Week 56 - Electrics 3

Work is continuing with the van electrics this week, the first of the two upper shelves is fitted in place and screwed down. The RCD is clamped between the holding blocks and secured while the wiring for all of the 12v equipment is brought up through the back of the shelf to be run through the fusebox.

I was able to fit all the cables to the fusebox by crimping on ring terminals and then screwing them down in place. The fuses were then fitted in place, and the cover fixed on. I will also add stickers by the fuses as a reminder of which appliance goes where, and what size fuse it requires.

I could to get on with planning the 230v side of the electrics too - with a little help from the sparky at work (thanks Darren). This will all fit above the battery charger under the right-hand side of the front passenger seats. It comprises the following components and their uses:

• Polarity Checker Switch – Some campsites in Europe have the live and neutral wires “reversed” and this can not only blow your electrical gear becomes a safety hazard. This little grey box checks the input from the hook-up and lets you know if polarity is correct or if it needs to be changed over. If it is fine, a green LED will show and all is well, if it needs to be swapped round, a red LED will show and a buzzer will sound. Simply flick the switch on the top and job done, circuit safe.
• Consumer Unit – This is a simple garage-type unit comprising of a set of circuit breakers. The MCB (63A) is used to isolate the system and test the power coming from the electrical hook up via the polarity switch. It is what is referred to as “double-pole” (i.e. it cuts the live AND neutral wires, not just the live). This acts as a double safety measure. This then feeds two RCBs (circuit breakers) which run to the selector switch and the battery charger. These are both 16A so each will cut the power to their circuit if they are drawing over 16A.
• Power Selector Switch – This is a switch to select the power source to the internal van plug sockets. When on hook-up, the sockets will be manually switched to run through the consumer unit and when not on hook-up, the sockets will be switched to run from a 400w inverter. There is also a central “off” position. The switch is 3-pole (for live, neutral, and earth).

This diagram shows how they are all wired up. I hope I have explained it simply enough as I am no electrical expert and it took a while to get my head round it.