Camping Electrikery

Hi, having never stopped at a proper camp site sur la continent what type of sockets do we plumb into? Is like here with the blue 3 pronged affair or is something completely different? :?: :?:

Cant say Ive every used the camspite electric's but Im sure Ive heard the father in law say that the polarity's are reversed in the plug...

No doubt some other wiser soul will confirm or otherwise.!

I'm not sure about polarity reversal, but i have a euro plug to UK 16amp (Blue 3 pin) adapter. you should be able to get them from the bigger UK caravan places, and i should think towsure online would be a good place to get them from.

The Euro plug i have is white, and has 2 pins sticking out, and a hole for the earth to go into the plug.

:arrow:

Thanks, will be going along to a tin tent place today for something completely different will check with them

There always seem to be several stands at the land rover shows selling 16A to 13A adapter leads. The voltage and polarity on these plugs is a european standard, and the same as the UK.

Screwfix, hardware or caravan shops usually have adapters and leads.
Although the connectors are 16A, many caravan hookups are only 5A, so check before you plug that arc welder in

What amps for a plasma cutter :?: :?:

LuckyTrucker wrote:

What amps for a plasma cutter :?:

Mine pulls about 14 amps on full power, but when turned down to the lowest setting will just run on my little genny - about 8 amps.

I would take my cutter, but BJ doesn't want me putting heavy 232 Bar compressed air tanks in the back ... or cutting holes in his landy with a plasma cutter, actually....

Tom Mc wrote:

I wasn’t looking, but all had the standard the Euro socket of two round female and one round male (earth pin) which accepts the standard Euro travel plug you can buy from any UK outlet

Not the waterproof ones? Hrmm... Guess we'll be taking Euro to Commando, Commando to Aquasafe and Aquasafe to 13A adapters, then!

Our Fearless Reader also wrote:

I know nothing at all about the blue plugs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_309 - European "standard" .... from what I've found, most sites have these, but (in France in particular) some sites don't have all the power posts fitted with them.

I feel dirty after reading caravan forums.

.a :@:

"I feel dirty after reading caravan forums" :face: I going to write Jeremy Clarkson.

Perhaps he can give us a few tips?

[/url]http://www.riverswayleisure.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?StockId=-1060&Category=2000607[url]

the above linky thingy should cover what most of us need me thinks :?: if not a normal adapter thingy with a load of gaffa tape will do fine if you're wearing wellies and not touching anything!


Clare & Will
Scammell Trophy "Driving Miss Daisy"

DrivingMissDaisy wrote:

http://www.riverswayleisure.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?StockId=-1060&Category=2000607

Yeah! That's the monkey! Well found.

One of those, and a standard blue plug lead, and you're sorted for most of the continent. The places they won't work don't tend to have electricity.

Hi there, what chance is there for a RR generating enough power to pump up through an inverter 3,000 watts without going into melt down :?: :?: I think I would rather just have a genny but then it would be a dull world if we were all the same.
This rally demostrates that here we all are from very different back grounds but all have at least one thing in common LRs and a sense of adventure and speaking for myself and I suspect most of you we know how to enjoy ourselves

Well that was very profound, must get myself a colonic irrigation

LuckyTrucker wrote:

what chance is there for a RR generating enough power to pump up through an inverter 3,000 watts without going into melt down

Absolutely none. You'd need half a dozen standard alternators to make that work.
You could get 3Kw for 15 minutes or so from a big battery - ideal for power tools which take a lot of power to start up, but a lot less once running ... or toasters.

Well, look as if my plan is toast! Wouldn't have rushed into it anyway, not only because I haven't got the dosh right now (LPG is much more of a priority) but because I first need to understand about watt/amps and what not before committing myself. It's the one area I am totally useless at ... or rather one of the many areas!

Tom Mc wrote:

I first need to understand about watt/amps and what not before committing myself.

Andybloke's "more or less correct" primer ...

Watts = Amps X Volts

So, a little algebra, and you get: Amps = Watts / Volts.
If you plugged a 2Kw heater into an inverter, it should use 167 amps at 12v. Inverters aren't perfect, so it's more like 185A.

The alternator will provide about 45 to 65 amps, depending on engine speed, age, state of the wires, etc. So, your 2Kw heater will take (say) 50A from the engine, and 135A from the battery, for 40 minutes or less.

If you've got a new, large, battery it might be "110 Ah". That means you can use 1 amp for 110 hours, 110 amps for 1 hour, 55amps for 2 hours, etc.

What watts? Laptop: 20 - 45W. Phone/camera/battery charger: upto 15W. Large floodlight: 500W. Electric drill: 200 - 750W. Angle grinder: 200 - 800W. Toaster: 1000W. Medium sized arc welder 1800 - 4000W.

It's a bit more complex that that, as there's inrush currents, RMS values, losses, efficiency and a bunch of other things to take into account.

Basically, unless you can think of a good reason to have a 3Kw inverter (12 berth yacht, for example), it's probably a waste of money.

Oh b****r!

Never said a word more true Tom.

What you want is one of these babies

www.powermastersystems.com/sine_inverters.htm

Ok a bit on the expensive side but what a wonderful bit of kit. Invaluable for expeditions used mine everyday while I was away runs all my tools and I managed to get a deal out of the company for a bit of advertising.

Used to have a cheap one from Halfords which just wasn't upto the job.

Here's a cunning thought, so cunning, it was told to me by a cunning fox on his way home from getting a PHd in cunningness from the university of Cunning! lol

What are we all hoping to run from the mains power?

Surley it's better team work if we decide some things useful by the community we've set up, and share out, so instead of all bringing work lights, tools, other stuff, maybe if we can agree a list, and then bring a few things shared out between people so instead of a garage set for each vehicle, folk bring a bit each to set maybe a couple of garages to be shared, i mean it's not like we'll nbe able to sit around and not help each other, so why not team up in the spirit of things??

Of course if it's just for microwaves, hair strauighners, TV's and chargers etc, then ignore my last bit!!


:arrow:

theshortwayround wrote:

What are we all hoping to run from the mains power?

We'll be running a BIG 12V power supply rather than using the 2nd battery if there's mains available. Means we can leave the spots/fog lights on into the evening without running the engine.

The only thing we've got that isn't 12V is one laptop, but there's a 150W inverter for that.

do you mean we need more than a set of billy cans and a camp fire?
jeez, I'd better start packing I'd only sorted out a torch...with batteries that I hope will last the week....hmmmm

Clare

andybloke wrote:

theshortwayround wrote:

What are we all hoping to run from the mains power?

We'll be running a BIG 12V power supply rather than using the 2nd battery if there's mains available. Means we can leave the spots/fog lights on into the evening without running the engine.

How do you get a BIG 12V power supply? 4 x 100W bulbs = 33.3A plus a bit for inefficiency and your knocking on the door of 40A..

DrivingMissDaisy wrote:

do you mean we need more than a set of billy cans and a camp fire?
jeez, I'd better start packing I'd only sorted out a torch...with batteries that I hope will last the week....hmmmm

Clare

Cant say there's anything we'll be needing 240V for. My 12V fluorescent lights, fridge, PC, camera and phone all work/charge from 12V.

As for me, I dont need 240V either... just beer and meat

Quote :

How do you get a BIG 12V power supply?

It's under the bench in the spare bedroom - 60A at 11-14VDC (adjustable).

Have a 100A 5v power supply, too, but the only use I've found for that is spot welding

Quote :

4 x 100W bulbs = 33.3A

We're only running 50's in pairs, so front fogs, side floods, rear flood = 250W = 21A steady. Don't really need the spots when parked up. There's external LED lighting, too, so that, the radio and trickle charge for both batteries is only 4A peak. Computer gear is probably 6A, and we'll maybe need that for a half hour per night. If we take the electric coolbox, that's another 4.
We could run off the second battery, but if the mains is there and we want to run the lights for longer ...

I've got a wind-up lantern, no watts/volts/batteries trickery. Just wind it up, and let there be light!

Cheers, Mark