Festival do I need a generator

[cason]

Hi We have a pilote 696 essential and my daughter is borrowing it for a festival, they are worried about the drop down bed lasting on battery and solar panel do I need to buy a generator. Thanks

 

[pappajohn]

The Pilote 696 bed drops down into the lounge, so leaving it down isn't really practical.

It's a festival, as I remember them the only time your in the van is to sleep.

 

[138go]

Just a word of warning, we had a Pilote with an electric drop down bed, that got stuck. The reason given for this major inconvenience, was that the motorhome wasn't parked quite flat.

The end of our particular story with the Pilote, ended when we traded it in with the bed still stuck.

 

[poppycamper]

then just start the engine for a little time, no worse than being in a two hour traffic jam and all engines start from cold

Yes indeed... all engines start from cold and are then immediately driven to quickly get up to working temperature.....NOT started and left to idle and never reach operating temperature.
Engines idling in traffic jams are already warmed up so no damage done.

 

[irnbru]

Having frequented festivals I'd say your daughter will get by ok. She will mainly use the van to sleep in and charge her phone etc. Young ones are too lazy to cook and by the time they venture back at night they are usually tired from being drunk so fall asleep quickly. Thats my experience anyway.

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[Kirsten]

Lots of festivals forbid generators - thank god- noisy polluting and not much space between mohos/ tents in my experience.We have been without hookup and with 3 grandkids 2 other adults for 5 days - everyone using our shower and van loo etc as they were in tents/ awning and battery with solar was fine. Get them a portable charger for phones and make sure it is charged before they leave

 

[Gaston aires]

I would run the engine for a while each day.
I think you are very brave and understanding, allowing that.

 

[RobbyMClark]

How long does the van last without EHU when in normal use at rallies / Holidays?
If needing it for phone charger you could get a portable solar panel the sits on the dash board during the day to powerup an emergency battery charger if it doesn't store for later use. available from amazon/ebay/gooutdoors etc.

 

[cason]

Thanks for all the suggestions, they are a family so bed needs to go up during the day, they will have the awning for muddy boots I am going to buy another battery, borrow a smallish generator and keep my fingers crossed. I will also keep in mind the starting of the engine and not moving!

 

[Smashie]

Get her to take one of those small lithium jump packs. If the engine battery drains, at least she can jump it using lithium pack. Bed has manual override so worst case a bit of manual winding, make sure she knows how to do this.
i use a suaoki u28 which works really well and have had to use it many a time, both on my motorhome and car. The noco jump packs have very good reviews as well.

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[Bluethunder]

Hi We have a pilote 696 essential and my daughter is borrowing it for a festival, they are worried about the drop down bed lasting on battery and solar panel do I need to buy a generator. Thanks

 

[DiggerDogs]

It will be fine. Is in my 707. Just make sure you have the manual winder to hand just in case the battery gives up the ghost.

 

[Bluethunder]

Thanks for all the suggestions, they are a family so bed needs to go up during the day, they will have the awning for muddy boots I am going to buy another battery, borrow a smallish generator and keep my fingers crossed. I will also keep in mind the starting of the engine and not moving!

Hi,If you are considering buying a generator for you daughter to attend a festival be prepared for verbal confrontation from others,and don't park anywhere near me, generators cause so much discord why would you want one.
If your really worried about your battery's install a solar panel instead 100 watt panel installed with a split charger will give you peace of mind and other campers peace .

 

[Kasey]

Check if generators are actually allowed. Some events (Fire & Rescue Services) in some counties don't allow them.

 

[markhub]

Worth checking the small print on the festival site. Many don't allow generators on H&S grounds. The bigger festivals often have marshals who patrol the sites to check on this & the use of disposable barbecues

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[Lenny HB]

Lenny, in this regard, what counts as "modern"?? My van is a year 2001, should I also be wary of doing this?

Yours won't have a CAT or DPF, so not quite such a problem it really depends it it will get up to temperature. Most of the modern ones if you run them from cold on tickover for ½ hour the temp gauge won't even climb off the end stop, yet drive down the road 2 miles and they are nearly up to temp.

 

[Speve]

Hi,If you are considering buying a generator for you daughter to attend a festival be prepared for verbal confrontation from others,and don't park anywhere near me, generators cause so much discord why would you want one.
If your really worried about your battery's install a solar panel instead 100 watt panel installed with a split charger will give you peace of mind and other campers peace .

Don’t think if you’re going to a music festival you want peace

 

[lorger]

I think you’ll be fine, we’ve done a few festivals with no issues. Our first van didn’t even have solar and we lasted 4 days no issues, it was summer so used no lights or heating just cooked in it, I would get her a couple of small battery banks for charging their phones, if you fully charge these at home they will recharge her phone about 4 times. We got ours from Aldi but loads on Amazon and not expensive, we also have a couple of battery operated lights we use when we had an awning. If you purchased these two items and your daughter didn’t watch TV then the hab battery would only be working the bed and water pump.

 

[Sandancers]

We have an electric bed in our MH, we have no solar and about 200Ah of hab battery, we do just fine at festivals with the bed going up and down each day (don't forget it's using tiny current to drop the bed). IF the hab battery went too low to raise the bed somehow what we would do is switch on the engine, let it run for 10 min and with the engine still running raise the bed. That would have given enough power to easily raise the bed. I promise the engine won't be destroyed by 10 min of cold running !

 

[orridge]

Depends on the festival but a lot do not allow generators and probably not needed either. The festivals we have been too the Motorhomes are parked a long way away from the stages so a generator can cause a lot of bad feeling when left on for a long time as they can be quite areas away from the stages.

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[Swifter]

Worth checking the small print on the festival site. Many don't allow generators on H&S grounds. The bigger festivals often have marshals who patrol the sites to check on this & the use of disposable barbecues

Sounds more like a CAMC site than a festival

 

[Motörhead Fun]

We have done 6 nights at Glastonbury and batteries have been fine without any solar panels. But we don't have an electric bed!

Some festivals state that you are not allowed to bring generators on site. This is likely to a fire licence thing as the LA will not want inebriated people messing around with petrol late at night, Saying that, I have never seen it enforced and no one will care if a genny is running for a while. If you want silence you are better off staying away from festivals.

 

[poppycamper]

If you want silence you are better off staying away from festivals.

IMV silence is not the issue..I dont mind the normal hub bub of a site... kids running around..adults holding conversations..doors banging "dogs barking" etc BUT a genny is a totally differant sort of noise....it drones away constantly in the background and i for one, once tuned into it, cannot blank it out and the more I try the more annoying it becomes.

 

[Lenny HB]

IMV silence is not the issue..I dont mind the normal hub bub of a site... kids running around..adults holding conversations..doors banging "dogs barking" etc BUT a genny is a totally differant sort of noise....it drones away constantly in the background and i for one, once tuned into it, cannot blank it out and the more I try the more annoying it becomes.

Yep, I'm like that but it doesn't bother the boss, If there is a rule saying no gennys and someone is using one I complain.

 

[Jo662]

You either have a very responsible daughter or your mad..

I take my hat off to you...

My thoughts exactly

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[Bessy765]

Take a portable solar panel, say 100 watt you can then move it around to take the advantage of where the sun is. If the bed is only going up and down once a day, you could alway just run the engine whilst raising the bed, that is when the most current is used. I would not leave the engine ticking over it doesn’t do it any good. Also if the engine battery is nearly full the charging rate will drop unless you have a B2B charger so the leisure battery would get very little charge.

 

[Happy Jim]

Is your fridge able to run off gas? If not you’re probably doomed (I am jumping to the conclusion that cold cheap beer, ice etc, is high up the agenda!).
I’ve done a 4 day festival on 2 batts and a single solar panel - zero problem

Jim

 

[namwaldog]

Not 100% sure on this in regards to your van.....

When we first viewed our Burstner at the dealers, the Island Bed required 12v to slide and fold. I was keen to try the bed unfolded to see if I fit so asked the Salesman for assistance.

He jump started the engine from a power pack and once the engine was running, almost immediately there was enough power to the 12v motor to unfold the bed.

Never really thought about it until now but could the power be coming from the cab, rather than the habitation, battery?

Barry

 

[poppycamper]

Take a portable solar panel, say 100 watt you can then move it around to take the advantage of where the sun is.

Make sure well tied down wi chains and padlocks because if at a music festival it wont be there when you return..

 

[ctc]

Take an adapter and plug in to someone else's genny.

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[Kirsten]

Make sure well tied down wi chains and padlocks because if at a music festival it wont be there when you return..

Usually people with generators use them to play loud [and horrible] music systems - In my experience [lots !] the organisers of the festival will remove it !!