Campervan Electrics

Voogy · 11 Oct 2010

Hi folks ...

Not sure if this is the right section to post in but hey ho..

I recently added a power supply/battery charger to my campervan electric 240v hook up. This allows charging of the leisure battery when hooked up and runs the 12v electrics.

Problem is as soon as I flick the MCB switch the charger/supply is connected to it trips the RCD (60A 30ma RCD)
I've checked and double checked all connections and they are correct. All the rest of the circuits on the consumer unit work fine.

If I remove the charger/supply and plug it into the ring main at home it works absolutely fine - although I only have an MCB consumer unti at home.

Any ideas?

ban-all-sheds · 11 Oct 2010

What else is on that circuit?

How did you connect in the charger?

If you replace the charger with something else, does the circuit still cause a trip?

Voogy · 11 Oct 2010

On it's own circuit.

If I swap it to another mcb it still trips out

plugwash · 11 Oct 2010

Is the RCD that is tripping in the campervan? in the hookup? somewhere else?
Is this a hookup on a caravan site or at your home? if the latter how is it supplied?
How are things connected in the campervan?
What if any test equipment do you have?

ban-all-sheds · 11 Oct 2010

Voogy said:
On it's own circuit.

If I swap it to another mcb it still trips out

Does it trip with the charger disconnected?

It's likely that you've screwed up installing that circuit.

When you did your insulation resistance and continuity tests before energising it, what were the results?

Voogy · 11 Oct 2010

plugwash said:
Is the RCD that is tripping in the campervan? in the hookup? somewhere else?
Is this a hookup on a caravan site or at your home? if the latter how is it supplied?
How are things connected in the campervan?
What if any test equipment do you have?

RCD is in the consumer unit in the van. Only two circuits 1 supplies a single socket which is fine the other supplies the charger. I've swapped them over but it still trips the RCD whichever circuit it's connected to.

Supply is via a hook up cable.

I have a multitester

Charger works fine when plugged in at home but even if i plug it into the socket in the van it trips the rcd

1john · 11 Oct 2010

are your sockets at home protected by a 30mA RCD? If they are then perhaps you should get that tested by a sparky, while he is there he could do an insulation resistance test on your charger or Portable Appliance Test (PAT) it for you too.

ban-all-sheds · 12 Oct 2010

1john said:
are your sockets at home protected by a 30mA RCD?

Voogy said:
although I only have an MCB consumer unti at home.

ban-all-sheds · 12 Oct 2010

Voogy said:
Any ideas?

So let's see..

You have more than 1 circuit in the van, and neither exhibit any problems without this appliance connected.
When you connect this appliance to any of the van circuits it trips the RCD

Why doesn't that tell you that there's something wrong with the appliance?

ericmark · 12 Oct 2010

It is possible the inrush on the filter network could cause an RCD to trip even though it is within allowed parameters when only a single item is used, but since fitted to a caravan which is likely to be plugged into may different RCD's in it's life it is not fit for purpose and only option is to return it and get a replacement.

I have had this problem in the past a whole batch of scales they had an EMC network which caused similar problem and after return they arrived back with network removed with note not required for UK.

As far as you are concerned it is a faulty charger take it back.

Voogy · 12 Oct 2010

Already decided the charger was at fault ... Am now in contact with the manufacturer to get a replacement so should all be sorted.

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Campervan Electrics

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