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240V in-vehicle supply - is it good? & HOW TO GET YOUR PLUG TO SIT FLAT

Johnny Rocket

Johnny Rocket

VIP Member
Messages
218
Location
Horsell
Vehicle
T6.1 Ocean 150
Hi folks.

I was not aware that my August 2021 California 6.1 had an inverter but a trial plugging in of a camera battery charger to the 3-pin socket on the centre-side of the driver’s seat suggests that it does!

Which kind of makes sense now given discussions I’d seen before of how well the synthesised AC wave matches a sinusoid or not, and in consequence whether using it might jigger the equipment you connect to it?

Anyway, I plugged in my (Canon EOS-R) camera battery charger and a green light comes on at the socket and the charger lights up, so something’s clearly happening - the question is, should I trust it to charge rather than to wreck the camera battery?!

Thanks all, from the dunes at Biville!

John


image.jpg
 
That’s really what it’s for. I think 300w of ac power. Obviously not going to power a kettle but powering a tv or charging phones etc it’s perfect.
 
Ok, but be warned - that is not a pure sine wave and can fry delicate electronics. (yup, it fried a fan that I had got to use in warmer climes) I would not use it for a camera battery charger ... but then, I am talking about a T6. Maybe they made it better on the 6.1?

Edit: it has been OK for laptop charging as the laptop chargers are built much better to handle bad power.
 
I'm disappointed, I've just looked at mine (2020 Coast) and the socket is Euro style 2 pin only :(
 
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Reactions: Sad
chockswahay said:
I'm disappointed, I've just looked at mine (2020 Coast) and the socket is Euro style 2 pin only :(
Click to expand...
Always has been the case. Plenty of threads on adapters to use it.
 
chockswahay said:
Oh :( but the one in the video above is 3 Pin ??
Click to expand...
You’re correct .It does appear to be a 3 pin U.K. socket. Maybe they changed it for the 21/22 Model Year. If they have, it hasn’t been mentioned before.
 
OK, many thanks all; battery is charging well, nothing’s hot let alone frying yet (although I won’t leave it unattended for a good while yet, given everyone’s comments)!

For the record / interest, this is what I have on my vehicle on the near side of the driver’s seat base:

26878ADE-22CE-4272-BD74-63E0AEBB0C01.jpeg
 
Camera battery charged, no ozone fumes or stench of molten plastic; (photographer) daughter happy - result!

AND my cabin heater is still working, and the roof still goes up and down . . . we’re getting the hang of this lark.
 
We have fried both an electric toothbrush and a heated electric blanket. I wouldn’t ever trust this poor ac outlet again. VW could learn a lot from the likes of Bluetti or Ecoflow who make great battery generators or Victron for integrated leisure / off grid systems.
 
Afternoon all.

I’m kind of wondering to what extent the risk of frying your appliance is dependent on whether or not said device runs straight off the synthesised 240V AC, or if, instead, and as was the case for me last night, there is something like a charger / transformer in between - it could be that the rectification circuits and other electronics in a charger / transformer might be able to mitigate VW’s approximation of a proper sine wave (and whatever other errors there are), and so still provide decent DC output for charging a battery, although it doesn’t then mean that the charger itself might still not then fry (I kept checking both the charger and the battery last night to be sure neither got unduly hot).

I’m just a humble mech / general engineer, so when I’m home I’ll ask an electrical / electronics engineer friend what he reckons, and maybe we’ll put a ‘scope on the supply to see how ‘true’ it is to 240V 50Hz AC.

Sorry if this subject has already been done a thousand times before, but I’ve had limited connectivity these last few days, and so could not easily thoroughly research the subject on the forum before asking!

John.
 
Johnny Rocket said:
I’m just a humble mech / general engineer, so when I’m home I’ll ask an electrical / electronics engineer friend what he reckons, and maybe we’ll put a ‘scope on the supply to see how ‘true’ it is to 240V 50Hz AC.
Click to expand...
It would be good if you could, as far as I can see the problems have been with the 150watt wall mounted inverter fitted to T6 and earlier.
You've got the new T6.1 300w seat mounted inverter.
 
OK, thanks Andy, so maybe I AM blazing a trail of new discovery after all!?

The only other 3-pin power point I have so far come across in our bus is high up at the forward end of the galley unit, behind the front passenger seat backrest, which I believe is only live when on a hook-up - is that your understanding, and / or should I be looking for anything else in the way of 240V outlets anywhere?

Sorry for sounding like a bit of a clueless joker here - we’ve had this vehicle since August, but honestly have barely used it since, nor tried much stuff out, given that I was pressganged by my daughter to do her conversion before we were ‘allowed out’ ;-/. Most of my knowledge comes from the 2019 vehicle we rented last July for three weeks in the Orkneys, which then resulted in us buying on our return!

John.
 
Johnny Rocket said:
OK, thanks Andy, so maybe I AM blazing a trail of new discovery after all!?

The only other 3-pin power point I have so far come across in our bus is high up at the forward end of the galley unit, behind the front passenger seat backrest, which I believe is only live when on a hook-up - is that your understanding, and / or should I be looking for anything else in the way of 240V outlets anywhere?

Sorry for sounding like a bit of a clueless joker here - we’ve had this vehicle since August, but honestly have barely used it since, nor tried much stuff out, given that I was pressganged by my daughter to do her conversion before we were ‘allowed out’ ;-/. Most of my knowledge comes from the 2019 vehicle we rented last July for three weeks in the Orkneys, which then resulted in us buying on our return!

John.
Click to expand...
The socket you mentioned, on the kitchen unit, is only powered when on EHU.
 
Thanks; I’ve never killed time so thoroughly profitably on a ferry before!
 
  • Haha
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Johnny Rocket said:
Hi folks.

I was not aware that my August 2021 California 6.1 had an inverter but a trial plugging in of a camera battery charger to the 3-pin socket on the centre-side of the driver’s seat suggests that it does!

Which kind of makes sense now given discussions I’d seen before of how well the synthesised AC wave matches a sinusoid or not, and in consequence whether using it might jigger the equipment you connect to it?

Anyway, I plugged in my (Canon EOS-R) camera battery charger and a green light comes on at the socket and the charger lights up, so something’s clearly happening - the question is, should I trust it to charge rather than to wreck the camera battery?!

Thanks all, from the dunes at Biville!

John


View attachment 90626
Click to expand...
We have a 6.1 Coast our plug is a 3 pin but I tend to charge my camera (Fuji XT3) using https://www.cambrianphoto.co.uk/products/hahnel-powercube-wireless-charger.
 
Johnny Rocket said:
Hi folks.

I was not aware that my August 2021 California 6.1 had an inverter but a trial plugging in of a camera battery charger to the 3-pin socket on the centre-side of the driver’s seat suggests that it does!

Which kind of makes sense now given discussions I’d seen before of how well the synthesised AC wave matches a sinusoid or not, and in consequence whether using it might jigger the equipment you connect to it?

Anyway, I plugged in my (Canon EOS-R) camera battery charger and a green light comes on at the socket and the charger lights up, so something’s clearly happening - the question is, should I trust it to charge rather than to wreck the camera battery?!

Thanks all, from the dunes at Biville!

John


View attachment 90626
Click to expand...
I don't know what an inverter is, but the socket by the drivers seat works fine for powering small chargers and powering laptops. Nothing wrecked so far! Jan 2021 Cali 6.1.
 
From what I remember from the California Chris video, the inverter on the newer 6.1s is a 3 pin and now 230v. Previous models were less vs but I can't remember how much less.
That might explain why previously its damaged equipment but isn't doing so now.
 
Trudi said:
From what I remember from the California Chris video, the inverter on the newer 6.1s is a 3 pin and now 230v. Previous models were less vs but I can't remember how much less.
That might explain why previously its damaged equipment but isn't doing so now.
Click to expand...
The inverter takes the 12v DC Power and changes it to 230v AC this is true of any California with an inverter. The difference with the T6.1 is the inverter is now capable of running a device up to 300w where as in the T6 and earlier models it was only 150w.
It was a 2 pin euro style socket but now it’s a uk 3 pin in the T6.1.
 
OK, thanks very much indeed for everyone's contributions.

I think based on the evidence, the thoughts of my electrical engineer friend (who has similar equipment on a boat), and of my own experience admittedly with just one appliance so far, I am going to consider the driver's seat AC mains supply as 'good' for all uses from here on.

What I haven't done yet is to look to see what (if anything) the manual says about the intention and recommended use and / or restrictions for this power point - I will do this as a final check* (which should have been my first port of call I guess!).

*OK, reading of VW owner's manual now completed too - in summary, and as someone(s) said above, 'it's a proper 300W mains supply - get on and use it as such'!

Thanks; JS.
 
So, am I the only one with a 300w 2 pin socket on a T6.1 Coast? :(
 
Mr T said:
The difference with the T6.1 is the inverter is now capable of running a device up to 300w where as in the T6 and earlier models it was only 150w.
It was a 2 pin euro style socket but now it’s a uk 3 pin in the T6.1.
Click to expand...
Other major difference is up to T6 it was on the B pillar behind the passenger seat at the end of the kitchen, T6.1 its on the drivers seat base by the handbrake.
 
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