Engine start on EHU.

Celticbiker wrote:Regarding driving off with the EHU connected.
This was one of the first things I saw as a potential problem and one I cannot believe has not been addressed by manufacturers.
Over the winter I'll be rigging a micro switch activated by the lid of the EHU door so that if the engine is started with the EHU connected, a buzzer will sound in the cab.

A couple of years or so back, I thought we had a kitten trapped behind the dash under the glove box as it kept making an intermittent mewling noise. Finally traced it to the alarm buzzer for the rear door step! Waggling the wires I could reach from the footwell stopped it for a while but it eventually came back so rather than have to dismantle the dashboard I cut the wires and taped the ends off. We've only twice nearly driven off with the step down since but we can see it clearly in the door mirror so we noticed and stopped straight away anyway!

Celticbiker wrote:Regarding driving off with the EHU connected.
This was one of the first things I saw as a potential problem and one I cannot believe has not been addressed by manufacturers.
Over the winter I'll be rigging a micro switch activated by the lid of the EHU door so that if the engine is started with the EHU connected, a buzzer will sound in the cab.

That's a good idea.

I had planned to insert an inline Commando plug/socket pair about a foot below where the EHU plugs into the side of the van, and file off the little lug on the inline pair to allow them to pull free from one another. While this would be fine in my garage, I'm not sure I would be confident that a plug/socket pair hanging vertically would be rainproof enough for use outdoors (and I think most sites would not allow it if they were aware of what you were doing).

An alternative might be to find a supply in the van that is supplied via EHU even with the ignition is on, and wire in a relay so that a cab buzzer sounds if both that and an ignition-controlled vehicle circuit are live at the same time. For example I was surprised to find that all of the 240 sockets in the van stay live even with the ignition on (I thought that they were supposed to be controlled so that they turned off, but apparently not) so it should be simple enough to use the power from one of those.

On our van there is a warning alarm that is activated if the ignition is turned on while the automatic step is deployed. I would think a similar warning could be applied to a mains cable being left connected. On the original question, i spoke to Sargent, the power system supplier, who said disconnect the EHU before starting the engine. I did'nt ask however if this applied to all systems.
Thank's for all the replies, some useful information and good suggestions.

Chris.

Surprised at the number of people who have driven off with the mains lead still plugged in! Never happened to me and never will as 1) I always walk round the van before leaving any site and 2) the leads don't come cheap!

Only thing i'm forever doing before driving off is forgetting to lock the fridge door, so I drive off and the first corner the fridge door swings open and everything falls on the floor!

My van is fitted with a Heki rooflight and I did once drive off with that up. Didn't get far before there was an almighty bang as the thing crashed down on the roof (thought the car behind had run into me actually!). Fortunately no damage done....those Heki rooflights seem to be pretty well made.

boxerman wrote:I've started ours up while still on EHU without any problems, but our '95 van doesn't have any of the fancy circuitry that Roger mentions.

Frank

Are you certain about that? I have worked in Auto Electrics for years - pre the solid state wizardry we used to do the same thing with Relays. A single pull in relay using the oil pressure light wire works - although it may cause the oil p lamp to glow dimly. The batteries are isolated until the oil p light goes out ie the engine is running.
Some people wire to the ignition wire - the problem is you may be linking a very flat battery to your charged cranking battery.

Of course the modern wizardry now only costs about just over a tenner
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So it is hardly worth doing the old fashioned Relay solution decent relay about £6
Jon

Sorry John, I've no idea what you are tying to tell me!

Frank

Bulletguy wrote:

Only thing i'm forever doing before driving off is forgetting to lock the fridge door, so I drive off and the first corner the fridge door swings open and everything falls on the floor!

I've driven off without locking fridge umpteen times, worst occasion was when cans of beer came tumbling & one burst, spraying the inside of the 'van.

Years ago, when I first got the 'van, reversing out of my back garden, I heard a couple of banging noises. when I got out to investigate I realised I hadn't taken the wifes washing line down & the two back skylights had been removed. Luckily I hadn't got to the Heki!

Three years years ago, in Spain sitting outside the van we heard this enormous crash, I'd lowered the glass lid without turning one of the burners out. We are still finding bits of glass in the most unlikely places.

I can honestly say I've never driven off when connected to EHU but only for the reason that I never go to campsites, I only wild camp.

We ought to start a thread titled "The Most Stupid Things I have Ever Done"