John
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- West Sussex
Having mains power to your Awning gives you a big boost in versatility when camping with mains hookup. With a heater you now have a space for drying clothing, if the weather has not been so kind to you. Or with a table, a electric kettle, and even a electric toaster etc., your awning can become a useful galley space. 
When powering the Awning you will want to also power your Cali and it may be tempting to just make up, or buy, a splitter lead with a ordinary mains trailing socket on the end. Although this may be cheap to make or buy it wont be very safe. In the external possibly damp environment of a Awning you need more protection, not only surge protection from contact breakers, but also a RCD that will protect you if the line neutral or earth lines are shorted out.
If you are still tempted to go down the cheap route have a look at this;
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/articles/view.asp?id=81
Mobile mains units with hookup leads for tents have been around for some time now and the cost of buying them has come down. I got hold of a Crusader Mobile Mains Unit for under £40 on Amazon and Go Outdoors were selling them in their recent sale for under £26.
The Crusader unit needed to be modified with a feed off to my Cali and this was my solution.
First a health warning we are dealing here with a high voltage device with potentially lethal voltage so if you are not qualified leave the modification to a electrician. Having said that the modification is not that much more difficult than wiring a plug.
The Crusader unit comes with a very good quality 20 metre extension lead so it seemed a shame to cut this lead up. Instead I removed it from the unit and added a female plug to the end to modify it into mains hookup lead.
To convert the unit I got hold of 6 metres of cable, a cable gland, one male, and two female plugs (one of these was for the hook up lead).
First I dismantled the Crusader unit and removed the 20 metre extension lead noting where the wires were connected in the unit to the RCD and earth on one of the mains sockets. Then I removed the white blanking plug, at the top of the unit, and fitted the cable gland (black one in the picture) I also added a rubber O ring to get a good waterproof seal. Next I cut the 6 metre cable into 5 and 1 metres lengths then striped the ends to fit into the Crusader unit, using the original cable for reference. I then fed the short 1 metre lead through the bottom cable gland and the longer 5 metre lead through the top cable gland into the unit. Both of the line and neutral wires were connected together onto the RCD connections and the earth wires were connected to two of the earth connections on two of the mains sockets. After tightening the cable glands and reassembling the unit I added a male plug to the 1 metre lead and a female plug to the 5 metre lead.
The completed modification can be seen here with the short 1 metre lead connected to the mains hookup lead. I found the 5 metres lead was long enough to go from the Crusader unit in the Awning around the rear wheels and connect to the Cali power socket. However you could make this lead longer to suit your own needs.
Finally as a bonus I had a short off cut left over, from the orange 20 metre extension, so I made up this neat little adaptor using a female plug and ordinary mains plug, I can use this, in conjunction with the mains hook up lead, to power my Cali from my garage to charge the battery’s. You could alternatively make a polarity reversing adaptor if you wish for some continental sites where you may find the voltage is reversed.
John
When powering the Awning you will want to also power your Cali and it may be tempting to just make up, or buy, a splitter lead with a ordinary mains trailing socket on the end. Although this may be cheap to make or buy it wont be very safe. In the external possibly damp environment of a Awning you need more protection, not only surge protection from contact breakers, but also a RCD that will protect you if the line neutral or earth lines are shorted out.
If you are still tempted to go down the cheap route have a look at this;
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/articles/view.asp?id=81
Mobile mains units with hookup leads for tents have been around for some time now and the cost of buying them has come down. I got hold of a Crusader Mobile Mains Unit for under £40 on Amazon and Go Outdoors were selling them in their recent sale for under £26.
The Crusader unit needed to be modified with a feed off to my Cali and this was my solution.
First a health warning we are dealing here with a high voltage device with potentially lethal voltage so if you are not qualified leave the modification to a electrician. Having said that the modification is not that much more difficult than wiring a plug.
The Crusader unit comes with a very good quality 20 metre extension lead so it seemed a shame to cut this lead up. Instead I removed it from the unit and added a female plug to the end to modify it into mains hookup lead.
To convert the unit I got hold of 6 metres of cable, a cable gland, one male, and two female plugs (one of these was for the hook up lead).
First I dismantled the Crusader unit and removed the 20 metre extension lead noting where the wires were connected in the unit to the RCD and earth on one of the mains sockets. Then I removed the white blanking plug, at the top of the unit, and fitted the cable gland (black one in the picture) I also added a rubber O ring to get a good waterproof seal. Next I cut the 6 metre cable into 5 and 1 metres lengths then striped the ends to fit into the Crusader unit, using the original cable for reference. I then fed the short 1 metre lead through the bottom cable gland and the longer 5 metre lead through the top cable gland into the unit. Both of the line and neutral wires were connected together onto the RCD connections and the earth wires were connected to two of the earth connections on two of the mains sockets. After tightening the cable glands and reassembling the unit I added a male plug to the 1 metre lead and a female plug to the 5 metre lead.
The completed modification can be seen here with the short 1 metre lead connected to the mains hookup lead. I found the 5 metres lead was long enough to go from the Crusader unit in the Awning around the rear wheels and connect to the Cali power socket. However you could make this lead longer to suit your own needs.
Finally as a bonus I had a short off cut left over, from the orange 20 metre extension, so I made up this neat little adaptor using a female plug and ordinary mains plug, I can use this, in conjunction with the mains hook up lead, to power my Cali from my garage to charge the battery’s. You could alternatively make a polarity reversing adaptor if you wish for some continental sites where you may find the voltage is reversed.
John
