On 13/08/2019 07:49, 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.

Piezo? Ours had a rotary knob, driving a rod, with a toothed metal wheel
on the end and a flint.

It was generally easier to pull the front grill off the bottom of the
fridge, pull out the entire ignitor mechanism and light the pilot light
with a long match held between two fingers of a flat hand!

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.

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.

That is presumably just down to them designing it not to take too much
current. Traditional caravan fridges work by heating part of the circuit
and if it can feeze ice-cubes using mains or gas, there is no reason
(other than how much current) to prevent a 12V electric heater producing
the same effect.

SteveW