Doing the electrics

[OwenR]

Hi All.

I’ve recently bought a Vivaro (2012) which was partially converted into a camper. Previous owners had added windows, done the insulation / flooring etc and just let it at that.

It was ideal for us as we wanted a day van, rather than a camper, as we’ll still be using our tent to sleep in, so bought it straight away 🙂
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve put in a couple of kitchen units, got swivel seats fitted and a few other things and now I’m going to have a crack at the electrics on the weekend.

I’m not doing it all now (I work away during the week and the van is used as my wife’s main transport – so can’t rip it apart!) but doing the “basics” so we can use some electrics when we go out for the day, as well as making it a bit tidy when we’re on a campsite with a EHU.

I’ve bought the battery, a 12v fuse box, a battery charger and an inverter and going to be using the attached diagram to follow.

But the one bit I’m stuck on is the switch between inputs.
So when we haven’t got a EHU, the leisure battery will be powering the 240v plugs, via the inverter.
When we’re connected to a EHU, obviously I want that feeding the sockets.

What switch do I need to buy to be able to do this as what I’d be doing is unplugging the sockets from the inverter and plugging them into the EHU which is a bit cumbersome… what to recreate the unplugging / plugging process with a switch of some kind?

Thanks in advance

[Owelly]

The simplest way would be to
The simplest way would be to have a pair of sockets inside the van. One fed from the inverter, and the other from the EHU. Then run the van electrics via a 13amp plug on a flying lead which you plug into whichever socket is powered.
I used modular switches mounted to the back of a rotary control to make a change-over switch.

[Owelly]

The simplest way would be to
The simplest way would be to have a pair of sockets inside the van. One fed from the inverter, and the other from the EHU. Then run the van electrics via a 13amp plug on a flying lead which you plug into whichever socket is powered.
I used modular switches mounted to the back of a rotary control to make a change-over switch.

[Kimberly]

Diagram too small
Could you repost the image a bit bigger? I can see car battery goes into ???? and then into “Leisure battery” so not sure what the diagram is about sorry. but interested in doing something similar..

Also has anyone found an online calculator to calculate how long you can run 240v appliances for off a battery?

[Kimberly]

Diagram too small
Could you repost the image a bit bigger? I can see car battery goes into ???? and then into “Leisure battery” so not sure what the diagram is about sorry. but interested in doing something similar..

Also has anyone found an online calculator to calculate how long you can run 240v appliances for off a battery?

[Author]

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