jtq4u replied on 12/04/2018 13:41
Posted on 12/04/2018 13:41
Hi All,
I'm a keen CL user, frequenting this type of site far more than the caravan club sites themselves. In fact I was at one in Bognor just last week (although on their driveway rather than the field because there was so much flooding!).
I much prefer sites where there is hookup, as it saves the issues of keeping a battery topped up. I know a lot of people have solar these days, but also a lot don't. Also the Fridge uses a fair bit of gas.
I was chatting to one Cl owner who said it would cost £10,000 to get a power supply to his house strong enough to supply the CL field. he currently only had a standard domestic supply to his house.
So I had a couple of questions for the community:
1. Is this a blocking issue for a lot of CLs - that they don't have enough supply to their property to supply the potential 80 Amps for hookups (or even slightly less if the site is only open in summer and you assume they are not all used at the same time).
2. Would CL users be interested in having hookups designed for mainly charging the battery + powering the fridge, with the occasional kettle boil?
Why do I Ask??
In my day job for a large company, I work as a problem solver and inventor with a number of patents. Outside of work I also like to solve these problems too!
I already have a smart device I fabricated in our caravan which automatically turns off the electric fire when you turn on other high power things like a kettle.. then turns the fire back on afterwards - which I find so handy!
For the CLs I could also design something to solve the problem if it was likely to be popular. it could work like this:
- Everyone gets a normal hookup socket and is allowed say 500W (enough for the battery charger, the Fridge and phone chargers + TV)
- The hookup bollard will sense anyone trying to take more than 500w and lock them out for a period of time. when reconnecting after lockout, if they are still overloading, it might increase the lock out each time, and/or permanently lockout after a certain number of overuses - requiring a button on the hookup post to be pressed.
This can be extended another clever way:
- Three lights on the bollard Red, Amber, Green.
- Red means you are locked out
- Green means you can take 2kw briefly (10 mins) if you want.
- Amber means you can use your 500w but not take more
(someone else is having a 2kw 10 minute session or you had one too recently).
- So basically people are forced to take it in turns to have 2kw.. in 10 minute sessions
each time you've had a session you have to wait some period of time before you can
have another session (your bollard stays amber). When someone else is having a session
again your bollard is amber. When you can have a session your bollard is green.
during amber times you can still have your 500w.
With a design like this the maximum the site will ever draw is 500w x 4 + 2000w
and usually much less - as people can't leave fires or water heaters on because of the 10 minute limitation. It will just be for hair drying, microwaving, kettle boiling. small time loads.
So the maximum demand will be around 17 amps. With the average load being much less.. Probably about 6 amps over night.
This will mean that sites can supply that from the spare capacity on most houses. Also the cost of the electricity used will be a lot less than traditional hookup sites.
For sites with even more limited supply a design could easily be made that worked on a single 13Amp plugtop from the farm. Each van is allowed 400 watts, and the shared peak 10min load of 1500w.
I wonder if my idea would be of interest to CL owners and equally important CL users?
If so I could look into crowd funding it.
Anyhow thoughts if you please!
James
jtq4u
Caravanner