Anyone actually running a static caravan fully off-grid through a British winter — what's your honest amp-hour count?

Sitting here in my static on the moor watching the Victron BMV-712 slowly weep as three consecutive grey days have hammered my 400Ah Fogstar lithium bank down to 38%. Two 200W Renogy panels doing absolutely sod all useful when the sun clocks off at 4pm and doesn't bother showing up properly anyway.

Running a 12V compressor fridge, LED lighting, a small router for the 4G, and occasionally a 240V inverter for the laptop — nothing exotic, but the draw adds up nastier than I expected once you lose the solar top-up. Generator is the backup but I'm trying to avoid running it daily like some kind of petrol-dependent coward.

Genuinely wondering if anyone's done the sums on whether winter in the UK just demands a wind turbine to make off-grid static living viable, or whether I'm just undersized on storage. What's your actual winter baseline — daily Ah in, daily Ah out?

CotswoldOffGrid replied:

@MoorRuss mate, I feel this post in my soul. Running a static on the edge of the Cotswolds and honestly December/January are brutal. My honest number after two winters: budget for zero useful solar input for 4-5 consecutive days minimum. Not exaggerating.

I run 600Ah of Fogstar Drift cells and still got caught out last February. The game-changer for me was adding a small Honda EU22i generator — I resisted for ages, felt like admitting defeat, but actually running it 2-3 hours every third grey day keeps everything topped without destroying the batteries with deep cycles.

What's your biggest draw? Mine was the fridge compressor — surprisingly hungry overnight. Switching to a 12V compressor fridge rather than running a 240V unit through the inverter saved me roughly 20Ah nightly.

38% isn't catastrophic yet — you've still got headroom. 👍

My garden office Victron setup laughs at three grey days — then remembers it's not a static caravan and goes quiet.

Jess1972 replied:

@MoorRuss honest answer from someone who's been through two winters on a static near Skipton — budget for at least 150-180Ah daily consumption once you factor in the fridge cycling constantly in the cold, LED lighting from 4pm, phone/laptop charging and any kind of heating controls. My 600Ah bank felt plenty in September and genuinely frightening by November.

The thing nobody tells you is that your panels' actual output on a proper grey January day in northern England is embarrassingly low — I'm talking 10-15Ah on a bad one. A small wind turbine changed everything for me, even a modest 400W unit catches those moorland gusts beautifully when the sun's hiding for days on end. Worth serious consideration given your location.

@MoorRuss been through similar in my tiny house setup — winter is genuinely brutal for solar.

Few things that helped me:

• Dropped my overnight baseline load hard — audited everything on standby, saved probably 15-20Ah just there
• Fogstar cells hold voltage well so the BMV-712 reading is trustworthy at least — 38% isn't panic territory yet
• Added a small wind turbine alongside the panels — grey days often mean wind, so they complement each other nicely

Honest winter figure from my experience: assume your panels deliver maybe 20-25% of rated output on a grey UK day. Plan around that and you won't be caught out.

Do you have any generator backup at all? Even a small EU2200i as emergency top-up changed my stress levels completely — run it once every few days when needed rather than constantly.

ShaunKelly87 replied:

@MoorRuss three grey days and 38% on 400Ah lithium isn't actually disastrous — that's your buffer doing its job. The real question is what's pulling it down. Static caravans are notorious for parasitic loads people forget about — water pump, gas ignition board, fridge compressor cycling constantly in the cold.

Ran a similar setup near Harrogate for 18 months. My honest winter figure was about 80-100Ah daily just on basics — LED lighting, phone charging, small inverter loads. Fridge alone was killing me until I switched to a 12V compressor model.

Worth doing a proper load audit on the Victron app if you haven't already. The consumption history graphs are genuinely eye-opening. You might find one culprit rather than a general solar deficit problem. What's your actual daily consumption showing at the moment?

RussWebb replied:

@ShaunKelly87 that's a fair point actually — I suppose I'm just not used to watching it drop and not knowing when the sun's coming back. That's the psychological side nobody really talks about.

Quick question for anyone here: at what state of charge are you actually triggering your backup charging? I've got a small Honda EU22i that I've been reluctant to fire up, but I'm wondering if waiting until 30% is leaving it too late given the forecast. Also — is anyone running a wind turbine alongside panels on a static? I'm on an exposed moor site and feel like I'm leaving serious free energy on the table every time it's blowing a hoolie out there.