Good question. There's an answer probably concerning the fuses in domestic plugs making it ok on the same circuit?
I honestly don't know. I thought mine was wired direct as well. It isn't. It retains the plug and goes to a socket...it's been a while! Well it looks like it does. There's a random plug and socket under the fridge and I can't for the life of me think it's anything other than the charger. Then again how would I have got the plug through the conduit. I'll have another look in the week
well... this really and its likely your charger is protected by a fuse of lower rating than the breaker its fed from. Plus should you develop a fault on the charger causing your RCD to trip and not reset when you are camped up on holiday you can simply unplug it, reset the breaker and get on with your life until you get around to working out what the issue is with the charger. Much better than having to get the tools out eh! why don't you wire your toaster directly to the mains board at home, and your kettle, and telly..... You wouldn't would you. Its about safety and convenience.
reasonable question. Electrical installations are split into sub circuits to allow safe distribution of electricity to current using equipment and to minimise inconvenience in the event of a fault. The rating of each circuit in a domestic installation is based on its intended use and circuit wiring size is appropriate to the electrical loads connected to the circuit. Socket circuits are for the connection and disconnection of appliances by the user. Lighting is part of the fixed installation and not intended to have things constantly plugged in or unplugged. Commercial lighting circuits invariably do have a plug and socket arrangement and internal fuses in the lights. It isn't deemed necessary in most domestic installations to have the plug and socket arrangement as traditionally the lights aren't appliances or complex they are normally lamps. That said lighting is becoming more complex and more lighting circuits installed to cater for that. Indeed plug and socket arrangements arent uncommon in domestic installations and many newer style lighting pendants do unplug from their bases.
its hard to give advice in anticipation that someone might do something like that so you may be right. Btw - dont put your dog in the microwave to dry it! Lol. Downside described elsewhere.
So to clarify you can hard wire an appliance as long as it’s got it’s own breaker and that breaker is suitably rated to load of the appliance?
I’ve seen inverters that automatically switch over to the mains supply when hooked up and back over to the inverter when you disconnect the hook up lead. How would one go about wiring that Would the inverter output be fed into the breaker box along with the hook up supply?
Thanks for the reply So if a house has say ten lights and the maximum each light can be is 60 watts Then the breaker can be calculated for that amount as it will never be higher. But the load on the sockets and wiring can vary so much it’s split into different circuits. And each appliance is fused as the appliance if faulty may not draw enough current to trip the breaker. That makes sense. I remember as a kid my gran getting me to stand on a chair to plug the flex of the iron into the light fitting as there was only a single socket in the room
On my boat it's the same - yes the charger has it's built in off switch so I could switch it off, but why would I? It's not like a toaster silly, like the camper one, if I'm plugged in I want it connected and switched on. It's only 2 little screws to disconnect it, that's unlikely to ruin my holiday.
I suppose having your charger plugged into a socket allows you to keep the warranty on the charger should the charger fail. I can’t see a company replacing the charger if you have cut the plug off the end of the cable.
Anyone mentioned Diversity and Discrimination yet? Electricians were 'soo right-on' before it became trendy.......
Remember the Brits have a ring main for socket circuits with a 32A breaker, which can provide an eye-watering amount of power. Hence the need for a lower-rated fuse in each appliance plug. Bit of a different way of doing things to Johnny Continental and his 16A radials. The Greek Wiring Regs also require you to have at least half a metre of live cable sticking out of the bathroom wall, in case you want to connect something later
Answer below isnt all in response to your question but a more general response. kinda! Allowance per light is 100 watts which is a legacy from incandescent light bulbs. Multiple circuits ensured if one tripped the others didn’t. (Until they introduced the requirement for rcds which introduced its own challenges) which was great in principle but you actually need an rcd on each breaker to ensure your not plunged into darkness cos your Emerson heater is faulty and trips the rcd main switch and hence the introduction of the rcbo which does both the job of the mcb and the rcd. for domestic circuits the circuit arrangements are more or less standardised effectively to make it simple for those wiring houses lol. The same for campers and caravans although people seem happier to electrocute themselves on holiday than at home. buckle in cos here how it works….. the fuse in your plug top is there to protect the flex to the appliance. The flex is rated to be able to carry the amount of current required for the appliance to operate. On a socket outlet circuit the circuit breaker is there to protect the circuit against overload (due to the loads plugged into it) and to protect against short circuit when high levels of current can flow. It is predominantly there to provide protection to the cable and prevent damage to the insulation. It provides some shock protection by disconnecting the supply in advance of someone touching metalwork which has become live due to a fault but limited protection against something becoming live whilst you’re using it. mcbs need to be coordinated with calculated or measured earth fault resistance for which there are prescribed limits. Exceeding these requires the use of an rcd which operates on a different pinciple and independantly of any earth path. An rcbo combines all of the above so…. In yer camper no rcd means that any fuse or mcb is reliant upon the earth path of your lead for it to work (big variable) the rcd means that the one in your bus protects you from shock from your appliances and also operates should your wiring be shorted to the chassis meaning that the chassis and body become live. I’m sure we can all see that isn’t desirable. So if your bus has no rcd then it is reliant on the entirety of the supply lead earth and the fixed wiring of the circuit up to the socket all the way back to the supply transformer, to ensure the fuses or mcb operate. And yes the site rcd might trip on an earth fault (if there is one installed) but not necessarily in the time needed to prevent you from being a bit dead! That rcd is there to protect the lead to your van. The one in the van is there to protect the van. double pole is there to protect against reversed polarity and ensure that live is disconnected regardless of whether this is reversed or not. Going back to the “wiring it in direct” thing. What is the rating of your flex? If you know that and fit a independant breaker to suit then apart from it being a pain in the butt to disconnect or replace then fine. (Provided it has a double pole off switch). Do you know what….. it’s just easier and safer to do it to spec isn’t it. Do what you want really but no end of arguing your point will make it actually right, safe and compliant! Noones likely to die… but they might!
Cheers for the post dicky and explaining the reasons why things are done the way they are. Im staying with a 12 volt only system in the van So I was asking because it’s interesting and I wanted to understand more. plenty of people say you need to do things a certain way or don’t do a particular something Few can explain the reasons why when asked. if I’m ever asking lots of questions it’s not because I think I’m right and the other person is wrong It’s just me trying to get a better understanding of something which inevitably leads to me asking more questions.
