Off Grid on a budget. Cheap and easy go anywhere caravan setup.
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- čas přidán 21. 05. 2022
- When you mention off grid caravanning, you start to think Lithium Batteries, Victron Controllers, massive solar panels and lots of expense but it really doesn't have to be that way to have amazing trips to remote locations away from large sites.
Having a very different caravanning experience on sites without facilities can be relaxing and comfortable with a very limited budget and just a few compromises. We bought our solar panel, battery and 12v TV for under £500. In the first 4 months of 2022 we have already had several trips of between 3 and 5 nights to sites costing less than £10 per night and in fantastic, remote locations.
We hope you enjoy the video and take away some ideas that can help you, Thanks for watching. Please consider supporting us by giving the video a like and subscribing to the channel.
Take care and stay safe.
Ally & Alan
Total nomadic set up... who needs to be reliant on services when the vans enough. I love the idea the persons might have to communicate with each other when services are limited lol what ever did we do before mobiles!!
Hi Scott 👋 Thanks for watching and commenting 😍 That comment made us smile 😃
Great outlook and attitude.
Perfect timing for our up coming fest. We really enjoyed watching this vlog guys, it was sooo helpful. Thank you for sharing. Very best wishes Mike and Donna
Hi Alan & Ally. Due to the price increases on some of the larger sites we’ve decided to go off grid more. It’s a no brainer. Great video 👍🏻 Jo & Chris
Absolutely 👍 Think more and more are weighing up the options due to site fees and fuel costs. Caravaning isn't the cheap and easy getaway anymore if using larger sites. Thanks for watching and commenting 😍 😍
Really good info here, with rent going stratospheric I’m really considering this
Great advice. Some people seem to think they are slumming it if they do not have a fully serviced pitch but they are missing out on a lot of nice sites by insisting on high spec pitches. We have had great times at rally type meet when it nearly always “off grid”.
I absolutely loved this video Alan!! This was unlike any others you have done and really enjoyed it. Informative, helpful and well presented. great work Alan.
Thanks Rob. Thought we needed to step up a bit and thought we'd try this format. Thanks for the comment 👍 Hope you and Gem are well 😀
We’re on a limited budget & we just get by with a spare 75amp battery costing £55 which we charge in the car on trips out. We also have a 12v hair dryer that works ok.
We are lucky to have a Jackery so we can use it for other things. We found it ok but it's all the devices that are hard for us with 5 devices to charge. We can plug that the caravan to make it think we are 240V. The only thing that was an issue on the rally is that the battery charger was constanly pulling 40W even when fully charged.
Hi Alan and Ally. Great video as per normal. Love the awning BTW we would love to go off grid we have a sola Panel and really don't watch TV to much. Be good to see how you get on love the set up 😎👍Paul and Sarah 👍
Hi Paul/Sarah 👋 Hope you're both well . You should try off grid even for 1 weekend. You never know till you try, it might be right for you 👍 The sun Canopy is probably our best accessory purchase. We love it. Take care Ally and Alan 🥰
I have the affinity 550, with the same set up as yourselves, it's given me a thought that we could go off grid at some point 😃
Thanks for commenting Stephen 🙂. If you take the plunge, let us know how you find it 👍👍
All I want is enought electricity for a fridge, lights, toilet and water heater/pump, and charge phones and tablets. We don’t use much lights in summer in my country, also don’t use air conditioner…but we need to heat up little a bit for the nights.
I wish I could use my plugs of a leisure battery only the lights work ☹️
Great video very inspiring might have to try off grid (are you allowed to use a generator these days)
Generators can be kinda frowed on we're told but to be honest we've no idea if allowed or not. Never heard a genni onsite so can only presume they don't get much use if they are allowed.
If you want electric go to a site with electric keep our off grid sites peacefull that why we love them
Hi, I have not watched for a while, you are right about CL sites, the tele is rubbish so for 2 nights you can do without. The battery you would need anyway, especially with a mover. There are some great CL sites that have fully serviced pitches but no toilet block, after travelling during covid, it is not that big a deal, they are about £15 - £18 a night. Have you change your car? I noticed the Honda has gone, I did think when you first started that the Honda was not the best for towing, looks like a sportage, good call.
May be a Sorrento?
Hi David. Yeah, it's a Sorento. Honda was OK but the Kia is definitely a massive improvement for us. 👍👍
Yes, the Honda is a nice looking car but it just did not have enough for towing our van.
Nice video! May I ask How do you find these sites?
It's a right mixture of websites and searching the area on Google maps. 👍
Very interesting , how do the fridge work ?
Fridge runs on the gas 👍👍
Can you tell me how you connect a stand alone solar panel to the caravan please.
The panel itself that we purchased came with crocodile clips to attaches straight to the battery but we wanted a different solution which is detailed in this video czcams.com/video/EGSpgc2fsQU/video.html
Hope that helps.
@@Coffeevaners Thank you for your reply, and for a very well written and presented video.
Hi Alan & ally, ordered the same van as you if it ever turns up(already three month late) Can you send me the dimensions of your battery L x W x H ,Dont have a motor mover so may have a little more room in the battery box.
many thanks
Andy &Maureen.
Hi Andy / Maureen 🥰 The battery isnt the max that will fit but its pretty snug in there with the cables. It's 350mm long x 170 mm wide x 160mm height . Hope that helps. 👍
Thanks for the info.
We know that feeling too maureen. Our very first video explained the trouble we had ordering a an Eldiss avante 454! Hope you get it soon guys.
Do u have a link for the solar panel, or one similar please.
We don't have a link as checking our amazon orders the item is unavailable now. Ours was bought from the DOKIO amazon store. They do in Jan 2023 have a smaller kit available but not the 160w kit we bought.
@@Coffeevaners thanks, this would allow me to use some lovely sites nearby without electric hook up for cheap quiet weekends. Looks perfect
Do you run your fridge off gas
Absolutely. 👍 We're just about to head off later this week for 10 days in Scotland off-grid. The fridge will be on gas for the duration 👍
What TV do you have please? Thx
It's a Fergusson 24", 12 volt Smart TV with free view and WiFi. Cost us £180 In August 2020. Cello are made in the same factory 🏭 just a few miles from where we live.
@@Coffeevaners lovely thank you. I’ll have a read up on them, Avtex TV’s are so expensive, I can’t justify spending that amount of money on one. 😂
How do I find off grid sites ?
Good question. We're still using the camc book to find them in 2024 as they are getting fewer that are advertising as off grid this year. We're ringing and asking how much if we don't use ehu for those not advertising. So far we're getting the response from a few that will do that to be around £5 to £8 a night reduced pitch price. There are still lots out there and they tend to offer camping as well but we're also thinking about sites with metered electric so if you don't need to plug in, you don't pay.
@@Coffeevaners Thanks for the info 👍