In search of more power!

Adding accessories in your van can be a lot simpler with a bit of planning - and a fuse box, says Nigel Donnelly

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PENNY IS STARTING to work just like a proper little caravan. We have fixed a few problems, installed a replacement fridge and generally made her a far nicer place to be.

But there are a few things that would make her even more comfortable and usable.

All of these new features will need a power supply, and wiring each one straight to the battery quickly becomes messy.

We've tidied up the cabling with busbars, but adding our router last month highlighted another upgrade worth making.

Power struggle

The router is a good example of a 12V accessory and the problem we have when adding features to the caravan.

The router doesn’t actually draw much power - less than 1A - so it could have shared an existing circuit. But that means several devices might share one fuse, making it harder to trace problems if something goes wrong. We've also got some other accessories planned with a heavier current draw, so having a safe, expandable set-up makes sense.

In the case of the router, it needs a 12V supply hooked up to work. This means running a cable back to a power source.

Any power source needs to have a fuse to protect the circuit. That means a cable back to the battery with an inline fuse is the requirement.

The difficulty with inline fuses is that you need to know where they are. That's not a problem for me, but the van's next owner might come to hate me if fuses are dotted all over the van or buried in a locker and they are trying to figure out why something isn't working.