Hook up cable

westfalia · Feb 28, 2018

Max-Felix said:
been there done it with a dodgy 1000w ie 4amp low wattage fan heater at midnight on a busy French site - boy were we popular when we blew the site supply and the whole campsite was plunged into darkness!

You could´ve denied it was you and pointed the finger at a few caravaners whilst
shaking your head.

westfalia · Feb 28, 2018

sidepod said:
Indeed. But then I understand the maths behind it.

People spouting about stuff they know little about is annoying.

Dirty harry was a better one. :thumb

sidepod · Mar 1, 2018

Hmmm? Harry verses Snake Plisken?
Interesting movie?

Loz · Mar 1, 2018

sidepod said:
Hmmm? Harry verses Snake Plisken?
Interesting movie?

"I heard you were dead"

Straad · Mar 3, 2018

All good advice. The only thing I would add is that I've found it worthwhile to have 2 cables especially if you're not driving the van every day. One long one for trips and a short one to hook the van up to when you are parked up at home. I managed to flatten the battery once by just doing short intermittent trips and now I leave it plugged in most of the time.

DavidofHook · Mar 3, 2018

Max-Felix said:
Sidepod my old friend...

(and I'm not sure you're even right or that the cable in question does not meet the regs - a 16 amp rating will I'm sure allow for a significant safety margin overload well above this nominal figure)

...have you ever thought of posting in a manner of the friendly nature of this forum rather than being a sarcastic old ***?

When was the last time you fed anything approaching a whopping 16 amps into your Cali???!

As pointed out above by me and others you'll be lucky to get more than 6 amps on any campsite and many in France it's more like 4 amps max. The trips on either the site electrics or the Cali would go pop - been there done it with a dodgy 1000w ie 4amp low wattage fan heater at midnight on a busy French site - boy were we popular when we blew the site supply and the whole campsite was plunged into darkness!

Hmm, my experience in France is that you get a a very generous 10a. The office don't even bother to tell you the ampage because it is so good. Now in Spain it is 6 amp and that needs a bit of juggling. Haven't been to Italy lately but they had 2 a included in the site fee when we did. Not very useful.

sidepod · Mar 4, 2018

Max-Felix said:
Sidepod my old friend...

(and I'm not sure you're even right or that the cable in question does not meet the regs - a 16 amp rating will I'm sure allow for a significant safety margin overload well above this nominal figure)

...have you ever thought of posting in a manner of the friendly nature of this forum rather than being a sarcastic old ***?

When was the last time you fed anything approaching a whopping 16 amps into your Cali???!

As pointed out above by me and others you'll be lucky to get more than 6 amps on any campsite and many in France it's more like 4 amps max. The trips on either the site electrics or the Cali would go pop - been there done it with a dodgy 1000w ie 4amp low wattage fan heater at midnight on a busy French site - boy were we popular when we blew the site supply and the whole campsite was plunged into darkness!

Simple. You wouldn’t install a circuit in a domestic situation feeding at least one socket outlet using a 1.5mm cable and fed via a 16A mcb. The regs just don’t allow it. A Cali on hook up is no different.

Granted it’s very close to being ok and you can take a stab at redundancy if you want but regs are designed to cover as many eventually as possible.
In addition every cable is de-rated according to ambient conditions. Hot weather and your 16A cable is probably good for about 12A.

You say the cable will take more but then the mcb will drop out at higher than 16A.

I use a 1.5 but then I understand the complete circuit and it’s possible fault scenarios.

To spout online about stuff without a background knowledge is just daft.

Charlotterobin · Aug 12, 2020

Hello,
I have bought a Maypole hook up which purported to be 2.5 and is actually 1.5 and I wonder whether I should be safe and buy a 2.5 or make do...
We're not running a kettle or hair equipment (! thankfully) - a Dometic CFX40, chargers for phone, pad, speaker and that might be all...
Could you tell me your thoughts please?
Thanks very much

WelshGas · Aug 12, 2020

Charlotterobin said:
Hello,
I have bought a Maypole hook up which purported to be 2.5 and is actually 1.5 and I wonder whether I should be safe and buy a 2.5 or make do...
We're not running a kettle or hair equipment (! thankfully) - a Dometic CFX40, chargers for phone, pad, speaker and that might be all...
Could you tell me your thoughts please?
Thanks very much

That’s fine. Remember it’s not what you run but what the campsite will supply. Anything from 13 down to 6 amps. If you try to run too much for the supplied amps then the Campsite mains supply will trip out.

Charlotterobin · Aug 12, 2020

ok ta very much

capt kirk · Aug 12, 2020

larrylamb said:
We have the round waterproof nylon bag from the club shop, fits nicely in there. Usually goes on top of a box in the boot as it is one of the first things we do on site.

Mine sits in a chair in the rear door, nice n tidy and easy to get to.

GSX1300R · Aug 13, 2020

When we bought our van I got a 2.5 mm cable and just found it far too thick to use and store properly. then got a 1.5 mm and that was perfect for our needs..At Most sites they will trip if you have a fan heater and a camping kettle on at the same time..

LRGS253 · Aug 13, 2020

I purchased the heavy duty one from the Cali shop. Excellent quality and price. £25 for 25m. Glad I got 25m as well as I thought it was overkill until I needed it to reach an electric hook up the other day as it was so far away.

trev0rk · Aug 13, 2020

I purchased https://www.toolstation.com/industrial-connectors-ip44/p36175 & https://www.toolstation.com/industrial-connectors-ip44/p36883 for a fiver and cut my 25m cable in 8m and 17m lengths. Saves uncurling the whole lot every time you connect up. I have only used the whole 25m once.

B J G · Aug 13, 2020

I use this type (1.5mm) as only have travel kettle in use plus normal Cali fridge and battery charging on site.
Very compact storage.

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GrannyJen · Aug 13, 2020

Having two leads that you can join together to make one, rarely used, 25m lead sounds a good idea ...

Until you meet jobsworth at any of the two camping club sites. Not allowed to join two leads together.

Great for France where often the bollards are placed quite far apart, great for where I am now, but I had one hell of a row at one CAMC site over that issue.

I also stow mine in the chairs in the tailgate.