You've seen the photos — a camper parked by a river, no one else around, nothing but bush and sky. It looks incredible. But if you've only ever stayed at powered caravan parks, two questions nag at you: how does it all actually work without mains power or water, and how long can you really stay out there before something runs out?
This guide answers both, with real numbers rather than marketing bullet points. We'll walk through the solar, the battery, the inverter and the water tank in plain English, give you a daily power budget and a daily water budget you can trust, and work through a real four-day trip so you can see exactly what runs out first. The figures are built around the standard system on both Hip Campers models — 100W of solar, a 120Ah LiFePO4 battery, a 2000W inverter and an 80-litre fresh-water tank — but the maths applies to any teardrop heading bush in Australia.
Short answer: In an Australian teardrop camper with a 120Ah LiFePO4 battery, 100W of solar and an 80-litre fresh-water tank, a couple can comfortably stay off-grid for 3 to 4 days before needing to refill water — and effectively indefinitely for power, because on a sunny day the solar tops the battery up faster than a fridge, lights and phones drain it.
Water is almost always the limit that ends an off-grid trip first, not electricity. Both the Hip Summit and Hip Companion come with that full system as standard, so you're set up for 3–4 day free camps straight off the delivery depot — and careful water use plus a couple of jerry cans stretches it to 5 days or more.
How Long Can You Stay Off-Grid? The Honest Answer
The number of days you can stay off-grid isn't set by a brochure — it's set by whichever resource runs out first. Four things are draining at once: your fresh water, your battery, your grey-water tank (which fills as fast as your fresh empties) and your fridge. Each has its own limit, and they don't fail together. Your power system might be good for a week; your water tank might be good for four days. The moment any one of them hits empty, the trip ends — or you drive to the nearest town to top up.
For the standard Hip Campers system, the binding limit for a couple is almost always water. An 80-litre tank against a realistic 15–25 litres a day gives you 3–4 days. Power, by contrast, is a solved problem in Australian sun: a 120Ah lithium battery holds roughly 1,300–1,400 Wh of usable energy, and 100W of solar puts back more than a couple typically uses, so the battery stays full day after day. That's the whole game — get water discipline right and you can stay out as long as your tank (and your fridge) allow.
The rest of this guide breaks down each system so you understand exactly where those numbers come from, and how to push them further. If you want the deep electrical detail — wiring, charging while you drive, safe fusing — our complete teardrop power systems guide is the companion piece to this one.
What "Off-Grid" Actually Means in Australia
Off-grid camping — also called free camping, bush camping or self-contained camping — means staying somewhere with no mains power, no water connection and no dump point. You run entirely on what you carry: your own power, your own water, and your own way of managing waste.
That doesn't mean roughing it. With a well-equipped camper you'll have lights, USB and 240V charging, a fridge running around the clock, hot water at the sink and cold drinks at sunset — none of it plugged into anything. What you gain is access to the best spots in the country: riverbanks, forest clearings, quiet coastal bush and outback station stays that powered caravan parks simply can't reach.
The catch is that many of Australia's best free camps are increasingly signed "self-contained only". That's a shorthand used by councils and land managers for a simple idea: manage all your waste on board and leave no trace. In practice it means containing grey water rather than tipping it on the ground, carrying a portable toilet where one is required, and taking every scrap of rubbish out with you. The principles are set out by Leave No Trace Australia, and being genuinely self-contained is what unlocks the widest choice of sites. We cover the gear and the rules in detail in our guide to a self-contained teardrop camper.
Your Daily Power Budget — What a Camper Actually Draws
Start with demand, not supply: work out what you use in a day, and everything else — battery size, solar, whether you can run the laptop — falls into place. Your camper stores energy as 12V DC in the battery, and most of your loads (fridge, lights, water pump, USB) run straight off that. The table below is a realistic day for a couple.
| Appliance | Typical draw | Use per day | Daily energy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12V compressor fridge (40–60L) | 45–55 W cycling | 24 h | 300–480 Wh |
| LED lights (interior + awning) | 5–10 W | 4–6 h | 20–40 Wh |
| 12V water pump | 40–60 W | intermittent | 10–20 Wh |
| Phone & tablet charging (2 people) | 10–20 W | a few hours | 20–40 Wh |
| Roof / ceiling fan | 10–20 W | 4–8 h | 40–80 Wh |
| Laptop via inverter | 30–50 W | 2 h | 60–100 Wh |
| CPAP machine (if used) | 30–60 W | 7–8 h | 30–100 Wh |
| Typical couple, full day | — | — | ≈ 450–650 Wh |
The fridge is the single biggest constant load — it never really switches off, just cycles. Everything else is small by comparison. A couple running a fridge, lights, the pump and charging their phones lands around 450–500 Wh a day; add a fan on warm nights and a couple of hours of laptop and you're closer to 650 Wh. Heavy 240V use (a hair dryer, an electric kettle every morning) pushes it higher again.
Now hold that number against storage. A 120Ah LiFePO4 battery holds about 1,536 watt-hours (120Ah × 12.8V). Because lithium can be discharged deeply and safely — unlike lead-acid — you can plan on roughly 1,300–1,400 Wh of usable energy. Divide that by a 450–650 Wh daily draw and you get about 2 to 3 days of running with no solar input at all. That's your worst-case buffer: three cloudy days parked in shade and you're still fine.
It's worth seeing that same 120Ah bank appliance by appliance — how long it would run each item on its own from a full charge. A camp runs several of these at once, so read this as a single-load reference rather than a running total:
| Appliance | Running draw | Draw at 12V | Runtime from a full bank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12V compressor fridge (40–60L) | 45–55 W (cycling) | ~4 A running | ≈ 3–4 days |
| LED light (single) | 5–10 W | ~0.6 A | ≈ 150–250 h |
| Roof / ceiling fan | 10–20 W | ~1.2 A | ≈ 70–130 h |
| Phone / tablet charger | 10–20 W | ~1.2 A | ≈ 70–130 h |
| 12V water pump | 40–60 W | ~4 A | ≈ 24–34 h of actual pumping |
| Laptop via inverter | 30–50 W | ~3.5 A | ≈ 24–40 h |
| CPAP machine | 30–60 W | ~4 A | ≈ 22–45 h (≈ 3–6 nights) |
| Small electric kettle via inverter | ~1,000 W | ~85 A | ≈ 20–25 boils |
| Hair dryer via inverter | ~1,200 W | ~100 A | ≈ 60 min total |
The pattern is the reassuring one: the small 12V loads you leave on all day — lights, fan, pump, charging — barely dent the bank, while the big 240V heat loads like a kettle or hair dryer are the ones you ration by the minute. And none of it stays this tight once the sun is doing the refilling. Add sunshine and the picture changes completely — which is where the solar comes in.
Solar — How 100W Keeps You Topped Up
Solar is what turns "2–3 days of battery" into "stay as long as your water lasts". A panel on the roof converts sunlight into charge, a controller manages it safely into the battery, and it all happens automatically while you're making coffee or out on a walk. You don't switch anything on — park in the sun and it works.
A 100W panel returns roughly 350–500 watt-hours on a clear Australian day (less in winter, less again under cloud or tree cover). Line that up against the budget above: a couple using 450–500 Wh a day is roughly break-even to net-positive on a sunny day, so the battery holds its charge indefinitely. On the lighter days — fridge, lights and phones only — the panel actively refills the battery faster than you empty it. That's why a modest 100W panel is genuinely enough for a couple: it's not there to power the camp on its own, it's there to keep replacing what you use.
How much a 100W panel actually makes depends on where and when you are, and the honest metric for that is peak sun hours — the number of hours per day of full-strength sun a location effectively gets. It's the figure solar designers work from, and it swings hard between the tropics and a southern winter:
| Region | Annual avg peak sun hours | Mid-winter avg (Jun–Jul) | ≈ 100W panel, winter day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darwin, NT | 5.8 | 5.4 | ≈ 400 Wh |
| Alice Springs, NT | 5.9 | 4.6 | ≈ 340 Wh |
| Cairns, QLD | 5.0 | 4.4 | ≈ 330 Wh |
| Brisbane, QLD | 5.0 | 3.9 | ≈ 290 Wh |
| Perth, WA | 5.4 | 3.1 | ≈ 230 Wh |
| Sydney, NSW | 4.5 | 3.0 | ≈ 225 Wh |
| Adelaide, SA | 4.8 | 2.5 | ≈ 190 Wh |
| Canberra, ACT | 4.8 | 2.5 | ≈ 190 Wh |
| Melbourne, VIC | 4.0 | 2.1 | ≈ 160 Wh |
| Hobart, TAS | 3.7 | 1.8 | ≈ 135 Wh |
Two things jump out. First, even a Melbourne or Hobart winter still puts real charge back on a clear day — just less of it, which is why a couple running lights, fridge and phones stays topped up while a heavy-240V household wouldn't. Second, the further north and the drier the air, the more forgiving the maths: Darwin in July sits close to its summer best, while the southern capitals are where a portable panel angled at the low winter sun earns its keep.
The cloudy-run reality check. The real question isn't "how much sun in Kakadu in July" — it's "what happens after three overcast days in the Victorian High Country?" With ~1,350 Wh usable and a 500 Wh draw, you have about 2.5 days of pure reserve. A DC-DC charger wired to your tow vehicle recovers a useful 20–30% of the battery during a two-hour drive to the next camp — a handy backstop that most tourers add for remote trips.
If you want to run bigger loads, camp for long stretches in shade, or head out through winter, the standard upgrade is a portable panel you can angle at the sun and move into the light while the trailer sits in shade. We walk through how to size solar to your own usage pattern in how much solar do you need for a camper trailer, and the standard 100W setup on both models is detailed in what's included on the Summit and Companion.
The Battery — Why 120Ah of Lithium
The battery is the heart of the system, and the chemistry matters more than the headline number. You'll hear two types compared: lead-acid (usually AGM) and lithium (LiFePO4). The rated capacity looks similar; the usable capacity is where they part ways.
| 100Ah battery | Rated capacity | Safe depth of discharge | Usable energy | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGM (lead-acid) | 100Ah / ~1,200 Wh | ~50% | ~50Ah / ~600 Wh | ~28–30 kg |
| LiFePO4 (lithium) | 100Ah / ~1,280 Wh | ~90–100% | ~90–100Ah / ~1,150–1,280 Wh | ~12–13 kg |
A lead-acid battery you can only safely drain to about half before you start shortening its life, so a 100Ah AGM really gives you around 50Ah of working power. A LiFePO4 battery of the same rating gives you nearly all of it — roughly double the usable energy — while weighing less than half as much and lasting many times longer (often 2,000+ charge cycles versus a few hundred). On a lightweight trailer where every kilo counts against your payload, that weight saving matters as much as the extra capacity.
That's why both Hip Campers models come with a 120Ah LiFePO4 battery as standard — not a small starter cell you're expected to upgrade later. It's sized for real off-grid use out of the box. If you want the full comparison, including the BMS protection and cycle-life economics, see LiFePO4 vs AGM for a camper trailer.
The 2000W Inverter — Running 240V Appliances
The inverter is what lets you plug in normal household gear. Your battery stores 12V DC, which is perfect for LED lights, USB and the fridge — but a laptop charger, a blender or a kettle expect 240V AC, the same as a wall socket at home. The inverter converts one to the other, and feeds the camper's internal power points.
Both models come with a 2000W inverter. Here's what that means in practice:
- Easily handles: laptop chargers (~65W), phone and camera chargers (~20W), a blender (~300W), a CPAP machine, and a small electric kettle (~1000W).
- Runs in short bursts: a hair dryer (~1200W) or a small heater (~1000W) — fine for a few minutes, just watch the battery, because these are big draws on a 120Ah bank.
- Not designed for: air conditioners, microwaves, or anything pulling more than 2000W continuously. Those loads outrun both the inverter and the solar's ability to replace the energy.
For most couples the 2000W inverter covers everything you'd sensibly want off-grid. The honest note is that the inverter's limit is rarely the inverter itself — it's the battery behind it. A 1000W kettle for three minutes is nothing; a 1000W heater for an hour is most of your day's budget. Match your 240V habits to the battery, not just the inverter's sticker.
Water — The Real Limit on Your Stay
Water is the resource Australians most consistently underestimate, and it's the one that ends most off-grid trips. Both the Hip Summit and Hip Companion carry 80 litres of fresh water and 80 litres of grey water, plus an instant hot-water system feeding the sink and the outdoor shower. Here's how fast that 80 litres actually goes.
| Use | Litres per person / day |
|---|---|
| Drinking (mild weather) | 2.0–3.0 L |
| Drinking (hot / active days) | 3.5–5.0 L |
| Cooking & boiling | 1.0–1.5 L |
| Dishwashing (basin, not a running tap) | 1.5–2.0 L |
| Face, teeth, hand-washing | 0.5–1.0 L |
| Quick outdoor-shower rinse | 3–6 L per rinse |
| Frugal couple (outdoor rinse) | ≈ 14–18 L/day total |
| Comfortable couple (daily shower) | ≈ 24–30 L/day total |
Do the division and the range is clear: a frugal couple using ~15 litres a day gets close to 5 days out of 80 litres, while a couple taking a proper hot shower each and cooking freely burns ~25–30 litres a day and gets closer to 3. Call it a dependable 3–4 days for two people living normally. Drinking is non-negotiable and it rises fast in heat — Australian health guidance notes fluid needs climb well above the everyday baseline when it's hot or you're active, which is why the Victorian Government's water guidance and healthdirect both stress carrying more than you think you'll need in summer.
Note the grey-water tank. At 80 litres it matches the fresh tank, so it fills at roughly the same rate you empty the fresh one — meaning grey water isn't the binding limit for these campers, it just needs emptying at a dump point on the way out. That balance is deliberate: it keeps you genuinely self-contained without a tank that overflows before your fresh runs dry.
Worked Example: Four Days at a Remote River Camp
Numbers in tables are one thing; a real trip is another. Here's a couple, four nights at a bush camp an hour off the bitumen, warm sunny days, cooler nights — the classic Australian free-camp scenario.
- Power: They draw about 500 Wh a day — fridge, lights, phones, the pump, a fan for two of the warmer nights. Each sunny day the 100W panel returns ~400–450 Wh, so the battery only slips a little and tops back up by mid-morning. Starting full at ~1,350 Wh usable, they finish the trip with the battery still comfortably above half. Power is never in question.
- Water: They start with a full 80 litres. Living comfortably — cooking, washing up in a basin, a quick outdoor rinse each evening rather than long showers — they use about 18–20 litres a day. By the morning of day four they're down near the bottom of the tank. Water is the clock on this trip.
- Grey & waste: Grey water tracks the fresh, so it's around 60–70 litres used by day four — well within the 80-litre tank. Rubbish is bagged and carried out; they empty grey at a dump point on the drive home.
The takeaway is the same one the whole guide keeps landing on: they ran the battery for four days without thinking about it, and it was water that told them when to pack up. Had they carried two 20-litre jerry cans on the drawbar — about $60 of gear and 40 extra litres — the same trip stretches comfortably to six or seven days. That's the cheapest range extension in camping, and it's why experienced tourers plan water first and power second.
Which Resource Runs Out First? The Endurance Summary
Pulling it together, here's the whole system on one page — capacity, what a couple uses, how long each part lasts, and how to push it further. Both the Hip Summit and Hip Companion run the identical standard system, so these figures apply to either.
| Resource | Capacity (standard) | Typical couple use / day | How long it lasts | How to extend it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh water | 80 L | 15–25 L | 3–4 days (the binding limit) | Jerry cans, basin washing, short rinses, a water filter |
| Power (battery) | 120Ah LiFePO4 (~1,350 Wh usable) | 450–650 Wh | 2–3 days no sun; indefinite in sun | Shade the fridge; DC-DC charge while towing |
| Grey water | 80 L | fills at the fresh-water rate | Empties at a dump point | Reuse rinse water; empty on the drive out |
| Fridge / food | your 12V fridge | — | ~1 week with planning | Pre-freeze meals; pack it full; keep it shaded |
Read across the "how long it lasts" column and the story is obvious: power lasts longest, food lasts a week, grey water keeps pace with fresh, and fresh water is the one that stops you first. Fix water and you've fixed off-grid endurance. Everything else on the standard build is already sized to outlast it.
How to Stretch Your Time Off-Grid
Since water is the limit, most of the smart moves are about water — with a couple of power habits thrown in. None of this is hard; it's just the difference between a three-day trip and a six-day one.
- Carry jerry cans. Two 20-litre food-grade cans add 40 litres for around $60 — the single cheapest way to add days. Fill them at the last town.
- Wash in a basin, not under a running tap. A tap left running is the biggest silent waste in camp. A basin of water does the dishes for a fraction.
- Take navy showers. Wet, tap off, lather, tap on to rinse. A quick outdoor rinse of 4–6 litres beats a 15-litre shower and still gets you clean.
- Fill the fresh tank before you leave the last town. Many petrol stations and rest stops have potable taps — top up whenever you can.
- Shade the fridge and pack it full. A fridge in the sun works far harder. Keep it shaded, keep it packed (thermal mass holds the cold), and open it less — your biggest power load gets easier.
- Pre-freeze meals at home. Frozen meals double as ice packs for the first few days, cut the fridge's workload, and give you no-fuss dinners on your own portable cooker later in the trip.
- Use a DC-DC charger on travel days. If you're moving camp, the drive recharges a useful chunk of the battery — free energy on the days you'd otherwise worry about cloud.
- Plan sites with an app. WikiCamps and CamperMate list thousands of free and low-cost sites, with each one's water, dump-point and self-contained rules — invaluable for planning where you can refill.
For a full pre-trip run-through, our teardrop camper camping checklist covers what to pack; and if you're chasing specific regions, we have dedicated guides to going off-grid in Western Australia and Queensland.
What Hip Campers Includes for Off-Grid — as Standard
Everything above assumes a properly equipped camper, and that's the point of how both models are specced: the off-grid system is standard, not a stack of aftermarket upgrades you bolt on later.
Standard off-grid system on both the Hip Summit and Hip Companion: 100W solar · 120Ah LiFePO4 battery · 2000W inverter · 80L fresh water + 80L grey water · instant hot water · full stainless-steel galley · outdoor shower · retractable awning · a gas-bottle holder for your own bottle. Everything you need to camp off-grid is included — no expensive add-ons required.
A few honest notes on how that's built and backed. The 12V system is wired and certified by our in-house electrician — a fully qualified tradesman with 20+ years' experience — and every camper is finished and inspected in Melbourne, Victoria before it goes out. The campers are imported and then certified for Australian roads through the RAV (ROVER) process; you register yours in your own state. Both models are covered by a 24-month structural / 12-month warranty on fittings and components, and there's a genuine consumer-guarantee backstop under Australian Consumer Law on top of that. Servicing is handled by our own WA technicians to your home postcode. If you're weighing up the longer-term picture, our cost of owning a camper trailer and is a teardrop camper worth it guides lay out the running costs.
Delivery is free to a depot near you (2.5–3 months from deposit, with interstate transit of roughly 4–12 days), and you can spec everything — colours, galley layout, options like the paid independent-suspension upgrade over the standard leaf spring — in the 3D builder. If you're still deciding between a teardrop and something bigger, the teardrop vs caravan comparison is a good next read.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can you stay off-grid in a Hip Campers teardrop?
For a couple, a realistic figure is 3 to 4 days before you need to refill water. Both the Hip Summit and Hip Companion carry an 80-litre fresh-water tank, a 120Ah LiFePO4 battery and 100W of solar as standard. Water is almost always the limit that ends the trip first: on a typical 15–25 litres a day for two people, 80 litres lasts roughly 3–4 days. Power is effectively unlimited as long as the sun keeps charging the battery — the solar tops it up faster than a fridge, lights and phones drain it. Careful campers who ration water and carry a couple of jerry cans regularly stretch a stay to 5 days or more.
How much solar do you need for off-grid camping in Australia?
For a couple running a 12V fridge, lights, a water pump and device charging, 100W of solar is enough to keep the battery topped up on a normal sunny Australian day. A 100W panel typically returns 350–500 watt-hours a day, which covers or exceeds a couple's daily draw of around 450–650 Wh. Both Hip Campers models come with 100W of solar and a 120Ah lithium battery as standard, so there is nothing to add for a couple's off-grid weekend. If you run heavy 240V loads or camp for long stretches in shade or winter, a portable panel that follows the sun is the usual upgrade.
Is a 120Ah lithium battery enough for off-grid camping?
Yes, for two people it is comfortable. A 120Ah LiFePO4 battery holds about 1,536 watt-hours and, because lithium can be discharged deeply and safely, you can plan on roughly 1,300–1,400 Wh of usable energy. Against a typical couple's daily draw of 450–650 Wh, that is about 2 to 3 days of running with no sun at all. With 100W of solar recharging it each day, the battery stays topped up and power becomes effectively unlimited. That is why both the Hip Summit and Hip Companion ship with a 120Ah lithium battery rather than a smaller starter cell.
What can a 2000W inverter run in a camper?
A 2000W inverter turns your 12V battery into 240V mains power, so you can plug in normal household items at the camper's power points. It comfortably handles laptop chargers, phone and camera chargers, a CPAP machine, a blender and a small electric kettle, and can run a hair dryer or small heater for short bursts. It is not designed for air conditioners, microwaves, or anything that pulls more than 2000W continuously — those drain a 120Ah battery very quickly. Both Hip Campers models include a 2000W inverter as standard.
How much water do you need per day for off-grid camping?
Plan on about 10–15 litres per person per day for drinking, cooking, washing up and a quick rinse. In outback heat, drinking water alone can climb to 4–5 litres per person. For a couple that works out to roughly 15–25 litres a day, so the 80-litre fresh tank on the Hip Summit and Hip Companion lasts about 3–4 days. Frugal campers who wash dishes in a basin and take short outdoor-shower rinses get closer to 14 litres a day and stretch it further; a daily hot shower each pushes use up and shortens the stay.
Can you run an air conditioner off-grid in a teardrop camper?
No — an air conditioner is not a realistic off-grid load on this size of system. A small camper air conditioner draws well over 1,000W continuously and would flatten a 120Ah battery in a couple of hours, far faster than 100W of solar can replace it. For staying comfortable off-grid, a 12V roof or ceiling fan, good ventilation, shade and parking with the breeze do the real work and barely touch the battery. Air conditioning is a powered-site luxury, not an off-grid one.
Do you need gas to camp off-grid in a Hip Camper?
For cooking off-grid, you use your own portable cooker — there's no built-in cooktop, and there is a gas-bottle holder on the trailer to carry your own bottle for it. The stainless-steel galley gives you the bench, sink and storage, and an instant hot-water system delivers hot water to the sink and the outdoor shower. Beyond the cooker, everything off-grid runs off the 120Ah battery and 100W solar, so the one thing you manage is a bottle for your cooker.
Where can you legally camp off-grid in Australia?
Off-grid or free camps include national and state forest sites, many rest areas, station stays, and council-run free camps — increasingly signed 'self-contained only'. To use those you need to manage all your waste on board and leave no trace: contain grey water rather than tipping it on the ground, carry a portable toilet where required, and take all rubbish out. Apps like WikiCamps and CamperMate list thousands of free and low-cost sites with each site's actual rules, which vary by council and land manager, so always check before you settle in.
The Bottom Line
Off-grid camping isn't roughing it, and it isn't complicated once you know where the limits are. On the standard Hip Campers system, power is effectively unlimited in the sun, food lasts a week with a little planning, and water is the clock — 3 to 4 days for a couple on the 80-litre tank, easily stretched with a jerry can or two. Get water discipline right and you can camp almost anywhere the map goes quiet.
Ready to see one in person? Get in touch to arrange a viewing, check what's ready to go in current stock, take a closer look at the Hip Summit and Hip Companion, or build your own in 3D — the full off-grid system included as standard, every time. More common questions are answered on our FAQ page.