Hi folks I have a Peugeot accent van conversion and we will be camping off grid soon and using the leisure battery for power the van the van has 3 pin plugs am I right in thinking I will need to buy a converter for using things like phone chargers, hair straighteners (not for me I hence 😉) etc and if I do what sort of converter do I need for said items and what sort of monies would I be paying or is there a magic switch in the van that Iam not aware of ,,,,, thanks for any replies kind regards alan
If you are going to use just a battery for power, don't even think about using anything with a heating element in it! You will flatten your battery in no time at all. I would say that hair straighteners are a definite no-no!
Phone chargers are fine, but only run them on the 12 volt system. You can get inverters to convert 12 volts to 240 volt mains, but it is a very inefficient way of doing it.
Forget all about using the 240 volt 3 pin plugs unless you are on EHU, they can't be run off the battery.
As Colin suggests, don't think about running 240V. devices off-grid. You can use an inverter for low powered gadgets, but they're not always such a good idea. Best stick to 12V devices and only use what you need.
I'm sure you know that if you don't have EHU, you will have to run the fridge on gas (unless it's a compressor fridge), boil water on the hob etc.. and if you haven't already got them, I'd recommend you fit LED bulbs in the internal lights - they only use about 1/5 power of incandescent bulbs for the same light output.
------------- Two drifters off to see the world.
I'm tired of reality, so I'm off to look for a good fantasy.
Contrary to the above comments, I know of a large number of self building motorhomers who never ever go to sites with EHU's yet despite this they are able to run microwaves, electric kettles, audio systems etc. all running on 240v.
The way they do it is by having a decent solar panel set up on their roofs and at least 2 decent sized leisure batteries and the all important split charge relay.
In my own self built van, I only have a single 150W solar panel fitted as well as 2 x 150ah gel leisure batteries. My fridge is a very efficient 12v WAECO CR50 which only ever runs on 12volt as for other devices, my most beloved uses her 240v hair dryer and we always run various 240v chargers.
For power conversion, when fitting an inverter, the only safe type to use forall your 240v devices is what is known as the Pure Sine Wave versions.... and when going for one of these make sure that it is powerful enough for your needs.
This link tells you about inverters https://www.lifewire.com/pure-sine-wave-inverters-534758
------------- There is a great World to be found out there, but by the very day, to find where it is becomes more of a challenge!
Easy..all you have to do is swap your existing leisure battery, for two 150ah gel batteries,ensuring that your exiting charger is compatible and *up to the job of charging them both efficiently(*likewise the vehicles alternator)..and when you've done that, install a 150ah solar panel(which will do next to nowt at this time of year, especially when talking microwave, hairdryer etc consumption)..
..and then you're good to go.
OR...you could just moderate/alter your usage slightly (and, as has been said,maybe swap the most used lamps to leds?)and just try what you've already got.
(we could easily manage over a week off hook-up with our previous "un-messed about with" motorhomes...and we would run out of cassette loo capacity and fresh water before we ran out of electric)
Yes indeed you can manage without electricity. I used to do it with my boat all the time, and I was often away on the river for two weeks at a time. The only place I could get mains power was on my home moorings. However, I didn't use any mains appliances, only 12 volt ones. I cooked with gas and my fridge was a compressor type. I had planned to fit diesel heating, but never got round to it. I did however have two massive leisure batteries giving me about 250ah, and I generally only stayed in one place overnight. I had a good split-charge system so my batteries got a good charge every time we moved on.
I did have one mains socket onboard but I only ever used it when I was hooked up to the mains on my home moorings, to run power tools or my battery charger.
One other thing to remember about using inverters is that they drain battery power themselves if they are switched on, even without anything connected to them. This is why I say they are inefficient for running things like phone chargers. If you connect an ordinary mains phone charger through an inverter to the battery, you will use whatever the phone charger draws plus whatever the inverter uses, and the bigger the inverter the more power it takes to run it. The inverter will probably take far more power out of the battery than the phone charger would take.
Hi. I have a Swift Bolaro 2007 Motorhome. 1 of the plastic shelves over the fixed bed hav broken and need to find a replacement. Can anyone help as to where I could get one? Thanks.
Hi Gerald lea, I think it’s probably best if you start anew thread stating your question. That way you will get the replies you need. Many people will see the title ‘motorhome’ for this thread and move on without reading as it doesn’t really ask a question to what needs resolved. Hope this makes sense.
You just need to go the motorhome main section and click new topic.
Good luck with your search.
Welcome Gerald, you'll soon get the hang of it. This is a great forum, and there are a lot of very helpful people on here. May I suggest you put some details in your profile as to what area you live in and what outfit you have. This helps with any advice you may be given.
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Topic: Motorhome
