If you're going off grid, you could consider a second leisure battery and an inverter for electricity.
A 120AH leisure battery is around £100, a modified square wave inverter you can pick up for less than £50. Unless you're running something with a motor or heating element in it, a modified square wave inverter will be fine - so laptops, TV's, chargers etc will be fine. Toasters / drills are a no-no... you'll need a pure sine-wave inverter for those (£150 upwards).
I've put a standard 240V socket inside my battery compartment with a lead connected to a 240V plug inside the camper under the couch seat - in other words a short 1m mains extension cable going from the battery compartment to under the seat.
This plugs into a 1000W inverter which is connected to my 2nd leisure battery (also under the couch seat).
On the outside, I use a 50cm household plug to hookup cable to plugin into the 240V socket. This allows me to use the existing sockets in the camper as if I had electric hookup - all fed from my 2nd leisure battery.
What I can't do is power the fridge or water heater on 240V - the battery wouldn't last 10 mins - so I run both of them off gas.
When travelling, I put the 2nd battery behind the passenger seat. I'd probably be fine in the gas compartment, but it's a fair bit to add to the towball weight, so I play it safe.
DO NOT be tempted to use a household hookup cable / inverter with the same battery feeding your 12V system... this will cause all sorts of dangerous issues. Only do this with an inverter connected to a separate leisure battery.
For heating, you've got a few options:
Electric Hookup only:
- An electric plinth heater under the cooker (around £60)
- An electric oil radiator - a 600W or 800W will set you back around £20 - £25.
For off-grid, the most cost effective is a diesel heater. You can get them for less than £100 with everything that is needed to install it. Most come with a 10L diesel tank you can install under one of the seats.
You could look at getting a propex heater installed, which is a similar size to the diesel heater and will run off the same gas as everything else in the camper - they're expensive though- around £600.
Finally, if you've already got Truma water heater, you could replace it with a combined gas/electric water heater & blower heater. This is the most expensive option (around £1200 - £1500), but it's only just slightly larger than the standard electric only or gas/electric water heater and will do everything in one.
Sometimes you can pick up a second hand 'silent' running genny for a decent price.
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Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
I installed a diesel heater in my pathfinder a couple of weeks ago:
Heater was around £55 from Amazon. I bought an 8L tank from eBay as the 10L was too large to fit under the seat (£20), a turret planer rather than the standard plate for going through the floor (£15). I also replaced the blower vent with a flat one so it wouldn't obstruct packing away the sink/oven.
I also got a 50Ah battery to power it (£55) as the heater draws around 12A at startup/shutdown, and the 12V system in the camper is only rated for 10A. It only draws around 1.5A during use, but I didn't want to risk it.
I've since fitted clamps/straps to the battery which were around £5.
The fuel pump was a bit noisy, so I encased it in a small plastic survival box with some extra sound-proofing foam both inside & outside, and fixed to the chassis using metal cable ties.
Quote: Originally posted by msmcleod on 01/3/2025
I installed a diesel heater in my pathfinder a couple of weeks ago:
Heater was around £55 from Amazon. I bought an 8L tank from eBay as the 10L was too large to fit under the seat (£20), a turret planer rather than the standard plate for going through the floor (£15). I also replaced the blower vent with a flat one so it wouldn't obstruct packing away the sink/oven.
I also got a 50Ah battery to power it (£55) as the heater draws around 12A at startup/shutdown, and the 12V system in the camper is only rated for 10A. It only draws around 1.5A during use, but I didn't want to risk it.
I've since fitted clamps/straps to the battery which were around £5.
The fuel pump was a bit noisy, so I encased it in a small plastic survival box with some extra sound-proofing foam both inside & outside, and fixed to the chassis using metal cable ties.
Post last edited on 01/03/2025 22:16:29
Post last edited on 01/03/2025 22:21:22
Without a periodic recharge (do you have a large solar panel?), a 50Ah standard lead acid leisure battery (only really 25Ah usable capacity, before discharged to damaging levels!) will only run your heater for circa 10-14 hours before in desperate need of a ASAP recharge! That's not a lot of use spread over days, even frugal for a chilly w/e!
There used to be an underfloor gas heater called a Riviera. They were balanced flue with a large box under the camper.
They needed no electric connection at all, bot even 12 volt. They had a plate which covered teh heater which was removed when in use. It could be hot for pets or children.
Could you please tell me what sort of thermal mat if you have a link I could use as I am new to folding campers and lots to learn not so easy when your in your 70 s ☹️
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Topic: Battery Life And Gas Heater Advice Needed
via mobile 04/12/2024 at 10:32pm
