Just letting people know I will be brain picking over the next few weeks so sorry in advance for being a pest. First what I want to do....... I want a folding caravan but don't have a spare £20,000. So being a Joiner to trade I am going to buy second hand and refurbish using the van as a template. My concerns are with electric hook up, can I hook my van to my car to run things if I am not connected to an electrical point?
Welcome. Electric hook up generally means 230v mains but you can certainly connect 12v things up to your car, like led lights and phone charging. I wouldn't go beyond that though without a separate leisure battery.
Also a 3 way absorption fridge will run off the cars battery whilst towing, but needs to be on gas if you don't have mains hook up on site.
The norm is to have a leisure battery in the caravan with charger from the mains. They normally have 12 volt lighting and sockets and water pump.
Sometimes space heating, water heating and fridge controls need 12 volt as well but not the simpler ones.
The supply to the caravan normally comes from a grey 12s 7 pin plug and the road lighting from a black 12n 7 pin plug. On modern ones a 13 pin does both jobs.
The internal electrics have to be disconnected from the car when towing except battery charging and fridge. This is to protect the car electrics. This is achieved by a habitation relay.
The normal operation is that with caravan plugged into car without engine running internal electrics work from car. With engine running they don't work at all. With caravan disconnected from the car, they work from the caravan leisure battery.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Hi all I`m new.......
