EHU cable (1 Viewer)

[SomeoneElse]

Am on an Aire in France with around 40 vans on it. Am the only Brit here and not one has an orange cable, not even the Dutch. Maybe its a Brit thing. If anyone is waiting to make a claim on my bank account, first they will have to find Smudger, as he drank it dry and secondly I wish them luck.

Since the Continental CEE 7 plug and sockets are rated at 16Amps the usual practice seems to be to have short adapter cables at the hookup point and at the MOHO and use a domestic extension reel between the two. All the ones I've seen use 1.5mm cable at best. The good old British 2.5mm EHU cable looks massive by comparison.

 

[daisy mae]

I have a blue 15 mtr ..2.5 three core cable and a 10mtr . 2.5. the blue is artic cable, doesn`t go hard and brittle like the orange, made for artic conditions, it is pliable, strong but easy to roll up and unroll. not expensive I bought from a dealer on Ebay .last year. made for caravans and motor homes

 

[Snowbird]

Whether its elf an safty or whatever, I do remember one funster wondering why his van almost caught fire with the input socket melted and turned a nice shade of brown. Dont fool around with stuff you dont understand just to save a few quid. having seen how quickly 5 vans were destroyed in a Spanish campsite by fire, by all means make your own from the old lawnmower cable that you ran over with the mower, but PLEASE put a sign on your van so that I know which one NOT to park near.

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[Viennese]

Several available on Gumtree

 

[scotjimland]

Whether its elf an safty or whatever, I do remember one funster wondering why his van almost caught fire with the input socket melted and turned a nice shade of brown. Dont fool around with stuff you dont understand just to save a few quid. having seen how quickly 5 vans were destroyed in a Spanish campsite by fire, by all means make your own from the old lawnmower cable that you ran over with the mower, but PLEASE put a sign on your van so that I know which one NOT to park near.

well said Dave..

IEE regs are there for a reason.. our safety.. .. otherwise you would have this ..

 

[Snowbird]

The thing is, many have no idea how much power they are pulling through there hookup cable. Some use there van as they do there house and with more and more electrical demands on that cable such as electric kettle, electric boiler, fridge, aircon, TV, battery charger, toaster etc, etc. Am of the belief that hookup cables should be made of stronger stuff than they already are. Not made from the same stuff you would plug your electric drill in.

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[scotjimland]

Several available on Gumtree

personally I wouldn't buy a second hand cable unless I knew the owner..

even then, I would hesitate..

you don't know its age, if it's been abused, run over and damaged internally, or overloaded .

They do get damaged and we should be inspected every time we use.. and if it is run over it may well have damage we can't see.. ie.. the earth core may be broken..

All depends on use, but if you are fulltime or make heavy use of the cable it's worth replacing every couple of years.. they also deteriorate with UV and age.

In three years full time I replaced mine twice due to damage..

 

[Gromett]

I am of the view that the tough orange cable is better where there is a risk of the cable being run over. The arctic blue is excellent, nice and flexible but I am not sure it could take the abuse that the thicker walled orange ones can.

That said I have a really heavy duty very long orange one that can take some abuse. I also have a shorter orange one that doesn't seem to be so heavy duty. I then have a short arctic blue one which I only use if I can get close to the post. I would never use the blue one in places where it may be driven over.

When I wrap my cables up I use a cloth in my right hand and coil to my left. I run the entire cable through the cloth as I loop it up. This serves two purposes, I can feel for any defects and it gives me a nice clean cable ready for storage. The big heavy duty cable is now 8 years old and has had a load of stick and is undamaged. The lighter orange one has a few minor nicks but not through the to the insulation on each core yet. Keeping an eye on it though.

 

[alanalmoff]

If you are in Spain, a bit of bell wire will do for a lot of sites, (6amp on a good day)

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[PP Bear]

depends on what length ya need
Broken Link Removed

It's not always about the size you know, it's how you use it that counts

 

[Techno]

1.5mm is more than capable of the 16amp load at 19 amp rating but the reason a hook up cable should be 2.5mm is to reduce the resistance. The earth loop impedance has a bearing on the time is takes for a 30ma rcd to trip. It's not a good idea to go beyond 25 metres at all especially with 1.5mm
You're grown ups so make your owns decisions.

 

[Gromett]

1.5mm is more than capable of the 16amp load at 19 amp rating but the reason a hook up cable should be 2.5mm is to reduce the resistance. The earth loop impedance has a bearing on the time is takes for a 30ma rcd to trip. It's not a good idea to go beyond 25 metres at all especially with 1.5mm

I knew there was a reason. My training was over 20 years ago and haven't used it since so I racked my brain trying to remember why. Thanks for the explanation

All my EHU leads are 2.5mm, I rejected the first one because it was smaller and had an argument with the supplier as to why 2.5 was necessary. I couldn't give an adequate answer at the time but insisted I wanted 2.5mm I really must get a copy of the IEE regs and refresh myself.

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[Techno]

I should have said rcbo rather than rcd as the over current protection rating is part of the calculation and a high earth loop impedance can be offset by lowering the current limit
It is possible that Europe provide 6 or 10 amp limits because they know many mainland Europe campers use bell wire for their hook up leads or any old scrap of rubbish