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we are new to caravaning and purchased a new sterling europa 545 and the salesman went through everything with us and spent all of 15 minutes telling us wot worked what and what went where.

we drove away and to be honest by the time we stopped at the first traffic lights i think we had forgot everything told to us.

we have been away for two weekends and the help we have had from other caravanners has been brilliant.

i need to know when we pack up and disconnect the electric hook up do we need to turn anything off ? i think i'm right in thinking the battery is charged as i drive but what do i do when i take the caravan to the storage and maybe leave for over a week does anything drain the battery whilst stood ?

there is a consumer box that means nothing to me under the settee/bed with heater, pump etc do i leave this as is?  any tips would be appreciated

Can you post a picture of your consumer unit .
If you have a switch in your caravan that is marked Caravan / Car , it may have a middle position which is off ( might not be marked ) , you should set it to the middle position when you put your caravan in storage .
Before leaving a site i always turn off all the mains appilances in my caravan , then disconnect from the hookup post , disconnect from the caravan last .
If i'm on a hardstanding pitch i'll drain the water heater down there , if i'm on a grass pitch i'll wait till i'm on the road then drain it down . Also i try to make sure that the water in the water heater is only warm when draining down and not hot .
This is done by switching the heater off and then running the hot tap until it's only warm or cold .
Also i make sure the toilet flushing water has been drained off , i do this by operating the electric flush until there's no flushing water left in the tank , then i empty the toilet cassette .
Solar panels are a good way of keeping your battery topped up while in storage providing your storage is not inside .

atb

Wizard

"i do this by operating the electric flush until there's no flushing water left in the tank ,"

Just curious...is there not a drain pipe in the toilette casette locker, up in the roof of that locker?

Op you should drain everything and turn everything off. The alarm, if you have one, may drain some power when the van is in storage. I left my battery in over this last winter and it was Ok in spring so there is not much of a drain. I gave it a Charge before the season started again and we are fully charged. Maybe with an older battery take it out over winter and give a it a regular charge. Make sure that it is topped up if its not a sealed battery. Halfords do a good charger.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/redirect.asp?redir=http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_210939_langId_-1_categoryId_165629

Then you may find one of these usful for checking the level of charge

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-60792-Digital-Multimeter-Backlight/dp/B0001K9XKW

Before you leave a site make sure that all windows and vents are shut and blinds are up .

The consumer box is like your fuse box in the house. If something doesn't work, start there and see if the fuse for the appliance has blown. Carry a supply of fuses always useful.

Phil

If you don't have an alarm fitted you don't need to leave the battery in the van. I'd suggest removing it and giving it a maintenance charge once a month over the winter. Either than or invest in a proper maintenance charger and leave it connected up in the garage.

Batteries will hold their charge all winter - but as they get older you run the risk of the weakest cell losing its charge before the others and that will finish the battery off. Hence I keep mine on the bench during the winter and our current one is about 14 years old and still going strong.