I am a newbie to all this I have a N plate Bongo with the original japanse kitchen.
i have a few questions 1) where can i get the electrical hook up converted for UK and Europe?
2) Are there any advice sheets on treating rust, a bit comming through now?
3) what type of fridge is best for the Bongo?
Excuse me if I should of posted these elsewhere but I am still finding my way around the site.
cheers
Bonnie123
advice needed
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Re: advice needed
Bonnie123 wrote:I am a newbie to all this I have a N plate Bongo with the original japanse kitchen.
i have a few questions 1) where can i get the electrical hook up converted for UK and Europe?
2) Are there any advice sheets on treating rust, a bit comming through now?
3) what type of fridge is best for the Bongo?
Excuse me if I should of posted these elsewhere but I am still finding my way around the site.
cheers
Bonnie123
Hi Bonnie123 and welcome to the wonderful world of Bongos, a local auto electrician should be able to advise you on your hook up dilema, it may well just be a plug change but the wiring need to be certified to uk standards, where is the rust ? it's usually on the rear arches, if this is the case then the only way to eradicate it is to have them chopped out and replaced with new good clean metal, the can be flatted down and repainted but the rust will be back sooner or later. a great type of fridge for a bongo is a cool box as it can be removed when not in use and is a very cost effective way to keep ya beers cold
Hope this helps ya a lill bit
Re: advice needed
Thank you.
I have a cool box so that is sorted.
The electrics are 110 I'm told, would that be right? The current lead has a spike you stick into the ground and the plugs are not 3 pin, does that matter?
The rust is on the top door runner in just isolated bits.
I have a cool box so that is sorted.
The electrics are 110 I'm told, would that be right? The current lead has a spike you stick into the ground and the plugs are not 3 pin, does that matter?
The rust is on the top door runner in just isolated bits.
Re: advice needed
The Bongo kitchen is a neat unit I reckon. We had one in our old Bongo.
The copper rod is meant to be used as an earth and the original Japanese input lead will be useless here and in Europe.
This is definitely no use for the UK or Europe (all of which is generally standardised at 220v) so whatever you do don't try plugging it into the mains here.
It can be altered by using a transformer unit to drop the UK voltage to the 110v set up. Have a look at this thread to see what is involved.
http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... 47&t=46782
Once it has been converted to 220v you can fit a normal UK 3 pin socket wired into the RCD unit and the 2 pin 110v sockets will be redundant. They can be left wired up if you want just in case you you ever take your Bongo back to Japan or America.
I think M Bongo has the right idea, get it sorted by a competent auto electrician if you aren't happy to do it yourself, you need to very certain the mains electrics are OK.
One other thing we did was to remove the battery from the kitchen unit and put it under the bonnet in the normal leisure battery spot on the passenger side. Use hefty cable for connecting the battery to the kitchen unit with fuses at BOTH ends of the cable.
This frees up the space under the unit for storage.
The copper rod is meant to be used as an earth and the original Japanese input lead will be useless here and in Europe.
This is definitely no use for the UK or Europe (all of which is generally standardised at 220v) so whatever you do don't try plugging it into the mains here.
It can be altered by using a transformer unit to drop the UK voltage to the 110v set up. Have a look at this thread to see what is involved.
http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... 47&t=46782
Once it has been converted to 220v you can fit a normal UK 3 pin socket wired into the RCD unit and the 2 pin 110v sockets will be redundant. They can be left wired up if you want just in case you you ever take your Bongo back to Japan or America.
I think M Bongo has the right idea, get it sorted by a competent auto electrician if you aren't happy to do it yourself, you need to very certain the mains electrics are OK.
One other thing we did was to remove the battery from the kitchen unit and put it under the bonnet in the normal leisure battery spot on the passenger side. Use hefty cable for connecting the battery to the kitchen unit with fuses at BOTH ends of the cable.
This frees up the space under the unit for storage.
Re: advice needed
For a fridge, it depends if you will be on hook-up or relying on the leisure battery.
A cool box will kill a leisure battery in no time, don't expect to run it overnight and have any charge left in the morning.
A 12v compressor fridge can run for around 3-4 days on a 100Ah leisure battery (obviously depends on how often you open the fridge!)
A 3-way gas fridge can run for as long as the gas lasts, but these are often considered too big / awkward to install in a Bongo - you need a gas flue cut into the side of the van for example.
12v compressor fridges can be either fixed or portable, but they are expensive.
A fridge can be : Good - Low Power - Cheap.
You can pick any 2 of these, but not all 3!
HTH
DA
A cool box will kill a leisure battery in no time, don't expect to run it overnight and have any charge left in the morning.
A 12v compressor fridge can run for around 3-4 days on a 100Ah leisure battery (obviously depends on how often you open the fridge!)
A 3-way gas fridge can run for as long as the gas lasts, but these are often considered too big / awkward to install in a Bongo - you need a gas flue cut into the side of the van for example.
12v compressor fridges can be either fixed or portable, but they are expensive.
A fridge can be : Good - Low Power - Cheap.
You can pick any 2 of these, but not all 3!
HTH
DA
Re: advice needed
To M Bongo, briwy and dave_aber.
Apologies for taking so long to reply, kinda got caught up in things. Thanks so much for the advice, I had wondered about a step down transformer-electician will know best.
The battery tip is one I like and as the song goes "two out of three ain't bad
Apologies for taking so long to reply, kinda got caught up in things. Thanks so much for the advice, I had wondered about a step down transformer-electician will know best.
The battery tip is one I like and as the song goes "two out of three ain't bad
Re: advice needed
B****r
Missed Tribal elder.
Missed Tribal elder.