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A

AEmail Brian, Click here
A

Could be a must for Motorhomes, see this link;
http://www.bioprox.co.uk/A

  For a Holiday with a difference in a Motorhome, see this link:http://www.landyonline.co.za/off_road/dipli/twd2.htm

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Additions to Motorhome pages 2010:-

Fitting New Automatic Water System Pump
Winterising the water pump.
Water Tank Level Meter-modification to electronic circuit
Basin Mixer Taps - tip & how to repair a dripping tap

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To Page Links & Contents Index

Contents:
1. Current in the Motorhome. 2. The Inverters

CURRENT CONSUMPTION IN MOTORHOMES

There must be many out there, who might be thinking about current consumption of their Motorhomes appliances while on a camp site. So I’ve produced a list of 230VAC appliances and the usual current taken by them,  as I measured on our appliances.

APPLIANCE

AVERAGE POWER [Watts]

FUSE USED

CURRENT USED

Cassette Deck

30

3

0.15

Bed Blanket

200

3

0.90

Extractor Fan

75

3

0.30

Fan Heater

2000

13

8.5

Fan Heater

1000

13

4.5

[Cold Blow]

115

3

0.5

Motorhome Fridge

115

3

0.5

Black & Decker
[Hand Vacuum Cleaner]

230

3

1.0

* Microwave Cooker

600

13

4.5

Electric Kettle [1]

850

13

3.7

Electric Kettle [2]

2000

13

9.0

Charger on Stand by

60

13

1.25

Flat battery, could take

1150

13

5.0

Hair dryer

500

3

2.2

Shaver

16

3

0.05

Table Lamp

60

3

0.3

Television [B and W]

60

3

0.3

Television [Colour]

100

3

0.45

Toaster

1150

13

5.0

Video Recorder

120

3

0.6

Electric Barbecue

2000

13

9.0

It should be remembered, when an appliance is turned on from cold, the surge current taken, can be double that of it’s working state. This applies more to the Microwave than any other appliance.

* Note: The Microwave cooker does not equate to the calculations mentioned.  This is due to the start up current input exceeding the power rating.

You can carry out your own monitoring by checking the appliance Identification Plate, which by law must be fixed some where.  This will indicate the power taken by the appliance in Watts.  So to calculate the current taken, divide the power by the AC Voltage.

On my electric kettle at home the indicator plate shows the power taken to be; 1850 - 2200Watts.  So to find the current taken would be; 1850/230 = 8.04Amps and 2200/230=9.57Amps.  The current taken is between 8Amps and 9.6Amps. 

This is one of the reasons why we purchased a portable electric kettle of 780 watts, it takes a little longer to boil half the amount of water, but we have drastically reduced  the chance of tripping the site electrics.
[780Watts/230Volts = 3.4Amps]

For an in depth examination of Motorhome current and voltages see:

http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

Inverters

An Inverter is a device capable of converting 12Volts DC from a battery to 230Volts AC, the domestic volts as found in the home. This is now the standard as adopted in the Common Market countries.

Inverters come in many different versions, from 50Watts to a typical 1500Watts, and more.  The figures as they get higher look very impressive. Yet what are they capable of.

The secret is to calculate current taken by the Inverter and it's ability to supply current to a device which requires 250Volts AC domestic type.

The formula as found in the text books is: Watts divided by the converted voltage = the current given.  So 1500 Watts/230VAC = 6.52Amps.

That's not the end of the story. The Inverter is notorious for being very inefficient, so when you expect 6.52Amps you have to consider the inefficient losses internally. This could account for 25% losses or more, so expect the 1500Watts Inverter to give you about 6.52Amps minus 25% = 4.89Amps. approximately.

Life of a fully charged battery using an Inverter?

If you had a battery of 85Amps per hour, you might get approximately 85/6.52=13hours, and that's with a battery at it's maximum capability on a warm day. On a cold day the capacity drops and gets worse as the temperature drops.

So you could add up the current of the devices as seen in the above chart for your Inverter. Then calculate the time you could expect from the battery.

If you would like to see a 'must' article completely un-technical about Inverters go to these Australian web sites:
 http://www.around-oz.com/diy_mh/diy_inverter.htm
and information about microwave ovens and their current taken in the Motorhome; 'Whats Watt?':
http://www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/books/motorhome_electrics_caravans_too.htm

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