I"m all in electric! 460ah Fogstar, dual 30a DcDc, 410w solar, 2kw invertor. I generally use two Hytric electric pans, though also have an airfryer, omlette make and toasty maker. A meal for two usually uses around 20% of battery power

@ourvannorman

3 ай бұрын

That’s a nice setup! We’d probably add more solar to our van I think. We’ve only got 200w. I think generally we use about 10% but keep everything to a minimum. Dual DC to DC is a game changer!

We use a 400 watt Remoska more or less every day for cooking, plus a 1L 1kw Lakeland travel kettle, basically keeping our appliances around 1Kw max all feed from a multiplus 1600, we also have LPG

@ourvannorman

3 ай бұрын

Well I’ll be honest I’ve never seen a Remoska before! That looks like a very useful bit of kit for a van! I think a hybrid solution certainly has a place it’s just becoming harder in Europe from what we’ve seen.

Interesting video, thank you 🙂

@ourvannorman

3 ай бұрын

No problem 😌

Interested in cable size and supplier for cables running from battery to busbars and Inverter. Cheers another good video. Hopefully you will do one about your cctv.

@ourvannorman

3 ай бұрын

We went with 35mm2 cables. But split between both batteries. So far has proved to be more than enough and balances it out nicely! Thank you we really appreciate that! We can look to do a video on it in the future! 😊

We've been using an induction hob at home for nearly 25 years and would never go back to gas/lpg/canisters. Great video though. Lucky you didn't destroy that scarf 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

@ourvannorman

3 ай бұрын

We’ve never had it before till my mum and dad got it and we were sold! We’ve done it with a cotton tea towel but I’ve never done it with synthetics so I was a little worried but it was fine 😂😂

I considered going induction, but with just 300ah of lithium I figured it wouldn't quite be enough. Even with the 800-odd W of solar, given the intended use case is arctic travel, including winter. Also for whatever reason I never even considered going for one of those... I dunno, cheaper? inverters? I was only looking at the Victron Multiplus, and a 3000w, or even 2000w Multiplus gets heavy and expensive real quick. Gas was completely out of the question since built-in gas tanks are illegal in Finland, and permanent gas installations require a certificate and regular inspections, in addition to fiddling around with exchanging the bloody gas bottles. So I went with a Finnish-made Safire diesel cooktop. Uses very little power, very little fuel (plumbed to the main tank), it's quiet, doesn't smell, looks like a normal ceramic cooktop. The main advantage is you can cook things like soups or potatoes or other things that require using it for a good while. I hear the on-off cycling of the induction cooktop, going from 0-2000w every few seconds is not brilliant for neither battery nor inverter. The main disadvantage is that it's quite slow. Takes a good 10 minutes to boil a liter of water from a cold start, so comparable to a regular ceramic cooktop, but once it gets up to speed you can adjust the temp quite easily, so boiling the second liter of water just takes a few minutes. Since I don't know what I'm doing I decided to just do everything to marine specs, at least there's enough margins in everything, and the diesel cooktops are a lot more common on yachts so I guess running around boat fitters is where I ended up with the idea.

Nice demo ! I was also thinking..gas or electric. I have now electric, I have 2 powerpacks 2048 Wh (cheap ones total was 1900 €) 1 with 2400 W inverter, the other with a 2000 W inverter. I have a induction plate and a Ninja 300 for cooking and air frying. And my whole van is using the powerpacks.

@ourvannorman

3 ай бұрын

Electric cooking is definitely the way to go! We looking at power banks but none of them have the capacity we wanted without being thousands.

@richardsracingmad

3 ай бұрын

I’m full time off grid, fyi I use approx 10l a month of LPG, using it just for cooking/ boiling water I drink a lot of tea😀. Now we know that Lithium batteries won’t charge below certain temperature( so you need heater) , and they do have a lifetime ( losing about 10% capacity in the first year), the Lithium will need replacing after a few years, or upgrade to get back your original capacity. Also charging your system on days like today, you need either an additional petrol generator , run the campervan for a couple of hours or shore power to replenish. So I don’t totally agree with you that electric is cheaper, as you would need a bigger electric system to go totally electric.

Great video mate, as you know I am literally in the middle of Bruce the Landy's build in Germany. And I'll add some musings which may help others with different and smaller sized vehicles that maybe useful. Living in Arctic Sweden every day (a good 6 months of no useful sun for solar) and working as a wilderness guide I am 'undecided' on the final solution for cooking.... I DO know from experience and listening to other overlanders gas, and getting reliable and trouble free access is problematic and options for big built in tanks are limited. I can't speak for UK but it seems the problems I have in Scandinavia are present in the EU in general. With the Defender and its small relative size compared with you "big boy" vans the bottle solution is often used. Over the years I have had multiple 'interesting' experiences with that gas set up and have categorically ruled out the mobile gas bomb solution and pain of multiple connections etc etc Now will I go induction?.... Not sure as I have a size and space limit on everything from the size of the battery bank and all follow on electrical fittings as well as roof space for panels. And differently to the True blue gang I don't have a pop top (by choice at this time) and I'm very much trying to keep shitte off the roof 1. It makes the vehicle stick out less 2. General stability - as a Defender driver (as my daily and adventure vehicle) keeping the heavy stuff off the roof is personally a priority .... Bruce is high enough as he is already. Soooo what have I got (and it comes with its own issues itself) ..., I have an MSR Whisperer Lite International liquid burner which can be used on the outdoor kitchen set up which I have designed into the Landy from the outset and it has been used across globe burning nearly EVERY type of liquid fuel, even unleaded petrol .... But yes hmmmm what to do in shitty weather as he's a little 'flamey' on start - at this stage awning + outdoors is the option BUT a single portable electric plate will be the crap weather solution or when a camp fire 🔥+ liquid burner is not possible. In a full overland build in a Defender every single square cm is vital and always a compromise .... Eg.Think about No 'garage' for batteries, tools or stuff storage and therefore the jigsaw 🧩 puzzle is insane and part of life. When space, relatively is naff all compared to a van you can walk, shower and take a dump in - everything is a decision. Part of the joys and challenges of a Landy camper. Loving the advice and tips videos keep it up - I have garage envy as that is honestly the biggest problem I have - space to work

@ourvannorman

3 ай бұрын

Thanks mate they are some really good points and I can only imagine how snug it is in a landy! It’s the one thing that’s putting us off at the moment as I’m not a small lad! For our solution we went dual B2B a 30a and a 18a. This allows us to not have to worry about power at all. Especially when we were in the arctic! Interestingly it’s strange being back in the UK again where we are getting solar gains once again! Not a lot granted but it just keeps the battery topped up. A single induction plate I think would be ideal that could be hidden away when not required. Keeping things off the roof I can understand but I’d definitely want the additional storage I think especially with 2 of us in a defender 😂😂😂

@arcticbunyip5005

3 ай бұрын

@@ourvannorman yyeeessss storage, storage and storage ... Roof may become a fact of life but I plan to "see how things go" and get more time living in my camper my style .... And remain rubbery with the grand plans. Yeah I get what U mean mate, I'm 6ft1 and 115kgs and never mistaken as a weeee little lad so THAT has been a consideration in all the design too .... I also have a very very very big consideration I DO NOT need to take ..... My travel partner is a Boxer dog :) And yes I know the women in our life can do all we can ...... Right up until you tell them the plan is to "shit in a bucket" and on this 5 day leg showering IS NOT being planned .... Especially if that IS the camper best solution - and I KNOW it would be hard to down size from a big beautiful long wheelbase van you can stand in hahaha Thanks for the advice mate, I have the perfect place for a single plate ....... All to be revealed after I get Bruce back and hit the roads in summer

Any chance of you doing a video on your rear tow points please?

@ourvannorman

3 ай бұрын

We’ll see what we can do! 😊