Halmyre wrote:
On Monday, August 12, 2019 at 11:08:47 PM UTC+1, Brian Reay wrote:
ARW wrote:
What is the norm on them these days?

A mixture of 12V from a leisure battery and 230V for when there is a
230V hook up. Inverters?


Caravans are IMHO just things that I normally queue behind on the A64 or
overtake if I get a chance.

This one is in Bristol and needs a rewire. So apart from hogging the
middle lane of the M5 on my way to get to Britol do any caravanners have
any tips on the best way to do caravan electrics?





Assuming they are like motorhomes:

Lighting tends to be 12v LED these days.

Fridges 12 V when driving. Either mains or gas when actually pitched. We
favour mains, assuming it is available, but some say gas is more efficient.


Most caravanners swear by gas fridges. Sorry, let me rephrase that: most
caravanners swear AT gas fridges. Lying on the floor for twenty minutes
repeatedly pressing the piezo igniter and looking for the elusive blue
glow through the little window that indicates successful ignition.

The modern ones are automatic. Our previous motorhome (2011) you just
selected the power source and it did the rest. The current one (a few
months old) you can either select manually or put on auto and it switches
itself.



Can be useful when some idiot has been too free with the hose while
washing the caravan, and doused the electrics with water. Running it on
gas for a few hours drives off the moisture.

Ive read various stories of rusted €˜burners etc in fridges.

I think running a fridge on 12V is only an option if it's already down to
temperature. This is on my elderly van, YMMV.


Some say that is true of modern ones but....

As Im sure you know, the fridges need to be all but level. Our drive has a
slope. Just before our very first outing, I was trying to discover if the
drive was too steep for the fridge to work. I popped some water in the ice
cube tray in the freezer compartment. No joy, it wasnt noticeably chilled
after several hours. I forget about it when we set off but we had already
established our routine of : vents closed, windows locked, fridge to
battery.... etc and we drove for about 90 mins to the site. When we arrived
the water was frozen.

The fridges in motorhomes/caravans have improved dramatically. Conversely,
the ovens seem as basic as I remember from staying in a caravan 40 + years
ago. I suspect the reason is, in Europe, they rarely fit ovens, it is
mainly a UK special item.