# 110 Volt to 240 Volt Conversion



## 110427

I have an American RV that I imported from the USA. The RV runs on 110 Volts through the shoreline. As am sure you all know UK campsites supply 240 Volts from their utiliy points.

How can I plug my 110 Volt shoreline into a 240 Volt campsite Utility point.

Does anybody have a solution :roll: :roll:


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## Busty

I bought my RV 16mths ago went out to Builders Merchants and bought a 3kw 110 to 240 tool transformer.Being a female i listened to all the old women (men of course) who said it wouldnt work etc. Take no notice it works a treat and i fulltime. You need to change the plugs though i wiggle my attributes and somebodies hubby does it. Kind arnt they.

Busty


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## 90487

madbluemad said:


> IHow can I plug my 110 Volt shoreline into a 240 Volt campsite Utility point.
> Does anybody have a solution :roll: :roll:


Mod: Can this post be moved to the American RV forum?

You will need a proper 240v to 110v transformer and or converter charger.

A builders yellow transformer will do for short periods, but not the right way to do as not suitable for long periods of operation. Your on board batt charger will hum (something to do with 50 cycles instead of 6o cycles USA frequency  ) Also your microwave may not work properly, some are sensitive to the frequency.

Carol


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## johng1974

hi Mad

yep you can just plug the camp site outlet into a 'yellow box' builders transformer..
this will give you 110 in the van.. however, most of us want 110 to power (fridge,AC, battery charger) but also want some 240V for all of our UK extras (kettle, microwave, telly etc etc)

so the norm I think is to have a 240V conversion done.

In my 'old rig' , this is simply a 240V hook up socket on outside of van, to take 240V from campsite etc, inside the van, this power gets split into two, one spur gets converted to 110V (Via yellow step down transformer) - this then goes to van's original 110V cirucits)


the other 240V spur goes to a 240V domestic power unit (with trip fuses etc) from here, onwards to 240v plugs wired into van)

Shouldn't cost you too much to have done.. a few hundred..

there is another alternative.. to have a proper step up/down transformer fitted, this will mean the genny can power your 240 and your 110V if your wild camping and otherwise (on shore power) will be similar to the system above

hope that helps

John


edit :

My van came with a 'yellow', and it itself hums (something to do with plates inside it vibrating, a normal occurence I understand)

Its been switched on for , erm, 16 months with no adverse effects, but I agree with Witch, to be sure, get a decent step up/down as they are really designed for permanent operation...

:lol:


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## olley

Hi a yellow site tranny will work but they only continuously rated at about half their max wattage. So if you intend to run all your 110v stuff including the aircon you may find it gets very hot.

Also unlike a proper tranny it cannot be reverse fed to give you 240v from the 110v genny.

Olley


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## sallytrafic

And if you buy a really big one the inrush current may trip the supply.


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## 110427

All good answers folks. I have bought a yellow 110 to 240 transformer, just need to sought out the plugs this week.

Witch when you say a proper step up step down transformer/inverter do you have an example of one.

I didnt know that you could convert the electric supply from 110 to 240 to power existing 110 appliances and 240 appliance like a telly which is the next project. I guess that there must be companies that will do this work for you.

Thanks everybody


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## johng1974

Mad,
think of it as

240 coming in.

being split into 110V for van
and 240 being used alongside for new household sockets in the van

sorry if my earlier posting makes no sense..


also

you yellow box is a 240 > 110 converter...


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## 110427

It makes perfect sense John. I'm a happier man this afternoon than I have been while thinking about this. :lol:


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## johng1974

good mad, good :lol:

this is what I would think of buying.. to provide 110-240 (on genny) and 240-110 (on site)

here

J


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## 110427

I bought something very similar to this a couple of weeks ago and sent it back the next day because it was not what I thought it was.

As I now have more of an idea I will give it a bit more thought. 

Cheers John


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## johng1974

understood John...

to be honest, I haven't delved to deeply, there are others here with much more knowledge on this stuff :lol: ...

I have not brought a step up/down yet primarily becuase I may throw my genny out.. It takes a load of room, weight, and I really dont think it's worth it..


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