Electric Hook-up

[froggy]

Went looking at various bits of camping equipment yesterday to try and get our head around prices etc, anyway the thing that i noticed was that most places were selling BLUE (240V) EXTENSION CABLES http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=330224939642&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=014 but my bay has a yellow hook up (you just see it on the left of the piccy)

Which one is the normal type used? Dont want to turn up on a site to find i cant power up.

 

[creationblue]

Yellow means 110V

You dont have to change it to blue (240v) but you will need a yellow socket to suit the inlet. The earth pins are in a different position.

Just

 

[Araon]

WHS^^^ you'll need a blue male plug for the camp outlet a length of mains cable and a yellow female to your bus....

 

[froggy]

Thought that this was the case, will have to have a word with the sparky at work to see if he has anything lying around.
Will also need to investigate a consumer unit as the 110V socket is a direct link to the sockets fitted in the bus already.
What Consumer units do people use in there bays?

 

[froggy]

Just thinking out loud but, would i be better installing a split charging circuit with a leisure battery set up then run a couple of invertors for the 240V.

Split charge relay and set up (£25) leisure battery (£50) invertors (?)
OR
Hook up socket (£5), RCD/Consumer unit (£30?)

What do you run and how effective is it?

 

[froggy]

Do i need a plug or socket end in the engine bay?
Beginning to wish i hadn't started this thread, my head is pounding

 

[Araon]

A female plug....

split charge and leisure battery for those nights/stops where theres no hook up

your hook up with consumer unit for the longer stays with a hook up facility

try searching ebay for a zig unit they can come up quite cheap.....

 

[froggy]

Whats a Zig unit and how do they work?

 

[froggy]

Found this on the Dark side

http://www.volkszone.co.uk/VZi/showthread.php?t=439049&highlight=zig+units

Getting more and more confused the more i read

 

[creationblue]

Its fairly easy, the idea of a consumer unit is to protect the cable in the avent of an overload on your appliance, if there was a fault the cable could overheat and catch fire..............

The neutral goes to the neutral bar in the unit, the live to the rcd main switch, then on to the mcb, then out to the socket. If your not confident consult a freiend who is.

Ill help you out with the hardware if your struggling, check my website and email me your details (or pm of course)

Just

 

[froggy]

Thanks for all the advice,

I was thinking about what we'd actually use the hook up for and think that realistically it will be for a couple of sockets for a kettle and some other essentials, maybe a small TV for the daughter etc etc.
Having looked throught the screwfix direct catalogue at work last night, was thinking that a garage consumer unit should be more than enough OR was looking on JustKampers and spotted one of these http://shop.justkampers.com/product_info.php/cPath/5_4056_4348/products_id/13213 takes all the hard work out of wiring, just remove the Blue socket, feed the wire through the engine bay into the bay and then mount the trailing sockets.
Have seen these untis for a lot cheaper than this at our local caravan place but this was the only picture i could find.

 

[creationblue]

I got mine Towsure £50 give or take

Just

 

[froggy]

Yeah think the one i saw was around this price, think its the way to go. A lot easier to deal with and less hassle than running wires here, there and everywhere