Even a trailer full of appliances is no way going to use as much power as charging a Tesla up.
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Charging EV Car on Camping Site
- Thread starter haohaohao
- Start date
It’s difficult to say. I think with granny charger will go for like 3kwh, but an electric heater itself can be more than that.
It’s the overall consumption though. I guarantee you that almost all campers will use way less in a week than the 60kwh it will take to fill a Tesla.
Cardo
Active Member
I think many caravans have consumer units with 10A breakers. Those campsites that limit you to plugging in via your own caravan/campervan/etc. can essentially limit how much power you use that way. (Though obviously not every campsite lets you plug in, that way). Also, a 3 kW heater running full time in a small space such as a caravan/campervan would turn it into a sauna. A 3 kW heater is more likely to run for a few minutes then cut out until the temperature drops. They wouldn’t be running 24/7. An EV charging even at 2 kW will draw that continuously until it’s topped up, which would use considerably more power than a heater.
Think you hit the nail on the head, it's the current draw that is the issue for the length of time the car needs.
It's always worst case consideration though. I can only speak for me, but I'd probably opt to superchage nearby enroute to campsite, then, use the campsite power to just top up any local touring. Usually you don't go too far from the camp site anyway, so probably can easily top back up to 85% effortlessly without taxing the campsite. It's only a bit of a moral choice if you roll up with your 79kwh battery at 8%.
Great to see some sites kitted out with dedicated high speed chargers though. Things are on the up. Maybe we should all start cherry-picking these sites in a show of approval !
Cardo
Active Member
We should be picking up our trailer tent tomorrow and our first trip out will be to a campsite with Tesla destination chargers. Can’t complain!
I've used this exact connector without problem. I had to enclose it in a plastic bag in case of rain but it did the trick. The rating seems fine and you'll be winding back the charge current to 6 or 7A anyway. I checked periodically and no overheating. My main Tough Leads extension is terminated with a standard UK plug so I needed a cheap, effective option to hook up that up to the campsite connection. There is a better Tough Leads version with a waterproof box but so far I haven't bothered to upgrade to that.
I'd expect more RVs in the US needing large batteries charged up, so likely the sites are more set up for larger loads. In the UK you have tents and smaller caravans with low load equipment so its arguably understandable they don't have more robust electrics (up to now).
pl8dlikafiddle
Member
Doesn’t matter. The point is each receptacle has a rating, and the breaker and wire serving each receptacle is rated for that receptacle.
Are the campsites not indicating how many amperes the receptacle is rated for? If they are, and you’re not exceeding that for your camp site spot, why do they care what’s connected to it?
Doesn’t matter if that’s a 120V/15A hookup or a 240V/50A hookup.
Sockets on a circuit may have an individual rating. Run individually they will be fine at that rating but if all the sockets on that circuit are all run to their maximum rating the circuit itself may well be tripped. When you have a car charge point installed at home part of the process requires an assessment of the total typical draw on the house supply. You may have a main fuse rated at 80amps but this does not allow you run 2x 32amp charge points simultaneously ... because the house is going to be using some of that power elsewhere and it may overload. Same principle on a campsite ... everyone can't be pulling the maximum rating on every hookup at the same time. It doesn't matter that the individual breaker for each hookup can cope because it will be the main supply fuse/breaker that will trip.
poster is from 'Murica so we may end up with a ring main vs spur discussion, and then inevitably compare chips to crisps and point out that biscuits are like scones.
This is more a weakness of our mains system really - you *should* be able to plug in 13amp items into multiple sockets without a worry (although eventually you'd hit the limit of the house supply..)
Yes, I don't know the circuit topography (if that's the correct word) that is used for UK campsite hookups ... I would be surprised if it was done like a UK "ring main"... though my primary point about having to add all the individual socket consumption together and potentially overloading the main supply applies in all cases, I would have thought. (In terms of wiring capacity the ring main allows thinner wiring but so long as the ring isn't broken it's getting power from 2 directions so can have the same capacity as a radial spur with heavier spec cable, all other things being equal.)
pl8dlikafiddle
Member
No need to explain to me - I get it. I’m in the design side of commercial buildings, and continuous loads are always accounted for and hardly ever a trade-off scenario. It seems UK campsites err on the side of minimum infrastructure required (overloaded panels) and make sure those evil EV’s don’t charge at the facility.
Complain about ‘Murica all you want, but at least we’ve got proper camp site hookups.
