European Hook Up

[pocolow]

Forgive me if this seems a rather basic question. But this year will be our first visit to France in the Campervan and I just wanted to check if the Electric hookups are the same fittings as in the UK

Mark

[wazza]

hi
The plugs are the same but you need to check polarity can be swaped on some sites and if you plug urs in it trips the sites power lol as we found out to our amusement. There is a tester that you can buy from camping shops

[cherl889]

Some sites in France have the same "blue plug" that we have here in the UK, but to be on the safe side take an adapter lead most camping shops have then for less than a tenner. Another thing worth checking before you hook up is the polarity of the site electrics I'm no electrician but its something to do with the way positive and negative is wired in France ,again you can can get a polarity tester and an adapter lead made up. have a look this link it might help

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/dis ... age=Search" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mark

[82JEW75]

Plugs can be either the large blue plugs or "french domestic", adaptors between the two are available from most DIY stores, or you can make one easily enough.

Wiring should be the same as UK, live on the right, but can be swapped. Would be a good idea to replace UK breakers with european ones, that trip on both live and neutral.

[jamesc76]

One thing to remember is it dont actually matter which way round it is the appliance will still work! I lived in Germany for 3 years and the plugs there can go either way round and never had a problem! Dunno about effect on breakers tho!

[pocolow]

Thanks for the advice guys, I shall pick up and adapter (French Domestic 2 pin) just in case it isn't the blue plug at some of the sites.

Mark

[Ian Hulley]

Mark the posh campsites are almost always 16amp (blue 3 pin) as we use here in the UK, aires and camping municipal almost always use the 2 pin and double earth domestic style, these are not weather-proof though.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CARAVAN-ADAPTOR-H ... 20b1d1a0d6

Ian

hi
The plugs are the same but you need to check polarity can be swaped on some sites

Rot.

[jamesc76]

One thing to remember is it dont actually matter which way round it is the appliance will still work! I lived in Germany for 3 years and the plugs there can go either way round and never had a problem! Dunno about effect on breakers tho!

that's probably so for "double insulated" appliances as many modern appliances usually are but items such as microwaves, high wattage kettles etc are not, and will trip the system .. .. or worse so beware.

never had any problems with um!

[pocolow]

Mark the posh campsites are almost always 16amp (blue 3 pin) as we use here in the UK, aires and camping municipal almost always use the 2 pin and double earth domestic style, these are not weather-proof though.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/caravan-ADAPTOR-H ... 20b1d1a0d6

Ian

hi
The plugs are the same but you need to check polarity can be swaped on some sites

Rot.

Thanks Ian the main site we will be staying at is here http://www.oleronmag.com/campings/munic ... ierre.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It is a municiple site so probably need the two pin adapter(now ordered). Looking foward to August, just need to have a new clutch fitted before we go.

Cheers Mark

[82JEW75]

Ok, there are three possible types of plug/socket.

16/25 Amp "blue", these can only be connected one way round and should all be wired up correctly.

16 Amp "shuko" (europlug), can be connected either way round, earth is via two clips top and bottom. Can be wired either way.

16 Amp "french", can only be connected one way round, earth is via the pin on the socket. Should be wired correctly, but not always.

Most shuko plugs will fit both shuko and french sockets.

Most modern appliances don't care which way round the plug is connected.

However, UK spec breakers only trip on live and present a potential issue if polarity is inverted. Euro breakers cut both live and neutral and are normally interchangeable with UK installations (and you don't need to swap them back afterwards as they work just fine in the UK). Look at your breakers, it should be easy to tell if you have UK (one wire) or Euro (two wires), it's also generally clearly marked on the breaker itself in the form of a little pictogram, does it show one line being switched or two?


Simple answer is don't worry, just use adaptors as needed, if you trip the site's electricity, you trip the electricity, happens sometimes. Not a major issue in summer and it's more likely to go off due to a thunderstorm anyway...

[dandaz]

Its a nice site that ,I am quite near..

French electrics are weird with the positive and negative but all my english stuff works ie mobile phone chargers etc..

bon vacation..

[Ralf85]

There are two different types of 'two pin' sockets in France. The older one just has two pins to plug into the socket. However the more modern sockets have an extra pin at the socket end that goes into the two pin plug. If you do not have the correct plug it cannot be connected. So an adaptorb is needed. These are widely available in the French equivalents of B&Q if you cannot find one here. Bon voyage.

Patrick

[California Dreamin]

As a side note....working on and building computers I have accumulated several french style leads (without the caravan socket of course) if anyone wants one they are welcome (free), just a case of adding a caravan extension socket to the end of the lead.
Going to the bashtie.

It is probably worth mentioning that French hookups are rarely 16amps, they are more commonly 10amps and occasionally just 6amps. LOOK AROUND AT THE THICKNESS OF THE CABLES THE FRENCH/DUTCH/GERMANS/AUSTRIANS and SWISS are using, they look like flymo leads compared to what we use!!! not a problem in the summer with tele's/lights/radios and travelling hair dryer but in the colder months you would need to be careful with blown heaters and domestic kettles being used at the same time...unlikely I know...

Martin

[1664]

In regard to the reverse polarity situation, any mains appliance will run perfectly happily with the phase and neutral reversed as the current is alternating and does not have a 'polarity' like d.c. The problem reverse polarity throws up is that it effectively places any single pole switch or circuit breaker in the neutral rather than the live side of the circuit.
One of the reasons the latest electrical regulations stipulate double pole breakers are used.