Camper mains!

Is there a way for me to post images?

Just got the van back from its 60k miles service at Toyota . . . £300 but really worth it to know they've found anything and everything that can be or needs to be fixed . . .
Needs another £700 parts and labour to do all the drive belts and fix the heating in the cab (and replace a missing wheel nut I didn't spot missing - shame on me!) and swap out for new the blowsy exhaust down pipe.

They also want £500 to do the nearside ball joint, but that can wait until spring and they agree . . .

The electrics are being serviced and where necessary installed afresh on Tuesday/Wednesday when the D2 is fitted - ordered the Ctek 7000 from Tayna and the intelligent charging relay they sell too (the £79.99 one) as I figured the old relay probably wasn't intelligent and could be eBayed in any event to offset costs . . . Tayna Batteries were the best deals and best sales service available, was looked after very well by a very patient chap called Gareth Williams - think he was mighty relieved to take my order in the end, I asked him every possible variant of every possible question I think Surprised only by the cost of the 25mm cabling he supplied which was £6 + Vat per metre - I asked him if I could use normal domestic 25mm at half the price from Screwfix and he said it wasn't suitable for automotive applications hence the price difference - I took him at his word, partly because if that turns out to be poppycock then it will be here in the forum up in lights, but he did seem very reliable and trustworthy in so many aspects of his sale that I decided to acquiesce and pay up!

The very large marine battery that came with the van that seemed completely defunct will be hooked up to the Ctek 7000 tomoz which boasts a battery recovery programme - I will report whether it is successful after the prescribed 3 day period on Monday/Tuesday

If the big old Marine battery does come back to life I will have that and the new 105ah and Daewoo Matiz battery for leisure which with the night heater, my guitar, my much loved inflatable canoe and my macbook means happiness is just around the corner :-)

Wont be taking any chances with the mains electrics - I want to live long enough to make my children tear the page with the word inheritance on out of the dictionary . . . but if they are up to scratch then thats a sweet lil' money saver.

The water is in a sealed bottle, and is pumped up to the sink, but your point is well made - I took a mains shock when I was younger - it (or rather the muscle convulsions it caused) threw me 12ft back from about the same height up a ladder - pretty frightening and not recommended

The Ctek 7000 has arrived and has been duly attached to the apparently defunct big sealed marine battery - it is on its pulse charge reconditioning programme, so if every one of the stages takes as long as its max allowance it would be:

1. desulphation 8 hours
2. soft start 8 hours
3. bulk charge 20 hours
4. absorption 10 hours
5. analyse (3 mins)
6. recodition 4 hours
making for 50 hours - this means that having started at 10.50 today I will have an idea whether the Ctek has recovered this dead battery by 12.50 on Monday

If it does pull it off, its redeemed its outlay in its first action . . . fingers crossed!

Report back from the coachbuilders about the eberspacher is that despite the rest of the underside of the van looking pretty corrosion free the bolts holding the spare wheel and fuel tank (which they've got to drop) are so corroded theyre struggling to release them . . . might have to drill them out and rethread is the current thinking . . .

They also reckon the fridge is duff as they say its not cooling anymore despite having a good power supply - that's a bit of a downer, I was properly looking forwards to a fridge full of cold beer when I parked up :-((

I still can't work out what could have happened to it from the 12v supply that I attached that could have caused the acrid smoke and for it to quit - it was working from the alternator supply just fine before that . . . oh, well, more to fix in good time I suppose.

Have a look on a VW camper sire or two, they must have done it and cheaply.

I know that there are relays ( TEC3M ), that are for caravan hook up to charge the caravan battery on the move and run fridge while the engine is running, maybe worth a look?

I've just had a 200amp split charging relay fitted from the main engine battery to the leisure circuit so that should provide enough juice when driving to top up and condition leisure batteries and also run the fridge as required - it sounds like the acrid smoke incident might have been something to do with the fridge which is a real disappointment as you were quite right, replacing a 12v auto fridge is an expensive game :-(

Hi,
Fridges: I've only really come across the 12V-only units recently, most UK camping fridges seem to be three-way ones fitted by converters. I think the VW California has an electric-only fridge (A Waeco? c. £550 retail), too... Don't know why.
I guess there's a biggish quality tradeoff- prices seem to vary quite a bit and the motorhome/camping market is quite widely split between the cheap & cheerful end and the luxury one.

If you're likely to want to park up for any length of time then gas (LPG/calor etc) seems the best option. For three-way fridges (12/240/gas) the 12V option seems to be used mostly just to hold the temperature when driving (ie in between hookup or static gas usage).

If you don't want to use gas for whatever reason (my conversion didn't have any gas installation- no cooker(!) and auxiliary heating from the engine...) then electric-only means a big leisure battery if you want sustained chilling away from mains. I suspect that the UK market may be caravan-dominated, hence the popularity of 3-way units, whereas an electric-only one makes more sense in a small campervan that's expected to be used for touring (frequent driving to charge-up) between campsites with hookups.

At any rate, if the one you have isn't repairable (worth checking this- there are only a very few compressor units widely used in 12V fridges, so you might be able to replace the workings while keeping the cabinet) then you should do a fair bit of research into what will suit your needs before splashing what will likely be a fair wedge of cash on a new one!

There are two major types- compressor and absorption. If I understand correctly the compressor units are more efficient but noisier and more expensive. Absorption are quiet and more flexible- ie can run from gas...

I don't know if you have gas installed or not- I can't see any reference to a cooker in your posts so far :-) .

Cheers,
W.

There's a 2 ring hob - I've got it on a small camping gas cylinder for now, but its in with the electrics which makes me nervous

We found the burned out wire that caused the acrid smoke - it was for the fridge - it needs a rip out now the auto electrician said - also, we couldn't find a single fuse in the leisure electrics not for the mains hook up or for the 12 volt system :-0 that just seems utterly bizarre given that japan is not a developing nation . . . or the fuses are Very well hidden, but then, why would you hide fuses??

I'm still quite optimistic (its my sunny nature) that once the wiring is checked and replaced as required the fridge will start working again - I only connected 12v so I'm just hoping that it was a damaged wire that got hot before the fridge . . . though of course the short could have been in the fridge itself which caused the hot wire . . .

On the upside, the eberspacher D2 kept the van toasty even on its lowest setting all night in very cold conditions - and tonight we're taking the van to West Wales for rugby tour - wooohooo!