Wednesday 30 May 2012

240v Electrics, Inverters and Relays

Loads of space for a second Battery installed with the Lucas 35amp relay (blue box) That engine bay could do with a clean.
I am never going to be running a plasma TV or Xbox in the bus but thought it essential we have a 240v socket for mobile phone/sat nav charging on the move. I thought i would need a 'Leisure' battery that holds a charge longer than a normal car battery, however asking all the bus owners i know was confident that a second hand car battery would do the trick for my less demanding power needs.

300w Inverter mounted under the bench seats
 So a second hand Bosch battery (£15 on ebay) a 35Amp Lucas relay (£10, ebay) and a 300w Inverter from Maplins (with USB input) was all i needed. I ran the power leads to the inverter behind the rear bench seats and through the drain plug under the spare wheel mount into the engine bay.

That was easy enough but i was not to keen on frying things installing it myself so took it to Eastern Auto Spares in Nacton Ipswich who wired it all in and put in additional fuses to prevent overloading.

We now have a USB powered bus!