No ehu (1 Viewer)

[camocam1]

Going away this weekend to a CC temp site for the Braemar gathering and there is NO EHU so advice required as never not had EHU so far

Have checked out the water heater and fridge and both working ok on the gas.

so do I leave the water heater on all the time on the gas or say switch it off at night and fire it back up in the morning, says it takes 35 minutes to heat the water.

Only have a 1 x 110amp leisure battery so would I be best to run the engine for a while each morning as the van will not be moving Fri 6pm - Sun at about
1pm.

thanks

Ron

 

[Red Sonja]

Ron

I think you will be fine for the weekend with no ehu.

The first van we had went for at least 3 - 4 days (or more) with 1 85amp leisure battery. We are not great TV watchers though.

As for heating the water up I just put the water heater on when I wanted a shower and boiled a kettle for the washing up.

Sonja

 

[Wildman]

The answer is not one that we can need at without known what you expect to run, do you have led lights, use a TV, if so how long for, many people do manage without ever using an ehu.

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[old-mo]

Going away this weekend to a CC temp site for the Braemar gathering and there is NO EHU so advice required as never not had EHU so far

Have checked out the water heater and fridge and both working ok on the gas.

so do I leave the water heater on all the time on the gas or say switch it off at night and fire it back up in the morning, says it takes 35 minutes to heat the water.

Only have a 1 x 110amp leisure battery so would I be best to run the engine for a while each morning as the van will not be moving Fri 6pm - Sun at about
1pm.

thanks

Ron

Hi Ron...

Personally I would put the water heater on half hour before you need any hot water..

There will be enough for a wash and wash up the breakfast dishes, and so forth lunch time and in the evening...

Unless for showers we boil a kettle for dishes etc...

If you put it on and leave it.... it will heat the water then go off, and when the water temp drops will flash up again... and so on... to my mind a waste of gas...


Regarding how long your battery will last... depends on what electrical things you intend to use..

 

[Carol]

As has been said just put water heater on when needed, or boil a kettle, fridge is left on all the time, should be no problem.

We went to that meet 2 years ago, brilliant right on the doorstep of the games, go to the games ground the evening before if you can its only a very pleasant 15 min walk, have a look at all the woven heather the local people do to decorate the queens pavilion (it's only like a small chalet) but the locals make it very special.

On the Sunday we went down Crathie Church to see the queen go to church, it was amazing watching the special police working the visitors, but we were within touching distance from her.

Great week end I am sure you will enjoy it.

 

[pappajohn]

unless you have VERY heavy cables (size of jumper cables) between the engine and leisure batteries i wouldnt bother wasting diesel running the engine to charge the leisure battery.

the charge rate will be a few amps at most and could take hours to charge the battery.

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[lorger]

I think you will be fine, we just turn our hot water on when required and if we have the heating on it tends to keep the water temp up also.

We have lasted 12 days without ehu and one 110 amp battery althought we did move on most days but no more than 30 miles.

 

[camocam1]

Thanks for the replies, TV goes on for the news in the morning and Mrs browns boys sat night and that's about it (its a low wattage one) lights NOT led but will probably only have 2 spots on for about an hours before bed to read. have a small 120watt invertor for the mobile phones and the boss's straighteners 50watt
so hopefully will be okay by the sound of things, will just put the water on as required for showers etc

That sounds like a good idea for the Friday night Carol, never been to one of these meets before but it says opening & closing ceremony and games on sat night !!! Help Carol what's that all about !!!
Ron

 

[cmcardle75]

lights NOT led but will probably only have 2 spots on for about an hours before bed to read.

Spotlight bulbs are easily found in LED form for a couple of quid each and take about 1/10th the power.

have a small 120watt invertor for the mobile phones and the boss's straighteners 50watt

Very wasteful of energy to use an inverter for phone charging. A 12V USB charger costs about 2 quid on eBay and will use a tiny fraction of electricity of an idling inverter. Save the inverter for the tongs when it will only be on for a couple of minutes.

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[camocam1]

re LED lights thought you had to re wire the sockets ??? Can you just change the bulbs ?? Do have a 12v charger in the car so will look that out instead of the invertor
cheers

 

[happychicky66]

EHU ???

okies what is it i thougt at first it read emu lol i erm don't have one of those either lol

 

[pappajohn]

re LED lights thought you had to re wire the sockets ??? Can you just change the bulbs ?? Do have a 12v charger in the car so will look that out instead of the invertor
cheers

as already said, inverters are power hungry animals.

a 120 watt inveter used at its maximum will draw 10 amps per hour from your battery, and 10% to 20% of that 10 amps is lost to heat.

your phone charger may use 1/2 an amp but heat still claims another amp so the total is 1.5 amps per hour to charge your phone.

when off hookup you need to conserve energy where possible without going overboard.


LED bulbs are generally a direct replacement...no rewiring needed....and will save around 80% battery power.

i have 9 x twin 11watt flourescent tube lamps....198 watts total or 16.5amps

took all the tubes out and fitted a single led strip in each fitting.......even with one strip per fitting i have just as much light as before and can now run all the lights at once using just under 2amps total

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[lorger]

okies what is it i thougt at first it read emu lol i erm don't have one of those either lol

EHU electric hook up

 

[Stephen & Jeannie]

Boots and braces !!!

Get a Genny.....................................Honda of course !:hardhat::hardhat::hardhat:

And a solar panel !!!:Cool::Cool::Cool:

 

[jonandshell]

Get a Genny.....................................Honda of course !:hardhat::hardhat::hardhat:

And a solar panel !!!:Cool::Cool::Cool:

Or a better battery and a Sterling battery to battery or alternator to battery charger!

There are cheaper, more sociable ways of skinning a cat!:thumb:

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[TheDogMan]

I thought leaving the water heater on only used gas and unless you turn the tap on virtually no electric was used, it must be more economical to leave the water on rather than keep heating up from cold each time, I think its the blown air heating that really wacks the battery, I have a fitted inverter but use 12v usb plugs for phones, ipads etc, a solar panel would be a good investment

Dave

 

[cmcardle75]

I thought leaving the water heater on only used gas and unless you turn the tap on virtually no electric was used, it must be more economical to leave the water on rather than keep heating up from cold each time, I think its the blown air heating that really wacks the battery, I have a fitted inverter but use 12v usb plugs for phones, ipads etc, a solar panel would be a good investment

Dave

Whether the water heater uses electricity or not when left on depends on the design. Mine doesn't even have an electrical connection so it definitely uses no electricity.

It is not more efficient to keep the water heater heated rather than reheat when needed. It is a lot more convenient, however. If you are running off Autogas instead of expensive swap out bottles, then you might not care much.

 

[Carol]

That sounds like a good idea for the Friday night Carol, never been to one of these meets before but it says opening & closing ceremony and games on sat night !!! Help Carol what's that all about !!!
Ron

lol think its a little blunder

You will find out, the marching pipe bands are amazing and the end of the games they march through the village of Braemar, which is quite small, they just fill the village,

You need to get to the games before the Royal family arrive if you can, and going Friday night for a look around gives you the lay of the land.

We found taking a picnic blanket and a picnic with us made it much nicer, though there is seating.

If you are travelling through Pitlochery on the way there, don't forget you can park in the caravan bays in the car park in the centre of Pitlochery overnight.

Lots of easy wild camping going over the moors to get there, and the ski lift is worth a ride. again take a picnic if you go up the ski lift, beautiful walks with lots of mountain hares up there.

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[camocam1]

Survived first night with no EHU BUT when the TV was on and I switched on the Loo light the TV went off as is not enough power but battery still 3/4 full
Any ideas ???

 

[jonandshell]

Most manufacturers wiring looms are barely fit for purpose. Most use completely unsuitable cable sizes and this results in massive voltage drops due to electrical resistance.
I would say your toilet electrics amd TV socket are joined in some way, they possibly share the same negative path.
The answer might be to rewire and have your TV socket wired directly to your leisure battery via an inline fuse.
Hope this helps!:thumb:

 

[Welsh girl]

as already said, inverters are power hungry animals.

a 120 watt inveter used at its maximum will draw 10 amps per hour from your battery, and 10% to 20% of that 10 amps is lost to heat.

your phone charger may use 1/2 an amp but heat still claims another amp so the total is 1.5 amps per hour to charge your phone.


when charging my smartphone it takes all day directly from 12v socket but when I use inverter it just takes around 3 hours, any idea's why?

LED bulbs are generally a direct replacement...no rewiring needed....and will save around 80% battery power.

i have 9 x twin 11watt flourescent tube lamps....198 watts total or 16.5amps

took all the tubes out and fitted a single led strip in each fitting.......even with one strip per fitting i have just as much light as before and can now run all the lights at once using just under 2amps total

When charging my smartphone via 12v socket it takes all day but when charging via inverter it takes around 3 hours,any idea why?