Club 80-90 Forums

Hi , Does anybody know if it is mandatory to use orange cable when using campsite electric hook ups?
My cable is 10m long but am worried it may not be long enough for some campsites.
I am thinking of making a longer cable and have about 25m of BLUE cable spare in my garage. Would I get away with using this?
Thanks
Paul

Blue will be fine for you additional hook up cable. I had an orange hook up cable & needed a longer one. I bought a supposedly orange one from Amazon UK but when it arrived it was blue. Most hook up cables in France seem to be blue & are a lot thinner than UK ones.

Never had a problem using any colour cable
for france i used to carry a domestic 50m wind up reel with the plug changed and shut the wire in the door as some sites power is a long way off

I made mine using blue artic cable. It's heavier duty than the normal orange caravan shop reels and rated down to -25C.

pandp38 wrote:Does anybody know if it is mandatory to use orange cable when using campsite electric hook ups?

Only the hardest-core caravan club muppet could possibly object to the colour of somebody's hookup cable...

My cable is 10m long but am worried it may not be long enough for some campsites.
I am thinking of making a longer cable and have about 25m of BLUE cable spare in my garage. Would I get away with using this?

We have a 10m and a 25m - the 10m was seriously restrictive, and led to picking pitches based on the location of the hookup alone. 25m was _sometimes_ not enough, but I don't think we ever had a problem with the two together.

It's worth noting that the 25m is MUCH heavier cable than the 10m.

BOXY wrote:I made mine using blue artic cable. It's heavier duty than the normal orange cara van shop reels and rated down to -25C.

I wont be camping anyware near -25degC

The Cable can be any colour but the cores have to be harmonised i.e., brown and blue. Arctic flex is ideal (just a preference) and needs to be a minimum of a 2.5mm on a 16A hook up. 25m is the max length but can be 27m technically.

Thanks for replies. I now feel happy at making a cable up.
Paul

It's mainly just for visibility, like orange lawn mower/strimmer/hedge trimmer cables etc...

Looking back at my wiring regs book, I don't think it's mandatory

Just on a side note, anyone worked out a good place/way to store there cable?

I did buy one of these a while ago, but never actually used it



Also available are cable reel type holders...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/18137561 ... 108&ff19=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My cable is just tied together with a couple of wire ties, and in a carrier bag

Smosh wrote:Just on a side note, anyone worked out a good place/way to store there cable?

Our 10m one came in a little round bag - which fits neatly between the back of the driver's seat and the cooker unit. The 25m one sits on the top of the other stuff in the under-bed draw, in a large elbow-to-hand loop.

Interesting observation.....I have a heavy 16 amp 25 meter ORANGE cable that on more than one occasion has turned out to be too short when used on foreign campsites. The foreigners (French/German/Dutch/Austrian/Italian) bring out their puny thin 6 amp reels with 50 meters plus wire.. and piggy back off each-others connections...job done....I don't know whether there is a moral to this sad tail but it doesn't half pi$$ you off!!!!!



Martin

California Dreamin wrote:Interesting observation.....I have a heavy 16 amp 25 meter ORANGE cable that on more than one occasion has turned out to be too short when used on foreign campsites. The foreigners (French/German/Dutch/Austrian/Italian) bring out their puny thin 6 amp reels with 50 meters plus wire.. and piggy back off each-others connections...job done....I don't know whether there is a moral to this sad tail but it doesn't half pi$$ you off!!!!!

Martin

Maybe they're using fewer milk bottles

I just remember one particular 'stop over site' in Green Venice France, where I counted more than 8 extension cables being piggy backed off several trailing euro sockets but all going back to just one standing outlet....

I couldn't get a lookin! I was actually just a bit peeved off that they had the power and I didn't lol.

Martin