Ok, so I know there are several topics on here about electricity in france. However, despite being a reasonably intelligent person, when I look at anything to do with electricity my brain short circuits and I might as well be reading it in Latvian.
We are doing our first camp in france next week. We are in a tent and only pitches left were with electricity. So thought rather than buying tonnes of charger adapters for car it might be cheaper to buy an EHU. We only need it to charge mobile, camera and kids DS's really. Went to camping shop yesterday and they said all I needed was the EHU, and an adapter. Campsite have said we just need the blue plug. Does this mean we dont need the continental adaptor? Also, campshop said reverse polarity only an issue for caravans? Is that right?
Thanks
Liz
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Quote: Originally posted by pinklizzie on 01/8/2007
Campsite have said we just need the blue plug. Does this mean we dont need the continental adaptor? Also, campshop said reverse polarity only an issue for caravans? Is that right?
Well, the campsite will know what their hookups use, so if they say they have the blue plug hookups I`d belive them...but you might need the adaptor later on other campsites, so why not just get one for the EHU bag?
As to polarity, it mystifies me why the campshop would think tenters and other non-vanners would be immune to the effects of an electric shock? My advice would to take the same safety precautions as anyone else...take a polarity meter (there may be one integral on your EHU, so have a look first) and a short length of EHU flex, with a male and female blue plug on the ends, wired for reversed polarity and marked as such. Won`t cost much, you`ll be set for future years and after all, what price the safety of your kids? (And your`s, and your OH, of course!)
Just back from France and yes the site had reverse polarity. We have a mains tester as mentioned above which told us it was reversed. I had previously constructed a reverse 1.5 meter extension as per instructions available here. I would stress tho that the site we used had old connections and had not been updated. You may be lucky and not have this issue at your site.
This tpoic always confuses me, why does it matter with AC? Its polarity swaps 50 times second. Will it really matter or arew e talking about fuses not blowing and things, no infact dont answer it will only confuse me more?
Please dont shout at me I used to know all about this sort of thing 20 years ago but just cant get my old head round it any more ( could I not just re wire my plug?
------------- Had a 2 year break from camping but ff to france this summer hopefully
You're not the only one... my dad also reckons reverse polarity isn't an issue with AC - would someone please explain why it is? he used to be an electrical engineer so I would have thought he would know, but he is 71 so his knowledge isn't exactly current (no pun intended )
Presumably when we stay in hotels etc. in France, Spain, Greece polarity is sometimes reversed without us knowing and I've never had an issue - only came across it since beginning to camp.
Well, if you run "reversed polarity" through the search function you`ll find some very good explainations....I`m a muppet when it comes to electricity, so I`m not going to try.
But the bottom line is what convinces me....yes, UK appliances will work fine off reversed polarity current and it won`t hurt them. BUT...if an appliance is damaged or faulty or gets wet or whatever, the "off" switch on the appliance has switched off the wrong wire, and the other wire is still delivering current to the device. So while it`s switched off, it`s still live and you can give yourself a shock.
For the sake of a few pounds, I want "Off" to mean right off, same as here. When you go camping, there`s a lot of water around in the form of puddles and condensation. Electricity on a campsite can`t be as safe as it is at home just because of this factor, and I`m not adding in another problem.
Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
the switches for a device are on the live cable, if there reversed then the appliance still is in effect live,although the neutral is disconected,to stop the thing working,
Continental wiring uses circuit breakers in both live and neutral lines so polarity is not an issue. UK systems generally have switched live but some use double pole switches.
The issue is in protection-UK fuses/cct breakers are in the live line only, so a shock could occur in a reversed polarity system, because the system will not have been cut off, you could provide the alternative circuit path-eek! The circuit breakers (or fuses) are designed to protect users in the event of a fault.
It is well worth having a polarity tester and reversed polarity adaptors-what price safety? I have seen cables across roads on camp sites, they could easily be damaged by cars driving over them.
The french also like to use domestic type leads and adaptors which are'nt waterproof! First rain-circuit breakers go!
Electricity can kill!
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
Quote: Originally posted by Valk_scot on 02/8/2007
Well, if you run "reversed polarity" through the search function you`ll find some very good explainations....I`m a muppet when it comes to electricity, so I`m not going to try.
But the bottom line is what convinces me....yes, UK appliances will work fine off reversed polarity current and it won`t hurt them. BUT...if an appliance is damaged or faulty or gets wet or whatever, the "off" switch on the appliance has switched off the wrong wire, and the other wire is still delivering current to the device. So while it`s switched off, it`s still live and you can give yourself a shock.
For the sake of a few pounds, I want "Off" to mean right off, same as here. When you go camping, there`s a lot of water around in the form of puddles and condensation. Electricity on a campsite can`t be as safe as it is at home just because of this factor, and I`m not adding in another problem.
The 'non-complicated' explanation doesn't get any better than this! Well done Val! We have 2 reverse polarity sockets here and we will NOT let you use them without the proper electrical safety measures in place. Everything else is the same as you'd find on a campsite in the UK.
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Topic: Reverse Polarity and EHU
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The circuit breakers (or fuses) are designed to protect users in the event of a fault.
