One
of the concerns about going abroad with your caravan for the first time is the
electrics you will encounter. We are used in the UK to exclusively using site
connections to the CEE 17 European Standard.
However this seems to be one standard where we are well ahead of our
chums on the other side of the Channel!
Standard CEE17 Connection >
In
Europe, particularly France, it is still quite normal to find Continental 2 pin
connectors on the electric bollards. In order for you to use your standard UK
power lead you will need an adaptor to fit this style of connection. These can
be purchased at your local caravan dealer. This adaptor just plugs into your
mains cable.
< Continental 2 pin Connector
In 2007 we stayed in Switzerland for the first time with the caravan. Of the three sites we visited, two had the standard blue plug but the third site had an unusual connection for which I did not have an adaptor. Fortunately the campsite are used to this problem and loan them to campers for a small returnable deposit.
In the UK a
25-metre cable will be fine on the vast majority of campsites. This will also
generally be the case in Europe. However you can sometimes find you need a much
longer cable run to get to the electric bollard. I therefore always take
an additional short 10-metre cable with me just in case.
Another major difference you will find in Europe is the number of amps supplied to each pitch. On any Caravan Club site in the UK you will have 16 amps which is enough to boil a normal domestic kettle, as well as running the fridge and water heater or blown air heating on its lowest setting. In France the average number of amps available is 6 which is not enough to boil a standard kettle but will run the other things I have mentioned but not at the same time! In Italy you sometimes only find 3 amps which is fine for fridge, battery charging and lights but not much else.
I don't understand amps and wattage! The formula is fairly simple. The new European standard for domestic electricity supply is 230 watts per amp. Each amp is worth 230 watts. So if you have a 6 amp supply you can use appliances totalling 1380 watts if you have 3 amps it comes to 690 watts. On some sites in France I have come across 10 amps which would give you 2300 watts. Every electrical appliance has marked on it the maximum number of watts it uses. For built in appliance such as water heaters you will need to refer to the operating instructions provided with the caravan. We have a low wattage kettle which we use abroad which is rated at 950 watts. As an example we could boil the kettle, have the fridge on and charge the battery and we would be within the 6 amp supply. If we switched on the Carver water heater or a hairdryer at the same time we would be trying to take more power than is available which would cause an overload and trip your electrics. Things like mains lighting, battery chargers and electric cooling fans take very little electricity so its best to concentrate on the more power hungry appliances you use. If you do accidentally trip the switch you can sometimes re-set it yourself if the box is open but mostly this will mean a trip to Reception to ask them to re-set it for you.
Another difference you encounter in Europe is cross polarity. UK appliances use fused plugs. There are two types, those using an earth wire, and those which are double insulated which do not have an earth. You can recognise Double Insulated appliances by a symbol which consists of a square within a square. Because we use a fused plug we only switch on the live side, this is called single pole switching. In Europe they switch on both neutral and live which is called double poll switching. Because they run everything through circuit breakers they don't use fused plugs. On the UK system it is important that the live and neutral are wired correctly but on the European system this is not so important. This results in what is called Cross Polarity. In simple terms connecting a UK appliance may lead to it being live even when you think it is off because the live feed might be coming from the neutral wire which is not fused.
So
how do I know if I have Cross Polarity?
Some caravans have a built in tester with a switch over switch which solves the
problem. If you do not have one of these you need to invest in a tester which
again can be purchased from you local caravan dealer. Looking at the
illustration to the right you can see that it shows 3 lights on, this indicates
correct polarity. If there were only one or two lights on you have a problem. All the
tester will do is to highlight the problem. What you need to correct the problem
is some extra connectors which are wired up the wrong way round so they cross
the polarity back to the wiring of your van and its appliances. To cover all
eventualities you will need:-
1 x Standard CEE17 Mains Cable
1 X Continental two pin adaptor
1 X Short lead with male and female CEE17 plugs on either end wired with the positive and neutral wired the wrong way round. Make sure you mark this lead as crossed polarity so that it can't be used under the wrong circumstances.
The first one is simple as that's what you already have. The second one you can buy. The third one you will have to make up yourself as I am not aware of them being available off the shelf but all the connectors you need are available from a caravan accessory shop.
A final thought, this is nothing to get too worried about it is just about recognising that there are differences between the UK and Europe as far as electrical systems are concerned but there is no too high a price to pay for safety and a little forward planning will ensure a safe holiday.