While on a site in Spain during the winter I was visited by some friends. Knowing which pitch they were to stay on I laid out my spare EHU cable for them to use on arrival. They stayed for a few days but when they came to leave, and as usual, removing the EHU was the last thing to do my friend was unable to physically un plug it from his van. Everyone around tried with no avail and we ended up detaching the connections inside the van and removing the whole box in which the connection is made.
Previously in the uk I had been using this cable over a period of about a month at home connected to my van to keep a convector heater working during a colder spell.
On arrival at Hispavan in Vera, the engineer tried to disconnect the cable with little success until he attacked it from the rear. He eventually realised that the female socket had welded itself through the live connection to the male pin.
An autopsy was carried out after it was all disconnected and found that the live connection in the female socket had become loose and arcing had taken place, welding it to its appropriate connection.
I know this isn't a daily event, but nevertheless it may be wise to occasionally inspect the connections in well used EHU cables. There isn't much to grip on the socket when pulling it out from the van and it could be that the cable takes some of the strain potentially causing the connections to be compromised.
Previously in the uk I had been using this cable over a period of about a month at home connected to my van to keep a convector heater working during a colder spell.
On arrival at Hispavan in Vera, the engineer tried to disconnect the cable with little success until he attacked it from the rear. He eventually realised that the female socket had welded itself through the live connection to the male pin.
An autopsy was carried out after it was all disconnected and found that the live connection in the female socket had become loose and arcing had taken place, welding it to its appropriate connection.
I know this isn't a daily event, but nevertheless it may be wise to occasionally inspect the connections in well used EHU cables. There isn't much to grip on the socket when pulling it out from the van and it could be that the cable takes some of the strain potentially causing the connections to be compromised.
