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Electricity
Hi,
We are nearly finished our camper conversion and are thinking about electrics. We have made the van accessible for electric hook up at campsites. However there may be times when the campsite does not have electric hook up but we would still like to use mobile chargers, laptop chargers etc. We were thinking of some sort of leisure battery hooked up to an inverter.
what mah battery should I use with what rating inverter and what voltage relay switch to connect between the two batteries?
Could someone give me an idea of the complete set up that they have used?
Thanks
Invertors are an inefficent way of getting 240 volts in your van. OK you may need one for some appliances but lap tops and phone chargers already run off or near to 12 volts! Why use an invertor to up the voltage to 240v so you can then plug in the laptop/mobile phone power supply which has a transformer that drops the voltage back down to the lower voltage.
If i was you i would just buy a universal lap top cigarette lighter power supply from amazon and save your self space and money. Same goes for your phone charger.
Without knowing the specifics of the electrical allpiances in your van its difficult to give a useful view on what chraging system and size of leisure battery would work best for your needs. More details needed please.
KS
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Hi
The size of the battery depends on much you intend to use the battery. For light and occasional stuff I would recommend 1 x 110ah leisure battery. The make isn't that importnat. It will cost about £90.
I am a heavy user of leisure batteries as I primarily free camp and use my laptop a lot, so I have 3 x 110a leisure batteries
The inverter should be big enough to handle you most powerful item. Phone chargers are very low consumption, just a few watts. My laptop charger is 80W, and I think my inverter is 300W. So there is clearly some headroom there. If you are using a 100W device, I would recommend a 150W inverter, or go for a 300W if you can, just to be safe.
The best type of relay is the old school 3 prong relay, if you are comfortable with electrics.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HEAVY-DUTY-12-VOLT-BATTERY-SPLIT-CHARGING-RELA...
You can use a kit if it helps
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Split-Charge-Relay-System-Heavy-Duty-12v-Leisu...
There are also self switching relays which are easier to install, as they don't require a wire from the alternator, however they handle less power, but are OK for 1 leisure battery
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPLIT-CHARGE-RELAY-12V-30AMP-SELF-SWITCHING-CA...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VW-T5-SPLIT-CHARGE-RELAY-KIT-12V-30AMP-SELF-SW...