Caravan Question

[aims]

Hello guys,

My first year at Glastonbury last year and I'm hooked, sod overseas holidays.

Anyway, we thought we'd do it in the height of luxury this year and have hired a caravan, but the Glastonbury website says no generators. What do regular caravan go-ers do for energy etc??

Also pitching tents behind the caravans as pitching beside them is a fire hazard made me laugh, I saw lots of people making fires next to their tents in the camping field which looked pretty dangerous last year, but no one was told to put it out.

Any helpful advice for a caravan newbie will be much appreciated.

[loosechange]

What do regular caravan go-ers do for energy etc??

Also pitching tents behind the caravans as pitching beside them is a fire hazard made me laugh, I saw lots of people making fires next to their tents in the camping field which looked pretty dangerous last year, but no one was told to put it out.

Any helpful advice for a caravan newbie will be much appreciated.

[aims]

Does the caravan not have a 12V leisure battery (or two)? The fridge will almost certainly be able to run off gas as well as mains electricity / 12V battery, I'd have thought. You can always get a solar charger for your phone / iPod etc, if you're worried about running your battery down.

[loosechange]

It comes with a 12 volt and 230 volt mains facility (its written on the fact sheet), would you advise getting a spare battery?

[Sam Crawley]

I was with friends in a camper last year. We found that it's generally not a good idea to use the power for anything you don't need to - just charging phones and ipods for a few hours was enough to leave the battery low, although that's probably partially because we had to turn on the electrics via ignition to power cigarette lighter socket. I think one of the tactics is to have the engine running for a bit every day. Also have some jump leads in case you need to call upon your neighbour if you do drain the battery!

[loosechange]

I was with friends in a camper last year. We found that it's generally not a good idea to use the power for anything you don't need to - just charging phones and ipods for a few hours was enough to leave the battery low, although that's probably partially because we had to turn on the electrics via ignition to power cigarette lighter socket. I think one of the tactics is to have the engine running for a bit every day. Also have some jump leads in case you need to call upon your neighbour if you do drain the battery!

[Al the CAT]

Providing you're sensible there's no reason why a fully charged leisure battery (not a car battery) shouldn't last you a full week or more.

Logically, you'll be out and about and away from the 'van most of the time, so late nights & mornings you'll likely to be using the power. The caravan will have 12v lighting (usually the strip lights in the ceiling or spotlights above the seats) - these are pretty low drain items.

There will be 12v sockets in there as well, and any caravan shop should have 'adapt-it' connectors to convert from the 2pin socket to a cigarette lighter type socket for charging phones etc (or like someone else said earlier get a solar charger - the right type can trickle charge the battery while you're out).

I guess there's a fridge in there - for this you will need a gas bottle (if you're hiring you should have been offered this, or be getting it in the hire deal as it's expensive to buy a bottle from scratch). The fridge will not run from the leisure battery (it may say it's 12v, but this means it'll run from the cars 12v supply while you're travelling). You will also need a gas supply for the cooker (got to be able to get a brew on!) and for the water heater if you're having one of them things you don't often get at festivals, whadda ya call it, a shower, that's it

The real drain on the power comes if you try to use electric kettles (even low-voltage ones like truckers have), hair driers, and other such luxuries. Stick to essential lighting, and overnight charging and the battery will last for plenty of time (just make sure it's fully charged when you get it, most leisure batteries have an indicator on there to show it's charged, or a caravan shop should be able to test it for you).

Hope this helps,

Al.