Hi Guys,

I am after some wiring advice….

A friend and I are looking to make a removable camping pod / unit for his van.
It will be a wooden unit that will house a gas bottle for the cooker, a 12V battery a camping cooker on the top and have a space big enough for a cool box to fit in or leave that out and use it as a cupboard for storage.
It needs to be removable i.e no fixed connections for wiring or drainage etc.
On the side of it he wants a couple of 12V ciggy sockets for powering the cool box / charging mobile phone/laptop etc from the 12V battery that is installed.
He also wants to have a couple of 240V sockets on the side that can be used for mains powered stuff and fed from an electric hook up on a site or if parked at a friends house etc he can run a lead from the pod to the house.
So im looking for advice on wiring specs for incoming 240V into a consumer unit, then out of that to some 240V sockets.
And also for ideas on wiring up the ciggy lighter sockets to the 12V battery via a fuse box of some sort or should we just use inline fuses?
If he wants to charge the 12V battery he could always plug in a battery charger into the 240V socket and charge the battery that way when parked up overnight on a hookup…??
Its been a while (6 years) since I wired anything 12V through a fuse box so I’m a bit Rusty!
Any specs or preferably wiring diagrams would be great ;-)

Thanks
Col

You basically want a caravan set up with a maions inlet 16 amp supply cable and socket and perhaps a plug in split charge system from the van so it charges the battery as you are driving. A bit of work but quite feasible IMHO.

Check out something like this for the 240v, all done for you.

http://www.towsure.com/product/Camping_Site_Mains_Supply_Unit_3_Outlet

Or

http://www.towsure.com/product/Caravan_Mains_Electric_DIY_Installation_Kit

Andy

thanks guys,

Ommga - He is not fussed with the split charge as it needs to be completely removable during the week as it's his work van and he cant go installing anything like the split charge system.

Sky - I was just looking at things like that and wondering if I could pull them apart and mount them in a nice way but that DIY kit looks ideal, although a little steep considering what it consists of don't you think?

Col

I have used a Zig Caravan Unit in the past built in to a VW transporter to provide 12/240 supplies, battery charging. You have to use higher standards for outdoor/caravan/campervan installations than you might get away with in a garage. Try talking to your local caravan/campervan/trailer shop for advice.