Hooking up at home.

[skyetripper]

Just out of interest, what do most people do to hook up at home (as, when and if needed)?

Going to get an electrician to put an outside socket on the side of the garage, but wondering whether to just fit a normal domestic socket and use a fly lead, or fit an EHU type of socket while he’s on.

 

[donkey]

What's this super water heater have you got?
A Truma Combi only keeps the water warm for a couple of hours

Totally agree. Truma actually have the cheek to refer to the plastic case as thermal insulation. I think in this age of conservation and energy efficiency Truma should do much better with this aspect of their heaters.
Apart from the wasted energy it makes my bed too hot, as it is directly above the boiler. I turn it off at night, then back on first thing.

Geoff

 

[cyberyacht]

Mine is positioned under the fridge. How helpful is that?

 

[SpeedyDux]

Like others I use the ordinary 3 pin mains socket inside the garage plus an adapter, and run the EHU cable past the locked door.

I also put a 1.8m cable protector with a hi-viz yellow stripe over the EHU cable because I don't want a trip claim for compo from the Postie or any of the various leaflet distributers who take a shortcut between van and garage. About £22 from Amazon.

 

[Madcaravanner]

My garage supply has a dedicated set of trips - one of which is 16amp
connectted to this trip is an external IEE Socket (standard hook up socket) then I use one of my short cables to hook up (I have a 25m a 12m anda 10m cable )

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[Derek’soldvan]

Kinda jealous of you lot with a drive, if I can park my van in my street (residents parking) I rarely can outside the house (2hour parking restriction), if I get that lucky it’s a hookup out the upstairs bedroom window thru the roof vent (to stop the pedestrians tripping on the cable &/or it getting stolen, by the time I’ve rigged it up I can just about get the hoovering done & it’s time to move it again

 

[donkey]

Kinda jealous of you lot with a drive, if I can park my van in my street (residents parking) I rarely can outside the house (2hour parking restriction), if I get that lucky it’s a hookup out the upstairs bedroom window thru the roof vent (to stop the pedestrians tripping on the cable &/or it getting stolen, by the time I’ve rigged it up I can just about get the hoovering done & it’s time to move it again

How are you going to get on when we all go to electric vehicles?

Geoff

 

[Driventemple]

Belt and Braces - spurred off a point in the Living Room through the wall.

 

[Derek’soldvan]

How are you going to get on when we all go to electric vehicles?

Geoff

Sell the bloody house, the van is a money pit I want to get something back out of it!!

 

[Odd-no-more]

I fitted an external socket using an earth rod, not the bungalow's PME earth which is not recommended for vehicles. I switch off the onboard charger and connect a smart charger, it is on all the time to keep the battery in good condition. It is ok for when we use it as an bedroom as well.

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[GirlyVanGirly]

We only put the van on EHU at home the afternoon before a trip away so I can get the fridge down to temperature and can fill it up with a few frozen meals etc. We plug it into the garage (with an adaptor) the wire fits under the garage door, we don't have to worry about anyone tripping over it as we park right up to the garage doors and its in a private parking area. Just parked up we find the solar panel does a good job at keeping both batteries topped up.

 

[skyetripper]

Wow. Been away for day and there’s a lot of replies.. Cheers
I think common sense suggests using a fly lead adapter off the domestic supply, but I’ll check with my leccy and see what he thinks.

 

[Andy Stephens]

I had an outside socket fitted at the side of my house. It's permanently hooked up when at home, I keep a full size dehumidifier running all the time, it pulls out a couple of litres of water a day and keeps the motorhome much drier than it would have otherwise been.

 

[Tonks]

I just made up a dedicated lead, domestic plug one end and camper plug the other end with 10m of spare flex. Cost me about £10.

That's exactly what I've got too, plugged into an outside socket I had fitted, which is switched from inside the house. I originally planned to have a camper socket, but changed my mind and fitted a twin three-pin socket as it's more flexible. The van is plugged in whenever I'm home, but it's only 'switched on' once a week, unless I'm going away and am cooling the fridge in advance. Having a dedicated lead for home use saves messing about with my regular hook up cable.

 

[bexleyjohn]

I put an external double socket on wall outside the house. Drilled into the porch and fed power cable in. Standard 13 amp plug on end and plugged into the switched power socket in the porch. Handy for plugging MH into external socket (with adaptor) and useful for lawn mower and pressure washer….. sorted. Can also isolate power to external socket by switching off in the porch so no sneaky b****r can plug in when I’m away.

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[JaG]

16amp blue socket fitted to side of garage wall. Allows me to plug my site lead into it to connect direct to motorhome.

connected to 2 way distribution box with RCCD in garage.

and when I want to use normal tools I have made up an adapter from 16amp plug and two way socket.

Works a treat and very safe in all aspects.

 

[charliesgrandad]

HOW MUCH !!!!!

Totally off topic but we have just had a sunday lunch with a bottle of wine (the wine was £16.60) at the Wanderer bistro on Knaresborough CMC and a couple sat near us and ordered a bottle of wine and when the waiter said £16.60 he in a loud voice uttered HOW MUCH ,must have been a yorkie

 

[Trevor Wbm]

I took the opportunity to change the single spur off the sheds distribution board for a ring main with internal double socket and external EHU type connector.

An extension lead with EHU to three pin domestic plug converter would have been just as good, but I'm retired and sometimes bored ...

 

[VXman]

Kinda jealous of you lot with a drive, if I can park my van in my street (residents parking) I rarely can outside the house (2hour parking restriction), if I get that lucky it’s a hookup out the upstairs bedroom window thru the roof vent (to stop the pedestrians tripping on the cable &/or it getting stolen, by the time I’ve rigged it up I can just about get the hoovering done & it’s time to move it again

Move!

 

[Blaydon]

Hi there. Whatever you use at the end of the cable in the garden, I would make sure you an isolate the socket so no one can use it when you don’t want them to. I put a standard plug on the “inside” of the cable and plugged it into a socket in the garage. That way I can switch off or disconnect the outside power point when we go away or if I want to ensure no one taps into my power. It might seem a bit much but I have heard of folks finding an extension lead in their outside socket running to who knows what. Just a thought.

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[CazPaul]

Totally off topic but we have just had a sunday lunch with a bottle of wine (the wine was £16.60) at the Wanderer bistro on Knaresborough CMC and a couple sat near us and ordered a bottle of wine and when the waiter said £16.60 he in a loud voice uttered HOW MUCH ,must have been a yorkie

The fish and chips are nice from there we took them back to the van, lovely quality just not enough.
But that’s from a greedy Yorkshireman.

 

[MickandSandra]

this is what i installed

View attachment 558466

Where did you get this item from please

 

[TCG]

Where did you get this item from please

Google ROLEC wall pod

 

[Rick@62]

.......We had assumed wrongly that the EHU would keep the starter battery topped up......

Does it not do that then or would that be manufacturer dependent?

I have a Swift Escape Compact C205 and im sure I was told on the hand over that the charging system automatically switches between the leisure and engine batteries when the EHU was plugged in.

On the control panel it usually shows EHU power going to the leisure first with solar going to the engine battery but Im sure Ive seen that reversed. It was my understanding that the EHU charged the leisure battery first, but after that battery had reached peak charge it would switch over to the engine battery automatically, switching back to leisure when the system senses that a charge is required.

Ive got to go back to the dealer who supplied it next week so will get clarification then.

 

[Hedgewitch]

We had assumed wrongly that the EHU would keep the starter battery topped up.

Some do, some do not (in my limited experience). Had a lovely Devon Aztec PVS (Peugeot Boxer) which definitely trickled power to the engine battery once the leisure battery was topped up.

A VW Transporter definitely did not.

Now on a Pilote Joa (Fiat Ducato) but have not had her for long enough to work out whether the engine battery is going to benefit from the surplus power . . . if anyone already knows the answer to that I'd be hugely grateful!

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[Bill-H]

I leave mine plugged in to EHU when at home13a in a shed to the Motorhome, I made a lead up about 10ft long for the purpose and it runs under the shed door in a groove I cut in the wood. Have a small oil filled rad in there and don't need to drop the water tank over winter - inboard water tank. Motorhome insulation is good enough to keep a resonable temperature inside without the rad running most of the time.
Having just fitted LiFePO4 leisure batteries I pull the plug on the charging circuit (Shaudt EBL99) as I understand they are give better life if kept at only 50/60% charged when not in use, it's easily accessable under the front seat.

 

[stuartholmes]

Does it not do that then or would that be manufacturer dependent?

I have a Swift Escape Compact C205 and im sure I was told on the hand over that the charging system automatically switches between the leisure and engine batteries when the EHU was plugged in...

That's what I thought mine is supposed to do but it's actually not keeping the vehicle battery topped up so it's on my list to get checked!

Watching for any comments here in the meantime..

 

[autorouter]

Having just fitted LiFePO4 leisure batteries I pull the plug on the charging circuit (Shaudt EBL99) as I understand they are give better life if kept at only 50/60% charged when not in use, it's easily accessable under the front seat.

If you pull the plug, that also stops the starter battery being topped up. However if instead you remove the 'Internes Lademodul' fuse, that stops the leisure battery charging, but keeps the starter battery top up active.

 

[Bill-H]

If you pull the plug, that also stops the starter battery being topped up. However if instead you remove the 'Internes Lademodul' fuse, that stops the leisure battery charging, but keeps the starter battery top up active.

Good point and good info as well. I use my motorhome on a weekly basis usually, a 12 mile round trip to a supermarket just to give the mechanicals a work-out so hopefully the starter battery will be getting topped up from this.
Incidently, I had the EBL99 converted to charge LiFePO4's correctly, but of course this would mean that on EHU at home they would be charged to 100% all the time.
After thinking about your info regarding the 'Internes Lademodel' fuse, I may look into making up an external switch incorporating a suitable amp rated fuse, and wire it in place of the 'internes lademodel' fuse to give me a conveniently located switch instead of pulling the fuse each time ( as long as I remember to switch it back on each time of course)

 

[CAB96]

Good point and good info as well. I use my motorhome on a weekly basis usually, a 12 mile round trip to a supermarket just to give the mechanicals a work-out so hopefully the starter battery will be getting topped up from this.
Incidently, I had the EBL99 converted to charge LiFePO4's correctly, but of course this would mean that on EHU at home they would be charged to 100% all the time.
After thinking about your info regarding the 'Internes Lademodel' fuse, I may look into making up an external switch incorporating a suitable amp rated fuse, and wire it in place of the 'internes lademodel' fuse to give me a conveniently located switch instead of pulling the fuse each time ( as long as I remember to switch it back on each time of course)

Do your batteries have Bluetooth and a phone app?

Can you turn off charging with it?

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[Bill-H]

Do your batteries have Bluetooth and a phone app?

Can you turn off charging with it?

No bluetooth or app, just standard Ecoworthy LiFePO4