camping with no electric hook-up

[JeremyT]

Hello, new Cali owner with zero experience here

We're heading to a site in August where I understand there are no electric hook-ups, so my question is how long do you folks think I could use the Van's internal electrics (fridge, lights, probably USB chargers for phones) without needing to go for a drive (or recharge the batteries)?

JT

 

[Neilgbj]

Hi and welcome....others will have a view but we have gone for about 4 days without hook up but I am sure others will potentially have done longer. Worth ensuring you are fully charged before setting off (hook up at home for at least 12 hours).

Good luck and enjoy....

 

[SimonB]

The main consumer is the fridge, so get that as cold as you can before you leave. I put ice packs into mine about 6 hours before I go and then replace them with fresh ones for the journey.
If you have the facility to put the vehicle on a hook up before you go you can cool it down from mains power.
Get one of those thermometers that you can check how cold it is inside the box. I understand the fridge turns off when the battery falls to a certain level, Welsh Gas will be able to tell you how low it gets. Might be worth investing in a cheap battery condition meter to warn you when it is getting low.
Have you looked into getting a solar panel for the roof? Lots of threads on here about it. Means you can also go the more remote parts of some campsites away from all the people who must have hook ups.

 

[Hotel California]

Hi and welcome on you first post ,
As said above four days at least , depending on the age of the batteries and how good they are maintaint ( read: frequent fully chareged on hook-up for at least 12h in a row) , as yours is new ( it says t6 ocean )you should easy get four days .
Don't use electric if not needed , turn of the interieur lights , set fridge at lower themp. at night ....

At some campsites with no hook-up they still got "charging" points for phones,....
Read some existing posts , as my sticky in the technical part and you will get to know the trick soon.
Don't worry to much and enjoy your first outing.

 

[Andy80F]

I'll be away for five days next week (Larmer Tree Festival) with no hook up and supplement the vehicle battery with a couple of decent capacity power banks 20,000mah at £20 each on amazon. These will be used to keep phones and iPod in power leaving the van to power the fridge and lights, a folding solar panel will put some charge back into them during the day. Similarly we also have a few solar powered lights, and one that effectively uses a smaller power bank, that can be surprisingly effective. I'd love to justify a big solar panel on the roof but my little collection of power banks and solar kit have been fine when off hook-up. The Isle of Wight Festival a couple of weeks ago had a similar set up and after four days with no hook-up we still had 70% charge in the batteries leaving the field. Most of the time is however spent at the festival with the van used to sleep in, a bit of eating and perhaps a little bit of socialising at the evenings end so no televisions or the like to need power.

 

[JeremyT]

Thanks all that's really helpful. I really like the idea of a solar panel. Will pick up a couple of power banks too.

 

[Aidy P]

I managed 5 nights at Glastonbury and the fridge was still working afterwards.
You can always run the engine for a period to top up the leisure batteries if they get low.

 

[SimonB]

Thanks all that's really helpful. I really like the idea of a solar panel. Will pick up a couple of power banks too.

This thread might be of interest to you - https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/solar-panel-fitting-and-review.13420/
A lot of members with different solutions to the solar power issue.

 

[Pineweasel]

We've done 5 days at Glastonbury several times with no need for any supplementary power or starting the engine. This is with the fridge on level 4, going through a tank of water and keeping 4 phones and a camera charged.

 

[RichardH]

We usually get about 5d of fridge use on setting 3. However we've just done 22d on a south west coast site in France with no plug-in and without moving the van. We took a cool-box sized gas powered fridge with us (a Cali sized Gaz bottle lasted 18 days) and turned off the Cali fridge on arrival. We used the leisure batteries for lighting and lots of recharging of phones, iPads, Bluetooth speakers etc. (How splendid to find Test Match Special ball-by-ball commentary on YouTube, despite it being unavailable via the BBC website or app overseas!) The batteries lasted for all but the last two days. The only minor glitch was that the battery meter continued to read 90% throughout, until there was insufficient power to operate the multifunction display. Lots of life left in the engine battery though and the roof could be operated as soon as the motor was running.

 

[LisaKent]

We have also had 5+ nights in quite hot weather

 

[bigmac77]

@JeremyT did you go away? How did you get on?

 

[Paulro]

I managed 5 nights at Glastonbury and the fridge was still working afterwards.
You can always run the engine for a period to top up the leisure batteries if they get low.

That's a great effort. I've never managed that amount without driving.

 

[JeremyT]

Thanks for all the replies above, was very helpful. After five days (fridge on level 3, charging phones once a day, interior lights for a few hours in the evening) the battery was down to 30%, in line with what other folks had experienced above.

We had another few days camping so I went for a short drive around the nearby town, about 30 mins or so. This seemed to bring the leisure battery back up to 100%. Three nights later we headed for home with it down to 50% again (but obviously charged up fully on the way home).

So all in all it was pretty good - I was surprised how effectively the leisure battery was recharged by a short drive.

JT

 

[kave]

No battery will be fully charged by a couple of hours of driving after that kind of use. I would recommend charging it for 24 hours at home after every discharge if you like it to survive as long as possible.

 

[calikev]

I was once told it takes 20 minutes driving to put back in the battery what was used to start the engine.

 

[bigmac77]

Glad to here you were okay without hook up but is your fridge cold enough on 3? Or did you run it on that setting to conserve power?

 

[snowy55]

Glad to here you were okay without hook up but is your fridge cold enough on 3? Or did you run it on that setting to conserve power?

We always run our fridge on 3. We find it gives you about 10c in the basket and about 5c in the bottom and it also lessens the risk of anything freezing.

 

[JeremyT]

Yeah my experience was similar to snowy55, between 5c and 10c at setting 3 depending upon how much was in the fridge, air circulation etc.

JT

 

[Stuart]

I realised today that I had left our Waeco CF26 plugged in for the last 7 days ... and amazingly it was still happily running

 

[Jenny H]

Would I be right in assuming this is the case still that you can go a few days without a hook up? as have found somewhere Id like to stay a few days without electric hook ups - I have so much to learn!!!

 

[Paulro]

Yes, providing your 2 leisure batteries are in good shape.
we have a solar panel, bought from Roger Donoghue (search on here for more info) and that in turn keeps the batteries in a nicely charged state.
Obviously, it’s easier when the sun shines but we normally have a couple of trips of up to 14 days, sometimes with a bit of driving in between that helps charge the batteries but wouldn’t have any problems with a 3-5 night sta.
We always wild camp and never hook up to electricity.

 

[ThomasHJ]

Hi Jenny, if you mention in your profile which cali you have, some questions can be answered more specifically or more easily. It now still says 'Looking to buy'. ;-)

To answer your question: yes, you should be able to go a few days without EHU. There's a couple of things you can do to stretch the time the charge will last.

- charge the batteries on EHU before you leave for at least 12h.
- pre-cool the fridge before you leave and use ice-packs, or as I do, frozen bottles of water, which later on can be used to drink.
- use as little electric appliances / lamps, etc. as possible
- use powerbanks to charge your phone(s) and laptops (for about 80 euro's you can buy a decent one that will charge a modern iphone or samsung phone approx. 4 times)
- go for a drive during your camping-stay

- install solar panels so you don;t have to worry about it at all.

We don't have solar panels as we never camp anywhere without EHU longer then say 4 nights. So far we have managed to do 3 nights without EHU, using the fridge and the internal lights. Haven't tried longer.

We have also used the fridge, internal lights and the heater for 2 days straight while not on EHU, but havent tried that more then 2 days.

All in all you should be able to spend a few days without EHU no problem.

 

[Jenny H]

Hi Jenny, if you mention in your profile which cali you have, some questions can be answered more specifically or more easily. It now still says 'Looking to buy'. ;-)

To answer your question: yes, you should be able to go a few days without EHU. There's a couple of things you can do to stretch the time the charge will last.

- charge the batteries on EHU before you leave for at least 12h.
- pre-cool the fridge before you leave and use ice-packs, or as I do, frozen bottles of water, which later on can be used to drink.
- use as little electric appliances / lamps, etc. as possible
- use powerbanks to charge your phone(s) and laptops (for about 80 euro's you can buy a decent one that will charge a modern iphone or samsung phone approx. 4 times)
- go for a drive during your camping-stay

- install solar panels so you don;t have to worry about it at all.

We don't have solar panels as we never camp anywhere without EHU longer then say 4 nights. So far we have managed to do 3 nights without EHU, using the fridge and the internal lights. Haven't tried longer.

We have also used the fridge, internal lights and the heater for 2 days straight while not on EHU, but havent tried that more then 2 days.

All in all you should be able to spend a few days without EHU no problem.

Thanks Thomas thats really handy to know - I will try to change my profile as hadnt thought to do that with my impending Coast

 

[AlanC]

We have also been on a site during the summer without EHU for 3 nights without any issues and some folk who attend festivals have gone 4 nights without issue.

I do make sure the batteries are fully charged before leaving home and the drive to the site keeps them fully charged.

As Thomas has said, just be aware of the battery drain by keeping an eye on the control panel and be economical with your use of anything electrical. Keep the fridge on a lower setting, avoid the parking heater (not an issue in the summer) and avoid plugging in your phones. The LED lighting doesn't consume very much but all the lights on will add up and increase the battery drain, so use these sparingly.

All common sense really.

One thought...does the Coast have two leisure batteries, the same as the Ocean/SE? If just one, the same applies but may only do 2 nights on one leisure battery.

Alan