Electrics in Europe (1 Viewer)

[Bulletguy]

I'm touring thru Germany, Czech and Poland next month.

I have a standard mains hook-up cable with 3pin connector but am i likely to need any different sockets/plugs to adapt my cable in any of the above countries? If so, what are they?

 

[Diabalo]

You may need a two pin adapter and one to reverse the polarity, you can buy the plugs and sockets and make em up with a short lead.:thumb:

 

[cpease]

make sure you take a blue three pin to 13amp socket adaptor or short lead to plug a 13amp continuator tested into as in my experience 30% of continental site have reverse politary ( ie red and blue/brown wires reversed). Johney foreigner dont seem to care about reversing wires.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

I'm touring thru Germany, Czech and Poland next month.

I have a standard mains hook-up cable with 3pin connector but am i likely to need any different sockets/plugs to adapt my cable in any of the above countries? If so, what are they?

Stock Code Description
1229 Change over Switch
Part No. Price Stocked Item?
30600 was £34.99 Yes
More Details... now £33.24 inclusive of VAT and 5% online discount
Checks polarity on continental sites. The Mains Polarity Changeover Switch is installed between mains inlet socket and mains distribution/transformer unit. Before plugging into a continental hook up, if red light shows - simply change switch to show green light for safety.

Stock Code Description
8715436000143 Mains Continental Adaptor
Part No. Price Stocked Item?
061060 was £4.99 Yes
More Details... now £4.74 inclusive of VAT and 5% online discount
Allows use of standard caravan mains lead with older continental 2-pin site hookup sockets.

Mainly used on French sites

Hope these help

Peter

 

[Bulletguy]

Stock Code Description
1229 Change over Switch
Part No. Price Stocked Item?
30600 was £34.99 Yes
More Details... now £33.24 inclusive of VAT and 5% online discount
Checks polarity on continental sites. The Mains Polarity Changeover Switch is installed between mains inlet socket and mains distribution/transformer unit. Before plugging into a continental hook up, if red light shows - simply change switch to show green light for safety.

Stock Code Description
8715436000143 Mains Continental Adaptor
Part No. Price Stocked Item?
061060 was £4.99 Yes
More Details... now £4.74 inclusive of VAT and 5% online discount
Allows use of standard caravan mains lead with older continental 2-pin site hookup sockets.

Mainly used on French sites

Hope these help

Peter

Errrrrrrrrrm.........dunno!! Confused!!!

I've got the usual orange cable with blue 3pin female (to go into plug on van) and blue 3pin male for the hook-up. Only other 'connector' i have is a 3 pin (UK) mains plug wired to blue female socket (generally used when van is at home).

This reverse polarity bit does not sound good at all.
Like how many 'brits' have had their electrics totally fried due to slap happy careless campsite owners?!!

Think i might stick with me battery power!!

 

[keith]

Errrrrrrrrrm.........dunno!! Confused!!!

I've got the usual orange cable with blue 3pin female (to go into plug on van) and blue 3pin male for the hook-up. Only other 'connector' i have is a 3 pin (UK) mains plug wired to blue female socket (generally used when van is at home).

This reverse polarity bit does not sound good at all.
Like how many 'brits' have had their electrics totally fried due to slap happy careless campsite owners?!!

Think i might stick with me battery power!!

Why not get the continental adapter that Peter mentioned, that will allow you to hook up to most sites in Europe.
If you are not sure regarding Reversed polarity, then use battery.
Reversed polarity will not stop appliances working but is dangerous from the point of view that an appliance can still be live when switched off.
We spent 3 weeks on a site in Spain where no matter what I did our van kept telling us reversed polarity existed, Nothing untoward happened :thumb:

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[N Luyetund]

In addition to your two leads I carry:

a lead with a 16A blue male at one end, female at the other, the live and neutral are reversed on the female. It's about 500mm long overall.

a lead with a female 16A blue on one end, a 'shuko' type continental plug at the other for plugging into site EHU if they don't have a 16A blue socket... some sites do, some don't.

Plus a polarity tester available from most caravan/motorhome dealers. It plugs in to your van 13A socket, has a three light system and is very easy to use... usually has the destructions printed on it for easy reference.

I also carry an additional (shortened to around 15m) standard orange hookup lead to use as an extension or when close to the EHU.

If you know what you're doing with electrics it's easy enough to buy the parts and make up your own leads... if you don't understand electrics consult a qualified electrician!

 

[olley]

Johney foreigner dont seem to care about reversing wires.

Hi the reason johney foreigner doesn't care about reversing the wires is because he uses double pole switches, unlike us brits who use single, his system is inherently safer ours is cheaper.

Olley