Mains electrical on a caravan. A question.

crudeawakening, Mar 13, 3:31am
Never seen it before - say it had 240v once

gammelvind, Mar 13, 3:35am
Well there is only 240v if the caravan plugged into a 240v source, mains or genny. Those plugs while able to work on 12v, they are for 240. Not recommended to mix them, plug a 240v item into 12 not a big deal, messy the other.

grangies, Mar 13, 3:35am
Cool. That's what I was thinking.

neville48, Mar 13, 3:35am
sounds like a "Mickey Mouse" set up to me. Zap crackle pop comes to mind, get it checked thoroughly.

cassandra13, Mar 13, 3:37am
is it possible its running through an inverter which drops the power down!

grangies, Mar 13, 3:40am
Yep. The caravan has WOF and REG, but no electrical WOF. But was thinking if it has those plugs, I can get a sparky to check put an electrical WOF on it once they have done their bit to make it kosher.

grangies, Mar 13, 3:44am
The people who own it, have only bothered with a 12 volt battery system, charged via a solar panel.

I would definitely get it checked by an electrician before connecting any mains power to it.

cowlover, Mar 13, 6:03am
Just cos it has the plugs it may not have the correct wire for 230v.Could get expensive to get that electrical wof.

kwaka5, Mar 13, 1:13pm
A good thing to remember about caravans and stuff like that.230v will generally blow a fuse. 12 volts will start fires. Just because it's low voltage does not make it less dangerous. Both sides need to be checked and just because the last owner wasn't too worried about it doesn't mean you should be the same. Get it all checked out and be safe out there.

delmic, Mar 13, 6:49pm
and always use a smoke alarm

msigg, Mar 13, 10:19pm
Yes that could be used just for 12 volts. need to see where the wires go. use a meter to trace the wires.

robbief, Mar 14, 12:08am
an electrical WOF is about $80.00 bucks so get it checked.you wont get in to a motor camp with out a WOF

travis47, Mar 14, 1:28am
You cannot have any other voltage than 230V in a standard socket. The caravan will not pass a EWOF with 12V at the socket.

gammelvind, Mar 14, 1:41am
An inverter converts 12v (or 24v) DC into 240v AC, i.e battery power to mains power, it doesn't drop the power down, it builts it up.

matarautrader, Mar 14, 2:00am
You can stay a motorcamp without a EWOF, but can't plug into power there. But can still use toilets, showers, kitchen etc etc. Basically the caravan is being used for sleeping and perhaps cooking. Thats all a tent does and they certainly dont have EWOF!

bmwnz, Mar 14, 4:40am
Not exactly. All an inverter does is change DC to AC. It could be any voltage depending on its design.

Standard switched socket outlets are designed to operate on an AC supply. A DC supply can cause a sustained arc when switched, which could lead to excessive localised heating and a fire.

Get an EWOF for sure.