So I've just inherited a Fleetwood Colchester caravan from my father-in-law and am gonna give it its first outing soon to the Goodwood Vintage festival. We have a powered pitch which should make life a little easier.

Anyway, quick question, if I plug the mains in to the caravan, will it charge the onboard leisure battery, or do I have to connect a battery charger directly too it?

I'm getting my towbar electrics adapted next week for the extra 12v output ....

it should charge the leisure battery.

unless the caravan is very old, it should have a battery condition meter somewhere which will also have the charger controls net to it.

Welcome to caravanning

Cheers

mark

Check to see if there is an optimiser or split charging unit on the caravan.

The question you have asked all depends on what equipment is installed.

Yes, just inside the door is a panel with the battery meter, I plugged the power in over night but the meter didn't move, it's showing just over yellow. There's a switch next to it with van/car on it to....

Ahhh - well, I've got a mate who lives locally who's a big caravanner, think I'll take it round to his and get him to show me all the techinical stuff with it. Unfortunately my father-in-law is not well enough at the moment to help.

If you plug into the mains, you should have the OPTION to charge the on board battery.
Most caravans have an onboard 12v charger. You usually have to switch this on to charge the on board battery, its not automatic as soon as you plug into the mains, unless you left it switched on last time!

A split charge relay (or data unit / split charger on CAN bus equipped type cars) is needed so you can charge the battery on the caravan whilst the engine is running on the car.

You NEED the split charge relay so that when the engine is NOT running, it disconnects the caravan battery from the car. If it was to be connected all the time, when you try to start the car, you would try to draw the starter current from BOTH batteries. No problem with the car battery, BUT the caravan battery does NOT have the correct wire size to carry that current.
Thus you are Liable to start an electrical fire by melting the wiring associated with the caravan battery.

Also the split charger supplies 12volts to the refrigerator, and again, cuts it off whilst the car engine is not running so it does not flatten the car battery when the caravan is connected to the car, and the car engine not running. Thus you can have the refrigerator running whislt you travel, and have cold beer available whn you arrive, not to mention soured milk, melted butter, and smelly meat (been there with all them over the years)!
The Fridge (Most are the Electrolux RM212 - which are brilliant) draws 8 amps continuous when running on 12V, thats nearly 100watts continuous draw, and would eventually flatten the battery in a not too long period.


I tend to put the fridge on the mains for 24 hours before travelling, and get it nice and cold with all the stuff in it that I can put in, then hook up to the car, and then travel straight away. This way, the fridge is already down to temperature, and is less of a strain on your electrics. Also keeps every thing nice n cold! I fridge full of room temperature food takes a good while to get it all cold, when running on 12v.
Take it from me. I've been camping for 54 years, and had a caravan for the last 19 years. (Anyone want to buy a caravan? Mines up for sale, non smoking family use, and no pets either except the wife!)



EDIT:
PS.. The Colchester Range of vans was the top of the Fleetwood's range. Nice Vans...

Oh and remember to switch the fridge from mains to 12v before you set off, and then to switch to 240v when you get plugged in on the pitch / site. Then the reverse on the way home. Its not automatic switching!




[Edited on 4/8/2010 by wilkingj]

Welcome to caravanning!

I agree with everything above!

To make sure the fridge is OK, I tend to put bottles of frozen water in it and run it on mains for a few days before going away, to ensure you get it down to temperature (12 volt running isn't good at that and is only usually good at keeping it low).
Take out the frozen bottled water and refill with cold cans of Stella. Switch to mains electric or gas when you're on site, open Stella - job done :-)

Hate to say it but caravan is actually quite cool (we have our little eriba puck)..Have fun!
Keep the battery charged if you can they don't like going bellow about 50% discharge (about 12.4V with out any load if you have a DVM to check).

Cheers chaps, I'm gonna take a powered cooler box as well, as I don't think I'll be able to fit all the beer AND food in the fridge

Really looking forward to it actually now I've got one, especially as I don't have a kit car any more, it'll give me something to tinker with and upgrade!! Mind you, I don't think we'll be going to caravan sites with it, I don't think it'd quite be my scene, we're gonna use it for festivals as I can't be doing with camping any more.

Will the Mini be up to towing it?

Of course - those 81 horses will be plenty I'm sure

Im just in the process of joining this caravan crowd on here.

Have bought and old rotten 'van and am in the process of stripping it out in order to build a teardrop caravan on the chassis to be towed behind Tango

Came with 3 way fridge and hob grill sink arrangement.

When the teardrop is built will be using it for the KitCar shows as the Mrs finds camping too cold ( wimp)

followed the comments with interest as there is no 12V system in the 'van i got (it was so old the lights were gas) so I am looking to put said system in using a Zig unit which I believe is the charger control unit all in 1 happy to be corrected and advised accordingly.

Sorry if this is hijack of original thread

Be careful of the weights. You are legaly not able to toe more than the weight of the mini. I think that's the plated weight as well. That's why we have the puck (these are popluar with mini and VW people) as it comes in at 550Kg fully laden, so we can tow with the fiesta (or 7 if i ever get round to fitting the hitch).

Dan

[Edited on 4/8/10 by Bluemoon]

Happend on a second (older) puck last weekend on the M4 at 1am... Funny that..


[img]
puckcaravan [/img]

Ours is on the right a 1981 model on on the left is a lot older and will be even lighter (but more basic) than ours.

quote:

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Originally posted by Bluemoon
Be careful of the weights. You are legaly not able to toe more than the weight of the mini. I think that's the plated weight as well. That's why we have the puck (these are popluar with mini and VW people) as it comes in at 550Kg fully laden, so we can tow with the fiesta (or 7 if i ever get round to fitting the hitch).

Dan

[Edited on 4/8/10 by Bluemoon]

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your euro cable connector from your car willl charge it on route too.

be careful with the towing using your car.

hook it up with the car loaded.

there is an issue with the Auto leveling on the e61 which i assume you have.

load the kids, wife dog and caravan. turn off the car for 30 seconds while everyone is in and then turn on and it should settle and not give the dash error.

if you dont have the e61 ignore me lol

dave j

e60 driver. e61 repairer lol

I've got the E39, so no problems, and it's just had two new air bags at the back...

I believe the legal limit is 80% of the towing vehicle for a braked chassis

Plus there will be a maximum train weight for your car listed somewhere either on the vehicle plate or in the handbook

Japer,
welcome to the dark side !!


we also have a cvan, just a 2 berth, for the missus and me, lus grand kids !!

i was initialy against the idea, but now quite enjoy the whole caravan experiance, all except rain on yor last day before packing up, a real PITA

Steve

Yeah - never though it would happen - but it was free!!!

And like you, it's only for the wife and me and maybe the dogs too.

Not sure where else I'd use it but car shows and festivals though, I really don't fancy a caravan site with a bunch of beardy wierdes talking about their velour soft furnishings and what the best loo chemicals are ...

I have 'a friend' who quite fancies a folding caravan to tow behind the Citroen Synergie he has.
(Just like me, how odd is that ?)

'His' Synergie can be used for sleeping, but it wouldn't be much fun having nowhere to keep 'his' family's kit in.

Ahem...

Anyway, are they cack, or is it not a bad idea ?

What should 'my friend' look out for ?
It's not me obviously, oh no.

quote:

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Originally posted by Vindi_andy
I believe the legal limit is 80% of the towing vehicle for a braked chassis

Plus there will be a maximum train weight for your car listed somewhere either on the vehicle plate or in the handbook

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quote:

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Originally posted by SteveWalker

For braked trailers it is the maximum set by the manufacturer (and specified either as maximum gross weight of the trailer or the permissible gross train weight of the car and trailer).
SteveW

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