Today's post is about energy sources in a motorhome. In a motorhome, you think more about where the energy comes from and how much you use than you do at home in an apartment. When we free camp, we can easily manage the essentials (heating, fridge, cooking) with LPG.
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Different from living in an apartment
When you live in an apartment, you don't think much about energy consumption. Sure, an electricity bill drops through the letterbox from time to time, but other than that, energy is something that only are. In a motorhome, you become aware of everything that uses energy in a completely different way: heating, lights, cooking, fridge, freezer, TV, music, running the taps...
It is important to economise on resources and to think about what kind of energy you want to use. There is a small knob on the fridge where you can choose whether you want to run the fridge on regular electricity, 12 volts or gas. And then, of course, you have to charge up new energy (driving, electric pole, LPG tube, power station, solar panels). A bit of a hassle, sure, but somehow also nice to know that resources are not infinite. And a little challenge in trying to become self-sufficient ...
If you want a little more luxury in your life (music, films, computers, video games), additional energy sources may be needed. Here are some modifications we made to better meet the energy needs.
Solar panel in the motorhome
We have a solar panel to utilise the energy from the sunlight. Here you can see it when we just got it up on the roof. Here you can read more about the installation of the solar panel.
Ground batteries
We've also got dual house batteries and a voltage converter, which converts 12 V to 220 (to play Playstation while driving). You can't see it all in the picture, but it's installed in this box under one of the sofas.
Electricity generator for the motorhome
We also have a power stationwhich we got when we bought the motorhome. The generator runs on petrol and works perfectly well. It's a bit noisy though, so you can't use it everywhere ...
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Elisabeth says:
Solar panels are great, we have them and extra batteries. However, we don't have a generator, I don't like the sound. I would rather hear birds etc. Have a good weekend!
12 March 2011 - 13:38
admin says:
Elisabeth, agree that solar panels are great! I'm also not fond of the noise from the generator. When we sit inside the motorhome and have the generator on outside, it is not heard inside. But it is important that you do not disturb anyone else... We do not use it very often, but on a few occasions it has been really good!
12 March 2011 - 17:42