12v socket info please!!

Jacques le foot

Guest
Hi guys,
Some of you may remember me buying a 12v slow-cooker earlier in the year, so that I could cook our meal while we were travelling.
It works a treat, and the slow cooker sits safely in a bowl in the sink during the journey, and I have been plugging it into the 12v system of the van.
However, one of the 'techy' guys I know, says we shouldn't be running with the 'E-Control' box switched on, as it could damage the control box..no control box on..no power to the sockets, in fact no 12 volt power at all.
It was suggested that I could run a 12v cigar lighter-type socket, directly to the leisure battery (which is about 4ft away from the sink) and power the slow cooker from that.
Do any of you know what fittings I would need to do this, and what type of cable would be needed etc. The cooker pulls 6amps .
Any ideas greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

Jackie ;)
 
Not knowing what an e-control box is but:
If you have no 12v how do you run your fridge whilst travelling then?
 
Hiya, The fridge runs through the exchange thingy to the engine's battery while we travelling..not the leisure battery. Sorry I can't be more specific, as I don't know the technical terms.
The E-Control box is the control that runs all the 12 v system through the leisure battery.. water pump, lights, etc.

Jackie :confused:
 
Through a split charge arrangement then.Possibly run it in the same way?

But I cannot understand as to why you have been advised that the control box should not be run whilst the engine is running - it would have been designed to cope with the charging voltages put out by the alternator.(how would a passenger in the back watch tv/ play on his games console or whatever kids do nowadays?:D).
 
Once again I don't know the answer as to why we shouldn't run the e-box while we travelling. This is only the advice of the 'technical officer' in our owner's club, and we certainly don't know enough about it to argue. Perhaps someone on this site might be able to add a little more light on the subject.

Jackie ;)

mine is not to reason why...mine is just to do..or die !!
 
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Jackie, I think the extention lead is a good idea. Suggested by bevdrew. We have one and it works great.
 
If you had a Boxer as a base vehicle, they come with 2 cigar sockets. The second one is more heavy duty, I forget how many watts (might be 180)

You could either get one of these from Peugeot and get a 2:1 or even 4:1 adaptor and an extension lead (as suggested) and run multiple 12v connections to the habitation area.

When you switch on the ignition, a relay cuts off the 12v to the hab. area and puts a different 12v supply to the fridge which runs off the alternator and not the leisure battery. This does not apply on all motorhomes. My Elddis had a 12v supply from the leisure battery for the fridge but my Burstner does not (found out the hard way) :(
 
Jacques le foot said:
Once again I don't know the answer as to why we shouldn't run the e-box while we travelling. This is only the advice of the 'technical officer' in our owner's club, and we certainly don't know enough about it to argue. Perhaps someone on this site might be able to add a little more light on the subject.

Jackie ;)

mine is not to reason why...mine is just to do..or die !!
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Pesonally I can not see why the power from the alternator would be anymore likely to damage the system then the power from a battery charger. But if you are unsure I would ask a main dealers engineer they will know the answer.

I do know that when I was getting ours checked out that the engineer was quite surprised that we were able to turn on out 12v system with the engine running as he thought this was now not allowed by law in europe to prevent people 'living' in the back whilst travelling. Like a car passengrs they should now be sat down strapped in without lights on whilst you are driving. I do not know if this is fact or fiction but it does make sense to me.
 
Someof the newer European Motorhomes do have a 12v supply live in the back. I know it is to enable the heating to run while travelling but I do not think it powers everything.

As for running an e-box off the alternator, the problem might be with the amps supplied to it from the alternator. My charger is rated at 16A on EHU and an alternator can supply probably 4 times that.
 
maingate said:
As for running an e-box off the alternator, the problem might be with the amps supplied to it from the alternator. My charger is rated at 16A on EHU and an alternator can supply probably 4 times that.
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Yep that makes sense but you would think if it was going to damage the unit they would prevent you from being able to have it turned on when the engine was running.
 
Maybe they are advising you not to because you have heard of "juddergate" on reversing Fiats? Well now ECU`s are going down all over the place and its up to 8 weeks for replacements. No probs under warranty but you need a remortgage once out of warranty.

If you go to the motorhome facts forum you will see this matter being discussed.
 
HA HA!! Biggiraffe..Main dealer's engineer?? Would this be the one that, when asked to put us another 240 socket in, wired it up to the underfloor electric heating????......or would it be the one that wanted to charge us £250 for a new habitation door lock, when it turned out to be a 20p, half -inch spring that was broken??
Main dealers??? No thank you !! Now I'm out of warranty, it would be a SERIOUSLY desperate measure that took me back to a main dealer..Phew!! I've gone all hot under the collar just thinking about them. :eek:
 
Jacques le foot said:
HA HA!! Biggiraffe..Main dealer's engineer?? Would this be the one that, when asked to put us another 240 socket in, wired it up to the underfloor electric heating????......or would it be the one that wanted to charge us £250 for a new habitation door lock, when it turned out to be a 20p, half -inch spring that was broken??
Main dealers??? No thank you !! Now I'm out of warranty, it would be a SERIOUSLY desperate measure that took me back to a main dealer..Phew!! I've gone all hot under the collar just thinking about them. :eek:
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:) sorry our local Swift dealer is very good for advice on our van, I guess because its older they have seen and learn't all the issues over the years. They have never done any work for me but they are still happy to reply to my emails.

Why is it vans that are meant to be a relaxing pass time can get us all so worked up.
 
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