# Idiot question of the year - electric hook up



## ihatework (13 April 2012)

.. forgive the questions, I'm not even blonde 

So Electric hook up, in laymans terms ..

How does it work?
How easy is it to install in a day living minus such luxury?
Approx how much to have installed?
Would it mean I could do exciting things like turn on a light, plug in a heater and boil a kettle?!!!


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## Nicnac (13 April 2012)

I am blond  but have 2 batteries on the lorry side by side.  One is a leisure battery that powers lights etc. in the living and the other helps the old jalopy to lope along i.e makes the wheels go round.  

When I got it converted many years ago, a frame was built under the lorry (behind the front wheel passenger side) to hold both batteries.

Not technically perfect but hope it answers the question (I guess you could have a car battery inside the living like with a caravan that would power your living bits)


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## crabbymare (13 April 2012)

Basically its a sort of extension lead that plugs into a socket provided by the showground and goes to the electric input for the living of the lorry. Straightforward to have fitted and yes it gives you nearly all the comforts of home


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## dieseldog (13 April 2012)

The really cheap way to do it is to just buy an electric hookup cable that you would use for a tent.  They are about £30.

You would probably have to be careful you don't overload it and if you had it installed properly into your lorry it would probably involve fuse boxes etc.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/articles/view.asp?id=81


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## ajn1610 (13 April 2012)

The electric hook up AFAIA is the 'charging' system for the leisure battery. It's basically a big extension lead and socket that you plug into the mains to juice up. Most lorries have 2 batteries as described above. The are isolated to prevent the leisure battery draining the driving one. We have electric in the lorry for lights, a blow heater, water heater, water pump, tv etc. The oven is gas still. The battery is fine for short periods of use but if you are planning on staying away you will need either a generator or access to  hook up to provide enough power. 
As far as cost I have no idea! I guess it would depend on what you already had in place and what you wanted to run off it. Ditto in terms of ease of conversion because of wiring etc.


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## ihatework (13 April 2012)

Thats sounding positive then, hopefully a horsebox place could do it for me.

I think it has a lot in place already - certainly has a gas hob, and light switchs and a water pump (although none of them work!!!) - so it would hopefully be a case of just replacing batteries & gas bottle, installing the hook up gear and hopefully a couple of internal plug sockets too.

While I'm at it I may try and get an external horse shower fitted


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## measles (13 April 2012)

Our 7.5t lorry didn't have a hook up facility when we bought it - it had been an event lorry & only the on board generator was needed in fields - and OH quickly installed a facility to hook up. 

One tip - get 3 times the length of cable you think you might need as we've had to park a fair distance from the power source at shows.


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## Rambo (13 April 2012)

Electric hookup is just a fancy extension lead. Anything your lorry has in it now is irrelevant as it will all be 12v. You can install mains hookup for about £80...you will need a mains input socket fitted to you lorry, a 16a fusebox and a ring main with a few domestic sockets attached..plus the hookup cable itself. This will give you capability to have mains power sockets in the lorry and run simple things like a kettle,tv, microwave and electroc radiator. You could also power the mains with a cheap generator. Your lights would still run off yhe 12v battery unless you installed a seperate lighting circuit.

All very easy to do 



 Yperator


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