Home

   Log in or Register



Insurance Quotes
forums Campsite Search Comp Directory tips virtual brochure Profile
Tent and Awning Reviews Competitions Caravans and Motorhomes For Sale Shopping Diary Advent Calendar

Advertisement

Message Forums

Welcome Guest Register Login Search The Forum Posts Since Last Visit
 Reception - All Forums
  Motorhomes and Campervans
Share   Post on X / Twitter  Share on Facebook  Email  Printer Friendly Version Print
Subject Topic: Campervan what does inverter run? Post Reply Post New Topic
via mobile 30/6/2020 at 8:22am
 Location: 
 Outfit: None Entered
View Princess22's Profile View Profile   Reply to Princess22 Reply   Quote Princess22 Quote  
Joined: 24/6/2020

Standard Member
Standard Member

Forum Posts:   5

Site Reviews Total: 1
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 1  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 0  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 4
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 0
Site Nights 2018: 0

If wild camping when you use the inverter does that only run lights or can you use kettle etc


30/6/2020 at 8:32am
 Location: OLDHAM
 Outfit: KYHAM XXL Sterling Eccles Emerald
View oldham's Profile View Profile   Reply to oldham Reply   Quote oldham Quote  
Joined: 20/8/2006

Diamond Member
Diamond Member

Forum Posts:   2517
Tent Reviews:   3

Site Reviews Total: 0
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 0  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 0  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 0
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 0
Site Nights 2018: 0

Wild campers are now being fined, perhaps a campsite with EHU would be better for you.

-------------
Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.









Campervan and Motorhome Insurance - Special Discount for UKCampsite.co.uk members
Caravan Guard Special Discount for UKCampsite.co.uk members on Campervan and Motorhome Insurance. Get 5 star rated cover and big savings - for a quote simply click Online Quotation

via mobile 30/6/2020 at 8:39am
 Location: 
 Outfit: None Entered
View Princess22's Profile View Profile   Reply to Princess22 Reply   Quote Princess22 Quote  
Joined: 24/6/2020

Standard Member
Standard Member

Forum Posts:   5

Site Reviews Total: 1
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 1  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 0  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 4
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 0
Site Nights 2018: 0

Sorry what is EHU, I'm new to campervans we live on isle of man and are now able to wild camp and use campsites,


30/6/2020 at 8:58am
 Location: Hedon East Yorkshire
 Outfit:  Rollerteam T-Line T740
View Prospector's Profile View Profile   Reply to Prospector Reply   Quote Prospector Quote  
Joined: 18/5/2006

Platinum Member
Platinum Member

Forum Posts:   979

Site Reviews Total: 0
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 0  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 0  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 0
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 0
Site Nights 2018: 0



Not knowing your set up, using your kettle would need a very powerful inverter and would probably drain your leisure battery in less than 5 mins.
People who are more technical will work out the maths.

Oh and by the way, welcome.

-------------
Paul


via mobile 30/6/2020 at 9:05am
 Location: 
 Outfit: None Entered
View Princess22's Profile View Profile   Reply to Princess22 Reply   Quote Princess22 Quote  
Joined: 24/6/2020

Standard Member
Standard Member

Forum Posts:   5

Site Reviews Total: 1
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 1  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 0  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 4
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 0
Site Nights 2018: 0

Thank you for your help, I'm new to all this, we do have gas so can use that for kettles ect, I'm not sure what the inverter is, we just have a mazda bongo friendy and are looking forward to getting out and about on the island, we bought it just as the lock down started, but thankfully on the island we are covid free and are back to normal apart from opening our borders, I'm glad I found this forum you ate very helpful


Advertisement



30/6/2020 at 9:38am
 Location: 
 Outfit: 
View marg6's Profile View Profile   Reply to marg6 Reply   Quote marg6 Quote  
Joined: 11/8/2016

Diamond Member
Diamond Member

Forum Posts:   3126

Site Reviews Total: 3
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 0  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 3  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 0
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 15
Site Nights 2018: 0

ehu = electric hook up unit, runs any of your mains powered items

invertor = generally used for low powered items for short periods of time, so that means anything witch involves heat of any sort is out of the question, what it does is take 12volts from the battery and boosts it up to 240volts, but in doing this it will drain the 12 volt battery very quickly

your leisure batter will run the likes of the water pump, lights 12volt tv/radio

gas for cooking heating and fridge


30/6/2020 at 10:12am
 Location: Paisley
 Outfit: Chausson Flash 22
View jimsmimm's Profile View Profile   Reply to jimsmimm Reply   Quote jimsmimm Quote  
Joined: 20/12/2006

Platinum Member
Platinum Member

Forum Posts:   544

Site Reviews Total: 2
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 0  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 0  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 0
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 0
Site Nights 2018: 0

   An inverter will take 12 volt from your leisure battery and convert it to 240v which allows you to use normal house hold appliances, they produce a lot of heat in the process and waste a lot of power, many people only use them for short bursts where 12v or gas wont do i.e hair straighteners or similar.
    
Your bongo should be fitted with a leisure battery which will power most things in the van like your lights, fridge, water pump for taps, night heater if fitted.
   
If the van is fitted with 240v sockets these will only work when you are on hookup though you could power them via generator, though in a bongo your limited for space to carry one and they are rather antisocial.
   
Best bet is to look at what you need to use and then see if they are available in 12v, i.e. TV
      If your planning on doing a lot of wild camping I would consider fitting a solar panel and possibly a second leisure battery though this may not be possible in a bongo due to lack of space.
      There are loads of Free/wild camping groups on Facebook which are a huge source of information.

As for the ridiculous comment above about fines being issued, there are many reasons why people wild camp- festivals/following sport events/ rallies to name but a few where hook up is unavailable, I regularly travel all over Europe using stelplatz and Aires which is perfectly legal and encouraged but hookup is simply unavailable at many, comments like this are completely unhelpful and show a total lack of understanding and ignorance of the subject.



30/6/2020 at 10:17am
 Location: London
 Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
View Monty15's Profile View Profile   Reply to Monty15 Reply   Quote Monty15 Quote  
Joined: 17/9/2015

Diamond Member
Diamond Member

Forum Posts:   2328

Site Reviews Total: 1
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 0  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 1  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 0
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 6
Site Nights 2018: 0

Without knowing some details it's technically impossible to answer your question absolutely, but a rough answer is, almost certainly not!

The dumbed down technical explanation may well be gobbledegook to you, but here goes!

Firstly, an inverter converts low voltage DC electricity (12v car/leisure battery) into high voltage AC electricity (something akin to 240v domestic mains). They come in a variety of power ratings and with varying sophistication as to 'quality' of AC voltage they deliver, things like accuracy of 50hz frequency and how close to true sine wave.

Even a low powered mains electric kettle is likely to be 1kW (most are 2-3kW), inverters are also inefficient in their conversion, so the load on the battery would be about 1.2KW, that's a current draw of 100A. A good healthy fully charged typical 100Ah leisure would pretty much be killed dead by a couple of uses of the kettle!

You may have a high powered inverter fitted and a bank of batteries to support it, but I very much doubt it in a Bongo!

I suspect your inverter is a low powered one more suited to charging phones etc. Your lights would most likely be low voltage and run off the leisure battery, you may have a mix with some mains powered from the EHU (Electric Hook Up - a mains electric connection point, which allows you to feed 240v mains electricity into your camper to power whatever mains rated equipment there is, usually as a minimum, leisure battery charger and a few mains outlet sockets, maybe a microwave oven).

EHU's are available on some (if not all) pitches on most camp sites, but usually have a higher pitch fee or are metered for payment by use.

Hope that's some help.


30/6/2020 at 11:37am
 Location: 
 Outfit: 
View Francais's Profile View Profile   Reply to Francais Reply   Quote Francais Quote  
Joined: 29/6/2008

Diamond Member
Diamond Member

Forum Posts:   12115
Tent Reviews:   1

Site Reviews Total: 4
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 0  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 1  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 0
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 14
Site Nights 2018: 0

I run a 550watt (VonChef) kettle from a Mercury 12v 600 watt Pure Sine Wave 230v ac inverter, kettle takes 6 minutes to get 500mls of cold water to a rolling boil.

The leisure battery I use is a cheap 120Ah LEOCH 12v Adventurer SFL-120DT.

Each time I boil the kettle, it uses about 5% of the battery, so basically if I boil the kettle 10 times the battery will need to go on charge as you should not run a Leisure battery to below 50% of it’s Ah capacity otherwise you will shorten it serviceable life considerably.

Obviously it makes more sense to boil water using a gas stove, if you have that option, I don’t.


via mobile 30/6/2020 at 3:10pm
 Location: Ayrshire
 Outfit: Auto-Sleeper MHs
View Fiona W's Profile View Profile   Reply to Fiona W Reply   Quote Fiona W Quote  
Joined: 10/4/2007

Diamond Member
Diamond Member

Forum Posts:   5144
Tent Reviews:   1

Site Reviews Total: 234
Site Reviews 2024: 18 
Site Reviews 2023: 8  
Site Reviews 2022: 12 
Site Reviews 2021: 10 
Site Reviews 2020: 4  
Site Reviews 2019: 9  
Site Reviews 2018: 18 
Site Nights 2024: 37
Site Nights 2023: 25
Site Nights 2022: 32
Site Nights 2021: 25
Site Nights 2020: 20
Site Nights 2019: 28
Site Nights 2018: 30

I wondered about that too. Seemed a bit of a sweeping statement. I googled & found a recent case of N Yorkshire police issuing penalties to a group of people in tents, but they had committed offences unrelated to their sleeping under canvas off a site.
Responsible (stress on responsible) overnight parking in a MH or campervan (aka wild camping) is very unlikely to get a penalty from the police. The responsible bit relates to emptying your toilet and waste water at a campsite or harbour which has facilities, probably every 3-4 days. And leaving your overnight place clean of litter - ideally taking away other rubbish too if you can. Dumping chemical toilet contents can lead to a fine under other legislation (pollution, but I can’t quote the specific Act, certainly not in the Isle of Man).


-------------
2024 = 20 sites / 41 nights. 2023 = 9/23. 2022 = 13/35. 2021 = 11/29. 2020 = 4/20. 2019 = 13/35. 2018 = 20/33. 2017 = 10/22. 2016 = 19/33. 2015 = 15 sites / 27 nights. Didn't count 1976 to 2014.


Advertisement



via mobile 30/6/2020 at 4:11pm
 Location: Buckinghamshire
 Outfit: VW Campers and Tents
View Webmaster's Profile View Profile   Reply to Webmaster Reply   Quote Webmaster Quote  
Joined: 09/6/1999

Forum Admin
Forum Moderator

Forum Posts:   7662
Tent Reviews:   3

Site Reviews Total: 84
Site Reviews 2024: 2  
Site Reviews 2023: 1  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 18 
Site Reviews 2020: 13 
Site Reviews 2019: 21 
Site Reviews 2018: 6  
Site Nights 2024: 6
Site Nights 2023: 1
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 33
Site Nights 2020: 24
Site Nights 2019: 44
Site Nights 2018: 9

The OP has already clarified he lives on the Isle of Man so no link to wild camping fines etc in the UK which it is not part of

Hopefully his actual query about using the inverter has been answered

Cheers!

Ian

-------------


via mobile 01/7/2020 at 8:50am
 Location: 
 Outfit: None Entered
View Princess22's Profile View Profile   Reply to Princess22 Reply   Quote Princess22 Quote  
Joined: 24/6/2020

Standard Member
Standard Member

Forum Posts:   5

Site Reviews Total: 1
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 1  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 0  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 4
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 0
Site Nights 2018: 0

Thank you for your help, I do have EHU but we have some lovely wild camping spots on the island and wasn't sure what the inverter would power, wild camping on IOM is allowed some spots we have to have a permit some we don't, we are very lucky here, although when all covid is gone from everywhere else we want to do some camping in u. K and Europe, so glad I found this forum, everyone has been very helpful, thank you all


via mobile 01/7/2020 at 8:53am
 Location: 
 Outfit: None Entered
View Princess22's Profile View Profile   Reply to Princess22 Reply   Quote Princess22 Quote  
Joined: 24/6/2020

Standard Member
Standard Member

Forum Posts:   5

Site Reviews Total: 1
Site Reviews 2024: 0  
Site Reviews 2023: 0  
Site Reviews 2022: 0  
Site Reviews 2021: 1  
Site Reviews 2020: 0  
Site Reviews 2019: 0  
Site Reviews 2018: 0  
Site Nights 2024: 0
Site Nights 2023: 0
Site Nights 2022: 0
Site Nights 2021: 4
Site Nights 2020: 0
Site Nights 2019: 0
Site Nights 2018: 0

Thank you yes my question has been answered, glad found this forum, very helpful



In order to post a reply you will need to register, or if already registered please log in here

Prev       Next
Quick Links - All Forums - Motorhomes and Campervans - Top of Page

Printer Friendly Version Printable version      Share   Post on X / Twitter  Share on Facebook  Email


Latest News, Discounts and Competitions  see all...














6016 Visitors online !

Free UKCampsite.co.uk Window Sticker  -  Recommend to Friend  -  Add a Missing Campsite

[Message Forums]  [Caravan Sites & Camping]  [Company Listings]  [Features / Advice]  [Virtual Brochure]  [Shop!]
[Reception]  [Competitions]  [Caravans & Motorhomes For Sale]  [Event Diary]  [Contact Us]  [Tent Reviews



Please note we are not responsible for the content of external sites & any reviews represent the author's personal view only. Please report any error here. You may view our privacy and cookie policy and terms and conditions here. All copyrights & other intellectual property rights in the design and content of this web site are reserved to the UKCampsite.co.uk © 1999 - 2024


Advertisement


Advertisement


UKCampsite.co.uk
2024 Advent Calendar


Advent Calendar

24 Daily Prizes PLUS a Christmas Day Star Prize worth £999

Request a Reminder