Electric

Many years ago I would normally take electricity on a site even when it was an extra charge, just for the convenience and to save on gas. In reality gas use would invariably cost less than the extra charge for electricity but as I say it was one less thing to worry about. Over 10 years ago I stayed at a site in the new Forrest (England) for a one night stay. The site was expensive for what is was but the location was handy but what really shocked me was that electric was £7 per night at a time when £3 was very much top end on sites. Needless to say I survived my 16 hours there without electric. My van at the time did not have solar and just the one leisure battery. With the same set up (no solar and one leisure battery) I soon discovered that I could easily do 48 hours without starting the engine and without hook up as long as I was careful about what I used.
Now that electric is creeping up to £5/€5 on sites and some Aires it really is worth thinking about using your leisure battery and gas for what it is designed for. If you did without the additional electricity charge for 20/30 overnighters you’ve covered the cost of a brand new leisure battery. Carry on and you’ve got enough for a solar panel. Electricity prices will carry on increasing so if you use your MH on a regular basis and you do not have 2 leisure batteries and or solar perhaps it’s time to invest.
In the winter I tend to head to Spain and with a previous van with 2 x 90 AH batteries and a 120w solar panel complete with with a 1000w inverter I would regularly stay on Aires that did not have electric hook ups for a week or more. I should say I don’t use much electric, phone/tablet/laptop charging would be the extent of it. Water heating, cooking, hab heating, fridge etc all on gas.
Now I have a newer MH and I have 2 x 160 watt fixed solar panels, a 90 watt folding panel, a 1800 watt pure sine wave inverter a decent MPPT controller and 2 matching quality leisure batteries (not gel or lithium (yet)) and I’m yet to find out how long I can go without hook up or a long drive.

Good post Jamie.
We can go for extended periods without EHU, 2x 110Ah batteries, 160w solar and MPPT controller. Everything lighting is LED. Also a battery monitor observing usage, state of charge and other parameters.
I’d say we are low users of electric, fridge on gas mostly except when we’re driving and on EHU at home the day before we leave. Cooking is gas as is water heating. TV does be on at night for a couple of hours, low wattage Inverter that is seldom used and phone & tablets charging and that’s about it.
In winter in Ireland with lower than normal solar we would probably struggle but during summer and when in Spain in winter we can go indefinitely without EHU.
I’d say solar is a must have on a van if one is thinking about being off grid for any length of time and it opens up the possibility of going places and visiting areas that would normally require a visit to a site for recharging, so not alone savings on EHU costs but savings also from being independent enough to be off grid in other ways.

I'm a member of a camping group which include tents caravans and motorhomes etc,
The amount of people that will not go to a meet if ehu is not available, some meets are at say a gaa or a rugby pitch and can provide say 5 plugs for "medical needs only". Then all of a sudden 15 now need ehu for "medical needs"

Funny thing was St Patricks weekend all the "medical devices" tripped ehu and no body had electricity , but all were still alive next morning when barking about no electricity, (I didn't realise medical devices were so power hungry)

My solar has its self well paid for so far

We're on a site at the moment with a sticker on the EHU which says 11 amp max, I've also been on sites with 4 or 6 amps.
At home in Ireland I've lost count of the number of times, because 'everybody' was using their 16amp connection to boil kettles and heat the van, my AES fridge went back to gas because the voltage was dropping below its minimum threshold. On such occasions I've measured the voltage at as low as 180v. During one Caravan Club rally weekend the ESB Network guy had to come on two occasions to replace the blown mains fuse. During his second visit he made it clear he wasn't going to come a third time. It was only after the warning that the ralliers took the pleadings of the proprietor to turn off heavy use appliances seriously.

One wonders what damage such low voltage conditions cause to the electronics in the modern motorhome or caravan.

That’s the best idea. Keep it simple and it’ll work

And they say you can double the basic price with add ons

saw two of them when at the coast on Sunday, they seem to be too big to get on the site and were parked up beside it, imagine, spending all that money and you free load lol

I do detest that description, behave yourself

Had to isolate in campervan over the last two weeks due to Covid. B2B installed so started with fully charged batteries. 90W panel with MPPT and 2x90AHr LA batteries. Weather was sunny and topped out getting 320WHr on some days. Gas heating on everynight, lights TV etc. Fridge running on gas constantly. Never went below 90%DoD. I think the most I used was around 25AHr in a 24hr period. Had been thinking of getting a 2nd panel but so impressed with set up I think I'll not make any more changes

He probably, could fit the caravan into the rear garage, but there is no stable for the Horse, He is only going to meets in future that have grass pitches.

A man of your means,why settle for less.
We are just jealous.