London for NYE advice

Hi, just looking for some advise, im planning on heading to london on the 29th of december and staying in a 24hr car park for 5 nights as all the caravan club sites are full, just wondering if any one knows of a good way to get the vehicle onto a hook up for a few hrs somewhere? il have to be putting water in from a shell garage but a little worried about the leisure battery lasting, its a small motorhome so can be moved easily enough, car park is right near hyde park. Thabks in advance

I can't answer that question but will say, if your van is a diesel either ensure it is LEZ compliant or plan your routes VERY carefully. The fee for taking a non compliant van into a London LEZ is exorbitant.

Hi thanks for ur reply, im pretty sure it falls in the compliant bracket, iv done the same route in a different vehicle which was older and also a diesel and it was fine, il double check now you have mentioned it tho, thank you

Macro stores have plug-in sockets outside their stores for refrigerated vans. Maybe ask the store if they would allow you to hook up, if there is a store nearby. Possibly the same applies to Tesco, Morrison's etc who have refrigerated delivery vans

Thanks for the idea paul, il have a look into that. Will try sweetening them up some how

I don't know the answer to this but am sure someone will. Can you use electric car charging points to hook up to ?

If so then this website- among umpteen similar ones- shows charging sites in London and many state that they are free to use for all users.

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Quilter wrote:I don't know the answer to this but am sure someone will. Can you use electric car charging points to hook up to ?

If so then this website- among umpteen similar ones- shows charging sites in London and many state that they are free to use for all users.

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No No No - please check carefully, but I'm sure from memory that electric car batteries put out over 300volts. 

Apologies if I've got that wrong, but we were warned of the high output for when we attend collision scenes involving electric cars and anything that can charge an electric car to that level, isn't going to do your 12volt batteries much good. 

Ken.

Maybe try Asda, part of Walmart who allow boondocking in the US, although I have not tried, head office say it is at the store managers discretion. Try asking with a bag of shopping in your hand, they may have a hook up for their delivery vans?

Thanks for the suggestion guys, have emailed about the electric car hook ups out of curiosity as some so show a 3 pin standard plug socket so il let you know there reply, il also keep the asda idea in mind, pretty sure they must have some where just to put the van for a few hrs.thanks all

Wargenwolf wrote:
No No No - please check carefully, but I'm sure from memory that electric car batteries put out over 300volts. 

Apologies if I've got that wrong, but we were warned of the high output for when we attend collision scenes involving electric cars and anything that can charge an electric car to that level, isn't going to do your 12volt batteries much good. 

Ken.

That can't be right.

You could well be right about the capacity of the batteries but they will need to be recharged from a 230vac domestic supply to make owning one practical.

Most of the chargers units shown on the website have several different types of plug. Many have "English plugs" which look just like a domestic 13 amp electric plug. Some have "EU domestic plugs " and some have " caravan plugs".  This is what made me think that they might be able to be used to charge a motorhome- or even an electric bike.

yes, "English plugs" would be the sensible option for charging at home. Not many of us have the other type as a standard fixture. Likewise any overseas visitor (would you risk travelling that far, although I suppose it could be towed behind a M/H) is most likely to have an EU domestic lead.

dbroada wrote:

Wargenwolf wrote:
No No No - please check carefully, but I'm sure from memory that electric car batteries put out over 300volts. 

Apologies if I've got that wrong, but we were warned of the high output for when we attend collision scenes involving electric cars and anything that can charge an electric car to that level, isn't going to do your 12volt batteries much good. 

Ken.

That can't be right.


You could well be right about the capacity of the batteries but they will need to be recharged from a 230vac domestic supply to make owning one practical.

I honestly don't know the answer to that Dave, I'm just advising the OP to check carefully before hooking up a single or double 12v battery to something designed to quickly charge banks of high output EV batteries.

Ken.

Ken, one of us is looking at this wrong.

For an electric car to be of any use it will need to be charged from a domestic 230vac supply irrespective of what voltage the batteries are. I would assume that these charging stations replicate a domestic supply although there may be ways to produce a fast charge. They are essentially a domestic supply, or a distribution box as found on a campsite.

What quilter was suggesting was to look in to using a charging box as a campsite supply, connecting via a hook up lead to the van which will then charge the 12v batteries in the same manner as at a camp site.

It's probably my ignorance of how electricity is delivered, but something set alarm bells ringing and isn't sitting comfortably 

Hi

Interesting, I’ve never even considered electric car chargers so I did a quick search on tinternet.

It sees that the standards are still being developed but it looks as if both 230V AC and 400V DC supplies could be used on the same vehicle:

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That means yes you could plug in to 230V at home but fast charge points could also output 400V DC.

Incidentally 230V AC mains charging point could output 325V DC if needed. I bet when you look into the standard (SAE J1772) things get a lot more complicated - they always do.

Brod

Because of my concerns regarding the issue of attempting to charge our leisure batteries from Electric Vehicle Charging Stations, I emailed a large provider and installer of such equipment and asked the question directly. 

This is their response.....

" Dear Ken, 
 
Further to your enquiry regarding charging your motorhome off of an electric vehicle charging unit. Unfortunately electric vehicle charging points would not be compatible with charging a motor home as they use completely different systems.

Kindest regards,...... "


Out of fairness to the company and employee that responded, I did not warn them that their response would be going on to a public forum, so I will not openly identify them. I'm happy to provide their details privately if anyone would like further information from them.

Their response doesn't suggest that it would be dangerous or damaging, which was my initial thought, but it also doesn't clarify why the two systems are incompatible.

I personally don't know very much about the properties of electricity and wouldn't try to second guess the reasoning, but I wouldn't be risking trying to use such charging points to charge up our leisure batteries.

Ken.

dean01982 wrote:Hi, just looking for some advise, im planning on heading to london on the 29th of december and staying in a 24hr car park for 5 nights as all the caravan club sites are full, just wondering if any one knows of a good way to get the vehicle onto a hook up for a few hrs somewhere? il have to be putting water in from a shell garage but a little worried about the leisure battery lasting, its a small motorhome so can be moved easily enough, car park is right near hyde park. Thabks in advance

I appreciate the sites are full, but it might be worth contacting them anyway to see if they have 'powered' late arrival areas, where they might let you hook up for a small fee.

Wargenwolf wrote:Because of my concerns regarding the issue of attempting to charge our leisure batteries from Electric Vehicle Charging Stations, I emailed a large provider and installer of such equipment and asked the question directly. 

This is their response.....

I think Brodco found the solution. The car MUST be capable of being charged from a 230vac domestic supply, or at least a lightly modified one. Without that option you would have to install a fast charge system at home AND ensure all your friends had one too if you wanted to visit them. However it would appear that they also have a 400vdc fast charge system and this is what the companies supply charge points are giving.