Confusion over electricity supply

yes ,just use your kettle ,toaster etc from home , we use a normal 18"TV from argos, just don't use the kettle and toaster at the same time or you could "trip" the bollard

we bought an ordinary 14 inch tv and it works fine in the caravan .we use a normal kettle on the gas ring for making tea not sure if an eletric kettle would trip the electrics as they use a lot of power

Care between low Wattage (i.e. Watts, Power) and low voltage (i.e. 240V or 12V)

Caravan has 12V providing you have a leisure battery (recommended, usually not included in price?) and if you are connected to mains on site, 240V as well.

If site supply is 16A then domestic appliances including kettle (say 8A) etc can be used up to that current loading. 

Anything heating uses a lot of power e.g. 2kW, 240V hairdryer would need 8A.

TV's are low power anyway and lots are natively 12V but have a power pack like a laptop to plug into 240V. So either standard (cheap) mains TVs can be used or more expensive custom "travel" TVs can also be bought (I wouldn't bother)

I'm sure other questions will be able to be answered also.

we bought a non brand combined Tv/DVD from Asda and its works fine, about £100. A low wattage kettle is useful  and your local caravan dealer will have plenty on sale. On club sites which have 16A I always keep below 3Kw at all times. Easy to do as once warmed up your electric heater can run quite happily at 1kw and keep the van very warm even in winter.

You can buy from e-Bay (and similar) for less than a tenner a small LED display that will show how many of these "Amperes" you are using at any one time, then all you need to know on each site is what the maximum you can use will be.  The wardens will tell you if it's not in the bumph.  Caravan Club is usually 16 Amperes.

Keep a look out for Aldi/Lidl having their usual spring caravan and camping offers which usually includes low wattage (i.e. uses less amperes) kettles, toasters,TVs, etc.  Dont waste money on things like 12v hairdryers or irons as they can never get hot enough to be any use, but the 12v TVs are fine.

Enjoy!

Christine

I am not sure I have heard of a "low wattage" television unless the salesman was referring to one capable of being run off the 12v system? If you are always going to use campsites with electric hook-ups an ordinary TV will be fine. It's only if you intend to use sites/CL's without a hook-up that you need to think about dual 230/12 voltage. One thing I would seriously suggest you buy is a low wattage kettle, around the 1000 watts. Some domestic kettles are getting on for 3000 watts which doesn't give much leeway for the use of other electrical items. Not so much an issue in summer but if you intend to use the van in the winter months  and want to use the electric heating in the van you could be overloading the circuit. Don't worry about the Slow Cooker as they are usually only as powerful as a single light bulb. I know it all seems complicated to start with but it soon becomes clear and its fun learning. Enjoy your caravan.

David

Some of it will depend on what type of sites you prefer. Ordinary appliances will be fine on most Club Sites, as long as you don't use them all together. If you like small, older type CL sites, then some low power stuff could help. The TV's are very expensive relatively speaking, we have toured for last thirty years on all kinds of sites without a low power version and always been ok.

You'll find lots of info in the Advice and Training tab at the top of the page, Christine, and other posters have given good advice. 

Enjoy your van.

If you are using club sites you will get 16 amps and that is generally fine providing you do not abuse it and run everything at once. The thing to watch is the combination of water heating and room heating which on ours can draw 9 Amps. At that point you do need to make sure that you are not running too many other high wattage things like toasters, microwaves and kettles. If you use non club sites then check what power you are getting and reduce consumption. 10 amps is common and needs you to watch the heating levels and if you get 6 then low power options for a kettle are worth while and we find it is better to run water heating on gas. At that level toasters and the like are out.

You will find the clubs advice on the subject at https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/advice-and-training/technical-advice/mains-electrical-installation/

The  only  reason  I  would  look  at    special  TV for

the  'van  is  purely  SIZE  !!  the  last  thing  you  want 

in  a  small  caravan  or  m/home  is  a  ginormous  tellybox  !

Even  if  you  can  get  it  in  ok,  can  you  sit  far enough

back  to  watch  it  ??