# 4 kilowatt a day?



## welshrarebit (Dec 16, 2015)

We're in La Torreta,  a site in Benidorm Spain and they said we're allowed 4 kilowatt a day before paying for extra. How do I tell if I'm using that amount or going over?
And how much do you normally use a day? I have no clue! 
We leave the fridge on leccy, use a remoska and a microwave and we have a 650w kettle. Its not cold enough for the heating to be on yet.


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## shortcircuit (Dec 16, 2015)

You can daily read the meter that is at the HU.  There is a clear panel at each meter.  Dally usage is up to yourself but we average 2 kw a day


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## Siimplyloco (Dec 16, 2015)

shortcircuit said:


> You can daily read the meter that is at the HU.  There is a clear panel at each meter.  Dally usage is up to yourself but we average 2 kw a day



Agreed. At Raco we were allowed only 2kw /day and this ran the fridge, TV and the electric kettle, but we used our portable induction hob a lot so used an extra 0.5kw /day.
John


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## trevskoda (Dec 16, 2015)

Simple just add up the wattage of your kit ,that is the hour rate then multiely by the time in use,simple.
corrected post due to brain shut down.


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## shortcircuit (Dec 16, 2015)

trevskoda said:


> Simple just add up the wattage of your kit ,that is the hour rate then devide by the time in use,simple.



Multiple by the time used.


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## jimbohorlicks (Dec 16, 2015)

as an example A 650 watt kettle if left on for 1.5 hrs  will use 1 Kw of electricity . I would expect that 4 KW should be more than enough for your routine appliance uses


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## listerdiesel (Dec 16, 2015)

You can buy fairly cheap consumption meters these days:

Wireless Electricity Consumption Meter Smart Home Power Energy Usage Monitor KWH | eBay

Probably more accurate than the site metering.

Peter


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## trevskoda (Dec 16, 2015)

shortcircuit said:


> Multiple by the time used.



Correct,to fecken early for me.:sleep-027:


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## campertwo (Dec 17, 2015)

Looks like you've got loads of KW left over? Get all the xmas deco's out! Yey!!!!! :lol-053::fun:


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## welshrarebit (Dec 26, 2015)

After reading the meter every day for 11 days it looks like we have 12 kilowatts left over to use.
We haven't been in the Van much, we have used gas heating and switched the on board charger off most of the time so the van must be quite good with electric usage. 
The last van we used to have used to eat the electric and was always tripping the electric post.
Thanks for the helpful posts guys!


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## phillybarbour (Dec 26, 2015)

I'm not to bad on ah calculations, but this post helped me on kW, thanks.


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## wildman (Dec 26, 2015)

trishandtez said:


> After reading the meter every day for 11 days it looks like we have 12 kilowatts left over to use.
> We haven't been in the Van much, we have used gas heating and switched the on board charger off most of the time so the van must be quite good with electric usage.
> The last van we used to have used to eat the electric and was always tripping the electric post.
> Thanks for the helpful posts guys!


as it is a daily rate I would not expect you to be able to accumulate left over allocation, if you can then thats great when you need the occasional heating.


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## shortcircuit (Dec 26, 2015)

wildman said:


> as it is a daily rate I would not expect you to be able to accumulate left over allocation, if you can then thats great when you need the occasional heating.


 
Torreta is read manually, as you leave, so use to the limit.  Raco is read from the office.


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## wints (Dec 26, 2015)

My experience of winter camping in Spain..La Toretta, Almafra, Bonterra, and a few others, has shown that the fridge (average size, not a tower fridge) will use approx 2 kw/day on a 'med' setting. I un-plug the onboard battery charger and then rely on solar (80 watt to 150 watt panels on different vans) to keep leisure batteries topped up as it's usually quite sunny in Spain. TV & lights always run off the 12 V system. 
After a few days of reading the site meter you'll get to know what you're using, then start using 230 volts to use all the allowed kw's.
We've never owed for extra kw's used.
Best (or maybe worst) we ever did was at Almafra, a few years ago, on the C&CC rally it was free un-metered ehu, and I managed to trip the 16 amp supply. I don't think I was the only one as the year after they introduced a daily allocation of 6 kw, which is still plenty.

Allen


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## oppy (Dec 26, 2015)

*A stoopid (probably) 'Oppy question*

We have 160a battery power, and (when it's fitted) a 100w solar panel, so my question is; should I be able to power the fridge directly from the batteries/panel when parked ? As the leccy is free it would be one less demand on the gas, and if it is possible, any suggestions as to how one would go about it. We are off for around 3 months on the 26th of Jan. chasing the sun, so it would be most helpful.
Thanks folks


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## shortcircuit (Dec 26, 2015)

oppy said:


> We have 160a battery and (when it's fitted) a 100a solar panel, so my question is; should I be able to power the fridge directly from the batteries/panel when parked ? As the leccy is free it would be one less demand on the gas, and if it is possible, any suggestions as to how one would go about it. We are off for around 3 months on the 26th of Jan. chasing the sun, so it would be most helpful.
> Thanks folks[/QUOTE
> 
> It will be a 100 watt panel and to get 100w output it will need to be a blazing sun for only a few hours.  Doubtful if you can run a fridge although you would be able to power the control circuit.  We use gas when off EHU


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## wints (Dec 26, 2015)

oppy said:


> We have 160a battery power, and (when it's fitted) a 100a solar panel, so my question is; should I be able to power the fridge directly from the batteries/panel when parked ? As the leccy is free it would be one less demand on the gas, and if it is possible, any suggestions as to how one would go about it. We are off for around 3 months on the 26th of Jan. chasing the sun, so it would be most helpful.
> Thanks folks



In full direct sun, a 100 watt (not amp..) solar panel will put 5 amps/hr back in the batteries. The 12 V heater element for the fridge will demand approx 8 amps...so that's a deficit of 3 amps....and that's after buggering about trying to wire it up to run without the engine being on.
Run the fridge on gas.
LPG is cheaper in Spain..about 15 euros for an 11kg refill.

Allen


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## oppy (Dec 26, 2015)

wints said:


> LPG is cheaper in Spain..about 15 euros for an 11kg refill.
> 
> Allen



Cheers Allen but we do not have Spanish or Portuguese gas bottles (we have an empty French one tho'), which is why I'm trying to find a way of conserving the LPG


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## wints (Dec 26, 2015)

oppy said:


> Cheers Allen but we do not have Spanish or Portuguese gas bottles (we have an empty French one tho'), which is why I'm trying to find a way of conserving the LPG



Any car boot type market in Spain, and there are several in Benidorm, and you'll be able to source an empty cylinder for about 10 Euros, then you can exchange that for a full re-fill at lots of garages.

Allen


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