Bought our first caravan last year and thanks to your videos we learned a lot about caravanning. Setting up on pitch, towing, solar panels, etc. Great videos and keep them coming. We're looking forward to more caravanning this year and have booked about five sites already. Thanks again. Take care and stay safe.

Good to see caravanners in the UK doing 'off grid caravanning'. Here in Australia 'free camping' is very popular, being low cost and enabling travellers to see our great country. I've found the fold up solar panels to be quite heavy but with the battery and gas we can still camp comfortably for five days. All in all caravanning is a low cost top lifestyle enjoyed by many. Mike in Oz

Hey Dan! Great video. I live full time in my tourer. From April to October I go fully off grid too. Gas for fridge and heating, 150w panel (suitcase style) to track sun. I use a "NASA BM1 battery monitor to give me a read out of generation and usage , remaining capacity etc. I should do a video tour of my setup...... Nat :-)

Simple easy,love your description....all info what we need ....great 👍 good job

Yep this is what I'm planning on doing, living permanently off grid. As I live in Cyprus we have plenty of sunshine for solar panels.

HI Dan, went off grid two weeks ago, I was amazed how well the solar panels did, no problem with electricity but we had problems with gas, went through two bottles of gas in 5 days. (Got a caravan engineer coming to sort that out) I learnt more about my caravan what it can and cant do during this trip which was good. I enjoyed the open space and so did the dogs. Its also nice not to be in the bubble of a site where you walk around and there are signs to do this and that. I went to a caravan club site and there 13 signs in the toilet block not to do this or that. We saved money by not being on a caravan site which meant the cost of the panels just about paid paid for themselves. We loved it so much doing it again soon.

Hi Dan, From far away New Zealand. Recently purchased a UK Carava. For mostly Off the Grid adventures. Initially we were concerned about off the grid power so I purchased a Honda 2 kilowatt invertor generator. This was found to be ideal and very reliable and quiet. Be in the wilderness and far away from the maddening crowd We run the Generator for Approx 5 hours a day usually in the Evenings. The fridge and heater is running of Gas. OF course If we were on camping sites the generator would be. out of the question. We have many freedom camping areas here in NZ which are awesome and usually in areas of spectacular scenery. Will consider solar panels in the future. Thanks for your awesome videos and ideas. Kind regards. Peter and Sandra.

hi dan. .1st to give you feed back before a go to work lol.....i have been following you since July last year, when we got our van...I'm looking at solar panels my self for of grinding...this is perfect timing.. cs/cl sites here we come

Thanks for that Dan. We did our first off grid night a few weeks ago, at Chephurst Farm, which is a CL near Horsham. We have another off grid night coming up soon as well! The feeling of being self sufficient in a peaceful, rural location is pretty special. We even had shire horses coming right up to the fence we were parked by in the morning! Looking forward to much more off gridding in the future! Cheers Tim.

Hi Dan, great videos, and indeed you inspired me to go solar! I went with a 100w which came as a full kit, and also had 2 handy USB on the control panel. I'm like a kid with a new toy haha the set up kept the battery tip top for a weekend off grid, and was easy to install. Thanks for sharing your tips and look forward to watching more of your videos! Thanks and happy 'vanning!

Great video Dan always fancied going off grid but when I mentioned it too the wife her reply had the word "off" but grid wasn't the other word. :)

I've just discovered this, i must say your presenting style is really good and am enjoying watching these vids.

This was well timed. We've just bought a caravan. We haven't used one since the kids were tiny. We've joined the C&C club for the discount but if we take our family of 5 to a fairly popular location (without our 2 dogs - another extra) on grass for a week, it would cost us £340 with the discount (£390 without)! You mention the gas in your calculations but you're using your own gas where ever you go, so that would be extra too. After spending (what to us) is a lot of money on the caravan to try to get cheap breaks, we were shocked - and also disappointed. OH is already talking of selling the caravan. I've been looking at going on rally's to get the social aspect and cut the cost but was worried about being off-grid and you're video has helped. Except now we've got even more stuff to buy but in the long run, I think it will be cost effective. Sorry for the mini-rant :)

Great video! We love off grid, but don't do what we did first time, and drain your vehicle battery so much you have to ask the site owner for a jump lead start to get home 😬 We have an LPG tank in our MH, and had challenges topping up whilst away. The Autogas website is not up to date and many service areas no longer sell LPG on tap, so fill up before you leave home!

Great video. Its a coincidence that we are going off grid this weekend, just 2 nights at £5 per night all in and we love it. Have similar set up to you ,but only 80 watt panels. Just one thing i would like to mention which always catches my wife out, " the micro wave don't work" lol

Hi Dan. Another brill vid, Keep them coming mate, You are a natural presenter **************

Thank you family Trudgians. Inspires you to go off grid.

A great vid Dan and good to see the off grid life. We have just booked our first CL and really looking forward to it, though we will be plugged in. We need to buy a Solar Panel, really useful to know you manage on 100watts! Thanks for sharing, Andy

Once we get our caravan this is what we want to do. Can't wait 😊 Good advice again Dan, many thanks for your work in putting these videos together.

very clear and informative presenting. Thank you

Great video, altho my main issue would be the need for a chemical toilet waste point ?

Thanks for the video. Do campers in the UK not have fresh water tanks?

Well done again Dan, finally got me a 100w panel (going for another aswell I think) changed my pwm controller for an MPPT one to maximise battery charging. Have figured out my although small inverter does eat the battery as do my LEDs on my flag pole. will be purchasing another 110 battery aswell I think. keep up the good work mate.

Hi Guys, My husband and I are really enjoying your videos. We have been caravanning for nearly 5yrs now and always go on a full service pitch but just by watching the video on going off grid we really want to try it now. Thanks for all the info. Rebecca Acquah

Great look at CL/CS camping. Last time we used them (2yrs ago) we found some were starting to get greedy and expecting caravan site rates. 7yrs ago we had a basic CL want to charge £17.50 a night if you wanted hook up! When we had a caravan these were the type of site we used, rarely on a caravan site (except Grummore). These days of course Desmond does not know what a site looks like :-)

I have an Eriba troll touring 535, a proper piece of kit

You should not connect the solar panel direct to the battery, you should use a solar control unit.

Very helpful and informative thanks .

Love your video's many thanks 👍

would you consider doubling your solar panels mate

I thought that was the entire point of having a caravan though. I don't understand the point of setting up anywhere where there is a connection for power and water, because then you might as well stay in a motel.

Hi Dan. Great video as usual!! You may have already answered this and it might be a silly question (I generally ask them), but when you say the solar panel is hooked up "straight to the battery," how is this done? Obviously the terminals on the battery are already in use to feed power to the van, how do you then join the solar panel supply to this? Thanks in advance and keep up the good work! Ad PS: I hope Tom was filming at the same time.....I saw him in the background in his setup :-)

Tuggers obviously have a different idea of what off grid means compared to chuggers. A CL is not off grid. It’s just means you have no hook up.

Hi Dan we have found this video extremely helpful. Going off grid is something we would like to do. You said you have been away for four nights did you need to charge from your vehicle during this time or has your solar panel kept everything charged Ok. Is there a point where you would need to charge or change the battery? thanks Chris

Great video Dan 👍

Love your stuff, entertaining and often informative. But I spotted a big fat no-no in this one. That cooking thermometer reading 91.3C. Inside temp wants to be in mid 70’s, if yours was 91.3, boy! it’s overcooked!

You're cool

great vids very informative

Might silly but I'll ask where did you get fresh drinking water and where do you dispose the toilet waste and waste water. Thank you

great video thanks, where do you find the off grid sites? are they just fields owned by someone?

We don’t poo in our loo! (Well husband says he’s not emptying it and I’m certainly not 🤮🤢) so this is the only reason we don’t go off grid 😢

why do you not cook in the caravan

Hi Dan, another good useful video! Where is the site, looks nice and quiet

great vlog as usual dan, iwe are looking forward to going off grid with our van, how did the shower cope, did you find you was constantly filling the aquaroll or would you think it wise to take 2 aquarolls? thanks, colin.

Hi Dan, When using the solar panel off grid doe's it allow you to use the internal plug sockets as normal, i a newbe to this and am looking at getting one, also does it make a difference what battery is on the caravan. Thanks

When I was a kid going on holiday in the caravan was always ’off grid’ as there were no electrical hookups anywhere, Dad used to hook the van up to the car battery; is this still a thing? He used to run leads directly from the car battery through a window and then connect (don’t remember where he used to connect to) and we’d live like that for two to three weeks at a time. Do people use their 13 pin plugs and connect that way or is that frowned upon?

Nice one Dan. I really want to try ours off grid but yet to do it. Just nervous it will go dark one night!

Hi dan another great video, is there a to have more solar panels to run the fridge and heating instead of gas thanks adam

how do you find offthe grid sites is there a book

Any reason why you can't have two batteries for reassurance. If you did would this lesson or lengthen the life of the battery ? Thanks

Dan or anyone..Can you help can i run the power sockets when using a solar panel, i am new to vaning and need a little advise. Thanks..Anyone.

hi dan i not long purchased a avtex tv and wow the colour is pretty amazing let a lone the currant draw. just wondering what size is your one? mines the 18.5 inch L188DRS

when is your next holiday

Hi Dan, Thanks for the video, Is it possible to have your calor gas bottles re filled or is it always an exchange bottle procedure? Dave

I think I would be afraid of not being able to pull the caravan away whilst on wet grass. Do you have any tips to avoid wheel spin if we are ever in that situation?

Do you use a controller with your solar panel

Newbie question Does the alde heating system work fully when off grid?

hi bud just one thing WHY CAN WE NOT PARK ON THE SEA FRONT ANYMOOR ????? its a holiday place WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE SEA SIDE COUNCILS ,, at scarbough sea front we did park at the front ,it was a as long as you want parking just right we stayed there for year on year off ((((((((((((((( then when the scarbough council found out thay put a 1 hour stay there ??????? come on are the sea side councils forgot what thay are there for OR ARE THAY SICK IN THE HEAD

The trudgians hi there how do I clean fresh water cold water piping as it appears to have mild mouldy or should I just replace them ? Thanks!

Where you buy the solar panel?

How many days did your half a bottle last?

Hey dan. Been anywhere nice for bank holiday 😎

What does CL stand for

Hey am sooo glad you have being away from technology totally Just your phones and your tv 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪😂 Sorry am only joking ✊🏼👍☮️