Alde load monitor – avoid “tripping”

The new Swift Kontiki came with the ALDE 3010 heating system as standard. The 3010 boiler will operate on gas or electric settings. This model of the Alde boiler is the three kilowatt (electric) “Scandia” version. The boiler may be operated at a 1kw, 2kw or 3kw setting. When using electric heating systems, note the limited power supply available to the motorhome. Many UK campsites are ten amps, some are sixteen amps, but overseas, six amps is common place. When running the boiler on the electric setting, the user must be careful not to overload the hook up bollard. Failure to do so may cause the bollard to “trip out”. This could result in a power loss to your unit – and your neighbours! The Alde load monitor is a straight forward piece of kit that helps to prevent this.

Alde load monitor – what does it do?

In this example, let’s say you are on a campsite with an electric hook up post that can supply ten amps of power to your unit.

The user is able to set the Alde load monitor to ten amps as a maximum that can be “drawn” to the caravan or motorhome. If you are running the Alde heating system on the two kilowatt setting, this is roughly eight amps. Consequently, you have about two amps “spare”. These two amps should easily cover the fridge, TV or a laptop etc. If you switch the kettle or microwave on, you are likely to trip the bollard. The Alde load monitor recognises the extra power being drawn to the other appliance and so power to the boiler is reduced. If the boiler is running at eight amps and you operate the kettle at eight amps, the load monitor will reduce the power input to the boiler to ensure the preset “limit” of ten amps is not exceeded. Therefore, this prevents a trip out of the hook up post!

Full details of the load monitor are available on the Alde website. Since fitting this device requires tapping into the motorhome’s electrics, you may prefer to select a dealer to do the work for you.