about to take the plunge

[leavethekidsathome]

hi t4 owners :hello , sorry to sound dumb but I’m a bit :? , i think i have found the one i want to buy now but the chap selling it doesn’t know how any of it works!!, i am a female so i have had a mechanic look at 2 others that have been in the uk for years and they were high mileage and very worn so we then went to look at one local to me that's come from japan, it's in lovely condition and the mechanic said it's spot on , the trouble is the chap selling it said it's the first one he has ever had and was unfamiliar with gas/electric hook up?, so how does the night heater work? and what do i need to do about plugging in the electric as it's 100v? and finally for now what happens with the gas?, sorry for being dumb i'm new to this camping

 

[AlanC]

At the risk of stating the obvious, what every you do, do not hook it up to European mains power. We use 230v AC here and Japan, like the US, uses 110v AC.

You will need to get the electrical system changed over and I have no idea how you do that or at what cost. A good auto electrician should be able to advise you.

What might be worth investigating is using a building site insulated 110volt AC transformer between the power supply socket and your van. These are coloured yellow, as are the cables and plugs, and come in different power ratings. Not vastly expensive and water proof so can be left outside the van. You can get these from a decent electrical wholesaler.

Other than that I would guess the van is the same as a UK one. Right hand drive too. Japanese imports are very popular and competitively priced.

Alan

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

First of all, check that it does have gas stoves. Not all Westfalia's do, most of the early ones have alcohol (meths) stoves. The alcohol stoves are fine, so nothing to worry about. If it is gas then I guess it's a case of buying the right bottle of gas and connecting it to the regulator. The location of the gas bottle will be dependent upon the age, earlier vans (90-96ish?) are under the cooker, later vans it's in the back, possibly in the rear wardrobe. One of the other's can help out there, mine doesn't have gas.

The night heater, if fitted (it wasn't standard, at least on earlier vans) will be controlled by either a dial and switch above the sink if it is an early van, or via the control panel in the roof at the front on later vans. It uses fuel from the vehicles fuel tank, so either petrol or diesel depending on the van. The battery will need to be charged to get it running.

I'm not sure about the hookup. I'd agree with not plugging it in until you know more.
However, again it looks like it depends upon the age of the van.

Westfaliat4.info lists the charger that was fitted until '98 as being 250v, so I guess a different charger was fitted for US and Japanese vans. http://www.westfaliat4.info/VW_Westfali ... UnitWM.pdf

For later vans, the charger is listed as supporting 250v/110v, my German is not good enough to work out if it is auto sensing or needs to be switched:
http://www.westfaliat4.info/VW_Westfali ... UnitWM.pdf


Maybe Liz (or Mr Liz!) or Sidepod can chip in, they know a lot about the chargers.

So it looks like depends on what charger you have. I think it's a case of getting someone who knows what they are doing to take a look. The charger is located under the fridge.

The charger and the sockets behind the driver seats are the only things that run directly off the hookup, everything else is 12v and runs off the battery or batteries.

That's probably added to the confusion rather than helped
dan

 

[TwentyOneThirtyFive]

I should also say, the leisure battery (or batteries, some have 2) will be charged as you drive around (just like the starter battery). It will never get as good a charge as when on hookup and you'll need to go for a long long drive if they are flat.

You can see the current state of the leisure battery displayed on control panel in the roof at the front.