Good job on the van guys, it looks awesome, a few tips to help would be only have your inverter turned on when you need it, use gas water heater when off grid and electric heater when plugged in, grey water hose needs to be connected so you don’t dump your water out like that, invest in an amphibian 10-15a adapter so you can plug into any PowerPoint, keep learning your doing a great job
Oh my, you guys are rookies for sure. So much to learn on your journey. Sorry but I laughed when you went to the EV charge station. Highly recommend you guys get some towing mirrors for your car before the cops nab you. Also do you have the ability to use gas to heat your water for the shower instead of using battery power.
Good to see yous are staying close to major towns while yous are learning before heading out to play in the outback with the big boys. Also thanks for keeping the adventure transparent , showing us the good times AND the not so good times, too many vanlife tubers just show all the rainbows and unicorns which gets very repetitive and boring. Tow safe guys and look forward to the next vlog.
The only time to use Air-con and/or electric heating in a van is when you are plugged in to mains power. When living in a van everything is limited. Didn't you find out about living in a van during your research and planning?
It is the thorough pre-research and pre-planning that makes a van trip around Australia the enjoyable adventure it is. You are only starting your unresearched and unplanned 'excellent adventure'. 'Just going for it' has the potential to result in more disappointment, frustration and anger.@@thatfalzonfamily
Good day Folks, I know that you are new to caravaning but I would to say that it appears you are now taking advantage of a good natured bloke who offered you the opportunity to charge your battery for a lousy $20.oo but it now appears that you are taking advantage of his generosity and using all his other amenities that are normally offered to full paying customers who book a caravan site! This act of inconsideration is 'wrong' and this is why other caravan parks would and will not let people like you in - You are doing it wrong!
Hey guys, Keep up the good work, couple of things though, You need to get towing mirrors for the car or you'll cop a fine, turn the inverter off when your not using it, turn the water refill hose up flat out to fill the tanks up faster, for the bottles you could reheat in the microwave ( some people will have a cry about it though ) only run a couple of lights in the van instead of all of them. But most important thing is ENJOY it, you'll soon work it all out, and don't stress, plus if worse comes to worse buy a little 2kw Genny until to get the hang of it.
hey mate i work with a battery company, those deep cycle batteries are expenisive and thought ild give you some information, if you ever go to get a warranty for the battery, flat batteries will void warranty, for a deepcyle try not let it get below 8 volts (roughly 4-5hours of use)
Dont worry about these assholes commenting mate. Keyboard warriors. Just nasty. My wife and I learnt the hard way with our first van. It's a massive learning curve. Keep the vids coming!
Russell coight: I never go into the outback without a decent supply of water, and the general rule for how much you'll need is three litres per day, per person, per man, per degree over 25 degrees celcius, per kilometre if walking on foot, in the winter months dividing it by two, plus... another litre... at the end. Falzon family: I never go to a hipcamp without a decent supply of kilowatts, and the general rule for how much you'll need is three kilowatts per day, per person, per man, per degree under 25 degrees celcius, per minute of hot shower, in the winter months multiplying it by two, plus... another kilowatt... at the end.
If you want more power from your altinator you need to disconnect on your smart altinator at the negative terminal. Also when emptying your grey (waste) water run a hose from the connection so it goes down the waste hole at a caravan park or on the grass not on the concrete where people walk.
Very disrespectful to the caravan park owner , you were only after power ,not fill the water tanks& then empty your grey water onto the concrete . Not a good look !
1 definitely get your diesel heater fixed its the best to keep van warm and uses stuff all battery 2 when not plugged into power use gas switch not electric to heat hot water system for showers 3. Don't get caught emptying your grey water like that some places its really not allowed. 4 keep having fun! Enjoy
I always take a 3 kw Generator with us and just use it in cases like this. Don’t worry it happens to everyone on the road. You are going to need a filter in-line for the fresh water. Take care have a wonderful week 🦘🦋🌈
We travelled with a 9 month old, and used gas to heat up, and a thermos to keep the water hot. Worked perfectly. Bit slower but saved power. Also you should look into a diesel heater for the cold nights (save power on heating during the night) Loving the honestly! :)
I see it all the time,people just love the comfort,at home I understand, good jacket,box matches,billy can,I can’t see the sense in going bush and carrying your house with you.
I think caravanning with a dog & young kids is crazy... but doing it while you are learning - hats off to you! As the young people say YOLO!! I can see lots of good advice in the comments too. That’s how we learnt the most - from others.
I’d recommend buying a generator for those times where you want to charge everything up during free camps or your using either the microwave or bottle warmer or even the kettle 🙏🏼
Get your diesel heater fixed so you can have heat at night, run your hot water service on GAS. Use gas stove to heat bottle or use kettle, but you don’t need the inverter on all the time, when off grid. Turn inverter on only when needed, that way van will always run on 12v and gas.
That’s all good. You guys have just jumped right into the deep end. Most people start in a tent, move to a camper trailer, than maybe pop top caravan and lastly full size caravan. Once you’re sorted it’ll be awesome.
your getting there, just remember if it heats anything then it will draw high power, use gas to heat your water and turn off when not in use to save gas. Its all about conserving water and power only have minimal lights on and conserve water. we use wiki camps to find water and dump points, in inclement weather we stop at a caravanpark or show grounds one night in five or six just to top up batteries and do the washing and top up water. We were told that grey water becomes black water after 24hrs in the tank, so should be desposed of into a dump point not on the ground(not 100% sure on this)wife and and i are still learning after nearly 12 years.enjoying your vids keep them coming
Hey guys? You guys are not stupid! Have a look at the Elnicks adventures! They are living their best life with three kids under 4, they are awesome tubers! Get some advice by them, they had a new born at this year and continued on with there caravanning their life ❤
Use the gas hot water switch Get rid of the electric jug We have a 340 on the roof and 400 of lithium use an induction cook top and have never gone under 82% Maybe a redarc DcDc charger to charge from the car would help
@@thatfalzonfamily I made the mistake of putting the smaller 1225D in should have been the 1240D it over comes the problem of the smart alternator and also gives you a solar input as an extra fit it as near the caravan batteries as possible
Wife & I are really enjoying your channel. Thanks for sharing so much (mistakes and successes) it's all very exciting. This is very helpful to others (including us). Here's a tip; love & be kind to one another. Apologise for hurting feelings & Forgive each other daily. Enjoy every moment ! God Bless.❤
Amazing for 20$ worth of fuel . You could let the car idle at camp. So you dont need to drive anywhere. and charge the batterys 3 times over. The dcdc charger will charge the same weather your idiling the car or driving. Last solution is a cheap generator with a 25 amp charger. 3 litres of petrol will last 8-10 hrs. Their is many ways to eliminate the troubles you are going through. If u want easy fast coffes. Use a jet boil. If your going to use power hungry appliances at camp . Run the car. The charger will offset the battery loss to a high degree. Gas hot water . All the way 👍
Gas all the way for heating everything guys and a small quiet genset as a backup for the van batteries . try locate some 12v or 24v appliances instead of the 240v ones as well . Great job with everything guys and you will be in your groove in no time .
If you have a 50 amp charger and a 200 amp battery, it is 4 hrs to charge. 25 amp charger is 8 hrs to charge.. 100 amp charger is 2hrs. This does not include absorption mode. Which can be up to 2 hrs .however, when absorption mode is reached, your battery is 95% charged. Every thing you do has an effect on some sort of commodity. Fuel, gas or battery. And that is MONEY. Every journey starts with a single step. How do you know where the edge is if you don't go out there . ? 👍 that bottle warmer draws 8 amp at 100 watts. That's a no no.. get a Jet boil for coffee and sterilise bottles. Cheap version from kmart $50 ish Remember when you buy any thing it has to have 2 uses. And remember your gvm. weight.. as far as solar is concerned. Wattage is calculated in watts per hour. The number you read is an average PER HOUR. NOT 1260 WATTS THIS MIN
Dump waste water into proper drain. Other wise it smells for next person. Some sites don't like you dumping grey water onto the ground. Might be easier to warm bottles in jug hot water. Use a filter when filling up the water. Use the gas for hot water heating. Saves drawing off the battery. Also look at a DC to DC charger between car and caravan helps keep batteries topped up. ALOT to learn.
Big effort to go into the bush a bit green.. Gotta start somewhere I suppose. A tip to keeping warm.. After 1 year of travelling mainly around Victoria & then across the Nullarbor through S. A. & up the West Coast. We spent $250 on an 80% down & 20% feather doona from Harris Scarf. Excellent choice by the wife. We are warm as during the winter months. No diesel heater in our van 😊& no extra weight to worry about.
You only get Max solar depending on temps, angle of the panels. If you have them in parrell then you won't get good watts, if you had them in series you would of got more power as in series is better got cloudy days. My 300w 70v solar blanket gets 23ah into battery on a perfect day, on full clouds ill still get 8amps. What battery bank you got. On my camper trailer I hot 1x 140ah lithium and I custom made a 330ah lithium..I'll be making another 330ah to have 660ah..and in total I'll have 900w solar..making it based off solar/battery but use fire and charcoal when I feel like not using power
Hey guys just watched your vid we are so happy for you guys yep there’s a lot to learn but you’re doing great. Noticed that you have Victron stuff which is great "Blue is good" well the best. To save power off grid run you hot water on gas I’m sure you can as electric hot water is a killer. Ok for 1260 watts of solar at 70% efficiency would mean on you gauge Cerbo GX monitor you see around 882 watts in full sun. You would never get 100% as solar is very insufficient, so more panels the better. (Note keep your panels clean as dust and dirt will be a killer for your power. Try to run only the 12volts LED lights in the van not the Down lights as they will such more power, our center hatch has LEDs all around and it only uses 0.8 amps as for the down light they will be more than 5 or 6 amps. What batteries are you running and what are the amp/ hours combined? We loved you guys more as soon as we saw Rocco as we have a Beagle as well his name is Dexter, and he is 12.
Guys so good your doin ya dream with the little fam. Just watch and research ask questions ect. Duel batts for ya car dc-dc charger from car to van through anderson plug, bluetti power hub for off grid on those overcast days. Conserve power with gas usage on certain things. Camp fire cooking ect. Back to basics rule of thumb really for everything. Good to have those comforts but being conservative is key guys. You will get there. Also get a decent length of hose with grey water connection around 3m is suffice. That's obviously so you dont make a bog hole around ya camp. 🤙
You guys need to do some research on RU-vid, dumping grey water right where the next person will walk through it. Take the time to watch some other caravan influencers…
😊 hey champ Does your van charge a your driving? If not maybe get an auto electrician to unreal a dc to dc 40 amp or advisedly depends on your battery ah, then when you drive you can get 40amps as you drive or leave it at camp plug into the car and turn your car on Problem solved, if i have said shimmying wrong because I'm not Tech savy but my electrician worked it out now we are fine
Great work Guys, 2 ideas. 1 use the gas to heat your hot water when off grid, and 2 turn off your inverter when not in use. "Keep the Dream Alive" Michael
for baby formula, we either thermos or you can use 80/20 mix , 80 ml of room temp water and 20ml fresh boiled water, to get the temps right, its much quicker
With showers, turn shower on wet yourself down turn off water then soap up and shampoo hair then turn water back on 0n to rinse off. Water will last Longer good luck
Wow you are learning a lot funny as with trying to charge up lol😂 a large wake up call but You do need to read up on where you put Waste water & get a waste water hose you need enjoy your travels
@@thatfalzonfamily just came across your channel, awesome content mate , you’s are my type of people and relate to your content, enjoy your journey, live life on your terms. 🤟🏻
when your off grid the best hing to buy is a petrol generato from bcf or somhing like the but if you going to buy one buy yemerha we had ow for use like 15 and not 1 problem
Your killing your battery by using high voltage shit.. you’ll need a way bigger system if you want to run those fancy items that you don’t need anyway 😂 Either get ya wallet out and pay BIG BUCKS or ease up on ya city boy appliances 😁 Nice clip mate👍🏻👍🏻
You can buy a little pop up kettle that is lower wattage than the household ones. Its blue like the ones that go on the gas, but electric......uses far less power , bought it from a camping store around $65 , bit pricey but good and quick if you have plenty of power.
The amount of fixed solar panel output should be plenty. As a general rule, your battery capacity should probably be at least half that in Ah (i.e. about 600 Ah in your case). You could possibly get one or two 200-300W portable solar panels to allow you to obtain maximum charge output efficiency given the limitations of fixed panels. Also possibly get a portable power storage system e.g. Bluetti, Eco Delta etc. Any appliance that heats or cools will use the most power in your caravan so limiting that where possible would be the general aim 🤘
Omg.. watching your video I’m so nervous taking out caravan out now. We are newbies too.. We have a jayco with 4 solar panels and 4 batteries and inverter. That’s all I know. 😂😂.. MY QUESTION TO YOU GUYS AND EVERYONE. We have extended side mirrors but I don’t want to connect them on my suv coz it will damage the paint work by tightening them up.. So what can I do to prevent any paint work damage on my mirrors.?? Would a thick piece of rubber placed on the back of my side mirrors help? Buying new towing mirrors that extend not an option. Way too expensive.. Any help would be great thanks … Luke and Alex you guys are doing great! When are you heading down to Victoria? It’s so cold here, make sure you all rug-up.
Hats off to you guys for going all in like you have most people will learn how to use and live in there caravan’s over time it took us a year and 3 different caravans before we got it sorted and we’re still learning every time we go
Thank you for the confidence I really appreciate that and the nice words we love it and we will keep learning and showcasing to use. Hope you’re well stay safe
Sounds like you don't have enough battery capacity to run what you need. Id be looking at 300amps of lithium min if you're wanting to go off grid and also a 50amp dc charger/ chargers in parallel to charge up whilst driving so you can get a min of 50amps if not 100amps whilst driving.
@@thatfalzonfamily anywhere from $400 to $800 for cheapies. 2k for a Honda. I'd I were you, I'd just get a King's $399 one and use it as backup for now.
little things - turn your microwave off from the powerpoint when off grid. You need to check your wattage of ALL 240 appliances you want to run and start to do the maths on usage. I assume the heater you ran was the aircon. That's a killer off grid.... need to layer the clothes up! Good luck... you will laugh at this vid in a few months time 😃😃😃
Gas all the way when using you HWS. Also, when off grid it’s a good idea to save water by turning the shower off an on when using. Wet yourself down - turn off - wash hair - turn off - rinse - turn off - you get the drift. 😊. Unless you have continuous hot water system the tank is only small and doesn’t hold much. Also saves heaps of water. Our tanks can last us 4-5 days off grid generally and our hot water last ages when using the on off method. Good luck with it all as newbies you have a lot to learn but you will get there. 😎 Oh ps - never empty your grey water on to the ground unless you ask and it’s ok. Always put down drain with sullage hose. It’s always good to check first 😉
You have an electric and gas hot water system why are you using 240v inverter to heat water surely you are not that silly cmon. Did you not do a reccie and test everything before you left on a big trip. Didn't the van company go through all the ins and outs of the van when you picked it up. You have an awful lot to learn.
Use the gas for hot water off road, you can leave it on all night then and have hot water when ever you need it and doesn’t touch you battery power. Gas is far easier to replenish when needed. I have hot showers every morning off grid that way and if staying off grid need another solution for heating up the bottles then the bottle warmer, that is what’s killing your batteries inverter on all night drawers power even when not in use
Enjoyed watching your video. Well done for getting out and having a crack and trying new things. We’re not caravaners but love long road trips, so looking forward to watching your adventures. Awesome fishing channel too 😊
If only I knew you were on the Sunshine Coast - could have charged up & had hot showers at my place in Noosa! Offers still there next time you’re in the area !
Have you thought of getting a portable charger to keep on board I’m sure someone sells them for caravan batteries it would probably be good to have for emergencies
Love your videos. You will always learn something new everyday when using the van. Just a pointer when dumping the grey water tank, you should have a hose connected to the outlet and place it in a drain area. That's why these days, with owners of offgrid parks are asking for people to have a grey water tank to store there waste as they don't like people just dumping there waste on there properties as the smell and small bits of food are attracting vermin.
Just buy a good hot water flask to keep hot water in there. Pre-fill the bottle with normal temp water at a right ratio (just gotta try a couple of times to get the right required ratio), so next time you just pour and mix in the hot water from flask to the desired level and you'll always have the right temperature for your little ones.
Great video! I am loving that we get to see you guys learn along the way. We don't get to see this raw look with other youtubers. Am also glad you are enjoying vanlife, as this should hopefully mean we get to keep seeing your vids 😁👍
You’ll be sweet with your power once you get use to the van and work out what you use and what power loads they are we live in our van with 2 adults and 2 kids and we use around 50 amps a day but we have a diesel heater and gas hot water and little things like we don’t have a kettle and use a jet boil but you’ll figure it out team it’s the best lifestyle ever 🤙🏻
