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Subject Topic: 12v electrics
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PersonPotlock
05/3/2013 at 8:29am
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Hi there im new to the site and was hoping for a little advice , ive just boyght a tourer and plugged electrics in to test and they all worked even the 12v althogh there is no battery fitted ! Then i found a converter / charger which obviously was powering the 12v , anyway today it broke so i now have no 12v and i have seen a few things about people using a computer tower power supply ?? Is this correct as they seem pretty cheap even could get one for free , the converter in the van is about £100 to replace any answers would be great thanks lee


PersonOpensauce
05/3/2013 at 8:47am
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It would depend on the output of the power supply, what is it? I guess you would need about 10amps.


PersonPotlock
05/3/2013 at 9:30am
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Hi thanks for the reply the one that broke was a supercharge 150 well thats what it says and spec as follows 150w supply and output is 13.5v adjustable a bit i beleive and 11.2 amp but i dont need to use it as a charger cos there mo battery and if i did put battery in there is a seperate charger in the van aswell thanks for help


PersonOpensauce
05/3/2013 at 12:54pm
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If you are on ehu with your transfomer you don't need a battery but if you are not on ehu the only way of charging battery on the move is if wired up to 12s socket on car or at home before you leave home & you could just use a normal battery charger.


PersonPotlock
05/3/2013 at 2:21pm
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Yeah i know that bit ? What i was meaning was wether or not a computer power supply was able to power my 12v because there isnt a battery so now the supercharger thing broke i am needing some form of converter to go from 240 mains to run my 12 ?? It was just to save £100 on a battery because i wont use the van on sites with no electric if you see what i meen , and i can get hold of an old pc tower for free probably but i wasnt sure if the amps etc would be ok to use as im not clued up on amps ,watts etc thanks again for the reply tentz


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PersonOpensauce
05/3/2013 at 3:56pm
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If it is 11amps & in good working order it is worth a try. I can't see a problem but I stand to be corrected by any electrician.


PersonPotlock
05/3/2013 at 4:00pm
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Cheers i might give it a try nothing to lose im sure it will blow a fuse or something if its wrong and hopefully not burn my caravan down lol


Personbirder99
05/3/2013 at 4:45pm
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Make sure you only have a 5A fuse in the the power lead to the PSU and that the case is well earthed. Beware that some PSU's have pretty meaty capacitors in them and if anything drops into the case and discharges them you will have a mess. The PSU cases are designed to be placed inside a purpose built computer case and you might be better off making up a small enclosure to mount it in, always ensuring an reasonable airflow across the electronics. Most PSU's have a fan built into them for cooling and it could be a bit annoying to hear that running all the time.

Good luck with it and let us know how you get on.

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'


PersonDaveCoaches
05/3/2013 at 5:51pm
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It could be that your existing charger has blown a fuse, particularly if there is no battery fitted and the battery terminals have shorted together.

A PC power supply is not a straightforward fit as it needs to see a load on the 5 volt circuit for it to power the other circuits. If you can get a very old PSU then you may be lucky to get one that is not energy star compliant but you would be looking at getting something probably 20 years old which is going to be hard to find.

It's not impossible to fool a modern PC power supply into working but it would involve some additional connections. I am sure Google will be your friend for more details on this.


PersonPotlock
05/3/2013 at 6:25pm
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Hi thanks the supercharge unit was a sealed unit which said no servicable parts but me been a someone eho likes to tinker about with stuff drilled the rivets off and opened it for surgery lol and found a fuse which was blown but apparently no serviceable parts ???? Anyway i thought great thats all it is so changed fuse power on and bang it blew only to find some damaged parts on the circuit board ? The computer thing sounds like it could be tricky ??


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Personthe black fox
05/3/2013 at 6:25pm
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surely it would be far easier and cheaper to get a 12v car battery from the breakers yard ,its made for the job and if your on mains all the time its just a in line addition .your making a easy job hard


Personstevo1
05/3/2013 at 7:06pm
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Plenty on youtube about using a psu for a 12v supply...some wiring involved.

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PersonPotlock
05/3/2013 at 7:11pm
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Ive just been given a battery so it does seem easier this way but will i have to leave the charger on all the time so it doesnt run low or will the charger act as a power supply if the battery is low and i turn the charger on because the charger looks just like a normal car charger on a plug in to a 240 socket ? Is it safe to leave on all the time or will it bool the battery thanks


PersonDaveCoaches
05/3/2013 at 9:47pm
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If you want to leave the charger on all the time you need a smart charger. They do come up for about £15 in Aldi or Lidl from time to time. If you are in a rush for one though you would probably pay 10 times that.

Do you have a volt meter on your caravan? If you do then just pop it on charge when the voltage drops below 12 volts for a few hours.

Alternatively, you could convert your battery charger to a power supply with a voltage regulator and a capacitor.


Personbirder99
05/3/2013 at 11:30pm
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Or just get a second Hand TP2 off ebay and drop a cheap battery in it, no problems then with having a battery locker and wiring up charger and battery. Just require a mains outlet to plug into and connect 12V side to existing caravan circuit. They old ways are sometimes the easiest.

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'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'



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