Should I fit an inverter to my Bailey Motorhome?
Hi everyone and thanks for reading my thread. I've been a member here for over 3yrs now. I have a subscription to a well known Motorhome forum but, alas, I have been locked out more than I have been able to log-in!
Today I have proudly taken ownership of a 2014 model, Bailey Approach compact 540(the one with the electric drop down bed, and without a "garage")
So, I was working my way around her, getting to know a bit more about her. She has been fitted with a solar panel. However, there is no inverter. The TV has three pin and "cigarette lighter" plugs(used when EHU is absent). Without EHU all of the three pins are dead. In my old Arapahoe, I had an inverter, feeding a single dedicated socket.
So, the question is, am I missing something here? I tried a low wattage hair dryer in all of the sockets and then in the TV and Cab "lighter" sockets(I have a three pin inverter my kids used for game boys whilst travelling in the car). Unfortunately, whilst the light indicated this inverter was working, the hairdryer made not a sound.
I am not particularly technically minded, but not a thickie either. I recently fitted a solar panel and charge controller to my departed Arapahoe.
I would not be looking to rewire the entire MH, just fit an inverter with an integral three pin socket. Glad to hear members thoughts and suggestions.
AH
Comments
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I am confused about your question. If your TV is a leisure TV it should accept a 12 volt supply and can be plugged in to one of your motorhome 12volt sockets which should be powered direct from your 12 volt battery even when off of EHU ( not the cab cigarette lighter as this normally only works when the engine is running).
The game boy inverter will be very low power and unlikely to be capable of running a hair dryer, low wattage or not.
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I'm not a big fan of inverters as they have a relatively low efficiency especially at low power output. Bear in mind that most mains appliances working through an inverter will soon flatten your leisure battery. So, if you want to use electrical appliances, I'd look for ones especially made for caravanning use.
A hair drier is a bit of a problem because a 12 volt one is likely to be pretty useless, and an effective one will need EHU. I use a towel!
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We have a 2015 Bailey Approach. When using the leisure batteries none of the 3 pin plug sockets work, only the 12v sockets - which does allow us to use a 12v TV and charge our phones and tablets via a 12v USB adapter.
The Bailey is designed so that the plug sockets only work when on EHU. Hope that helps.
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And Thats as it should be, Admiral H,
The 3 - pin power points are for 240 volt power
from the E H U . The E H U will also power the 12v
charger unit to drive the caravan lights, fridge,
water pumps etc etc.
Should you fit an inverter to power these 3 pin
sockets all you will be doing is converting 240 volts
to 12 volts thro' the charger and then converting
back to 240v thro the inverter. This will just
introduce another stage of power consumption
( the inverter itself ) and another place for problems.
Unless you are, like Merve, intending to spend a lot
of time away from 240v power I cannot see any
gain to be made.
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Thanks for the replies guys.
Yes, the TV works via the "cigarette" type socket, which would appear to have been specifically installed for it. Our Arapahoe was a W reg, not equipped for 12volt appliances in this way. When EHU was absent, we watched a couple of hours TV using the inverter, which did disagree with the leisure batteries a couple of times!
We have spent a number of weeks in France, using Motorhome Aires and some "wild" spots", where EHU is unavailable. From our experience, we expect to have the luxury of EHU for about 4-7 days out of 16 stops. Whilst many will just say "get on with it", my wife refuses to accept that we have the luxury of our motorhome and the use of a hairdryer is unavailable. Personally, for two or three minutes use in the morning, and occasionally preparing for an evening out, I don't think it too much to ask.
Also, with the solar panel, I don't envisage the leisure batteries being drained. In addition, I am not looking to wire in any of the sockets, just feed the inverter(with integral three pin socket) from the leisure batteries and call it good.
I believe the Bailey to be far more efficient in its use of power in the absence of EHU, e.g. using LED lights instead of the old "head/tail light bulbs.
AH
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Thanks for the clarification, Admiral, I now
understand more clearly your Predicament !!
I'd be inclined to point out the extremely
high costs in time & man hours involved and
then buy her a couple of personalised
microfibre towels, then absent myself for a
week or three
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Personally I'd get a 12volt hair dryer if it's the only thing that will be running off 240volt, they're not fantastic but will work ok.
My van is fully 12volt, I have adapters for all my gadgets and gizmos so I don't have to run an inverter.
The small inverter for the games is probably not rated to be used with the hair dryer, the heater will overload it.
You need to find out the wattage (W) of the hairdryer and then get an inverter that will supply that wattage. If the dryer only shows amps (A) on the information panel then you can convert by using this sum - Watts = Amps x Volts , So if it's 240v and 1.2 amps that's 1.2 x 240 = 288 Watts.
Make sure the "continuous rating" of the inverter is above the wattage of the hairdryer and not the "peak" rating of the inverter.Make sure that you follow all the instructions that come with the inverter as you may have to connect it directly to the battery rather than using the "cigarette lighter" sockets, depending on how high the wattage of the dryer is.
if you're not comfortable with any of this then get a motorhome electrician to supply and fit the inverter, especially if it has to be connected to the leisure battery.
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Hi Admiral I was faced with the same dilemma when my wife wanted to use her hairdryer when we were on an aire. I solved it by fitting a 2000 watt inverter which powers a separate 240v socket which I fitted. The power is provided by our 2 x 85ah leisure batteries which are kept topped up by a 130 watt solar panel.
My wife can now use her hairdryer whenever she wishes, but limits it to a maximum of 10 minutes on the first heat and speed settings.
Heat producing appliances are very power hungry when used via an inverter, so it pays to have batteries which are in good condition and a solar panel is a bonus as well.
Hope this helps.
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