I haven't logged on all weekend due to being too busy, BIG PAT ON THE BACK for all you very helpful people out there, cant believe how many people have offered advice! Thanks' a bunch & if any of you are in the same field at the same time as us just pop on over for a large drink to say "thank you".
P.S
You have all scared me to death at how complicated (and, as it appears pointless) it is to have electric in a tent.
From now we are just going to concentrate on enjoying roughing it, after all, isnt that half the fun of camping?!?
Always thought electricity was totally over-rated anyway
We use an 85Ah leisure battery that we carry in a small shoulder bag. It's wired to a twin ciggy socket outlet and a 150 Watt inverter and we take it when we're not on EHU.
The ciggy sockets are used for the air pump, a small car fan, and occasionally the car vacuum cleaner.
The inverter powers the same fluorescent lights and halogen desk lamp that we use when we have EHU, and also charges radio, phones, laptop, etc.
We charge it up at home and have only ever used it for three nights but would expect to get a week from it if necessary.
No good for any sort of heating or cooling appliance though. It's got to be gas for cooking and refrigeration
Quote: Originally posted by camping-queens on 10/6/2007
Oh my goodness!!!
I haven't logged on all weekend due to being too busy, BIG PAT ON THE BACK for all you very helpful people out there, cant believe how many people have offered advice! Thanks' a bunch & if any of you are in the same field at the same time as us just pop on over for a large drink to say "thank you".
P.S
You have all scared me to death at how complicated (and, as it appears pointless) it is to have electric in a tent.
From now we are just going to concentrate on enjoying roughing it, after all, isnt that half the fun of camping?!?
Always thought electricity was totally over-rated anyway
Those rotters have put you girls off, I can tell, but if you want an electric light without an EHU, then a leisure battery is a great thing to have. I currently use a power pack type battery similar to the one shown on the previous page with a 17Ah battery, but I intend to have a 110Ah leisure battery for next year, though I will set it up to charge whilst I'm driving. If you take a fully charged battery with you, it will provide lighting, heating and phone charging for at least a week. Don't be fooled into paying more for a so called "leisure battery", at the end of the day they're just lead/acid batteries like the one that starts a car, but do buy a good charger that will keep the battery topped up between trips.
You'll find all you need to know about batteries here. It's a long-ish article, but this guy really knows what he's talking about and is not too technical, although his article is aimed at boat users it applies equally to caravanners, and tenters like you and me.
PS: If you were going to stand your battery in a tent, a plastic battery box would be a good idea this one is quite expensive, but very good as it keeps everything away from the battery proper. These ones are cheap, but nowhere near as convenient as you would have to work directly with the battery unless you can set something up yourselves. Last but not least, remember lead/acid batteries are bloody heavy!
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Topic: leisure batteries in a tent?!?
