Thanks so much for taking the time to write this wonderful and most appreciated comment. I’m certainly no caravanning expert but having benefitted from many years of scientific training I do try and do my best not to spout twaddle so really appreciate your kind words. Thank you, Becky
Thanks for this Becky. We've been caravanning for just over two years since retirement and have followed many TH-camrs for advice getting started. The number of people who provide sound practical advice is quite small with most just waffle. You however go top of our list (the good advice list). Unfortunately your Amazon links result in "currently unavailable" but have managed to source an alternative supplier. The subscribe button has been hit and am looking forward to catching up on what I've missed.
@@tomglasgow9967 thank you so much for taking the time to write such a lovely comment, it’s very much appreciated. I certainly try to produce the sort of detailed, useful content I would find helpful, don’t always succeed, but always try to do my best (once a girl guide, always a girl guide, or) years of science training showing through ;-)
Interesting stuff, thank you. Our nearest weighbridge is at a scrap yard! The approach road is nothing more than a series of massive potholes and the yard itself is plain filthy. To be fair their core business is nothing to do with caravans but it reinforces your point that so many are not particularly well suited. Despite these shortcomings we weighed both of our first two vans there in a bid to ensure legal compliance. If the results were to be believed our second van was already close to its mptlm when completely unladen! We now have a third caravan which we have “up plated” to 2000kg. Not that we will ever get anywhere close but at least we have the “headroom” to load up without fear of exceeding our maximum. Previously we weighed every single item separately prior to loading and ran theses numbers on an Excel spread sheet! On a slightly different note we use the Reich nose weight guage. Without doubt the most accurate method we have found to date and worth a look if this sort of thing worries you.
Thanks for the tip on the Reich scale. I am indeed reasonably particular about my nose weight, but went with the milenco scale as it’s the only (I believe, was at the time anyway!) calibrated scale of its type and I can’t actually hitch up on my drive so would have to motor mover the van out onto the road to test, then rearrange gear to get the weight optimised, which just adds to the faff and we don’t live on a particularly wide road so I try not to be out there for long for fear of getting side swiped by a passing delivery driver (did happen to a car out there once)! I’m also lucky to have a decent payload, as you say it’s not about carrying more stuff (ours is a tiny caravan so there wouldn’t be room to move around inside!), it’s about the peace of mind that the “headroom” gives :) Thanks for watching and commenting and happy travels.
@@CaraVanOlogywithBecky we struggled with the piston spring type nose weight gauges not least because we found it difficult to ensure the hitch was at the same height as the tow bar once the gauge was fully depressed and our drive is sloping so all in all a bit tricky. Unless my old A level applied maths fails me it’s actually quite important that this height is correct in order to obtain an accurate reading. Too high and the reading will be low and visa versa. The Rich scale sits between the high and the tow ball which does artificially raise the hitch slightly but there is an allowance built in to compensate for this and the actual weight of the gauge of course. We also have a narrow street with passing traffic so I feel your pain!
Nice one Becky, I had not thought of there being a gadge for just this conundrum! Since Jules & Karina published their vid on weighbridge antics I have been thinking about a visit to one of these ‘establishments’. However, all the ones around us seem to be great big dirty old things used for weighing dirty great trucks and as you so eloquently suggest, this would be like trying to weigh a feather on scales built for hephelumps… 🤷🏼♂️ I think an investment may be called for, wonder if Prime Day will see them reduced… 🤔 Anyway, thank you for enlightening us to this useful bit of kit and sharing your thoughts with us… 😂 ✅ 👏🏻
A very thorough look at these scales. Of course you can get mobile people to come and weigh your van and tow vehicle but it costs a lot and how accurate is it. They claim weighbridges are inaccurate but they have a financial interest in telling you that. I would assume there are some very stringent requirements on calibrations of weighbridges as if trucks get get weighed and then get pulled over and weighed they need to be sure they are underweight. I think if you are conservative and always allow that 3% error then you are going to be reasonably safe. I live in Australia and we have some big vans. The Queensland Police seem to think that 90% of van and tow vehicles are overweight. I don't know what restrictions are in the UK about towing a van is but here you need know training, no endorsement on a licence which is really dangerous. I need the orange ones as my van has a max ATM of 2500KG
For what it's worth, I bought the 1500Kg version. My Dodge 2500 Diesel comes in at 3765 Kg on the CAT scale (the US version of commercial road scales) and 3786 Kg using the Reich scale. So a 21 Kg difference. I weigh 93 Kg on my bathroom scale and the Reich Scale comes in at 117 Kg, a 24Kg difference. So not so great for low weights, but fairly close (and certainly within it's stated accuracy) for heavy weights. And of course that's assuming the CAT scale is accurate. All in all I think this is pretty handy if you're concerned about properly loading your road equipment. 20 Kg is not worth worrying about in vehicle weights, just if you're using it for weight watcher metrics.
Interesting. I have never weighed our caravan on a weigh bridge because of the hassle to do so, being so far from one. I never thought about using a scale. And I never thought about the asymmetric distribution of weight that you found this way. You wouldn't find that out on a weigh bridge. Shame the price has gone up so much though!
A great gadget Becky! I always wondered how accurate in its tolerance, a weighbridge would be with our, as yours is, a 1400kg 'van. I was always told that any measuring device would be at its most acccurate in the middle(ish) of its scale. So in our little caravan, the weighbridges' 45ton accuracy could be all over the place 😁 But if I was ever stopped, its all I've got to go on - m'lord. As ever, cheers for this one and look forward to the next 👍 Mart & Jo.
Thanks for the comment, spot on about measuring device accuracy (3 years using 4 decimal place balances during my PhD! The ones with glass enclosures around so breezes don’t affect the results), plus official weigh bridges are regularly and carefully calibrated and certified but as you say at their midpoint/hopefully (if specified for the intended role) near the weight of lorries they typically weigh. So popping a little caravan on is like trying to weigh a feather on a scale set up for elephants. Anyway, lots of us want to be loading correctly but there really isn’t the perfect tool, weighbridges are better than nothing but we need to be aware of their limitations so we don’t get a false sense of security. This thing isn’t as accurate (by certificate) as I’d like because there’s potential error margin to account for on every weigh BUT pay off is super easy to use, it’s designed with the correct weight range in mind, I can self test against know weights ie my own via the bathroom scales and I can get multiple readings which helps to negate the accuracy issue :)
Cheers Bob, weight rating is per wheel so I guess the question is whether one or more of your 4 wheels is likely to be over 1000kg? 1500kg version is orange, bit chunkier to stand up to the additional weight and calibrated for the higher weight range. Thanks for watching, hope you’re having (I assume your vids are pretty much real time) a great trip :)
Very interesting and informative vlog. I’ve looked at these several time but the price always puts me off. Looks a good bit of kit, maybe one day 🤔 Cheers, Martin
Best bring mine along to a get together and we’ll start a new sport ;-) All the hassle with the trailer tent we had before the caravan drove us to buy it, have to say that without that experience I probably wouldn’t have bought for exactly that reason!
Hi there. Good video! I'm thinking about this (the orange one) as a viable alternative to the local weighbridge as although local, it is very busy and you feel under pressure when there. My question is this - when i weigh for example, the nearside wheel of my caravan, how does it manage to not include some of the weight of the offside too (imagining that there is a line down the middle front to rear)? And in doing so, surely the nearside and offside weights combined (along with the jockey) would come to a good bit more that in actually the case, thus diddling me out of possible payload? For example, if i stand on the bathroom scales with just my left foot touching, it won't display 60kg only (i.e. i'm 120kg when not standing like a pirate). Is this my overly binary brain working overtime or am i on to something? Obviously, i need it to be as accurate as possible. Kind regards, David
So (trying to reset my brain back to A level physics…) I think (and I’m open to an actual practicing, highly qualified physicist/engineer correcting this assertion because it’s been a few years!) that when you stand on the bathroom scale with only one foot in contact, the scale should show 120Kg assuming you’re standing still and perfectly perpendicular to the scale, because the entire force of your body is carried through that one foot. When a vehicle scale is used on a single axle trailer unless you’re some sort of top gear caravan bashing, stunt driver, 3 points are still in contact with the ground when measuring I.e. the wheel on the scale, the wheel not on the scale, and the jockey wheel (which may be in contact with the ground directly, or via being hitched to the car). Either the instructions say, or we (as a pair of pedantic sci/eng PhDs) decided to find an equal height to the scale bit of timber for the wheel not being measured, to eliminate cosine error I.e. the error that will be introduced if the force of the wheel being measured is not being applied perfectly perpendicularly to the ground. For example, if a trailer was 5degrees off level the error would be approx 4kg for every 1000kg of measured weight ie not a lot! In summary I think there’s effectively no “ahah more payload!” moments available sadly and bear in mind those sort of errors are nothing compared to the inherent inaccuracies of these devices and weighbridges anyway I.e. try to leave yourself a bit of “wiggle room” rather than maxing out the payload. The sort of scientific accuracy scales needed for accurate weighing at this magnitude of trailer are £10s thousands and carefully calibrated precision scientific instruments (they have to be if VOSA want to take it to court!). For me this device was an easy to use rough solution where ease of use outweighed inaccuracy especially as the official weighbridge near me wasn’t much more accurate for my 1400Kg caravan anyway so there was no better solution! This at least gave me a rough idea, which for me was better than no idea. Thanks for the standing like a pirate image and I enjoyed reading your brain dump and thinking about the reply :) Best wishes, Becky
@@CaraVanOlogywithBecky Many thanks. That does all make sense. Might buy one for peace of mind and convenience but still try to use the weight bridge too. Thanks again 👍
Beware of these, I recently purchased a 1500kg version from Amazon as they seemed great. I measured my caravan and got really weird weights, I decided to test. The hitch weight measured 130kg, from two other accurate scales, but the caravan scale measured 160kg then 180 kg, at this point I didnt trust them. The scales were clearly out of calibration. I contacted the distributer about it, and was advised they no longer distribute due to the reasons I was calling. I have emailed the manufacturer in Germany twice and received no reply, I contacted Amazon and was refunded my money as they were new.
The heavier side in this video, has the onboard fresh water tank (empty when this footage was shot and when travelling), hot water boiler (also empty of water) and all the electrics, including the v heavy leisure battery. The fridge is on the lighter side but at the time of measuring was empty, so I’m sure when it has a few bits and pieces in to keep us going for the first day or two of the holiday, the sides would have been more evenly matched weight wise. I just have a hob, also on the fridge (lighter) side, but no cooker.
@@Papaziza85 % accuracy claimed by manufacturer translated into Kg and compared to a weigh bridge within the video. In practice the measurements I got were close ie with a couple of Kg if I remember correctly, so at least reproducible, even if it’s not a regularly calibrated bit of precision scientific equipment. Hope that helps, thanks for watching.
Hello there, I have borrowed this tool and not sure if it measure accurately. I tried to stand on it a deviation was like 12%. Asked my kids to do the same and deviation was like a lot lot lot more 😔 not convinced that I want it. Have you ever compared with calibrated tool like weight on junkyard?
@@Papaziza85 did it come with the instructions? I recall (sorry, ages ago!) the instructions saying something about putting pieces of timber, etc. of approx the same depth either side of the scale (not too close, otherwise the scale won’t take the full weight of the wheel), then driving over it at a gentle speed, rather than using it like eg a bathroom scale. Luckily we live on a v quiet road, so easily achieved with 2 of us, 1 driving, 1 moving the measurement equipment). Bear in mind you also need a level road surface for accuracy. When I tried weighing myself (before I read the instructions) any sort of lean made the readings vary madly, something to do with how the sensors are set up to operate. And no I haven’t compared with a weigh bridge because the ones close to us are an absolute pain to get into, hence why I tried this scale.
Instructions says to go over the scale gently. Not really saying about support of an timber to avoid leaning. Today I found the bathroom scale technic. Pretty impressive and have to try.
![งมหอย จับปลา มือเปล่า หาอยู่หากินแบบวีถีอีสานกับแก๊งเซียนหรั่ง ม่วนคัก! [ขอนแก่น] @Sianstudio](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JEJZg6N-AbU/mqdefault.jpg)
Unlike so many people on TH-cam I do believe you may actually know what you're talking about. Have subscribed.
Thanks so much for taking the time to write this wonderful and most appreciated comment. I’m certainly no caravanning expert but having benefitted from many years of scientific training I do try and do my best not to spout twaddle so really appreciate your kind words. Thank you, Becky
Thank you for this video, I agree with all of your points and sentiment towards weighing at home vs the weighbridge.
Thanks for your information, it was very helpful and it has opened our eyes to weight limitations 🌞
Thanks for this Becky. We've been caravanning for just over two years since retirement and have followed many TH-camrs for advice getting started. The number of people who provide sound practical advice is quite small with most just waffle. You however go top of our list (the good advice list). Unfortunately your Amazon links result in "currently unavailable" but have managed to source an alternative supplier. The subscribe button has been hit and am looking forward to catching up on what I've missed.
@@tomglasgow9967 thank you so much for taking the time to write such a lovely comment, it’s very much appreciated. I certainly try to produce the sort of detailed, useful content I would find helpful, don’t always succeed, but always try to do my best (once a girl guide, always a girl guide, or) years of science training showing through ;-)
Interesting stuff, thank you. Our nearest weighbridge is at a scrap yard! The approach road is nothing more than a series of massive potholes and the yard itself is plain filthy. To be fair their core business is nothing to do with caravans but it reinforces your point that so many are not particularly well suited. Despite these shortcomings we weighed both of our first two vans there in a bid to ensure legal compliance. If the results were to be believed our second van was already close to its mptlm when completely unladen!
We now have a third caravan which we have “up plated” to 2000kg. Not that we will ever get anywhere close but at least we have the “headroom” to load up without fear of exceeding our maximum. Previously we weighed every single item separately prior to loading and ran theses numbers on an Excel spread sheet!
On a slightly different note we use the Reich nose weight guage. Without doubt the most accurate method we have found to date and worth a look if this sort of thing worries you.
Thanks for the tip on the Reich scale. I am indeed reasonably particular about my nose weight, but went with the milenco scale as it’s the only (I believe, was at the time anyway!) calibrated scale of its type and I can’t actually hitch up on my drive so would have to motor mover the van out onto the road to test, then rearrange gear to get the weight optimised, which just adds to the faff and we don’t live on a particularly wide road so I try not to be out there for long for fear of getting side swiped by a passing delivery driver (did happen to a car out there once)! I’m also lucky to have a decent payload, as you say it’s not about carrying more stuff (ours is a tiny caravan so there wouldn’t be room to move around inside!), it’s about the peace of mind that the “headroom” gives :) Thanks for watching and commenting and happy travels.
@@CaraVanOlogywithBecky we struggled with the piston spring type nose weight gauges not least because we found it difficult to ensure the hitch was at the same height as the tow bar once the gauge was fully depressed and our drive is sloping so all in all a bit tricky. Unless my old A level applied maths fails me it’s actually quite important that this height is correct in order to obtain an accurate reading. Too high and the reading will be low and visa versa. The Rich scale sits between the high and the tow ball which does artificially raise the hitch slightly but there is an allowance built in to compensate for this and the actual weight of the gauge of course. We also have a narrow street with passing traffic so I feel your pain!
Becky!! I found this scale in eBay…
It works really well!! Thank you!! (BTW:
I wrote you on FB Messenger)
That’s great!
Nice one Becky, I had not thought of there being a gadge for just this conundrum! Since Jules & Karina published their vid on weighbridge antics I have been thinking about a visit to one of these ‘establishments’. However, all the ones around us seem to be great big dirty old things used for weighing dirty great trucks and as you so eloquently suggest, this would be like trying to weigh a feather on scales built for hephelumps… 🤷🏼♂️
I think an investment may be called for, wonder if Prime Day will see them reduced… 🤔
Anyway, thank you for enlightening us to this useful bit of kit and sharing your thoughts with us… 😂 ✅ 👏🏻
They do seem to have rocketed in price recently, not that mine was cheap but much closer to £99 I think!
A very thorough look at these scales.
Of course you can get mobile people to come and weigh your van and tow vehicle but it costs a lot and how accurate is it.
They claim weighbridges are inaccurate but they have a financial interest in telling you that.
I would assume there are some very stringent requirements on calibrations of weighbridges as if trucks get get weighed and then get pulled over and weighed they need to be sure they are underweight.
I think if you are conservative and always allow that 3% error then you are going to be reasonably safe.
I live in Australia and we have some big vans.
The Queensland Police seem to think that 90% of van and tow vehicles are overweight.
I don't know what restrictions are in the UK about towing a van is but here you need know training, no endorsement on a licence which is really dangerous.
I need the orange ones as my van has a max ATM of 2500KG
For what it's worth, I bought the 1500Kg version. My Dodge 2500 Diesel comes in at 3765 Kg on the CAT scale (the US version of commercial road scales) and 3786 Kg using the Reich scale. So a 21 Kg difference. I weigh 93 Kg on my bathroom scale and the Reich Scale comes in at 117 Kg, a 24Kg difference. So not so great for low weights, but fairly close (and certainly within it's stated accuracy) for heavy weights. And of course that's assuming the CAT scale is accurate. All in all I think this is pretty handy if you're concerned about properly loading your road equipment. 20 Kg is not worth worrying about in vehicle weights, just if you're using it for weight watcher metrics.
Great info thanks!
Interesting. I have never weighed our caravan on a weigh bridge because of the hassle to do so, being so far from one. I never thought about using a scale. And I never thought about the asymmetric distribution of weight that you found this way. You wouldn't find that out on a weigh bridge. Shame the price has gone up so much though!
A great gadget Becky! I always wondered how accurate in its tolerance, a weighbridge would be with our, as yours is, a 1400kg 'van. I was always told that any measuring device would be at its most acccurate in the middle(ish) of its scale. So in our little caravan, the weighbridges' 45ton accuracy could be all over the place 😁 But if I was ever stopped, its all I've got to go on - m'lord. As ever, cheers for this one and look forward to the next 👍 Mart & Jo.
Thanks for the comment, spot on about measuring device accuracy (3 years using 4 decimal place balances during my PhD! The ones with glass enclosures around so breezes don’t affect the results), plus official weigh bridges are regularly and carefully calibrated and certified but as you say at their midpoint/hopefully (if specified for the intended role) near the weight of lorries they typically weigh. So popping a little caravan on is like trying to weigh a feather on a scale set up for elephants. Anyway, lots of us want to be loading correctly but there really isn’t the perfect tool, weighbridges are better than nothing but we need to be aware of their limitations so we don’t get a false sense of security. This thing isn’t as accurate (by certificate) as I’d like because there’s potential error margin to account for on every weigh BUT pay off is super easy to use, it’s designed with the correct weight range in mind, I can self test against know weights ie my own via the bathroom scales and I can get multiple readings which helps to negate the accuracy issue :)
Thanks, very useful video, think I'd need the 1500kg version though for the motorhome.
Cheers Bob, weight rating is per wheel so I guess the question is whether one or more of your 4 wheels is likely to be over 1000kg? 1500kg version is orange, bit chunkier to stand up to the additional weight and calibrated for the higher weight range. Thanks for watching, hope you’re having (I assume your vids are pretty much real time) a great trip :)
Very interesting and informative vlog. I’ve looked at these several time but the price always puts me off. Looks a good bit of kit, maybe one day 🤔
Cheers, Martin
Best bring mine along to a get together and we’ll start a new sport ;-) All the hassle with the trailer tent we had before the caravan drove us to buy it, have to say that without that experience I probably wouldn’t have bought for exactly that reason!
Hi there. Good video! I'm thinking about this (the orange one) as a viable alternative to the local weighbridge as although local, it is very busy and you feel under pressure when there. My question is this - when i weigh for example, the nearside wheel of my caravan, how does it manage to not include some of the weight of the offside too (imagining that there is a line down the middle front to rear)? And in doing so, surely the nearside and offside weights combined (along with the jockey) would come to a good bit more that in actually the case, thus diddling me out of possible payload? For example, if i stand on the bathroom scales with just my left foot touching, it won't display 60kg only (i.e. i'm 120kg when not standing like a pirate). Is this my overly binary brain working overtime or am i on to something? Obviously, i need it to be as accurate as possible. Kind regards, David
So (trying to reset my brain back to A level physics…) I think (and I’m open to an actual practicing, highly qualified physicist/engineer correcting this assertion because it’s been a few years!) that when you stand on the bathroom scale with only one foot in contact, the scale should show 120Kg assuming you’re standing still and perfectly perpendicular to the scale, because the entire force of your body is carried through that one foot. When a vehicle scale is used on a single axle trailer unless you’re some sort of top gear caravan bashing, stunt driver, 3 points are still in contact with the ground when measuring I.e. the wheel on the scale, the wheel not on the scale, and the jockey wheel (which may be in contact with the ground directly, or via being hitched to the car). Either the instructions say, or we (as a pair of pedantic sci/eng PhDs) decided to find an equal height to the scale bit of timber for the wheel not being measured, to eliminate cosine error I.e. the error that will be introduced if the force of the wheel being measured is not being applied perfectly perpendicularly to the ground. For example, if a trailer was 5degrees off level the error would be approx 4kg for every 1000kg of measured weight ie not a lot! In summary I think there’s effectively no “ahah more payload!” moments available sadly and bear in mind those sort of errors are nothing compared to the inherent inaccuracies of these devices and weighbridges anyway I.e. try to leave yourself a bit of “wiggle room” rather than maxing out the payload. The sort of scientific accuracy scales needed for accurate weighing at this magnitude of trailer are £10s thousands and carefully calibrated precision scientific instruments (they have to be if VOSA want to take it to court!). For me this device was an easy to use rough solution where ease of use outweighed inaccuracy especially as the official weighbridge near me wasn’t much more accurate for my 1400Kg caravan anyway so there was no better solution! This at least gave me a rough idea, which for me was better than no idea. Thanks for the standing like a pirate image and I enjoyed reading your brain dump and thinking about the reply :) Best wishes, Becky
@@CaraVanOlogywithBecky Many thanks. That does all make sense. Might buy one for peace of mind and convenience but still try to use the weight bridge too. Thanks again 👍
Beware of these, I recently purchased a 1500kg version from Amazon as they seemed great.
I measured my caravan and got really weird weights, I decided to test. The hitch weight measured 130kg, from two other accurate scales, but the caravan scale measured 160kg then 180 kg, at this point I didnt trust them. The scales were clearly out of calibration.
I contacted the distributer about it, and was advised they no longer distribute due to the reasons I was calling.
I have emailed the manufacturer in Germany twice and received no reply, I contacted Amazon and was refunded my money as they were new.
Thanks for the heads up, appreciate it!
Was the heavier side have the fridge and cooker ?
The heavier side in this video, has the onboard fresh water tank (empty when this footage was shot and when travelling), hot water boiler (also empty of water) and all the electrics, including the v heavy leisure battery. The fridge is on the lighter side but at the time of measuring was empty, so I’m sure when it has a few bits and pieces in to keep us going for the first day or two of the holiday, the sides would have been more evenly matched weight wise. I just have a hob, also on the fridge (lighter) side, but no cooker.
Hello, how accurate is this scale?
@@Papaziza85 % accuracy claimed by manufacturer translated into Kg and compared to a weigh bridge within the video. In practice the measurements I got were close ie with a couple of Kg if I remember correctly, so at least reproducible, even if it’s not a regularly calibrated bit of precision scientific equipment. Hope that helps, thanks for watching.
Thank you
Hello there, I have borrowed this tool and not sure if it measure accurately. I tried to stand on it a deviation was like 12%. Asked my kids to do the same and deviation was like a lot lot lot more 😔 not convinced that I want it. Have you ever compared with calibrated tool like weight on junkyard?
@@Papaziza85 did it come with the instructions? I recall (sorry, ages ago!) the instructions saying something about putting pieces of timber, etc. of approx the same depth either side of the scale (not too close, otherwise the scale won’t take the full weight of the wheel), then driving over it at a gentle speed, rather than using it like eg a bathroom scale. Luckily we live on a v quiet road, so easily achieved with 2 of us, 1 driving, 1 moving the measurement equipment). Bear in mind you also need a level road surface for accuracy. When I tried weighing myself (before I read the instructions) any sort of lean made the readings vary madly, something to do with how the sensors are set up to operate. And no I haven’t compared with a weigh bridge because the ones close to us are an absolute pain to get into, hence why I tried this scale.
Instructions says to go over the scale gently. Not really saying about support of an timber to avoid leaning. Today I found the bathroom scale technic. Pretty impressive and have to try.