Hook up advice please (1 Viewer)

yorkshirepudding

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We are travelling around Italy and France for 6/8 weeks in May/June. Will I be able to use my standard hook up on French and Italian sites and aires or will I need a convertor?
I have seen adaptors with two small pound pins and some with two larger, flat pins. How likely am I to come across these configurations? Should I buy both "just in case"?
 

scotjimland

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Most French sites/aires have 16A UK sockets but some are still on the French 2 pin round pins.. so take an adapter..

Never been to Italy .. and never seen two pin flat.
 
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yorkshirepudding

yorkshirepudding

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Thanks Jim, I will buy a two pin adapter. The flat pin one I saw in a builders merchants so probably specific to some equipment.

Cheers.

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gozomike

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Hi I agree just the two pin adaptor, I have needed mine a few times and have never seen a flat pin. Very few aires have power. Trips have been in France, Germany, Austria and Italy.

Mike :thumb:
 

chatter

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another good idea is to make up a small lead with uk plugs and reverse the wires on one end, to use incase of reverse poliarity, which on the french 2 pin plugs is quite often and buy a little tester which you plug into a socket in the van, it lights up when you plug in, three lights and its ok two lights and you need to use the reverse lead in your hook up configuration

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Robinhood

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You might find Link Removed useful.

Whilst many French sites now use the standard 16amp connector, there are still a good few on the local standard.

Buy an adapter (which, referring to the website above, will almost definitely come with the CE7/7 plug which will work across much of Europe BUT NOT Italy).

When we were in Italy, where the international plug was not available, we were able to 'borrow' an adapter (three pin as on the above site) from the site owner - this wouldn't necessarily be available on an 'Aire' (Sosta?) though.

Not a common piece of kit, and you would probably have to buy when you got there - maybe a standby alternative would be a UK 13amp adapter (I have one for home use) and an international socket adapter with Italian capability?
 

lebesset

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there is no such thing as reverse polarity as we use alternating current . no polarity


where did this idea come from?
 

gozomike

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Correct, it is not reversed polarity, it is a reversed live and neutral. As has been said many times European equipment uses double pole switches so everything is isolated when the switch is off. Some UK equipment and most 13 amp sockets are single pole which means if the switch is off the live feed can go through the equipment and back to the plug. This is no problem to the equipment but could be to a person if they touched anything which remains live, it should not happen but best to be safe.
Mike
 

scotjimland

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there is no such thing as reverse polarity as we use alternating current . no polarity

Correct, it's line reversal and it's been argued more times than I can count.. it's a lose lose argument.

Last time I put my head above the parapet I was accused of putting peoples safety at risk, so I say no more on the topic.. but it keeps the retailers of 'polarity' testers happy..

I often wonder how many home made dodgy reverse polarity couplers are in use and if they are a greater risk than the perceived risk of line reversal.

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yorkshirepudding

yorkshirepudding

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Thanks guys, I knew I would be able to count on your experiences and avoid any pitfalls.

Many thanks.
 

pappajohn

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if you go to Boots etc they sell a multi adaptor with around 4 different individual plug types.

usually a small 2 pin, a larger 2 pin, a small flat 2 pin and a larger flat 2 pin.

that way you have all you need in one package except a uk 3pin to euro adaptor.

heres a list of different plug types by country.
to the right of each country is a list of plug types you may find...ie: A.F.C.H. then cross ref to the pictures.

<<PLUGS>>

italy could be type F or L
france could be type C, E or F

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