Does my motor home have a inverter?

[Keith915]

Good evening forum, this is my first of hopefully many posts!

I have just bought a new swift escape 685 which I am very pleased with. We've had a couple of great weekends away in and everything works great. The question I have and one I haven't seen answered in the manual is this; Can I have the 240v sockets working without hooking it up?

Thanks in advance of your replies.

Keith.

 

[DBK]

Yes, if you have an inverter fitted.
But I wouldn't know if your MH has one but I'm sure it would be mentioned in the handbook if it had. There may also either be a big isolating switch somewhere or a control panel. If fitted, it may not supply all the sockets but that can be arranged.
They can be retrofitted, probably a few hundred or DIY for a bit less.
They are useful but don't expect to run an electric kettle for long.

And....

 

[funflair]

Hi Keith

Only if you have an inverter which brings us around to your question? do you have an inverter, if its a new van I would say most definitely NO, if its used somebody could have fitted one which hopefully you would be able to find, it should be close to your batteries if you can find those just follow a couple of heavy leads and see where it takes you.

Martin

 

[Southdowners]

Hello and welcome!

 

[The Dudess]

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[Liverpoollass]

I am too new to be of any help sorry

 

[ambulancekidd]

 

[gus-lopez]

 

[DanielFord]

Do you have an inverter? No probably not, if you purchased the van new, it would have been an optional extra. If you purchased used, then I'm sure you would have been made aware of its presence by the seller.

 

[two]

No. And you may not need one.

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[TerryL]

​

Almost certainly you do not have an inverter - the Escape, whilst a very nice van, tends more to the basic end of the spectrum and Swift are not known for their generosity! You would definitely have been told if you had - but I'm willing to be proved wrong so follow funflair's advice.

It's technically quite possible to do as you ask, i.e. make the sockets live when not on hookup. But it's not a simple job and there are all sorts of other considerations, the most important being your leisure battery setup. Perhaps the first question you should answer is, what do I want to power with 240v? These days almost all low-power things such as chargers can be covered with 12v adapters. If you're talking about hair dryers, heaters etc. forget it, you'll need a decent size inverter and at least a second battery plus a means of charging it/them such as solar or even (washes mouth out with soap) a generator.

Actually if you had a generator you wouldn't need an inverter - but you wouldn't be the most popular person around!

Plenty of threads on here - just search for Inverters.

 

[EX51SSS]

 

[suavecarve]

I added an inverter to my new van before I realised I had a 12 volt tv and how little leccy they used. I also added a 2nd battery
Wife is banned from hairdryers
We go away from April to October in France and there is basically no chance of running out of electricity with a solar panel and only 2 batteries as we only charge phones, cameras, vaporisers and run the telly.
However the inverter I fitted was about 50 quid from Maplins but I think it was this one which unfortunately for me is cheaper than I paid for it. I doubt we will use it too much but will charge the laptop I suppose.
Better off getting 12 volt usb chargers unless your use for leccy is completely different to mine