First trip off-grid

[Jeannette van den Oever]

Currently planning our first trip, which will be to Somerset at Easter.
There's nothing like a hefty, mortgage type, monthly deduction for your new MH on the horizon to focus the mind when choosing where to stay, is there?
I fancy spending some time around cheddar first and so can either drop £36/night with EHU at the CC site, or can get a couple of freebie stops (plus a pint) without.
Since we're only travelling down to arrive at around 10pm (patrons willing) ideally, we'd only need to 'cope' for around 38 hours off-grid, (before moving to a site with facilities) almost half of which we'll be asleep, plus play-time in the village.
We have alde heating, so I guess we won't use much electricity at night, right? No microwave either!
I'm fairly certain this will be fine - the van won't have any solar power initially, but will come with 2 x 95ah batteries. Husband's muttering about needing the phones/laptop charging and that we'll run out of juice, but like I said we'll either be unconscious, or out, in my view, so it'll be OK.
I guess this will let us know how power hungry we really are as a family.

 

[PORKSTER]

Hey all



Yes I was exaggerating a little. Its 20V @ 18A nominal = 360W, and a bit more (400W) for peak draw.



This is a mobile workstation, not a laptop. It needs a cooler underneath it! Put this on your lap, and you'll get 3rd degree burns!

The CPU alone is a Intel i7 4940MX overclocked at 4.8GHz, drawing 100W (up from its TDP of 57W). On top of that it has 2 x nVidia SLI GTX 980M (122W TDP per GPU x 2 = 240W). Luckily the remaining 3 TB of storage is SSD not typical HDD, so that's the most efficient bit. And it has 64GB of super-clocked memory, so that also takes some power.

So you can see that 360W goes pretty quick!

I work on specialist artificial intelligence engines that need all the GPU and CPU power I can get my hands on, and for extended periods of time. And I'd like to tinker with my engine for an hour a night when away.

I also use hefty compilers, and need the entire development environment (source control, confluence documentation website, JIRA ticket management etc) on my machine, which also all takes CPU, memory and SSD power.



Wouldn't cut it even remotely, the MacBook Air is pretty weedy (for my needs) I'm afraid. It would meltdown within seconds of booting into the development environment. Not to mention I don't like MacOS.



My laptop is "efficient" in its class. I almost bought a slightly more uprated one that draws 600W! But I didn't. As above - it uses that power quite readily

To put this into perspective, my home workstation is an 8 core 5960X with 128GB of RAM, and 12TB of storage with two Titan-Z Blacks in SLI. And that draws 1400W!

Sounds a tasty bit of kit but can ya play candy crush on it ?

 

[Lenny HB]

It's simply supply and demand. If you only have two bottles of beer in the fridge then you make do or go tut pub!

You could lend them your van Andy, your battery bank should cope for one evening.

 

[Techno]

730ah yes

 

[Judge Mental]

A bit of lateral thinking required. Can charge phone with tiny 12v dual adapter that you can get on ebay, or a pre charged charger as someone else recommended. anyway with twin leasure you wil be fine. our travel laptop has a 6 hr battery so enough for a movie etc.. Runs out, we read

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[Deleted34567]

The old saying...... Penny wise, pound foolish.

I have a relative, thinks a fish pond fountain is too expensive to run yet he runs a plane.

Yes, all the best people do !

Hey all



Yes I was exaggerating a little. Its 20V @ 18A nominal = 360W, and a bit more (400W) for peak draw.

This is a mobile workstation, not a laptop. It needs a cooler underneath it! Put this on your lap, and you'll get 3rd degree burns!

The CPU alone is a Intel i7 4940MX overclocked at 4.8GHz, drawing 100W (up from its TDP of 57W). On top of that it has 2 x nVidia SLI GTX 980M (122W TDP per GPU x 2 = 240W). Luckily the remaining 3 TB of storage is SSD not typical HDD, so that's the most efficient bit. And it has 64GB of super-clocked memory, so that also takes some power.

So you can see that 360W goes pretty quick!

I work on specialist artificial intelligence engines that need all the GPU and CPU power I can get my hands on, and for extended periods of time. And I'd like to tinker with my engine for an hour a night when away.

I also use hefty compilers, and need the entire development environment (source control, confluence documentation website, JIRA ticket management etc) on my machine, which also all takes CPU, memory and SSD power.



Wouldn't cut it even remotely, the MacBook Air is pretty weedy (for my needs) I'm afraid. It would meltdown within seconds of booting into the development environment. Not to mention I don't like MacOS.



My laptop is "efficient" in its class. I almost bought a slightly more uprated one that draws 600W! But I didn't. As above - it uses that power quite readily

To put this into perspective, my home workstation is an 8 core 5960X with 128GB of RAM, and 12TB of storage with two Titan-Z Blacks in SLI. And that draws 1400W!

GET OUT MORE !
LOL, that's one hell of a spec.

 

[hilldweller]

I work on specialist artificial intelligence engines that need all the GPU and CPU power I can get my hands on, and for extended periods of time. And I'd like to tinker with my engine for an hour a night when away.

You have one hell of a security problem for a MHer. All that in something slightly safer than a tent.

 

[Judge Mental]

You have one hell of a security problem for a MHer. All that in something slightly safer than a tent.

AMEN to that! Thought we traveled to get away from the hum drum

 

[Chockswahay]

I've just realised that the OP did place this thread in the 'Beginners' forum and did say this will be their first trip away...........

They'll learn

Either way, I wish them a fun time ....... enjoy

 

[Jeannette van den Oever]

You have one hell of a security problem for a MHer. All that in something slightly safer than a tent.

Let's hope VanBitz don't agree - otherwise our long trek to Somerset to fit a 'Growler' alarm is a bit pointless.
Anyway, I'm sure lots of folk on here have some tasty equipment in their MH garages.
Like I said, my OH is just trying to wind me up, inventing reasons not to cut the umbilical cord for 36 hours. I think the Britstop pubs in question will be brilliant and will save us spending money we don't need to whilst enjoying the area.

Crikey Am I the only one who considers it normal to not want to stay on an overpriced campsite, or manage without EHU ?

Leave all the 'goodies' at home

Obviously the kids are free at a MH stopover, sadly not at campsites. CC going rate at Easter is £2.70/child/night. A CL or CS is a bit cheaper, but then the flat rate doesn't include showers or electricity if so desired. So it starts to even out.
Should also point out that we're a few years from getting an over 60's discount! Are we getting closer to an acceptable pitch fee yet?

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[jonandshell]

Off grid sustainability isn't rocket science.
We manage with hairdryers, laptops, phone chargers, GoPro chargers and hair straighteners with no problems and all at 10 below!
Come and see us at Peterborough if you are coming. Do it before you visit any trade stands!

 

[Drexxer]

Off grid sustainability isn't rocket science.
We manage with hairdryers, laptops, phone chargers, GoPro chargers and hair straighteners with no problems and all at 10 below!
Come and see us at Peterborough if you are coming. Do it before you visit any trade stands!

Go on then, spill the beans!, what set up have you???

Andy

 

[Deleted34567]

Off grid sustainability isn't rocket science.
We manage with hairdryers, laptops, phone chargers, GoPro chargers and hair straighteners with no problems and all at 10 below!
Come and see us at Peterborough if you are coming. Do it before you visit any trade stands!

You have done it, perpetual motion !!
Ooh, do tell, PLEASE!

 

[DP+JAY]

Off grid sustainability isn't rocket science.

The stuff Jeroen's going on about sounds pretty near though.

 

[JJ]

we'd only need to 'cope' for around 38 hours off-grid

38 hours?

Shouldn't be too tricky!

Some folk have done 38 years.

Other folk have done 38 generations.

JJ

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[Judge Mental]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chargers-Anker-Accessories/s?tag=mhf04-21

look for a twin version of this
Broken Link Removed

Broken Link Removed

 

[jonandshell]

We have the following-

-345Ah traction battery bank.

-Sterling Power 160A Alternator to Battery charger.

-Ring 2100W inverter.

That's it! It works, no Solar, no generator. In typical Alpine Winter conditions an hours run of the engine daily keeps things topped up. The final 3 days, we allow the battery to discharge by 80% prior to the drive home.
Meanwhile, the neighbours are finding their solar can't keep up in the poor winter sun and are running gennies nearly 24/7 to cope! Much to our annoyance!

 

[hilldweller]

Let's hope VanBitz don't agree

OK it will improve your chances but for expensive quick hit and run items like an expensive laptop with important data on board or jewelery, the deed is done before the alarm frightens them off. A safe big enough for the laptop is a good delaying tactic.

I won't name names but a FUNster lost over £1000 in one such hit when a simple diversion attack left a handbag at risk.

Have you read Jim's Security Handbook ?

 

[Jeroen van den Oever]

OK it will improve your chances but for expensive quick hit and run items like an expensive laptop with important data on board or jewelery, the deed is done before the alarm frightens them off. A safe big enough for the laptop is a good delaying tactic.

I won't name names but a FUNster lost over £1000 in one such hit when a simple diversion attack left a handbag at risk.

Have you read Jim's Security Handbook ?

Well, I believe in two things:

1. Common sense. Don't leave things out in the open. Don't give thieves a chance to know what you have. Pack it away (e.g. in the garage) when out and about and under hefty protection (e.g. a safe bolted down). I only intend to use equipment like that within the motorhome itself, not out in the open (which invites unwanted attention). You can't opportunistically steal what you don't know about!

2. Don't go away with things that you can't afford to replace or do without whilst being replaced.

I am a computer geek, so data is heavily distributed and encrypted so that doesn't concern me one drop, and I'd only lose the 1-4 hours of work I may have done.

So that leaves loss of the laptop. It is insured on house insurance to be taken out of the house.

And in the event of loss, I have a workstation at home I can still do my personal work on.

What one should or should not take with one should be based on one's perceived risk assessment of said item. To me, given the above, it is acceptable.

We'll agree to disagree on this one

 

[hilldweller]

We'll agree to disagree on this one

As far as I can see we are totally agreeing. You've covered all the risks I've mentioned.

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[EssexBoy]

Here's one from left field... How about leaving "big blue" at home, powered & logged on, then remote control it from a mobile device whilst away??

It works for me when I do it, even from France