Mains Hook Up

We did hope to not have to fit a mains hook up setup in the van and instead rely on solar to keep the batteries topped up.  Unfortunately where we park the van when not in use does not lend itself very well to sun light so the batteries slowly drop, including the engine battery if left for a few weeks.


The solution so far was to connect a Smart 12v charger battery conditioner to the engine battery which in turn as the voltage increased whilst being charged the Ring Battery to Battery charger feeds current to the two leisure batteries in turn keeping them at a sensible safe level of charge.


This spurred us into fitting an external hook up socket on our garage and fitting an electrical hook up system on board the van with a charger permanently connected to keep the batteries topped up and conditioned.  Plus the fitting of a couple of double power mains sockets for the dehumidifier and small oil radiator to keep things inside the van dry and damp free.


 We did this cheaply as possible, and so far works brilliantly.


Being fairly stealth and our reluctance to cut holes in the van we opted to fit the mains input socket in the rear bumper as can be seen in the photos

This in turn feed into a 2 way consumer unit with RCD trip then via MCB's to the on board battery charger and sockets.

We do intend on fitting a 240/12v LED driver transformer to run a dashboard warning light to remind us when the mains cable in plugged in to prevent us from driving off still attached!