What is the norm on them these days?
A mixture of 12V from a leisure battery and 230V for when there is a
230V hook up. Inverters?Caravans are IMHO just things that I normally queue behind on the A64 or overtake if I get a chance.
This one is in Bristol and needs a rewire. So apart from hogging the middle lane of the M5 on my way to get to Britol do any caravanners have any tips on the best way to do caravan electrics?
with a blowtorch mostly
Dunno, but here's a start:
I doubt you?ll get many caravans with inverters to provide 240V ?off grid? due to the lack of engine charging to top them up frequently. Theoretically you could of course fit one but I don?t think you?d get much use from it. A bit pointless when there?s no shortage of 12V electrical appliances for caravans.
The only thing I?m pretty sure about is that you don?t use solid cored cable for mains. It all has to be multi-stranded.
Tim
ARW expressed precisely :
Pretty much, plus a few sockets, 3 way fridge, 2 way heating systems, antenna amps, radio, possibly a remote control mover, possibly an alarm, possibly a tracking device. All fed via an RCD small consumer unit, with a 13.8v switch mode charger/ PSU, able to power all the 12v in the absence of a battery.
Stranded rather than solid core cable, to reduce fatiguing and the risk of snapping due to movement when on the road.
Back when we had a caravan (originally with 12V only electrics), we added a mains input, mains sockets and a chunky transformer/rectifier to provide 12V for the existing lighting and water pump.
We never added a charger, as we used either mains or the car and didn't normally use a dedicated battery - but that was back in the days when cars were simpler and you could easily bump-start a car with a flat battery if you left the TV on for too long.
If there was no mains and we needed to disconnect the car (say someone nipping out to the shops), we still had gas lighting and a foot-pump.
SteveW
Not for mains 'permanent' wiring. Everything up to 20 amps (including ring circuits) is single solid core twin and earth nowadays.
One issue is whether the plug that connects to the car is 7 pin or 13 pin. 13 pin may well be desireable as there are wires for lights, reversing lights, constant and switched power.
The regs don't permit class 1 solid copper in caravans.
Has that changed? I?ve never seen anything other than multi-stranded used although admittedly it?s more than a few years since I looked in a caravan.
Tim
Assuming they are like motorhomes:
Lighting tends to be 12v LED these days.
Fridges 12 V when driving. Either mains or gas when actually pitched. We favour mains, assuming it is available, but some say gas is more efficient.
Heating varies. Gas / Electric is common. Either a mix or one, depending what you select. There are also diesel heaters. Heating systems can be quite sophisticated, ours has a Hive like system you can control/monitor via your phone, including the water heater. Some, including ours, can even operate on gas while driving quite safely.
Cooking tends to be mainly gas although having a microwave is common. Some cookers have 2 gas rings and one electric one for when mains is available.
I?d say most things, other than the high consumption devices, tend to run of 12v - certainly in our case.
Solar panels are quite common.
Inverters are very current hungry. Do the sums for, say, 1kW at 12V and think about the battery etc. People do use them but, if I need mains and know I not going to have hook up, I take my generator.
It doesn't matter too much. For a caravan, it'll either be a 13-pin or two 7-pins (12N and 12S) and you can use an adapter lead to plug one into the other. For a trailer, it is normally only the 12N.
SteveW
I suspect Chris may have missed the 'caravan' reference in the subject!
Agreed.
Gas is now frowned up. There are few gas fridges any more. There are 12V fridges but they command a premium. I went for an efficient fridge and an inverter.
Gas works out more expensive than hookup electricity. Diesel heating is popular on boats.
That is not recommended!
Hmm, I've not seen an electric oven apart from on a static. Microwaves, definitely. If running from batteries it does require a modest inverter and at least 2 x 110A batteries. 4 would be the norm on a boat.
Except few things take a constant 1kW. In the summer a solar panel can keep up with a fridge power consumption. Some inverters are smart and periodically sense a load. Ideal for fridges.
Easily portable generators tend to be a few 100 watts. How big is yours?
I wasn't sure. I know boats are obliged to use multi-stranded cable. It does make 90mm^2 cable pleasantly flexible!
Who by? The systems are specifically designed to be for the purpose.
The systems are fully approved for the purpose, both in the UK and Europe.
They have sensors to cut off the supply if they detect an accident and to detect breaks in the lines.
In larger vehicles, the normal heating from the engine would probably struggle to keep the whole habitation area comfortable for some people in cold weather.
Virtually motorhome I?ve looked at has a three way fridge, gas, 12v, 240v
I specifically said rings, not ovens.
Weight is more of an issue in vehicles.
I was thinking more of microwaves. They seem to be the things people use them for. We don?t. The main things we us the uWave for is jacket potatos and heating milk for coffee etc. Things we can either forego or use a pan.
1kW. It runs off propane. I only carry it if I expect to need it.
The French for one. Ferries are another where they insist the bottle itself is turned off.
Then their claims are faulty.
Much safer to simply turn of at the bottle. No risk of fractured lines.
The engine efficiency should ensure more than enough hot water. If not perhaps an exhaust heat exchanger? Or a bigger radiator/fan heater.
It happens that Fredxx formulated :
The more efficient the engine, the less the waste heat is generated!
I have a very efficient BMW diesel engine, which only develops decent heat when making good progress. Long warm up times and little waste heat in traffic, means it is fitted with a 5Kw fuel burning heater - like a miniature central heating boiler, burning diesel.
There is only so much waste heat available, take too much heat out, the engine runs cooler, less efficient. Most motorhomes are derived from vans, with a heater designed to only have to heat a small front cabin.
Most caravanners swear by gas fridges. Sorry, let me rephrase that: most caravanners swear AT gas fridges. Lying on the floor for twenty minutes repeatedly pressing the piezo igniter and looking for the elusive blue glow through the little window that indicates successful ignition.
Can be useful when some idiot has been too free with the hose while washing the caravan, and doused the electrics with water. Running it on gas for a few hours drives off the moisture.
I think running a fridge on 12V is only an option if it's already down to temperature. This is on my elderly van, YMMV.
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