I am going to add an electric hook up to my van, but absolutely do not want a socket on the outside body work anywhere or that can be seen, anyone come up with a hidden place to put it
I know a hidden place you can stick it.... have you got a towbar? mount an L bracket onto the chassis inline with your back seat...easy install and short cable run
Nope! It's just an angled outlet mounted to the engine bay roof, back left hand side. It has an extra trailing lead so I can provide a hookup to fellow latebayers once I'm connected. The feed then runs under the bus and comes out under the back seat. BB's is in a good spot, I just put mine further in so it was out the way of my leisure battery.
I'm considering finally getting round to fitting my towbar. If I do, I may just move the electric socket to that. It will save having to crack open the engine lid when I want to plug in.
Under the floor just behind the rear jacking point. Wiring goes straight up into a consumer unit inside the RnR.
On the backside of the rear jacking point facing down, but make sure the seal where the cable goes in is really perfect, I'll be adding a bit of silicone sealer just to be double sure.
Exactly. Mine is in the same spot and works fine. I have the original USA one on the side of the bus & OI think Chris Radioman has modified his to be the hookup and from the pics I have seen it looks great. Mine is hidden and works fine which is OK by me and less work.
Thanks Bertie your looks good, and well hidden, what are the three blue boxes in the photo and when the little door is shut what is on the outside
The little blue boxes are the plug socket covers.... The little door is the original plugs cover plate modified , you can just see it one of the pics
Im not a fan of over-regulation myself either to be honest but it is important to have a hook-up installed correctly as people do die from electric shock and its easy to avoid or at least significantly reduce the risk. The main reason for not using a portable unit is that the chassis of the vehicle isnt earthed and therefore in the event of a fault, for example a damaged live cable the vehicle could become live at mains voltage. It is likely that an inviduals body resistance would be low due to obvious environmental conditions eg. wet field. and therefore the current that would pass through them when coming into contact with the van would be increased and therefore increase the risk of a fatal shock. Its not like its expensive to do correctly. Materials can be as cheap as £50! Admittedly you then need the skills to install but if you are reasonably handy then im sure you can do this. if so then possibly cheaper than a tent unit! Hope this makes sense.
Sort of makes sense but it's never made complete sense to me as a vehicle has rubber tyres lifting it off of the ground so it can't really be "earthed" in the correct sense of the word. The cables on the prtable units are very thick and as long as they're not trapped and get squashed and you're sensible about what you plug in, (i.e: not old appliances with ragged cables) I don't see the problem. Am looking at installing a permenant one on my van but micro electronics is my thing not big bits of cable and copper wire and I don't want to be ripped off by Kevin the local leccy.
this do not like them in engine bays fuel around and risk of damage to the cable by the engine lid i have done a howto to explain the regs side of things http://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/leisure-electrics-230v.5526/
To clarify the earthing issue. Its more a case of "bonding" in that if the van is not connected to the earth of the cable supplying it then in the event of a fault which effectively connects the live wire to the chassis (all the van metalwork) the van will become live at mains voltage. If your outside and touch it or inside and then get out.... goodnight vienna!
