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Sat Mar 10, 2018 3:18 pm

next question.

what's the story with the power input and out put on this European 1995 T4 Transporter with Westfalia kit?

I have never been to a campground with ... what is it called?... power supply? hookup?

Anyway, what do North American power hookups look like? what kind of power do they offer?

My camper has this socket on the outside:

and it has a 220V socket on the inside. (which is obviously fairly useless )

Does this internal socket only function when hooked up to an external power supply?

So what modifications should I be thinking of for North American use? (besides solar panels, which is under consideration, but is a seperate project)

Sat Mar 10, 2018 4:50 pm

pjstock wrote: next question.

what's the story with the power input and out put on this European 1995 T4 Transporter with Westfalia kit?

I have never been to a campground with ... what is it called?... power supply? hookup?

Anyway, what do North American power hookups look like? what kind of power do they offer?

My camper has this socket on the outside:

That is a 16A Commando plug. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60309
Quote:
and it has a 220V socket on the inside. (which is obviously fairly useless )

Does this internal socket only function when hooked up to an external power supply?

Almost certainly. I doubt very much there would be an inverter fitted.
Quote:
So what modifications should I be thinking of for North American use? (besides solar panels, which is under consideration, but is a seperate project)
I'd leave the external plug alone, and make up a patch cord: 3-pin US type to Commando socket. - almost certainly you'll want a 'blue' socket. Internally just change out the EU socket with a US one. All fuses and breakers etc can probably stay the same, though they may be lower current than you'd might wish.

Sat Mar 10, 2018 5:02 pm

fxr wrote:
Almost certainly. I doubt very much there would be an inverter fitted.

Be very careful, Westfalia installed both 120v to 12v inverters and 220v to 12v inverters on the T4 and Westfalia Sprinter James Cook. Do not just replace the 220v plugs with 120v without confirming the wiring.

The Eurovan Westfalia has a compressor fridge onboard that runs off battery power. Westfalia installed an inverter power supply and battery maintainer to keep the Eurovan batteries happy when parked.

Busdepot used to sell this accessory to the Vanagon crowd years ago before the supply ran out. There was a few threads on the part here as well.

Sat Mar 10, 2018 5:24 pm

Here is the thread

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=371339

https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19717

Sat Mar 10, 2018 5:56 pm

Thanks for stating that - though I'd call a 120 - 12V device a charger (or converter) not an inverter. Inverters do the 'inverse' - they step the voltage up rather than the usual stepping down. Chargers (going from say 220V to 12V) normally are dual voltage these days aren't they? Perhaps back in '95 they still had transformers in them rather than being switch-mode.

But yes, check for that!

Sat Mar 10, 2018 9:41 pm

This thread belongs on the Eurovan forum!

Sun Mar 11, 2018 12:12 am

Harrumph, this is an outrage!

Sun Mar 11, 2018 12:39 pm

Zeitgeist 13 wrote: Harrumph, this is an outrage! Why? Moving this question from the Vanagon forum to here where it belongs helps the low posting rate!

Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:11 pm

so, if a north american campsite has 110v service and I plugged that via a patch cord inito the van, would that not send 110v power to the socket on the interior?
Or is it not that simple?

Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:35 pm

hook up 110v on the outside and use a meter to test the inside to see if you are getting the same.

Tue Jul 07, 2020 9:57 pm

I know this post is old, but for the benefit of anyone else who needs this info:

The battery charger below the fridge in my '95 Canadian Westfalia says on it that it takes input from 110 -- 220, same as many electronics sold globally these days.

If this is true of yours, you should be able to just use simple US <==> european adapters without doing any power conversion yourself: the battery charger will properly convert either 110. or 220 correctly to charge the battery. The power outlet in your photo is just a direct pass-thru from the shore power, so if you plug into 110 at the campground, you will get 110 from the european socket inside the van.