hours before a journey. I used to take the battery out and keep it in the garage and give it a boost with a bench charger every couple of months.
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We have had a small electric oil radiator come on at night, otherwise nothing else. I would not have thought this would have consumed much electricity yet I have seen my electric charges almost double? Surely this cannot be simply down to the caravan? I've not used anything else of significance over the winter so I am under the impression that it can only be my caravan?
Depends on what temperature the heater is trying to maintain,
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The small oil filled radiator we have is 600 watts. So if on constantly overnight would cost about £1 a night. So over a 3 month bill period around £90. However, if it has a thermostat like ours, and is only set on low it would probably not be on all the time.
We don't heat our caravan by the way, as it is in storage. Obviously it is fully drained to avoid freezing damage and we have never had any damp problems. Personally I would not heat it during the winter, except perhaps prior to using it.
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Our van is on a storage site,so no electricity available at all.But we do use the van all year, and at least every two weeks I "air" the van.I have never suffered from condensation,but I do leave the cupboard doors open so air can circulate.
I leave the battery in position,check with a meter,and remove and charge it at home when required.I do use a 20w solar panel as well.
This has served me well over the many years of being on a storage site.
Water systems are drained down as well.
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TW, did you get to the bottom of the solar panel issue?
there have been loads of SP posts on the ASOC forum which might help, the main 'culprit' being the need to have the Sargent panel on to ensure smart charging, otherwise it defaults to leisure battery only...
the other main one was the latest ECU from Sargent drawing more power to run itself than came in from the panel....
i realise from your post that this isn't necessarily an issue with regard to the OP but may be of some use if you wanted to get to the bottom of it...
i assume you have the fitted 80w panel, if so this 'should' be more than enough to keep batteries charged even in winter time... my 100w one keeps three batteries up easily...
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Yes, it is the 80w, BB. Both the vehicle and the leisure batteries went flat which suggests it wasn’t a Sargent related issue. We have researched it and I noticed you were on the AS forum.
We are sure the problem is due to the dull weather through winter coupled with the location where the van is parked. There is a high bank to the south of the van which provides a little too much shelter. Other than a major earth moving job, or moving house, there’s little we can do about that.
Once the days started brightening, the SP delivered 2-3amps which seems to bear out the theory.
It's been a simple job to use mains for charging now we know of the problem. If necessary, we can use the factory fitted battery isolator to preserve the charge in the vehicle battery.
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Over the best part of 30 years I've stored my caravans out in the open without any heating and nothing has ever been ruined (except once when I forgot to drain the water prior to sub-zero temperatures and the boiler burst as a result). I just turn the heater on about 24 hours before I use the caravan and that's enough to clear any clamminess.
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I left the motor home in storage for just over 4 weeks and the vehicle battery was too flat to start the engine. We have a solar panel which keeps the leisure battery charged to 13.5 Volts. I have noticed that the SP control unit has a second output for a vehicle battery.
Has any one got one of these wired to the vehicle battery?
The control unit website reports that the second output can be used for the vehicle battery, but it is a different type, the leisure battery is a Yuasa L36 AGM plus and the vehicle battery is a standard van starter battery, probably a normal sealed lead acid type.
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Another one for no heating and we live in Scotland. Never heated a van in 35 years and don't think I ever would. As long as precautions are taken to the water system and to let air circulate inside the van everything should be fine. We do lift the cushions away from the sides of the van and open the overhead lockers.
As to small oil filled radiators, we use 2 small ones 500 & 800w in our attic room on some nights in winter, yes it can increase your electricity bill dramatically and no we don't have them high just enough to keep the frost out when very cold.
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we never heat the van in storage, ever. I have one of those max/min thermometers and I always leave it out near the sink, and I've actually never had much below freezing over the winters (even this one) but summer temperatures often exceed 40C .
I always drain down the tank though and check the battery before a trip. But as we never leave it more than a month between trips it's always been OK.
I think rain getting in is more of a issue than cold?
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you have a cellar? wow, repect! Wish I had one.
Actually my parent's house had a coal cellar, it was a great place to play when young and to transfer B&W film from camera to developing tank when older.
sorry OT
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No longer leave the caravan plugged into the mains constantly after boiling the leisure battery
Probably a controller issue as these caravan parts are not the best having had issues early on with poor solder joints in PCB on the main control panel Now rely on the solar panel to keep it topped up, with a 24 hour mains plugin before use primarily to cool the fridge ahead of a trip. We park the caravan on the drive with the SP on the south side. We have solar panels on the house that deliver 3x the electricity we use, so evidently in a good spot.
Leave the caravan blinds open about 4 inches at the top on each window.
We do use the caravan year round.
No damp or mustiness at all over the nearly 3 years we've had it and stored on the drive.
Once on a CAMC site we bang the electric heating up full to get the caravan up to temp, as we've paid for the electricity, so we'll use it fully
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i do get annoyed with manufacturers who fit a solar panel and then don't ensure that it keeps the vehicle battery (as well as the leisure battery) fully charged, to me it just smacks of cost cutting...
at the end of the day, if the Hab battery was flat but the vehicle battery charged, at least you could drive the van....
however, the remedy is fairly straightforward...either fit a connection from the 2nd solar panel regulator outlet to the vehicle battery (the charging ratio of the two can usually be configured to suit...) or you could fit a Battery Master which 'charges' the vehicle battery from the leisure battery...
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