Electricity is off

[Alex_Makarov]

I woke up and found that there was no electricity in the caravan. I checked the meter — it was switched off, and the fuse was also in the off position.

I turned the fuse back on. The meter switched on and showed my credit (20 units remaining), but the electricity still does not work.

I checked all the external connections and also checked the fuse box inside the caravan. Everything looks OK.

What should I check next? Do you have any ideas or suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

 

[borderbilly]

Put a shilling in

 

[IanB1485]

you will need either an electrician or a non contact voltage tester -(stick) which when placed near a live wire will indicate whether 240V is present , (See photo) Also you may need to check with site owner in case their MCB back in the distribution board is OK , If another caravan is hooked up close by ask them to plug into your 'post's outlet to see if it is working.
Also inspect both ends of the hookup cable looking for damage as something has popped the post's fuse .If the supply to your caravan is intact then the EDU (distribution system) inside may have tripped again, both the RCD and MCB need to be on , Once you restored the power on the post , the fault inside the caravan may have tripped again.

 

[Martin_E]

Not all MCB’s drop when they are tripped, some look like they are still up, so it’s best practice to turn the MCB off then back on again to make sure, then press the test button to see if the MCB trips out again, if it does reset it and check the sockets again

 

[Woodentop]

I woke up and found that there was no electricity in the caravan. I checked the meter — it was switched off, and the fuse was also in the off position.

I turned the fuse back on. The meter switched on and showed my credit (20 units remaining), but the electricity still does not work.

I checked all the external connections and also checked the fuse box inside the caravan. Everything looks OK.

What should I check next? Do you have any ideas or suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

I think a little explanation may help.
The power box will consist of one residual current device or RCD and three electronic 'fuses' called miniature circuit breakers or MCBs.
The RCD monitors that there is no current escaping through a route other than any appliance etc connected to it - like a human - and will switch off at 30mA (0.03A) of fault current usually in less than 25mS (milliseconds.) The switch part of the RCD carries ALL mains into the caravan and will be rated at 25A minimum or even 40A or 63A dependent upon the manufacturers design.
The MCB ratings vary according to application. The mains sockets in the caravan will be fed through a 16A MCB; the water heater will also be fed through another 16A MCB; the battery charger and fridge will be run through a 6A MCB. An MCB is simply a resettable fuse - a switch rather then a piece of fuse wire.
The electricity supply source will also run through an RCD or MCB in the pillar or in a multi-user power box.

What puzzles me is your reference to a meter. Are you talking of a supply usage meter for monetary charging, or do you mean a voltmeter showing the battery state?

For the record the fuses (in the recess at the bottom of the power box in the photo) are only for the 12V circuits. In many vans there is also a small fuse block at the front under one of the front seats/bunks which protect the cables carrying power for battery charging and the fridge from the towing vehicle. The caravan external road lights are independently fused.

HTH.

I'll fetch me coat...........................

 

[IanB1485]

@Martin_E , MCB's don't have 'test' buttons on them, you're confusing RCD s and RCBO s with MCB's .
In the 40+ years working with MCB s both domestic and industrial I've never ever known a lever on an MCB fail to move to the OFF position when the contact(s) have gone open circuit.In fact its the thermal /bimetallic bar which presses on the lever and over centre spring which opens the contacts. I have however seen several RCD's on caravans fail to trip when tested with a calibrated RCD tester , The trip mechanism which consists of an over centre spring and lever arrangement which become partially seized which resists the pull of the internal relay if not operated regularly by the 'Test' button ( as detailed on the RCD) . The type of RCD fitted in caravans and domestic consumer units will only trip using the Test button if it has both live and neutral present on the input , these are known as passive types and they have the advantage that they are a quick check of whether mains is present at their input , press the test if it doesn't trip then there is no mains present.

 

[Mr Plodd]

Is this a touring, or static caravan? I suspect static due to the mention of a meter having credit on it. Could be wrong of course.

 

[Martin_E]

@Martin_E , MCB's don't have 'test' buttons on them, you're confusing RCD s and RCBO s with MCB's .
In the 40+ years working with MCB s both domestic and industrial I've never ever known a lever on an MCB fail to move to the OFF position when the contact(s) have gone open circuit.In fact its the thermal /bimetallic bar which presses on the lever and over centre spring which opens the contacts. I have however seen several RCD's on caravans fail to trip when tested with a calibrated RCD tester , The trip mechanism which consists of an over centre spring and lever arrangement which become partially seized which resists the pull of the internal relay if not operated regularly by the 'Test' button ( as detailed on the RCD) . The type of RCD fitted in caravans and domestic consumer units will only trip using the Test button if it has both live and neutral present on the input , these are known as passive types and they have the advantage that they are a quick check of whether mains is present at their input , press the test if it doesn't trip then there is no mains present.

Doh sorry I did mean RCD’s don’t always drop

 

[Alex_Makarov]

I think a little explanation may help.
The power box will consist of one residual current device or RCD and three electronic 'fuses' called miniature circuit breakers or MCBs.
The RCD monitors that there is no current escaping through a route other than any appliance etc connected to it - like a human - and will switch off at 30mA (0.03A) of fault current usually in less than 25mS (milliseconds.) The switch part of the RCD carries ALL mains into the caravan and will be rated at 25A minimum or even 40A or 63A dependent upon the manufacturers design.
The MCB ratings vary according to application. The mains sockets in the caravan will be fed through a 16A MCB; the water heater will also be fed through another 16A MCB; the battery charger and fridge will be run through a 6A MCB. An MCB is simply a resettable fuse - a switch rather then a piece of fuse wire.
The electricity supply source will also run through an RCD or MCB in the pillar or in a multi-user power box.

What puzzles me is your reference to a meter. Are you talking of a supply usage meter for monetary charging, or do you mean a voltmeter showing the battery state?

For the record the fuses (in the recess at the bottom of the power box in the photo) are only for the 12V circuits. In many vans there is also a small fuse block at the front under one of the front seats/bunks which protect the cables carrying power for battery charging and the fridge from the towing vehicle. The caravan external road lights are independently fused.

HTH.

I'll fetch me coat...........................

Is this a touring, or static caravan? I suspect static due to the mention of a meter having credit on it. Could be wrong of course.

Touring

 

[Alex_Makarov]

I think a little explanation may help.
The power box will consist of one residual current device or RCD and three electronic 'fuses' called miniature circuit breakers or MCBs.
The RCD monitors that there is no current escaping through a route other than any appliance etc connected to it - like a human - and will switch off at 30mA (0.03A) of fault current usually in less than 25mS (milliseconds.) The switch part of the RCD carries ALL mains into the caravan and will be rated at 25A minimum or even 40A or 63A dependent upon the manufacturers design.
The MCB ratings vary according to application. The mains sockets in the caravan will be fed through a 16A MCB; the water heater will also be fed through another 16A MCB; the battery charger and fridge will be run through a 6A MCB. An MCB is simply a resettable fuse - a switch rather then a piece of fuse wire.
The electricity supply source will also run through an RCD or MCB in the pillar or in a multi-user power box.

What puzzles me is your reference to a meter. Are you talking of a supply usage meter for monetary charging, or do you mean a voltmeter showing the battery state?

For the record the fuses (in the recess at the bottom of the power box in the photo) are only for the 12V circuits. In many vans there is also a small fuse block at the front under one of the front seats/bunks which protect the cables carrying power for battery charging and the fridge from the towing vehicle. The caravan external road lights are independently fused.

HTH.

I'll fetch me coat...........................

The campsite has pay as you go system, so I have a meter outside the caravan showing my balance/credit

 

[Woodentop]

Wow! That's sophisticated and honest - unlike most places that I have come across with metered supply where you have to take the site's word on the charges with no info on amount used or cost per unit.

 

[RogerL]

Wow! That's sophisticated and honest - unlike most places that I have come across with metered supply where you have to take the site's word on the charges with no info on amount used or cost per unit.

I've only used a handful of sites with metered electric but all had the meter on the hook-up point so I was able to see how much was used each day - in each case the unit rate was agreed on arrival.

 

[birdman101]

We have been in many sites that have charged meter supplies especially over the last 3 years and everyone of them had a small window which you could read what credit you had, Then reading before reception closed for the evening you could if required get a top up if you thought it may run out during the night.Also when leaving the pitch the card was swiped at the Bollard,and receptions gave any refund unused,

 

[Andy Norfolk]

Have you checked there is no issue on the site? I once spent a lot of time when I lost power, trying to find a problem in the van. The bollard looked ok but it turned out it was a site problem.

 

[Martin_E]

The Old Oaks in Glastonbury have metered pitches, you can view what you have used via an app. It seems to work fairly well, they had a couple of teething problems to start with, I think it was partly an app issue and partly a user issue.

 

[Woodentop]

In that case NEVER use Kockelscheuer in Luxembourg. Its all electronic there with no user visibility of the charging. They charged us €12.5 per day for 2½ day stay- and that was over probably 15 years ago! (If we hade stayed only two days the electricity costs would have been included.)
Grrrr........