Newbie questions

[Ranger67]

Hi All,

I picked up a preloved 2017 MP last week and love it. I do have a few newbie questions as this is my first campervan and I've not been out in it yet other than driving it home from the dealers. In the past when I go tent camping with Electric Hook Up I take my normal house kettle 3KW and also my ceramic fan heater 2KW and also my bikes.

1. With the car plugged in at a campsite would I still be able to use these appliances if I plug these into the MP power socket? Would the 3KW kettle or 2KW heater blow any fuses in the Marco Polo?
2. The mattress is currently still in it's wrapper in my bedroom. Can the roof be closed if I leave sleeping bags or duvet completely flat in the roof with the mattress or do I need to take everything out other than the mattress each time I close the roof?
3. I can't decide whether to fit a towbar for carrying bikes or to get myself 2 of those foldable Fiido ebikes (price is around the same). Just wondering if anyone has experience with these and where they put them at night. Do the folding bikes fit under the bed at night? My concern with the towbar is that if I go to a campsite I may want to drive and visit the town or nearby attractions by vehicle if they are not accessible or too far by bike. I currently have a Strada Atera DL bike rack and normally I used to take the bike rack off and put it in the boot and leave the bikes in the tent or locked up by the tent. But since I now have a campervan and new to all of this with no driveaway awning or external storage I was looking for advice on what you folks do with your bikes, bike rack etc. I didn't really fancy lugging the bikes and rack into town as the vehicle is long enough and in some places I've been camping it's hard enough finding parking for a small car. Likewise I don't think it would be wise of me to leave the bike rack and bikes in the camping spot for someone to walk off with. Hence I was looking at the folding ebike option and interested in what others with more experience than me does in such circumstances.

Thanks for the answers in advance.

Regards,
Ben

 

[SteveR]

Hi Ben,

I could be mistaken but was under the impression that if you overload the KW in the van you would blow the trip on the campsite consumer unit first. May be wrong.

Regarding the mattress, it depends on how thick the sleeping bag or duvet is. I cannot close the roof with mattress, topper and average size sleeping bag in situ so would pack the bag away but leave the mattress. However, without a topper I suspect you could close the roof as bags / duvets are highly compressible.
For just packing the bed away while on site, I leave everything in place and just push the bed up no problem.

Hope this makes sense

 

[APL46]

I think most campsites use 16 amp (I might be wrong) for hook up so you are in danger of blowing fuses if you use electric kettle and heater, as SteveR says in his post. A friend of ours has tried 12v kettle in his VW but soon reverted to using the gas hob. We use the gas hob to heat the kettle and have both the diesel and water heater in our MP and both heaters work fine albeit the water heater only for 45 minutes at a time. The roof will close with the duvet in it but it can be touch and go sometimes. We put our pillows in a laundry bag when driving but whilst the roof is up and you are camping you can raise the roof bed with both duvet and pillows in place.

We don't use bike racks so can't help you there I am afraid.

 

[BabaJen]

1: Depends on the campsite ampage. If 16A (most CAMC and CC&C sites) then 3kw is ok. 2kw is fine. Both together be very prepared to blow the bollard trip. I have dedicated 1kw kettle (foldng one from Kampa), not the fastest thing on three pins but adequate and allows me to use other electrical appliances at the same time. 16A is the maximum you find, continental sites in particular could be as low as 6A (anything over 1.5kw then prepare for a difficult discussion with Pierre the site owner) and often extra amps is extra cost.

Finding mains appliances at low power can be an art form, I do recommend my Kampa kettle (only 1litre but if any more needed then there is the gas hob), I have a 400W Remoska oven that I use for all sorts of things, a 1500w ceramic heater that is quite adequate although I also have my Diesel heater which is a furnace, and I recommend the ride monkey, both small and large, for using on the hob.

I can't answer 2 as I do not have an MP but in the Cali it would depend on the thickness and stuffing of the Duvet: if a 13 tog polyester then you will struggle.

 

[Ranger67]

Thanks for the replies.

Glad to know I don't have to faf about with the duvet or sleeping bags and leave them in situ if they are fairly flat and compressible.

It is most reassuring to know I can use my household kettle on UK sites in the MP. I wasn't planning on using both kettle and ceramic heater at the same time. My concern was more tripping out the van if I use the 3KW kettle in the plug behind the passenger seat. The campsites i have visted in the past have had 16A and I never had any problems with the heater or kettle. As I am new to the MP I wanted to make sure that on my first trip out I didn't blow up the van by making a brew

When I bought the MP the dealer had listed and informed me there was an auxiliary heater but I don't think they knew what they were talking about because looking at the control panel there is no heater icon (I suspect they were talking about the aircon). Hence the need for a ceramic heater in case.

 

[Ranger67]

I recommend the ride monkey, both small and large, for using on the hob.

My other half is also looking at one of those to stop the splatter from fryups

 

[SteveR]

....When I bought the MP the dealer had listed and informed me there was an auxiliary heater but I don't think they knew what they were talking about because looking at the control panel there is no heater icon (I suspect they were talking about the aircon). Hence the need for a ceramic heater in case....

The heaters are a constant source of confusion. There are two variants and you may have neither, one or both. The warm air heater can be controlled via the central control panel (where the roof, fridge etc controls are) and the water aux heater can be controlled via a switch on the dashboard near the aircon switches. There are remote controls too but pointing the standard switch locations out so you can check easily.
I have both but still take a small ceramic heater to take the chill off.

Oh, and another fan of ridge monkeys here too

 

[Ranger67]

I don't have either heaters. Only problem with the ceramic heater is I can't use it off grid as the MP has no inverter and from the operating instructions the 12V can only be used when the ignition is on and up to 120W so I don't think I can even buy one of those plug in cigarette lighter inverters to use.

 

[Ian]

I don't have either heaters. Only problem with the ceramic heater is I can't use it off grid as the MP has no inverter and from the operating instructions the 12V can only be used when the ignition is on and up to 120W so I don't think I can even buy one of those plug in cigarette lighter inverters to use.

Whatever solution you end up with don’t try and use an electric heater through any of the 12v supplies!

 

[edzt]

Isn’t it fairly easyto lock your bikes up on the camp site

 

[Ranger67]

Isn’t it fairly easyto lock your bikes up on the camp site

Sometimes it is but not all the time unless you lock it to the rail near the toilet blocks in some cases.. I was more concerned about the towbar bike rack I would need to leave somewhere lcoked up. I haven't had a chance to see if it fits between the front and back seats yet.

 

[Ranger67]

A question about voice assistance.

When I press the voice assistance or voice activation button on the steering wheel it defaults to the Garmin Navigation. I cannot seem to be able to make phone calls using the button at all. Receiving and ending calls or using the central scroller works fine but clearly this is very dangerous when driving so completely useless if I need to make a call when driving. Internet access also works when hooked up to my phone. (Samsung S7 edge)

I have done a full reset from the system menu but still the same. Is it me as I cannot believe that a 67 plate vehicle worth over £50K when new does not have such a basic function that sub £15K cars come with.

 

[SteveR]

A question about voice assistance.

When I press the voice assistance or voice activation button on the steering wheel it defaults to the Garmin Navigation. I cannot seem to be able to make phone calls using the button at all. Receiving and ending calls or using the central scroller works fine but clearly this is very dangerous when driving so completely useless if I need to make a call when driving. Internet access also works when hooked up to my phone. (Samsung S7 edge)

I have done a full reset from the system menu but still the same. Is it me as I cannot believe that a 67 plate vehicle worth over £50K when new does not have such a basic function that sub £15K cars come with.

I was under the impression that to start (or accept) a call from the steering wheel you used the green telephone button. The voice button is for linguatronic or whatever its called

 

[Ranger67]

I was under the impression that to start (or accept) a call from the steering wheel you used the green telephone button. The voice button is for linguatronic or whatever its called

You are correct for accepting and ending a call using the 2 buttons on the steering wheel. What I was referring to is I would have expected to be able to say Call Name and then it would make a call just like for the Navigation when I say enter destination and address.