Hello Tissy,
Currently our Swift is equipped with a 220AH leisure
battery (1 x single unit) and a 1.6kw constant output
inverter. This set-up currently deals with the requests (demands ;-) ) of my wife's travel hair dryer which is rated at 750W. With this kind of arrangement, the
inverter can operate her hair dryer, providing that the current leisure
battery capacity is capable of the 73A the hair dryer takes when in use (this takes into account the excess power used by the
inverter as well as the 750W demand from the hair dryer).
The problems are re-generating the power used by the hair dryer along with everything else that runs un the van (water pump, TV, lighting, etc). This is where the debate starts as to the ideal way to replenish the power lost in your leisure batteries when away from EHU.
You have already pointed out that you do not wish to pursue the route of generators, so there are only 3 additional options to take;
A)
Solar/Wind generation - ideal providing that mother nature and provide the ingredients necessary to produce enough power to put back what you have lost in use of the hair dryer and other equipment. I currently have a 85W
Solar Panel fitted to the Swift.
B) Advanced Engine to Leisure Charging - This can be done with heavy duty Split Charge relays (you van will currently be fitted with a very basic system, which isn't capable of a quick charge alternative), or the Recommended method of a
Battery-to-
Battery charger. The B2B is by far the most trust worthy method as it can potentially produce up to 50A of power (even at idle speed) when the engine is running, so in say 45mins you can potentially produce a significant amount of power back into the leisure batteries. Again the 50A unit I currently have fitted to the Swift.
C) Silent running 12v units such as Efoy's Smart Fuel Cell, or a Self-Energy EG20 12v generator. These units are a sure fire way of producing energy, but have their own problems. The Efoy's are not cheap, the recommended unit as a 1200, which currently is £3000 approx, plus you have to obtain the correct methanol to run it. The Self-Energy unit still runs at a dB of 52, plus you are dipping into your Gas, meaning more capacity or more stops to re-gas (fine if you have Gaslow, but potentially an issue if you don't). This option I don't intend to be looking into, as we find our set-up works excellent for 2-3 days average.
Regardless of what path you choose, I would advise to also look into monitoring your capacity of your leisure batteries with a good
battery monitor rather than relying on the factory fitted voltmeter, which is typical in most motorhomes. Something that gives Volts, amps and a capacity rate. This would help you judge whether you can use the hair dryer at that given time, or whether you need to do something before leaving yourselves short of power. This is vital when you are off the beaten track as most of us do on here. Last year, me and the wife counted only 5 times when we have been on EHU, 4 x of these were in the winter but we didn't pay for it as was freely available at the time as we do tend to use the van all year round.
Hope some of the information helps, but feel free to ask more if needed
