Can’t decide whether to get a gas or liquid fuel stove? Or battery or gas lantern? Or perhaps you want to know why you should get a low wattage kettle for your caravan and not just take your home one? We’ve asked our experts to explain the key points in powered camping to help you choose the best product for you.

• Compact Batteries
• Cartridge Gas
• Dual Fuel
• Gas Cylinder
• What are these different gasses for?
• 12v Appliances
• Power Inverters
• 240v Appliances

Compact Battery Products

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Petzl Tikka Plus - RRP £30.00 - GO Price £27.00

Portability	Suitable for Backpacking and Car Camping
Availability	Worldwide
Output	Will power low output items for finite periods of time. Lanterns & torches Personal stereos & radios

Gas Cartridges are sold in stores only, but you can find the products they power on the website.

Certain gas types aren’t available outside the UK, and if you’re going on a plane you’re unlikely to be able to take your fuel with you.

Portability	Suitable for Backpacking and Car Camping
Availability	Pierce (worldwide) Screw-on (US/EU) Clip-on and Aerosol (EU)
Output	Will power mid output items for finite periods of time. Backpacking stoves Lanterns Occasionally portable heaters and family stoves

Dual Fuel Products

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Dual Fuel products are sold in stores only, but you can find the products they power on the website.

Portability	Suitable for Backpacking and Car Camping
Availability	World wide (Any petrol station, hardware store, or outdoor shop)
Output	Will power low output items for finite periods of time. Backpacking and family stoves Lanterns

Gas Cylinders

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In general all the gasses will run all the gas appliances we sell, however we make the following recommendations:

Camping Gaz	For those travelling in Europe as well as the UK For those wanting a small bottle size	We recommend the smallest size for lanterns only Struggle to work below 0°C
Butane	For summer use For those remaining in the UK	Has easy clip-on-off regulator (except 4.5kg) Struggles to work below 0°C
Propane	For year round use For those remaining in the UK	Patio gas has easy clip-on-off regulator Will work all year round

12V Appliances

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Portability	Car Camping and Caravanning
Availability	Requires a Car battery or a Caravan/Motorhome with a leisure battery
Output	Will power mid output items for long periods of time. Coolers & Fridges Air & Water pumps Lighting & TV’s Will power heating items but to a limited degree and for a limited time

Outwell Jupiter Rechargeable Lantern - RRP £22.00 - GO Price £19.80

12 volt appliances can be connected to any of the following power sources:

• Fitted with two crocodile clips an appliance can be connected direct to a car or leisure battery.
• Fitted with a cigarette lighter plug an appliance can be connected direct to a car.
• Fitted with one of an array of caravan plugs an appliance can be connected direct to a caravans 12 volt supply. Such plugs can be flat or round pin with 2 or 3 prongs.

How long will a 12 volt battery last?

• Firstly, all batteries are measured in Amps, so you need to know that
• Now divide this by the number of Amps the device uses. Remember if you are running more than one appliance you’ll have to add all the Amps u.

How do I know how many Amps my appliance uses?

If it doesn’t say so on the packaging, use this formula:

• Watts ÷ Volts = Amps

How do I charge my battery from the mains?

There are 3 type of battery charger:

• Trickle Chargers (Float Chargers) - A 12 volt battery will perform better if it is kept fully charged when not in use. A trickle charger is designed to be left on to top the battery up and will then switch off automatically. Trickle chargers are better at maintaining the life of the battery.
• Standard Charger - These will charge the battery faster but have to be switched off manually. To work out how fast they will charge divide the amp rating of the battery by the amp rating of the charger, like you do to work out how long an appliance can be powered for.
• Combination Chargers - These will perform both of the above functions, but are more expensive.

Power Inverters

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Sunflairr Inverter 50W - RRP £60.00 - GO Price £54.00

What is an inverter?

• An inverter will step up 12 volt battery power to 230 volt mains power enabling you to run a normal home appliance off a 12volt battery source.

What will an inverter power?

• Amps x Volts = Watts

240V Appliances

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How do I get mains power into my tent?

A mobile mains kit allows you to run household appliances in your tent, provided mains hook-up is available.

How do I get mains power into my caravan?

A mains cable allows you to power your caravan 12 volt electrics from the mains, provided mains hook-up is available.

Gelert Sky Pump - RRP £12.00 - GO Price £10.80!

Portability	Car Camping and Caravanning
Availability	Requires a Caravan or a Camp site with main hook-up
Output	Will power med/high output items indefinitely. Will run ANY mains appliance Note - Site supplies are limited so high powered heating unites may cause your supply to be switched off!

Can I run anything I like when hooked up to mains at a camping or caravan site?

• Site mains hook-ups are usually restricted to about 10 amps, if you try to draw more that 10 amps your supply will cut out.
• The most likely appliance to cause a cut out will be a heating appliance (e.g. kettle, heater). We sell low wattage mains 230 volt appliances of this type that will help to avoid the problem of cut outs.
• You may find it useful to rely on gas appliances for your heating and cooking requirements.

For any more information about the powered camping products we stock please contact our Web Team on 08450 020 888.