MANAGING POWER WHEN YOU'RE OFF GRID

When we kitted out the Troopy we knew very little about 240v versus 12v, or how these "new-fangled" lithium battery systems worked - we just took a leap of faith. Luckily, it all worked out but we have learnt by doing...If you're new to having a second battery in your vehicle, and a solar panel on the roof - what it all means and how to manage it - you mind find this helpful....

When we set up the Troopy in early 2023, we were advised to get the Enerdrive Adventurer pack which gave us 200Ah (Amp hours) of battery storage, as well as a 2000w inverter (so we could use an induction cooker on 240v, for example),  On the roof, we had an Enerdrive solar panel (150w) installed. The solar charges the battery, and so does the alternator (car engine, when it's running). We also decided to go gas free, the upshot being we have no backup if the electricity drains. It is fair to say we had very little understanding of the lingo: we now know that 240v means you use the power socket the same as you have at home (and that really eats into your battery storage), and 12v has a much lighter drawer on power.

We also had very little idea how we could manage the system to get the most out of it and for how long - could we stay off grid for a week, for example, and if so, what should we do and not do to eke out our supply of electricity? 

Just to complete the picture, we have several hungry devices that require 240v:

• the inverter on the Enerdrive system
• our roof-mounted Starlink (240v was the best solution for us)
• an induction cooker with a range of heat settings, the highest being 2000w
• a small electric kettle
• a laptop, iPad and phone
• photographic equipment that requires battery charging (camera, drone, Osmo Action camera).

And the Troopy has a range of 12v-powered devices and features built in:

• a Bushman fridge (34-52l)
• (sometimes) a 12l Dometic fridge used as a freezer
• a Shurflo water pump
• several cabin lights
• USB charging ports (we have a Wolf mini air blower to clean the interior of the Troopy and rechargeable Wildtrak pod lights, for example).

None of this matters when we're on the move - we can run all of the above if we are driving everyday, or every second day. It's the three and four day off grid stay that present some challenges. And staying in the wilderness for a week is almost unthinkable for us, but we don't really want to do that anyway. 

FOUR DAYS OFF GRID - HOW WE DO IT

The happy medium for us is to make our off grid trips a maximum of three nights.Four days is do-able but more of a challenge...and bright sunshine or shade over the solar panel will make all the difference.

We have also learned to interpret the Enerdrive app so we can monitor not only how much power we have  left (overall percent), but how much is being used ("discharging") versus how much input we were getting ("charging") - the app does the sums and gives us one figure (and either charging or discharging). Or input and output are the same ("standby).

Here's how we made it work:

• Start the trip with all devices and their batteries fully charged.
• Drive far enough so that the Enerdrive battery is fully charged - if not plug into house power (at a caravan park, for example) the night before.
• Plan ahead so that any hot meals require heating rather than cooking - the induction cooker really takes a chunk of the power. So we freeze vacuum sealed "one pot wonder" meals and then just thoroughly heat and serve. If we don't have any such meals in the fridge, we opt for quick meals such as the following: boil some water and add brown rice (precooked from a pouch) and tinned veg (also pre-cooked). Drain it, then add some avocado, and protein (for example, a boiled egg or some tinned salmon) as well as any favourite dressings such as sesame sauce, lemon juice, humus. Healthy and quick!
• Boil a full kettle for the breakfast cuppa, then put the rest of the boiling water in a thermos for any drinks later in the day (in other words, try to boil the kettle once a day). The kettle is the second greediest appliance we have.
• While the inverter is on (for cooking or boiling water) use the Starlink if needed: the inverter itself drawers quite a bit of power, so use what you can while it's on without overloading the system. For us, that's more than 2000watts all running at once.
• If you can, park the vehicle in a position that will get the most sun on the solar (because we often put out our awning and at least one tent wall, once we're parked, we don't want to have to move).
• When the roof of the Troopy is up, the sun may not directly shine on the solar panels - so we lower the roof from about mid morning, and the solar input is much better. Monitor this and put the roof back up when the sun heads East (if that means you'll get more sun on the panels.) 
• Also, clean the solar panel with a windscreen cleaner with an extendible handle.

If we do all of the above, the power draw is usually less than 20% per day, and the solar recharge is about 10%. Effectively this means that after one full day, we're down to 90% battery, and 80% the next day etc. We have also learned that you don't have as much power as you think because once the battery gets down to 20%, it "falls off a cliff" and you have effectively nothing left. So staying well above 20%, preferably 50%, is highly advisable.

THE LAST RESORT...

It can be a bit stressful watching the monitor (it's battery storage anxiety), but if all else fails and you need a top up, you can always turn on the car ignition and let the engine give your house battery a boost. We try not to do this: it annoys other campers, it's environmentally unfriendly, and wasteful of fuel. But if you have to, you have to. 

We know a lot more than we used to, but there's still plenty to learn.

​What have you learned based on your experience? Can you give us any other handy tips?