We are moving up to a new caravan and wondering if we could get a little advice from the more learned travelers out there on two points. On the first we know not too much at all - and it is
1. Our vehicle has a 7 pin round plug on it. The van we looked at had a flat 12 pin plug and a separate Anderson plug. The manufacturer gave us the paperwork for the auto electrician to adapt the wiring for a 12 pin plug - but then said we could probably leave the 7 pin plug and have what looks like a double Anderson plug wired to the car. So my question is what option would you recommend we use? The van will have one solar panel on the roof, and we are going to have another jack put on the side of the van if we get a folding mobile solar panel later on (once we try free camping and see if we need it). The van will also have a reversing camera. Our vehicle has a reversing camera already and a regular looking plug in the back storage area we use for the engel fridge we keep in the back.
What are the benefits of moving to a 12 pin plug or should we just go with the 7 pin plug and get the double pin thing for the Anderson plug?
2. Any views on best annex to get - we are in Melbourne - 1st annex was a Tebbs, 2nd was an Alpine. Had no issues with either really - but the manufacturer uses Aussie Traveller. We went to see the latter but not overly impressed with the sales man - may have caught him on a bad day - but he seemed less than interested.
Any preferences as to manufacturer?
Also, in a 16' annex do you think just one window in the long side wall would be ok or should we have 2. We do put the annex up for a few weeks at a time. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Would appreciate comments and thoughts on these queries - thanks
I personally would installed 2 x 120watt solar panels on the roof for free camping. ( with 110amp Deep cycle battery and room for another) In some rest areas with a number of fellow vanners on site you could leave your van and do a day trip explore, with sola panels on the roof, with a folding panel I would put it away, its another thing to do/get stolen/find a place for.
A friend recently purchased a new van with a 12pin plug and in SA 7 Pin around are standard, he just paralleled/installed a 12 pin socket on his vehicle, that he uses when he toes the van..
My caravan at the time ( i up graded in December 2012 ) had just one 7 pin socket fitted on the back of my Pajero and also a 7 Pin plug for the caravan and worked for a while .........But on a trip over to Adelaide a couple of years ago, we pulled up at the caravan park and went to un plug and found that both plug and socket had welded to gether from the current drawn by the 3 way fridge and also from the chargeing current of the house battery in the caravan.
I finaly got the plug and socket apart and replaced both, but this time i also fitted a Anderson plug and seperated the power feed to the caravan from the main loom to the caravan.
So now i have two plugs for the caravan. One for the lights and blinker's and the Anderson plug for the heavey load of the fridge and this can be in the order of 20 Amps + the chargeing current that is limited to charge the house battery. last year we sold that caravan and up traded to a same size caravan , this time we now have a shower an toilet. So mutch better. This caravan has now got the same set up ( 7 pin round and a Anderson plug ). Has not missed a beat and no more problems.
What type of caravan do you have as we have a brand new annexe used twice and may suit you if you have a poptop....we have sold our van but kept the annexe ( have photos if required)
I have converted my van to a 12 pin plug because I want my van fridge running whilst we are travelling it helps to maintain fridge temperature, I was advised by an auto electrician to go to a 12 pin plug and use one of the larger size pin and sockets for the fridge with the heavier grade wire so that you don't get wires and plugs melting together if doing the job yourself you can get advice and the cable from J-car or someone like that, which saves the need for an extra Anderson plug on both car and van.
Hope this helps a bit
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Having run different plugs(round, 7 pin flat and 12 pin flat) I now run a 12 pin flat on the tug and van with a small Anderson the the house battery. The advantage is that the 12 pin has 2 sets of terminals one for the low current gear and one for the high current draw (ie fridge). Both the house battery and fridge have a 20amp fuse before the connection to prevent overload fusing the plugs or damaging the van wiring. A friend actually also had his van camera wired through his 12 pin.
Changing the wiring over is not all that hard to do but any autolec can handle the job.
I would I change to any other plug again ,...no. A 12 pin is much tidier and a 7 pin flat will fit into the 12 pin so any other trailer can still be used.
Chris
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We have the 12 pin set-up , and have the Anderson plug to run the fridge while travelling .
Works perfectly .
We have the same and not an issue in seven years. Prior to having the Anderson plug we had issues with the fridge maintaining temps during very hot weather. We do have the largest (then) three way two door unit.
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Thanks to all responders Have spoken to the Auto Electrician and he has said that the 7pin together with the double Anderson plug should do the job ok. So just keeping that thought brewing at the moment. Still working on the annex.
Keep the seven pin combined with the Anderson plug. The 12pin is to probe to pin damage. If a pin is damaged you have to replace the whole 12 pin plug. You only have to replace the individual pin on the seven pin plug. A lot cheaper.
We also have a 12 pin flat plug and an Anderson Plug directly to the batteries from where the fridge draws it's power when travelling. We had the same setup on our previous van and it worked like a treat. The fridge, 3 way, never misses a beat. We never have to turn it up to travel and it always maintains its temperature, frozen things stay frozen. We had this done by the Home of 12 Volt on their advice and it's been one of the best pieces of advice we have ever received. We have no affiliation with the company, just very satisfied customers.
Di
Di
That's the set up we have.
The Anderson Plug is wired with 20 sq mm cable all the way from cranking battery to the house battery. The fridge is connected into that feed wire. (20 mm square cable is about 12 mm dia to the out side of the plastic.)
We have an "Automatic Smart Charging Relay" fitted into the system. This ensures the Cranking battery is always charged up before the House battery gets a look in.
The fridge has a Motion sensor "Fridge Switch" fitted to stop power to the fridge when we are stopped for more than three minutes.
Seems to do the trick for us. Never had a problem yet.
-- Edited by elliemike on Tuesday 24th of September 2013 02:39:28 PM
We also have a 12 pin flat plug and an Anderson Plug directly to the batteries from where the fridge draws it's power when travelling. We had the same setup on our previous van and it worked like a treat. The fridge, 3 way, never misses a beat. We never have to turn it up to travel and it always maintains its temperature, frozen things stay frozen. We had this done by the Home of 12 Volt on their advice and it's been one of the best pieces of advice we have ever received. We have no affiliation with the company, just very satisfied customers.
