New Beach Owner

[PersonaNonGrata]

Hello,
We bought a Cali Beach about 8 months ago and love it. Its a silver one with 3 seat back seat, no extra captains chairs, VW bike rack, VW mattress topper, built in satnav, cruise control, cool/warm box and a woeful dealer fit bluetooth system (recently defunct - just gave up the ghost).

We didn't think we would use it much, but have used it loads, and for loads of different reasons.

Hoping to 'winter-ize' it through fitting 240v hookup for heating so suggestions would be most welcome there (might consider eberspechar but that is lots more expensive).

Also looking for a detailed fuse diagram because a few of the interior lights have gone simultaneously - so guessing its a fuse.

Cheers

 

[owen_h]

Welcome and glad your enjoying your Beach.

For retro fit 240v hookup there are a number of different options. The external socket can either be at the rear of the vehicle or at the front in the engine bay. If at the rear then you will have to decide if you want to cut a hole in the nearside panel (like VW do) or hide it under the rear bumper. Also got to fit the consumer unit somewhere in the van, under the front seats is an option or possibly there would be space in the rear quarter panel (above where the wheel jack is stored on a Beach). I have a 2 seater bench version with a kitchen pod so put my socket under the rear bumper and the consumer unit on the kitchen pod. Have a look at some old threads in the Beach section as there are a number of us who have added 240v hookup. There are also some threads in there about retrofit parking heaters. Had mine fitted earlier this year (a Webasto) and its been to warm to use it ever since!

 

[owen_h]

forgot to say for the fuse its probably more likely to be one of the ones under the passenger seat. VW seem reluctant to provide fuse diagrams (they say they change to frequently) but a Beach is simpler than the SE so there are less fuses there to check.

 

[PersonaNonGrata]

Thanks for the welcome and info.

Do you think we need a consumer unit if all need is one socket?

Is the webasto option similar to Eberspecher? - only webasto type installations I've hear of heat the engine, but I'm far from an expert in these matters.!

Thanks

 

[owen_h]

I would say that you need some sort of RCD protection even for a single socket. You can get all in one (lead, RCD & socket) devices for tents, maybe something like that could be adapted. Best get advice from someone more qualified than me though. 240v is far more capable of killing you than messing around with 12v.

Eberspacher D2 and Webasto Airtop 2000St are very similar (there is a 3rd less well known option made by Mikkuni, the Miro). Not a great deal to choose between them so prob comes down to finding a fitter you trust and going with what they deal with. Think from other threads that VW have fitted both Ebers and Webasto units to the SE over the years. Webasto do do a unit that heats the engine (thermotop I think its called). Your Beach might even have one fitted, mine did. Look for a Webasto sticker around the B pillar when the front doors are open. Or on the door itself.

 

[jamesC]

My beach has one of each from the factory.... webasto and eberspacher, one for the hot air parking heater and one to heat the coolant in the engine on cold days.

I have no idea which does which job, just two stickers on the b pillar.

Like some others I have had a socket fitted, I went for inlet socket under the bonnet, 240v socket in the b pillar behind the passenger seat, RCD under the drivers seat, and a charger for the leisure battery hard wired in.

I went down this route because it made sense to me, backed up by the guy who fitted it, showing me how they install electrics into van conversions.