Electrical items (1 Viewer)

[annenpaul]

Hi

We have just bought our first motorhome hobby 750. We want to buy some electrical items like microwave, kettle, airdriyer ect. Do we need to get 12v ones or normal?

Thanks Paul and Anne

 

[two]

Hello. It'll be an exciting time for you, but try not to get carried away buying accessories. Try it out first and find out what's really necessary. Some compromises may be required due to space, weight or wallet.
If you will be using mains hook-up get low wattage equipment, especially if you plan to travel into Europe (where the mains current available is often only 6A). Don't plan to use your battery for anything that produces heat. A low power inverter may be a simple solution for a myriad of mains chargers but you can usually find 12V equivalents.
Happy travels!

 

[magicsurfbus]

12V microwaves are a bit thin on the ground - 230v is more usual. Probably best to go for low wattage if you can.

A lot depends on where you plan to go in your MH. If you're always going to be on campsites with a 230v electric hook up (EHU) and you have sufficient sockets inside you might as well go for 230v accessories, ideally low wattage.

If on the other hand you plan to stay off campsites a lot using your leisure battery (and possibly a solar panel) you might consider 12v accessories, unless you think it's worth fitting a 12v/230v inverter. Another advantage of 12v is you can use them in your car on days out.

We prefer 12v because we stay off the more expensive campsites with EHU and use aires most of the time. We tried an inverter but gave up on it and just bought 12v gadgets and chargers instead. With 12v it's handy to have at least one of those plug extension cables that gives you three sockets from one.

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[two]

Be cautious of whatever additional drain you plan to place on your batteries. They are a finite resource and do not perform well if abused.

 

[Stealaway]

We want to buy some electrical items like microwave, kettle, airdriyer ect

You'll probably not like this but in my opinion high wattage electrical appliances are strictly a no no in motor homes - unless you are planning to stop every night at a camp site with EHU.
Even an inverter that will provide you with 240V from your batteries, it will need a substantial battery bank to run just any one of them.
I think you will find that very few on here will have hair dryers or microwaves supplied by an inverter and most will have a gas kettle.
Inverters are wonderful for low wattage devices like TV's

 

[pappajohn]

12v microwaves are generally 230v with an inbuilt inverter to convert 12v to 230v........heavy on battery power.

anything 12v which produces heat.....kettle etc....is a complete waste of time.

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[Sidney]

I'd suggest looking at SwissLux products - they're lower wattage, so less likely to cause issues when on hookup.

 

[annenpaul]

We plan on doing a lot of wild camping in Spain. We have a 1000w inverter and solar panel with two leisure battery's, so maybe low wattage appliances are the answer the answer. We are getting a Satalite dish with Sky+. I would like this to be powered all the time we are parked up so it can record programmes. I presume we can't keep the inverter turned on all the time because of drain to the battery. So what do we do about that?

 

[Norfolk Red]

Nice motorhome the Hobby 750, we have recently traded ours in. Have fun in it, we did in ours.

Mark & Anne.

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[pappajohn]

we have a 230v 700w camping kettle.....i can boil the gas kettle far faster.

 

[Stealaway]

UK satellite reception is only achievable down to about 150 miles south of Paris - if you have a biggish dish.
A 1000w inverter will be quite alright with the solar panels and 2 110A leisure batteries.
I fitted an isolator in the live feed from the batteries to the inverter.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal...387312?hash=item360273f330:g:02AAAOSwgZ1XvYU4

 

[annenpaul]

UK satellite reception is only achievable down to about 150 miles south of Paris - if you have a biggish dish.
A 1000w inverter will be quite alright with the solar panels and 2 110A leisure batteries.
I fitted an isolator in the live feed from the batteries to the inverter.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal...387312?hash=item360273f330:g:02AAAOSwgZ1XvYU4

Hi Alex
Sorry for being dumb, but what does the isolater do?
Cheers

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[Stealaway]

No problem - It basically a large heavy amperage switch. a 1000W inverter can take up to 83A on full load (hair dryer?) - hence the big isolator
I only turn my inverter on with it when we want to watch TV in the evenings.

 

[two]

You may find a 1kW inverter inefficient for small appliances but wait and see how you fare. Only seek solutions for known problems or you'll be doing things unnecessarily.

 

[annenpaul]

You may find a 1kW inverter inefficient for small appliances but wait and see how you fare. Only seek solutions for known problems or you'll be doing things unnecessarily.

I would sooner get things sorted whilst still in the uk before moving to Spain. Really nervous about having problems whilst over there. We move in the beginning of May. In April we will go to a couple of campsites over her to figure out how everything works

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[two]

Get set up to use Spanish gas bottles. I believe gas is cheap, so drop the notion of an electric kettle.

 

[suavecarve]

Agree with dropping the kettle. Gas has to be the way to go for that. Question, Do you really need a microwave? Not want one but need one. You will have time to cook. If you havent got a tv yet i would invest in a 12v tv. If you need a hairdryer, your hair is too long, get it cut. (Admittedly the last one didnt work on the wife either so get as a low wattage as you can possibly find but even then with only a 1000 watt inverter youre going to struggle. there is one at 400 watts which i tried palming off to her but it didnt work)

 

[xsparks]

You won't regret investing in refillable gas bottles or an underslung tank!

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[Bart]

Get as much equipment 12v as possible. And make sure all your lights are changed to LEDs.

 

[Stealaway]

We are getting a Satalite dish with Sky+. I would like this to be powered all the time we are parked up so it can record programmes.

I think you are going to be disappointed with your satellite dish in Europe. They refocused the UK satellite a few years ago and all the expats in Spain have had to install massive dish's to have any chance of watching Corry!

45cm or 60cm dish

 

[two]

Think the OP mentioned Sky & hence the need for mains.

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[Sidney]

Oh my, we seem to indundated newbies with don't, can't and won't.

I used to take a Sky+ box but gave up on it in the end. Imagine having to always have line of sight for the satellite rather than getting the pitch with the great view. Yes you can get a picture a lot further south than you would imagine but in the end you can miss a few soaps.

I had an inverter which would work somethings and not others. You could toast bread but not use hair straighteners! Toast your bread on one if you like but you may regret it later when you need the power for something else. Ours stays in the locker but it should really stay at home as you can't toast croissants, baguettes or German rye bread anyway. At a push you can toast bread on a barbecue.

Electric kettle, if it's designed for use on 230v it'll boil quicker when in the UK. We would use ours over and a gas kettle when on hookup. When away it takes longer but who really cares?

Hairdryers, I'm not saying anything except don't buy a 12v one.

But really you should go off and discover these things for yourselves - that's half the fun

 

[TJBi]

UK satellite reception is only achievable down to about 150 miles south of Paris - if you have a biggish dish.
A 1000w inverter will be quite alright with the solar panels and 2 110A leisure batteries.
I fitted an isolator in the live feed from the batteries to the inverter.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal...387312?hash=item360273f330:g:02AAAOSwgZ1XvYU4

I always thought that Bordeaux was more than 150 miles south of Paris, but must admit that I tend to think in km and to ignore Paris; reception was fine down round Bordeaux in September 2016 (and probably a bit further based on experience in 2015).

 

[Deleted member 29692]

I'd suggest looking at SwissLux products - they're lower wattage, so less likely to cause issues when on hookup.

We've got a SwissLux kettle.

Complete waste of time, takes forever to boil. Far quicker to use gas.

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[DanielFord]

I agree with whoever it was who said it early on in the thread. Find out what you need a lot, and what you can't live without. Then start buying gadgets.
For us, the very first thing we bought was a 12v TV to replace the 240v that was in the van. To this day I believe it was the best purchase. In all of our travels, the microwave has been used the least, mostly it gets used when we need a backup microwave when parked up at home! Although we did once use it whilst parked up in a motorway services in Germany to reheat our leftovers for lunch
We recently bought an Avtex Snipe 2 satellite dish, brilliant bit of kit, but to be honest if you have the patience, a regular TV aerial and freeview is just as good.
Kettle, don't even think about trying to run one from an inverter, that is a brilliant way to kill your batteries. We use a Dolce Gusto Mini Me coffee machine, but even that is really heavy on battery use!

 

[Reallyretired]

Agree with dropping the kettle. Gas has to be the way to go for that. Question, Do you really need a microwave? Not want one but need one. You will have time to cook. If you havent got a tv yet i would invest in a 12v tv. If you need a hairdryer, your hair is too long, get it cut. (Admittedly the last one didnt work on the wife either so get as a low wattage as you can possibly find but even then with only a 1000 watt inverter youre going to struggle. there is one at 400 watts which i tried palming off to her but it didnt work)

We use a small hairdrier but at 1200w, about the lowest available, your 1000w inverter would not run it.

We also may be weird but we do run a 1Kw electric kettle, we have a gas one too. It's use is when travelling in the heat, we can stop for a cup of tea without heating up the interior which the aircon has probably taken a long time to get down to a reasonable temperature.

 

[cronkle]

The only 230v kit we have is the kettle which is only used on hook-up. Everything else we have is 12v. Chargers for phones, cameras and tablets are 12v as is the charger for the netbooks/laptops. We also have a 12v charger for AA and AAA batteries. Our older TV and sat box were run through a 150w inverter but our latest system is all 12v.

We do not use hairdriers, curling tongs and such-like.

Hope that is of some use.

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[annenpaul]

Thanks for all your help guys

 

[Minxy]

You shouldn't take your leisure batteries lower than the 50% level as they won't like it and will soon keel over so something to bear in mind.

Microwave, kettle and hairdryer ... you'll need a very good battery bank to run them and solar panels as well to keep them topped up when wilding ... but even then you could struggle. We have a cheap toaster, travel kettle, and a single electric hob (all 230v) and would only use them if on hook-up but also useful as a back-up in case you have problems with your gas and can't use it (we had this many years ago and if we hadn't had the electric stuff we'd have been stuffed, we also carry a single 'suitcase gas stove' which works off canisters as well and that is useful for cooking outside when wilding). Not sure about your Sky box etc as I've never had one so don't know how much power they draw.

IMV you should forget most 12v appliances as they are cr@p especially anything that produces heat. The only ones worth having are smaller ones such as chargers for gadgets (phone, laptop etc) and an AA/AAA battery charger too along with some good rechargeable batteries as you'll save a lot on a small outlay by doing this (especially if your camera uses these, and of course torches). The only other exception is a 12v TV as the modern ones are very power efficient now and don't draw a lot on 12v and work perfectly on it, but you don't need to get a dedicated 12v one as some of the 230v ones actually have an in-line transformer so all you need to do is get a 12v lead to plug straight in and leave off the mains lead - there was mention of Cello and some other makes of TV on the forum recently that are like this, as of course are the more expensive Avtex ones.

 

[hilldweller]

Hi

We have just bought our first motorhome hobby 750. We want to buy some electrical items like microwave, kettle, airdriyer ect. Do we need to get 12v ones or normal?

Thanks Paul and Anne

Dead easy, normal 240v household items and buy a generator.

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