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Subject Topic: Caravan internal lights on EHU Post Reply Post New Topic
PersonBabyfish
11/7/2013 at 11:14am
 Location: Northants
 Outfit: Berghaus Nightfall4 View Babyfish's Profile View Profile   Reply to Babyfish Reply   Quote Babyfish Quote  
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You'll have to excuse my ignorance and I searched the caravan manual and it didn't tell me.
I hooked the caravan up to the electrics at home yesterday to make sure they worked (I can't afford to have it serviced straight away so am not going to connect the gas at all) and only two of the lights came on. When I found a battery switch on the wall and turned that on the rest of them worked. Why is this? I have no idea how good the battery is so am worried it will go flat and I will lose most of my lights. Does the battery charge when the EHU is connected?
I apologise again for being so wet behind the ears. I don't want to keep bothering the guy I bought the caravan from, I'm saving him for emergencies lol!

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It's summer again, caravan time! Hurrah!


Personmarkh1
11/7/2013 at 12:27pm
 Location: East Lothian
 Outfit: Autocruise Stardream View markh1's Profile View Profile   Reply to markh1 Reply   Quote markh1 Quote  
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If your mains lights carry on working and your 12 volt lights work when you've hit the switch, then you switched the inverter on (which transforms mains to 12 volts) so long as the inverter is working it won't flatten the battery, you can monitor it by watching to see if the battery condition indicator show a decreasing charge, if so then the inverter is faulty (not unusual esp on swift vans)


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PersonBabyfish
11/7/2013 at 1:10pm
 Location: Northants
 Outfit: Berghaus Nightfall4 View Babyfish's Profile View Profile   Reply to Babyfish Reply   Quote Babyfish Quote  
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Thank you for that. I didn't realise the lights might have different voltages.

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It's summer again, caravan time! Hurrah!


PersonJax365
11/7/2013 at 2:50pm
 Location: south cheshire
 Outfit: VW Caddy Maxi View Jax365's Profile View Profile   Reply to Jax365 Reply   Quote Jax365 Quote  
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Usually most are 12v and work from the battery. I only have 12v lights in my van (mind you it is a 1982 model!!) I have EHU and run a small table lamp through the 3 pin plug when connected. You will find your 12v water pump if you have one works from the 12v battery connection as well.

If you disconnect the EHU and then try the 12v lights and they don't work, then you need to charge the battery. Having the EHU on completes the circuit, so everything will work, even if the battery is on a very low charge, the EHU just works through it.

So you don't need to be worried about lights when on EHu!

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PersonDaveCoaches
11/7/2013 at 6:28pm
 Location: None Entered
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It's a transformer, or more likely a battery charger that supplies the 12 volts when on EHU. An inverter converts 12 volts to 240 volts. Many parts of the caravan are 12 volt, including most of the lights, water pump, the ignition for the water heater and the cooker igniter.


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Personpeterws
11/7/2013 at 8:58pm
 Location: Morecambe
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If you`re only ever using the electric hook up, then you don`t even need a battery.  Just isolate the connections , , , ,the transformer/powerbox does the rest.

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Peripheral people don`t have as much excitement but they sure live longer


PersonBabyfish
11/7/2013 at 11:50pm
 Location: Northants
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The battery is definitely flat. I went in and tried the 12v stuff and nothing. I know we won't need it as we'll never go anywhere we can't hook up but will it charge up itself when we are hooked up anyway?

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It's summer again, caravan time! Hurrah!


Person664DaveS
12/7/2013 at 8:59am
 Location: Shropshire
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Some vans have a couple of mains lights, usually one either side at the front, the rest are 12V. We had a couple of vans like that. Current van has all 12V.

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DS-There's more to life than football!!!


PersonBabyfish
12/7/2013 at 9:01am
 Location: Northants
 Outfit: Berghaus Nightfall4 View Babyfish's Profile View Profile   Reply to Babyfish Reply   Quote Babyfish Quote  
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Yep, that's what mine is like. A 240V light on either side of the main seating area. Everything else seems to be 12V.

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It's summer again, caravan time! Hurrah!


Personthe black fox
12/7/2013 at 9:23am
 Location: flint north wales
 Outfit: swift challenger 480se 2002 View the black fox's Profile View Profile   Reply to the black fox Reply   Quote the black fox Quote  
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A friendly local garage should be able to supply a used car battery cheaply or a scrap yard .just make sure you keep it charged,once they fall below 11 volts there useless


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PersonJax365
12/7/2013 at 9:38am
 Location: south cheshire
 Outfit: VW Caddy Maxi View Jax365's Profile View Profile   Reply to Jax365 Reply   Quote Jax365 Quote  
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Quote: Originally posted by Babyfish on 11/7/2013
The battery is definitely flat. I went in and tried the 12v stuff and nothing. I know we won't need it as we'll never go anywhere we can't hook up but will it charge up itself when we are hooked up anyway?


If it's dead flat, the answer is no, I'm afraid! You can try charging it with a battery charger though. Some recover well from a low charge, others don't.

You need a replacement really, I would suggest a new leisure battery at some point. However, if the 230v is working ok through it and the water pump is working, then if using EHU you will be ok with the one you have. My sis had a duff l.battery for 3 years but always had EHU and everything worked ok.

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PersonBabyfish
12/7/2013 at 9:51am
 Location: Northants
 Outfit: Berghaus Nightfall4 View Babyfish's Profile View Profile   Reply to Babyfish Reply   Quote Babyfish Quote  
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It all seems to work although I haven't tried the water pump yet. That needs to be played with tomorrow as the caravan is going into storage on Sunday. I shall add new battery to the growing list of things I need. My 'cheap' caravan is proving not to be so cheap lol!

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It's summer again, caravan time! Hurrah!



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