Collected the Dimension Yesterday - so many questi

[snobbyafghan]

Miserable weather but who cares when you're collecting your first van? ;D

It's even better than we remembered it now we've driven it home. Being new to this lark (never even had a caravan before) my head is buzzing trying to work out how everything works. The dealer (Moran's in Ludlow) was excellent and patiently went through everything with me and it all made sense at the time but I've forgotten half of it. The accompanying book is pretty good but I'm struggling with some of the electrical features ( at this point, I should mention that I've reached the age of mind-your-own-business without knowing the difference between amps, watts and volts (any suggestion where I could find a simple web tutorial, by the way?).

Anyway on to specifics with some questions which, if nothing else, will prove how technically simple I am

Idiot Question 1:
In the book, it mentions switching off the "main switch" when hooking up and then switching on the "Romahome main switch" when hook up is completed. I'm assuming these are both the same thing but I can't find anything called a "main switch". So, is the "Isolation Switch", located on the off side above the leisure battery/Zig unit compartment, the "main switch"?

Idiot Question 2:
Amps. In the book, it says ".....you must remain below the amperage available for the circuit." Does this mean that the total amps being used by several appliances must not exceed the limit or does it mean that several appliances, none of which individually exceeds the limit, can be used?

Idiot Question 3:
When hooked up, is the leisure battery doing nothing (except, perhaps recharging)?

There is one 12 volt plug supplied - what sort of item is likely to be suitable for use with this plug?

That's it. I've now come out as a total newbie. I could ring the dealer and ask these questions but I dont want to wait until tomorrow.

Thanks

Doug

[Pauline]

Fantastic news, remember the feeling so well of bring home a new van

I'll leave the experts to reply to your technical questions.

But as regards Question One - in another thread Ant did more or less say that you can just plug in the electric without worrying about switching of the mains switches (behind the wardrobe in ours). It was something we used to do dutifully before and after hooking up, but it seems there is no need.

I'll try and find the thread and post a link to it.

Question 3 - I think it's mainly recharging but does run some of the lights (I THINK!) - better wait for the experts again

We run a few things on 12v when we don't have electric. i.e. a small TV, phone chargers. Plus we have an inverter for anything that doesn't have a 12v plug - i.e. we can plug in the laptop if necessary for short times, or charge re-chargable batteries

Hope that helps.

[Pauline]

Hi Doug

This is the thread I mentioned regards Dimension electrics:

Dimension Electrics thread

[ant]

Hi Doug.
Your new Dimension may seem a bit hi tech' but its quite simple really. The Romahome hand book suffers from the American illness of assume everyone is brain dead! As i explained to pauline earier there is no need to turn anything off that works from the mains as nothing happens until you plug in. The total amps thing is for each individual circuit so if you plug a camping kettle into the socket on the work top you can't then plug an electric fan heater into the lower socket at the same time as they are both fed from the same cicuit on the trip switch behind the wardrobe. You can however continue to run the fridge, water heater and charger as they have different feeds from the trip swiches.
The battery mainly charges when plugged in most of the 12volt requirements are met by the transformer charger, however the transformer sometimes cuts out on a thermal switch at which point the battery takes over.
Enjoy your new toy.
Ant

[snobbyafghan]

Ant

Thanks for that - I'm a bit clearer now; in fact every time I read the instruction book, another bit falls into place and your contribution has covered the bits that haven't.

Doug

[sid b]

ant said:

The total amps thing is for each individual circuit so if you plug a camping kettle into the socket on the work top you can't then plug an electric fan heater into the lower socket at the same time as they are both fed from the same circuit on the trip switch behind the wardrobe. You can however continue to run the fridge, water heater and charger as they have different feeds from the trip switches.
Ant

Just to supplement that, my understanding is that although this explains the van's circuitry, you also need to be aware of the total amps being used by all of your mains appliances that are in use at any one time while on hook up, to make sure you don't trip the site's EHU trip switch. For example if you plug in a 2000w kettle, you'd be drawing 8.7 amps. Most if not all Caravan Club and Camping & Caravaning Club sites have a 16 amp supply so you'd still have 7.3 amps available for other things at the same time, but a lot of commercial sites have lower supply capacity -10 amps supply for example isn't uncommon, and abroad can be even less. Work out the amps used by any appliance by dividing its wattage (usually show on a plate or label somewhere on its base) by the supply voltage (230 for mains supplies in the UK).

Sid

[snobbyafghan]

Thanks Sid - I'm getting the hang of it bit by bit. And I found a website that explained volts, watts and amps by comparing electricity supply with water supply so I think I even understand that aspect as well now.

So, it's obvious that Romahomes expand your education as well as providing fun...

Doug

[sid b]

Hi Doug, yes it's fun isn't it! (Well, mostly!)
It might just be me, but as far as making sure I don't trip the EHU is concerned I find it easier to think in watts than amps. You need to know the site's supply amperage and then it's pretty easy - a 16A supply means you can use up to 3680 watts, a 10A supply means you can use up to 2300 watts. It's easier for my powers of mental arithmetic to cope with adding up the watts of the appliances plugged in at any time to make sure I don't go over those limits than it is to work out the amps each time.
Have you any plans yet for a camping expedition in your new Dimension? We're off at the end of next week to North East Scotland for 2-3 weeks - our first real outing - in ours, although we gave it a short try out for 3 days in Somerset just after we collected it last month.

Sid

[snobbyafghan]

Sid

I must try that wattage method.

We haven't been out in the van yet even though we've had it 10 days and it is VERY frustrating. A big influx of family over the bank holiday kept us from trying it out although we spent a lot of time giving admiring relations a tour of the van.

We plan to have a couple of weekends getting the hang of things, possibly down to Dorset or over to Pembroke, and then the plan is to go to France in mid-September.

North East Scotland (and North East England for that matter) are on our "must visit" list. They are both places we don't know but have heard so many good things about.

Enjoy your trip up there - it'll be interesting to hear how you get on.

Doug

[sid b]

Hi Doug,

Well all good things are worth waiting for! Have a great time, you'll probably be going around the time our trip is ending.
NE Scotland lacks some of the drama of the West Coast but we like it. It also lacks most of the midges and tends to be a lot drier. The Moray coast is a superb mix of cliffs, small fishing villages, sandy coves and some of the best (and usually deserted) beaches anywhere. It also has resident dolphins!

[snobbyafghan]

Sid

You've sold me on the East coast! And it's were my ancestors came from so it'll have to go to the top of the list.

Doug

[viv]

We saw dolphins when we visited Fort George in Nairn. It was as if they were putting on a display just for us as we were the only ones there and they jumped and played for ages giving us a wonderful view in the bay.

No wonder they call that part of the Fort Dolphin view or something like that!