Caravan Electrics - Newbie stupid questions
Discussion
For one reason or another we have found ourselves owners of a caravan.
We took our first trip over the bank holiday and it was useful for what we used it for (staying on site at dog agility competitions). We don't plan to use it for our holidays so its use will be limited to a max of 3 or 4 nights over long weekends. Having never even set foot in a caravan until we picked ours up a couple of weekends ago I know absolutely nothing about them. We got through the weekend, everything worked and we remembered to connect everything up and plug things in in the correct order so we had hot water and a fridge and cooker that worked (using the gas bottle).
As agility competitions are usually in the middle of a field there is no power to connect to. So we were pretty frugal with running things off the battery (we had no idea how long it would last) - we used the fridge on gas and ended up with what seemed like a fair amount of battery left. Should we use the fridge on 12v electric instead or will it eat the battery?
So, we got the caravan home and I have plugged the 240v wire from the caravan in to a socket in the garage.
Stupid question number 1, will this charge the battery in the caravan sufficiently and keep it topped up in good condition? Do I need to switch any switches inside or will it just know to top up the battery? Would I be better off taking the battery out and keeping it on a normal charger/optimate?
Stupid question number 2: Next to the battery gauge in the van there is a rocker switch which toggles between car battery, caravan battery and off. If when towing we set this switch to car battery does this charge the caravan battery or does it just power anything like the fridge directly off the car rather than caravan battery?
Stupid question number 3: As mentioned, we were worried we would run out of battery so were pretty frugal with power consumption but noticed others had solar panels. I did a quick search and other solar panel topics seem to be about size required but my question is more basic. How do these connect to the caravans electrical system? Do these plug into the 240v hook up connector or more directly to the battery through one of the solar panel power controllers? Is it possible to wire them in somehow to charge the battery without removing the battery everytime? If the answer to question 1 is that there is an inbuilt 240v charging system would the two integrate somehow or could the 240v battery charger damage the solar panel control unit if that was left plugged onto the battery all the time?
We took our first trip over the bank holiday and it was useful for what we used it for (staying on site at dog agility competitions). We don't plan to use it for our holidays so its use will be limited to a max of 3 or 4 nights over long weekends. Having never even set foot in a caravan until we picked ours up a couple of weekends ago I know absolutely nothing about them. We got through the weekend, everything worked and we remembered to connect everything up and plug things in in the correct order so we had hot water and a fridge and cooker that worked (using the gas bottle).
As agility competitions are usually in the middle of a field there is no power to connect to. So we were pretty frugal with running things off the battery (we had no idea how long it would last) - we used the fridge on gas and ended up with what seemed like a fair amount of battery left. Should we use the fridge on 12v electric instead or will it eat the battery?
So, we got the caravan home and I have plugged the 240v wire from the caravan in to a socket in the garage.
Stupid question number 1, will this charge the battery in the caravan sufficiently and keep it topped up in good condition? Do I need to switch any switches inside or will it just know to top up the battery? Would I be better off taking the battery out and keeping it on a normal charger/optimate?
Stupid question number 2: Next to the battery gauge in the van there is a rocker switch which toggles between car battery, caravan battery and off. If when towing we set this switch to car battery does this charge the caravan battery or does it just power anything like the fridge directly off the car rather than caravan battery?
Stupid question number 3: As mentioned, we were worried we would run out of battery so were pretty frugal with power consumption but noticed others had solar panels. I did a quick search and other solar panel topics seem to be about size required but my question is more basic. How do these connect to the caravans electrical system? Do these plug into the 240v hook up connector or more directly to the battery through one of the solar panel power controllers? Is it possible to wire them in somehow to charge the battery without removing the battery everytime? If the answer to question 1 is that there is an inbuilt 240v charging system would the two integrate somehow or could the 240v battery charger damage the solar panel control unit if that was left plugged onto the battery all the time?
Ok, so this is the control panel part of the caravan:
Untitled by Chrisga, on Flickr
The battery level square is fairly self explanatory, with the main rocker switch, and rocker switches for 1) water heater, 2, front 12v lighting, 3, rear 12v lighting and 4 the water pump. Red light comes on next to water pump when in use and the on light comes on with the water heater (after drawing water through hot tap system first). The 240v plug socket only works when plugged into mains. Tested that tonight!
Auxiliary 1 seems to be the on off switch for the carver fan master and haven't figured out aux 2 yet. Anyway to do that other than turn off and try to figure what's not working? No idea why there are two aerial points and I have no idea what the single button does under the 240v three pin plug socket but the red light comes on if you flick it.
The carver fanmaster control panel with thermostat works the heater and I read that when on elec it controls temp from that thermostat, but when running on gas you use the heater control knob to change temperature. The single rocker switch with carver fanmaster written under it doesnt actually seem to control anything either. Wonder if it makes a difference if not plugged in to the mains.
So we appear to be able to make all the systems work but still not sure what some switches do. The manual wasn't very helpful as the ones we can't figure out aren't on the van diagrams in the caravan manual which I found.
The manual also says the caravan has a zig x7 charging unit and power supply but doesn't mention which way the main rocker switch needs to be to achieve battery charging from mains hook up. When plugged into the mains there is a red light on the zig x7 unit itself which I located in a rear cupboard in the bathroom (is that normal as a) its the bathroom, with well you know, water and stuff, and b) it's at the furthest point away from mains plug socket and battery box for some reason).
And final question. We got a caravan cover when we bought it. I don't intend to put it on between every use as can imagine that's a huge faff, but would you recommend using it over the winter? I like the idea of it keeping the worst of the rain/weather/scum off but will it let damp in from underneath and sort of hold it inside or against the van doing other damage? I sail dinghies and have seen the damage some covers can do by holding water against the gelcoat for a long time causing it to bubble and eventually crack off.
Sorry for so many questions. Sure we'll figure it all out soon. Off to try again weekend after next.
We are going to book a service for it so perhaps they can tell us what everything does....
Untitled by Chrisga, on FlickrThe battery level square is fairly self explanatory, with the main rocker switch, and rocker switches for 1) water heater, 2, front 12v lighting, 3, rear 12v lighting and 4 the water pump. Red light comes on next to water pump when in use and the on light comes on with the water heater (after drawing water through hot tap system first). The 240v plug socket only works when plugged into mains. Tested that tonight!
Auxiliary 1 seems to be the on off switch for the carver fan master and haven't figured out aux 2 yet. Anyway to do that other than turn off and try to figure what's not working? No idea why there are two aerial points and I have no idea what the single button does under the 240v three pin plug socket but the red light comes on if you flick it.
The carver fanmaster control panel with thermostat works the heater and I read that when on elec it controls temp from that thermostat, but when running on gas you use the heater control knob to change temperature. The single rocker switch with carver fanmaster written under it doesnt actually seem to control anything either. Wonder if it makes a difference if not plugged in to the mains.
So we appear to be able to make all the systems work but still not sure what some switches do. The manual wasn't very helpful as the ones we can't figure out aren't on the van diagrams in the caravan manual which I found.
The manual also says the caravan has a zig x7 charging unit and power supply but doesn't mention which way the main rocker switch needs to be to achieve battery charging from mains hook up. When plugged into the mains there is a red light on the zig x7 unit itself which I located in a rear cupboard in the bathroom (is that normal as a) its the bathroom, with well you know, water and stuff, and b) it's at the furthest point away from mains plug socket and battery box for some reason).
And final question. We got a caravan cover when we bought it. I don't intend to put it on between every use as can imagine that's a huge faff, but would you recommend using it over the winter? I like the idea of it keeping the worst of the rain/weather/scum off but will it let damp in from underneath and sort of hold it inside or against the van doing other damage? I sail dinghies and have seen the damage some covers can do by holding water against the gelcoat for a long time causing it to bubble and eventually crack off.
Sorry for so many questions. Sure we'll figure it all out soon. Off to try again weekend after next.
We are going to book a service for it so perhaps they can tell us what everything does....
Thanks everyone, as per my original post we only want the solar panel to top up the caravan battery as the places we will be visiting with the caravan hook ups aren't readily available. We don't have a TV or anything heavy on power other than the caravans own equipment but just want to make sure we can recharge phones and ipads from the caravan battery without risk of it going flat and not being able to then have any of the other systems reliant on the 12v such as water pump running.
I found a cheap (as second hand not cheap make) folding 80W solar panel with charge controller built in online so took the plunge. The solar panel did originally have crocodile clips and a connector along the power cable so I have connected the solar panel leads to the 12v leads from the caravan at the battery terminal quick releases not using the crocodile clips as there wasn't enough space in our battery box for them and they could bounce off I guess. The idea being that we then just need to plug the solar panel in to the connector in the battery box rather than faff about disconnecting the battery everytime and lifting it out. Solar panel manufacturer said that this shouldn't be a problem.
Anyway, off away for the weekend tonight to try out the new panel and guess what... rain forecast..... yey..... apologies to anyone else going away this weekend, that'll be my fault for buying a solar panel! Oh and we'll be testing the new awning's weatherproofness as well.
I found a cheap (as second hand not cheap make) folding 80W solar panel with charge controller built in online so took the plunge. The solar panel did originally have crocodile clips and a connector along the power cable so I have connected the solar panel leads to the 12v leads from the caravan at the battery terminal quick releases not using the crocodile clips as there wasn't enough space in our battery box for them and they could bounce off I guess. The idea being that we then just need to plug the solar panel in to the connector in the battery box rather than faff about disconnecting the battery everytime and lifting it out. Solar panel manufacturer said that this shouldn't be a problem.
Anyway, off away for the weekend tonight to try out the new panel and guess what... rain forecast..... yey..... apologies to anyone else going away this weekend, that'll be my fault for buying a solar panel! Oh and we'll be testing the new awning's weatherproofness as well.
Edited by chrisga on Thursday 9th June 16:18
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