240v electrics tripping - EHU or Van?

[DorisDanbury]

Firstly I don’t know ANYTHING about electrics and our van so sorry if this is a really stupid question.

We have a converted T6.1 which doesn’t have a full kitchen only a drawer fridge. Under the front passenger seat are two Varta batteries and connected to them are a 12v plug in and a normal plug socket.

We recently stayed in Switzerland the site had 13A hook up. In the plug socket we have been using a low wattage travel kettle. It worked all week then didn’t on the last day. We assumed the kettle was rubbish but established that the socket wasn’t working.

On our return we rang Danbury who are the conversion company. They talked us through where the trip switches were and they were all in the up position. We were then asked to hook up to electricity then press the green reset button. The main switch then tripped and when we switched it back the socket worked.

Has the kettle overloaded the socket or was it something to do with the campsite? As I said this is literally the only thing we plug in and when the socket didn’t work the fridge was still going, the interior LED lights still worked and the 12v plug in worked.

Can someone help?

 

[roadtripper]

Do you have a few pictures of your setup (sockets, chargers, batteries, breakers) as that would help folks get an idea of your setup?

In particular which device was the green reset button on - get a picture of that.

 

[DorisDanbury]

That’s a good idea, will do

 

[AdL]

Most trip switches (and MCBs) have two modes of operation; An instantaneous magnetic trip which will detect very high overcurrent and trips immediately, and a thermal trip which detects lower overcurrent and trips slowly (as it takes time to heat). Did you by chance run the kettle for longer than usual (i.e. fill it up more than usual) or use some other device at the same time on the last day? If so then you just got away with the other days but tripped the thermal overload on you last day.

 

[DXX]

That’s pretty normal, remember the overload and ground leakage protection is to protect you. Missing a cuppa is a small price to pay.
Many campsites have a split hookup meaning that more than one vehicle is sharing a protected load, if too many of you put the kettle on at the same time it will trip.

 

[Salty Spuds]

We need to know exactly which protective device tripped. MCB (overload protection) or RCD (earth leakage protection) you will (should have) one of each. They will both trip the power off, but for different reasons. If you genuinely have a low wattage kettle, it shouldn’t be the MCB that tripped, unless it’s a particularly low value one. Most likely the RCD.
Fwiw, our low wattage travel kettle recently died & tripped the RCD, when I tested it, it had a dead short to earth, so it’s gone in the bin. The usual culprit is the element burning out, especially if it’s heavily crusted up.

 

[AdL]

That’s pretty normal, remember the overload and ground leakage protection is to protect you. Missing a cuppa is a small price to pay.
Many campsites have a split hookup meaning that more than one vehicle is sharing a protected load, if too many of you put the kettle on at the same time it will trip.

I don't think it was the EHU that tripped - it was the van. So not a function of how much current was drawn from the EHU.

 

[DorisDanbury]

This is the plug socket and 12v socket

These are the batteries under the passenger seat

This is the circuit breaker. I was asked to hook the van up to electricity and press the green button. The switch on the right tripped and when I pushed it back up the socket worked.

The kettle is new and is a Quest 1L which apparently uses 850w. Nothing else was plugged in at the time.

 

[Salty Spuds]

View attachment 214907 This is the plug socket and 12v socket

View attachment 214908 These are the batteries under the passenger seat

View attachment 214909This is the circuit breaker. I was asked to hook the van up to electricity and press the green button. The switch on the right tripped and when I pushed it back up the socket worked.

The kettle is new and is a Quest 1L which apparently uses 850w. Nothing else was plugged in at the time.

That’s the RCD & the green button is the test button. It SHOULD trip when you press it, you’re testing the functionality of the RCD. If it trips on pressing the green “T” (the clue is “test” ) then all’s good to go. Reset the RCD & boil away.

 

[jimc91]

Sounds like the campsite feed tripped but not the vans, it happens

 

[roadtripper]

If the RCD does trip it won't immediately stop the 12v systems and fridge working as they will run from the battery but I expect you have a charger somewhere keeping the battery topped up when using EHU so if it happens again do check the RCD.

A one off isn't anything to worry about as RCDs tend to err on the side of caution but if it trips again with the kettle might be worth getting the kettle checked.

 

[DorisDanbury]

Thanks everyone who replied. I understand a bit more about it all works…….