Hi,
Not really up to speed with the wireless techno!!!
When in service station, can you tap into the wireless connection from the lorry park, do i need anything special on my laptop?
Any such thing as a truckers micro which will work off the 24/12v socket?
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
J
Depends on the distance the parking area is from the main building usually. I use some service stations where I can get a connection from the parking area and some where the distance is just too great.
No, a microwave draws far too much current for the 12 and 24 volt sockets in the cab. It requires direct connection to the batteries.
Thats great, many thanks.
Ref, wireless connection, do you have to pay a fee?, how do you log on etc?
J
Jay40:
Thats great, many thanks.Ref, wireless connection, do you have to pay a fee?, how do you log on etc?
J
Varies, some are free, some you pay to get a password, some you can use free minutes bundled with your home internet package.
Great, i’ll give it a try next time i’m out.
Cheers
J
Coffeeholic:
2. No, a microwave draws far too much current for the 12 and 24 volt sockets in the cab. It requires direct connection to the batteries.
Never had one and you would certainly toast the fuse at the very least if you plugged it into the socket, but I am sure I have read on here that some drivers wire them to those Anderson plug thingies that you use to power a tail lift.
Harry Monk:
Coffeeholic:
2. No, a microwave draws far too much current for the 12 and 24 volt sockets in the cab. It requires direct connection to the batteries.Never had one and you would certainly toast the fuse at the very least if you plugged it into the socket, but I am sure I have read on here that some drivers wire them to those Anderson plug thingies that you use to power a tail lift.
Indeed, but the Anderson plug thingy is wired direct to the batteries. 
Coffeeholic:
Indeed, but the Anderson plug thingy is wired direct to the batteries.
Yes, but the microwave oven isn’t, it is wired indirectly to the batteries…in fact, being super pedantic it is wired indirectly to the battery because a truck’s electrical storage system should only ever be called a battery (singular), regardless of how the electrochemical cells are grouped.
Harry Monk:
Coffeeholic:
Indeed, but the Anderson plug thingy is wired direct to the batteries.Yes, but the microwave oven isn’t, it is wired indirectly to the batteries…in fact, being super pedantic it is wired indirectly to the battery because a truck’s electrical storage system should only ever be called a battery (singular), regardless of how the electrochemical cells are grouped.
When you have a microwave oven properly fitted to a truck, and I have had two trucks fitted with a microwave, it is wired directly to the truck’s electrical storage system/battery by passing the fuse box and existing wiring loom and protected by a fuse on the positive cable.
Yes, perhaps it’s a bit of a bodge, I’m not sure, I just believe it’s what some folk do. Personally it has always seemed more sense to buy a 24v 1200w inverter such as this cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sun-1200-1200W-24 … daptors_SM which is £107 with postage, hard wire that to the battery, then buy a £30 240v microwave from Asda etc than buy an expensive 24v microwave.
Harry Monk:
Yes, perhaps it’s a bit of a bodge, I’m not sure, I just believe it’s what some folk do. Personally it has always seemed more sense to buy a 24v 1200w inverter such as this cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sun-1200-1200W-24 … daptors_SM which is £107 with postage, hard wire that to the battery, then buy a £30 240v microwave from Asda etc than buy an expensive 24v microwave.
The 24V ones are kinder to the battery than a domestic one. I never ran the engine when using my microwave and could easily use it for over an hours heating time in total when parked at night, cooking and heating water for coffee, without it affecting the battery.
According to my understanding of the Laws of Electricity, a 600w microwave will draw the same current from the battery regardless of its voltage. The fact that the voltage may be converted along the way ought to be irrelevant, although I would be interested in further opinion, particularly from someone with auto-electrical experience.
Harry Monk:
According to my understanding of the Laws of Electricity, a 600w microwave will draw the same current from the battery regardless of its voltage. The fact that the voltage may be converted along the way ought to be irrelevant, although I would be interested in further opinion, particularly from someone with auto-electrical experience.
The microwaves designed for mobile use have a capacitor in them which helps with the current draw, and can give you a nasty belt if you touch the positive wire after disconnecting it from the battery as a fitter working on my truck found out. Not sure if domestic ones have the same thing.
Harry Monk:
According to my understanding of the Laws of Electricity, a 600w microwave will draw the same current from the battery regardless of its voltage. The fact that the voltage may be converted along the way ought to be irrelevant, although I would be interested in further opinion, particularly from someone with auto-electrical experience.
Ohms law will help you with this Amps = watts/volts so 600/24 uses ten times more amps than 600/240. (Amps = power) but then you have to look at the draw of an inverter, it uses power to invert power, that is why it gets warm.
Just as a point a 600 watt microwave gives 600 watts of cooking power, to produce this might draw 2000 watts at the plug, the plate on the back of the microwave will tell you.
microwave - fick knows
wifi get one of these bad boys wifi-link.com/product.php?ac … duct_id=22 point it at the place where the wifi signal comes from n your in there
Dead right on the current drawn from the battery. Watts(W)= amps(I) x Volts (V) so for the wattage required the current drawn from the battery will be the same using an inverter or a direct feed, apart from some transformer and heating loss, which are minimal in this case. The higher the supply voltage the lower the current required to achieve the wattage, main reason for the higher voltage being preferred is that the cables supplying the lower current can be smaller in cross sectional area, and therefore cheaper. Here ends my electrical knowledge!!!
ive no idea how these things work but seem cheap…
Wow!!! Many thanks for all the info, i think i’ll give the Micro a miss.
Cheers
J
Just use the microwave in the service station…The one people use to warm up baby food… 
Just leave the truck in the car park and get into the building for the WiFi. Or carry a dongle.
Having said that Beaconsfield services doesn’t work (neither the Etap or the eXtra), but the Starbucks does. I also found the moby signal lousy indoors there.