How To Wire 110 Volt And 12 Volt Dc Control Panel

Guide To All-In-One 12 Volt Wiring Kits

CBE PC 110 Digital Control Panel Kit

£350.00

CBE PC 210 Digital Command Panel Kit (1)

£422.81

CBE PC 380 Digital Control Panel Kit

£450.00

Sargent EC155 + EC50 Power Control Organisation Kit (K155A)

£319.93

Sargent EC160 Power Supply Unit of measurement - Black - Horizontal Layout

£224.69

All-in-one 12 volt wiring kits are extremely popular with a lot of newcomers to DIY campervan or motorhome conversions. These are oftentimes seen as an easy starting point for many installations every bit they typically coming pre-wired with terminals crimped and all the other equipment needed to get you started with a 12 volt electrical prepare-upward. However, fifty-fifty though they are designed to simply plug-&-play at that place are certain things to be aware of. In this guide nosotros will review the items that are typically found in these popular installation kits and await at some of the things to consider when buying one.

What'south typically found in a wiring kit?

Firstly, we will run through the kinds of items you may find in a 12V system wiring kit & explain a footling virtually how these items fit to create your electrical gear up-up.

Distribution Box - Typically the nervus centre of the kit that connects to your bombardment and safely manages all loads (circuits) and charging sources in your organization
Consumer Unit - Allows y'all to connect safely to 240V AC by protecting connected circuits from overload
Mains Battery Charger - For recharging your 12V battery when continued to 240V Air-conditioning
VSR - For charging your leisure bombardment from the alternator when the vehicle'south engine is running
Command Console - This allows y'all to control certain parts of the organization such every bit lights, pumps etc. & see data such equally battery voltages, water levels etc.
Cable - Ordinarily ready-made, pre-terminated harnesses for interconnecting the individual components
Water tank probes - To mensurate make clean and/or waste product water tank levels

This is an example of a typical kit and the contents might differ, so we recommend always checking the with the supplier before purchasing to make sure y'all are happy that the kit is going to encounter your needs.

The Distribution Box

The nerve eye for the kit manages all power in & out of your batteries and provides any panels with information. These boxes may contain built-in fuses to provide protection and come up pre-labelled for specific uses such as lights, pumps, fridges etc. Connections for both the starter & leisure batteries allow the distribution box to send and receive power to both batteries. Connections to your 12 volt equipment will oft be fabricated past plugging in a connector on the supplied wiring harnesses to a matching connector block in the distribution box, pregnant connections should be quick, piece of cake and error-proofed.

Consumer Unit

This may be built into the distribution box or provided as a separate piece of hardware, depending on the manufacturer of the kit. The consumer unit will permit you lot to claw up to a 240V mains feed safely & will come up with built-in excursion breakers & an RCD. These will allow you to install 3-pivot sockets and hardwire any mains battery charger provided with the kit (oft via the supplied wiring harness). This unit is all-time fitted past a qualified electrician due to the condom requirements involved when installing 240V equipment.

Mains Bombardment Charger

Once continued to your consumer unit of measurement or distribution box, the charger volition keep your leisure bombardment topped up when connected to 240V. These chargers will come up in one size and then it is worth making sure its output is suitable for the battery or batteries you intend to install. The rule of pollex for lead-acrid batteries is for the charger'south output in Amps to be no more than 20% of the battery's capacity in Ah, e.grand. a max. 20A charger for 100Ah bombardment. Chargers provided as part of a kit are also typically very basic and not suitable for all battery chemistries, so if you are looking at lithium batteries at present or in the hereafter you would demand to bandy this basic model out for whatsoever more avant-garde mains bombardment charger purchased separately. To read up more than on mains battery charging read our noesis centre commodity here

VSR (Voltage-Sensitive Relay)

A voltage Sensitive Relay is typically integrated into these systems to charge the leisure bombardment when the engine is running (or when another charging source is present on either bombardment, e.k. mains charger or solar charger). Unfortunately, these are not suitable with newer Euro 5 or vi complaint vehicles or mixed battery chemistries (eastward.g. pb-acid starter and lithium leisure). In these instances, a DC-DC (Battery-to-Battery) charger would need to be installed which may crave some bypassing of the VSR arrangement in the kit, and details would be provided past the manufacturer.

Control Console

A control panel supplied every bit part of a kit would allow you to activate and deactivate certain parts of the system, based on their configuration. Typically, these would be lights, pumps, fridge etc. notwithstanding, different options may be bachelor depending on the manufacturer and kit type. The panel may also include some blazon of battery monitoring organization, such as a voltmeter, to show the bombardment's country of accuse, or tank level meters for any fresh and/or waste product water tank systems the kit is compatible with.

Cablevision & Connectors

Kits will unremarkably include a whole harness to connect everything together which will take connector blocks and terminals already pre-installed. This enables very rapid connectedness of the 12 volt equipment to the distribution box which is piece of cake and with little room for errors. These cables are oftentimes sized specifically to the length provided so extensions would likely require an increase in cablevision size to forbid voltage drib.

Important things to continue in mind when buying a 12 volt installation kit

To help you when looking at wiring kits online here are a few simply things to go along in mind when purchasing an all-in-one system...

Is the kit suitable for my vehicle? (Is my vehicle Euro 5/6 and, if and then, can I add a DC-DC charger?)
Are the charging systems in the kit suitable for my battery chemistry?
Is the charger the correct size for my battery?
Does the control console have the features I crave?
Is the supplied harness long enough or will I need to extend the cables?

Every 12 volt installation kit will come up with detailed manuals to help guide you through each step of the installation. These wiring kits can be excellent for kickoff-time users, peculiarly those with Euro 4 or older vans who are looking for an easy & simple set-up, only owners of newer vehicles should look advisedly at the kit specifications to bank check that information technology will be compatible with their setup.

We hope you have found this guide helpful but should y'all require whatever further help please exercise non hesitate to arrive impact with our team.

Disclaimer

The information contained in these articles is provided in skilful organized religion and we practise our all-time to ensure that it is accurate and upwards to date, however, we cannot be held responsible for any impairment or loss arising from the use or mis-use of this information or from whatever errors or omissions. The installer is ultimately responsible for the safe of the system and then if you lot are in any dubiety, delight consult a qualified electrician.

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