Campervan and Motorhome Electrical

In the beginning...

When starting out on a self-build campervan or motor home project one the first jobs will be to install the 12 volt electrical system and (if required) the mains hook-up electrical supply. After all, there would be no point in boarding or panelling the 'van before deciding on where to run the wiring and cables for the electrical supply; that is of course unless you're the sort of person who likes to make your life difficult, you want unsightly cables and wires running up the sides and roof of your 'vans interior, or you're a contortionist!

Campervan/motorhome 12 volt electrics

If you do a lot of 'wild' camping where no mains hook-up is available then it's your 12 volt electrical system you should be concentrating on. First and foremost your going to need a good quality leisure battery (or batteries depending on your 12v power consumption) and to work out your power consumption in amps to decide the ampere hour (Ah) rating of leisure battery/batteries required. You will also need to decide where the batteries are going to be located and any physical size constraints in order to choose the correct battery/batteries. By fitting two leisure batteries in parallel you will double the available ampere hours, i.e. 2 x 110Ah leisure batteries fitted in parallel = 220Ah.

You will also need some good quality copper cable/wiring, some 12 volt lighting, a means of charging your leisure battery (whilst on site and split charging on the move), a 12 volt/mains control panel electrical supply, 12 volt cable/wire/connectors/fuses, plenty of 12v plugs and sockets and some sort of electrical curcuit tester/multi-meter would be a good idea.

Campervan/motorhome mains hook-up 230V electrics

If you prefer to have all your home comforts available to you while your away (hair dryer/straighteners, electric fan heater etc.) you will need to have mains hook-up facility installed in your campervan or motor home. If your installing a mains system from scratch you'll need a mains hook-up installation kit which comes complete with all the necessary wiring, cables, connectors, RCD (residual current device), MCB's (mini circuit breakers), plug sockets and a test button to make sure everything is working correctly. You will also need an external socket on the outside of your campervan/motorhome, an approved hook-up cable (no longer than 25M) for connecting to the campsite mains supply post, a control panel for your 12 volt and mains electrical supply (either with a built-in battery charger, or you can buy a leisure battery charger separately) and it's not a bad idea to have a mains socket tester to hand as well. If your repairing an existing mains hook-up supply you should be able to find what you need within our Web site.

Self-build help and technical information

If you're planning to embark on a self-build camervan or motorhome project we would recommend buying "Build Your Own Motorcaravan", by John Wickersham which is packed with useful information and tips.

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Bush Battery Co. Ltd./Great Outdoors Leisure has been established in the automotive, lead-acid battery trade since 1950 and none of our expert staff have less than 25 years personal experience, so you can rest assured your in good hands.

We specialise in automotive batteries and battery charging systems and only deal with top quality suppliers which include Exide Batteries, Yuasa Batteries, Varta Batteries, Ring Automotive, Durite Auto Electrical Parts, Sterling Products etc.

We also stock caravan, motorhome and marine spares and accessories.

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