DavidBrown Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Thought we would take the van out for an over night trip in north wales yesterday stayed at a nice little campsite we have stayed at several times before. So we do the usual and have electric hook up ect... In the morning I go to pack up the van and unplug the electric hook up lead and it won't unplug from the van, anyway spent about 20 mins trying to get the plug out and wouldn't budge so I decided to unscrew the plug on the lead too find that the neutral wire had somehow by the looks of it gotten rather hot and melt the plastic casing around itself and melted the plastic of the plug over the pin which was stopping it being removed 8-) . After going to reception asking to borrow a screw driver (which I really must remember to carry in the van next time) and speaking with a member of staff who was a ex electrician and telling him what happened as we just wanted to let him know in case it damaged the campsite connection. He said obviously it wouldn't of been the campsite connection as it would of melted that end not the van end and as seeing it was the van end it must be a fault with the van or lead, which we quite agree with. But anyway my partner decided to ring up the dealer and explain what happened and take the van to them for the problem to be fixed which it is and they are replacing the socket on the van. Has anything like this ever happened to anyone else ? But anyway my partner took the van straight away today to the dealer and I decide to get the train home as I have to be up early for work and my partner is getting the train home once the van has been dropped off at the dealer. On the way to the dealer my partner swears that a crash for cash nearly happened as a car decided to pull out in front of the van on a dual carriage way literally cm's away and slam the breaks on luckily my partner realised this strange act and put the brakes on as soon as the car got too close otherwise there most certainly would of been a accident!! But anyway we have decided we think it's best to get a dash cam in case anything like this happens again ! Just wondered if anyone on her has any suggestions or recommendations of a cam and where they had it fitted etc.. Thanks. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itz Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Sorry to read of your electrical problem, this motorhoming lark can be very frustrating at times. I have a Transcend Drivepro 200 Dash Cam. they are available on ebay for around £70. I find the picture quality is good both day and night and it has a wide viewing angle, it also connects to tablet and phone with wifi via a free app, I have downloaded the app but apart from checking it when I first installed it I haven't used the app. One fault with the camera is that it needs the date and time reset if not used for three or four days. There are cheaper dash cams available, if I was to be buying one now I would probably go for a cheaper one as many of them seem fit for purpose and do just as good a job as mine. There is no problem in fitting as they are just plug and play the same as sat/navs. I did have to buy a longer cable to fit camera behind mirror in M/H, which was fine as the original cable is in car and now I can just use the camera for both vehicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 We've got an Eprance mini 0805 http://www.carcamerashop.co.uk/mini-0805.html It's got a GPS chip in it so you can play it back on a split screen on Google Maps. Whatever camera you decide on buying beware of lo-def cheap Chinese fakes and copies, there are thousands of them that look very similar and the definition is crap. With the good ones you can pause the video and read an oncoming cars number plate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 I bought a cheap (under £10) dashcam from Hong Kong via EBay and although it worked, the angle of view wasn't very wide and, whether because I also bought cheap 32Gb SD card, the recording wasn't reliable or of good quality and I couldn't read number plates - so you get what you pay for? Maybe not because having done some more reading I then bought another one from Hong Kong (for just under £20) and better quality SD card (still under £10) and it works fine. Much better fidelity and also a wider viewing angle of 170 degrees. Setting up is a bit of a struggle because of poor instructions but once you get past that stage the dashcam seems to work automatically and reliably. Unfortunately this £20 one causes interference with my DAB radio, so I have ordered some ferrite core rings to fit to the dashcam lead, which should suppress that. So far I have spent under £50 and might even end up showing that the £20 unit with a good card (another £9) and a couple of ferrite core rings (under £1) will do a good job. They work automatically once you have configured them, so they come on as you start the engine and shut off after you switch off. There is a facility to keep them on to catch car park damage but I doubt that would get a useful recording so I haven't bothered. Buying this cheap stuff was all supposed to be a learning curve experiment, so I don't mind if I throw the whole lot away and start again once I know how to buy a really good one. Which have done some trials so maybe I should have simply followed their recommendations but they only looked at dashcams retailed in UK and costing £150 plus. I don't think that's expensive for what a dashcam could save you after an accident but the difficulty is knowing which ones are worth buying at all. The important considerations seem to be getting a really wide angle lens and genuine high fidelity, so you (or the police) can read number plates. Most motorhomes will only allow the use of a single forward-facing lens so you are stuck with that until someone makes one for external mounting at the rear, like a reversing camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 'Worth checking out the likes of Youtube for reviews etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagrid Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 After much research, I opted for an HPf210, I believe the model has now been superseded but, they have all the desirable functions and it is very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Possibly the subject for MMM to do a product comparison review, now more units are on the market ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redpen Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 Had the same thing happen to my hookup lead, fortunately only the plug started to melt and not the socket as well. Only needed to replace the plug. No idea why this happened, the same lead has been in regular use for for past 13 years (is that why?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerThat Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 There was a big discussion here just recently about dash cams, can't seem to find the thread now though. So were you running any heavy duty items over night? 3kw heater? :D Is the cable itself ok? Not gone stiff or brittle near the plug end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 Buying a dash cam from eBay can be a bit hit and miss. The Chinese sell very similar looking cameras but the internal parts are sometimes cheap with rubbish lenses, you can get a bargain but it is mostly a matter of chance. I have a Cobra unit, £90 from Argos, now after two failed eBay cameras. The new camera has gps and an excellent resolution, it also comes with software to enable you to view your journey afterwards on Google maps with position, speed and (wait for it ) a 'g' meter to record how violently you brake accelerate and corner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harvey Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 A bad electrical connection in a plug or socket can cause overheating and possible melting as you have experienced. So we should all periodically check (or have someone check ) that the wires are properly secured and the screws are tight in all of our leads and in the plugs on our appliances ..... shouldn't we. Harvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aandncaravan Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 It is not unusual to have an electrical issue at the Motorhome EHU socket/Plug. As Harvey says, it is important the screws in the Plug are tight on the Copper strands, but the usual issue is worn 'pins' on the Motorhome Socket or worn plug on the cable leading to a poor interference fit. The act of 'plugging in' causes mechanical wear on both the plug and socket, which over time and a lot of EHU use may be significant. This causes poor connection between the two and overheating. It is suggested you inspect both Plug and socket each time you use the EHU because the wear is usually visible. Lift the flap and before you insert the plug into the socket do a visual inspection and then run your fingers up and down the pins visible under the flap. Any roughness indicates wear. Then look down inside the Plug 'Cylinders' for any signs of wear or scorching. Any wear/roughness will be evident. If the Cable Plug is sometimes stored wet, the soft Brass can corrode, causing premature wear. The 'Pins' on the socket are generally a harder material, often Chrome plated on the quality sockets, so wear less, but can suffer from erosion if the Plug is poor quality. In 2015 we had a Motorhome sent to us by another Dealer where the 230v Charger unit worked only intermittently. They had swapped it without improvement and checked the unit had 230v. When we got the Motorhome the Charger checked out ok, so suspected incoming 230v. We put our 'Mains Quality' tester on the charger 230v input plug and all the lights lit up on the tester indicating a good 230v. However, we were only seeing 160v inside the charger itself. Turned the charger off and checked the voltage at the RCD and it registered 230v. Turned the charger on and the voltage at the RCD now dropped to 150v and was fluctuating. We then put a 13A socket based voltage display unit into the Kitchen 13A socket and it displayed 230v without load. This dropped to around 150v whenever any load was put on the mains wiring, such as turning on the Fridge. We knew our EHU cable was good so checked the Motorhome socket to find it very worn on the negative pin. This was causing such a poor connection that as soon as any load was applied, the voltage dropped like a stone. Once the Socket was replaced, everything worked a treat. See our Hook-up cable page and how a poor Hook-up cable might mean you only have a 'real' 8amps available inside the Motorhome : http://www.aandncaravanservices.co.uk/hookup-leads.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBrown Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 Hi haven't been on here for while. But so much info to take thanks everyone for the advice. I think we realised the electrical problem and it was because we used a item which was too powerful so hence damaged the cable and finally gave up. And the dash cams I have been looking at currys at the nxt base ones they sell a friend has got one and seems very good tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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