Inverter?

[Zoet]

Hi,

I have just bought a Ford Transit van conversion. I know nothing about electrics and have read that you need an inverter if you want to use a hair dryer, charge laptops etc.

I am travelling round Europe for a year from May 2013 and on the cold days I want to be able to use a hair dryer. I saw one site mentioned getting a 2100kw Ring inverter so that the power supply is constant.

The van I have does have normal uk plug sockets, one says 12v and one says 240v.

Is an inverter the way to go?

thanks

Zoe

 

[Addie]

You mentioned our blog earlier in this thread (http://www.europebycamper.com/2011/06/hairdryer-from-12v-in-motorhome.html) and just wanted to add some info.

You can get a 2000W inverter with a 3 year warranty on eBay for under £160 - we just happened to get a good deal on our ring version.
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Someone on here copied our installation almost exactly here:
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We connected this up to the engine battery, and only used it when the engine was running (before we set off usually) since our alternator provides 140Amps and so there is much less strain on the battery over the course of 2-3 minutes use.

12v hairdryers were a waste of time and a liability, using the gas blown air was a faff and waiting for the engine to heat up to use the dash blowers was a non starter

I totally agree, motorhoming is all about compromise - but there sometimes is a sensible solution. The only reason we'd need hookup was for a hairdryer and so this was a simple fix. :thumb: