European sites ampage
We've dived head first into our first big adventure. Been in France 5 weeks and soon to be in Italy. I have noticed, when searching for sites, that the electricity offerings differ from 16 down to 2.
Trying to avoid less than 10 but if all we can get where we want to be is 6 or even 2 will that do any harm to our motorhome or should we only use one socket or lights at a time to be safe?
Thanks for any advice
Comments
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Your motorhome will come to no harm at all, but if you exceed the available amperage you will trip the supply breaker and be without mains electricity until it is reset.
2 amps is next to nothing, so if you end up on a site and this is the maximum supply you'l just about be able to use the mains lighting and nothing else.
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dont fret....
even those 2 amps will run your charger so your leisure batteries will be fully charged, allowing you to watch tv, use the water pump for showers, washing up etc and use your lights all from 12v.
at that low level, youll probably need to use gas for any hot water (or kettle on gas hob for washing up if showering on site) but you might get away with the fridge on electric...if not, it will run just as well (better) on gas.
use 12v usb for tablet/phone charging.
just dont think about hairdriers or the like from your 13a sockets...
in fact, i can't think what you would use them for if tv and phones can be run from 12v.
of course, you will probably use more gas like this, but not a lot, however you might need to think about using local gas (far, far cheaper than at home and any metered leccy) if you dont carry a large supply or dont have a refillable system.
getting an adaptor to use (say) an italian bottle is straight forward and (surprisingly) that gas can be used in all other eu countries
good luck, you'll be fine
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as AD says, 4 amps (at 230v) will give you almost a kilowatt of power, so a 800w low power grill would just about be ok...
however, 2 amps is pretty low givng only 460w which rules out most appliances, even 'camping specific' low rated ones...
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Never, in all our years travelling around europe, have we come across a 2 ampere supply limit! Circuit breakers come in fixed ratings ( they are what limit the current you can take) and start at 6 then next to 10. Six amps will allow you to run fridge and lighting in the background, and to use a travel kettle, 1 kW fan heater, 1 kW hotplate, or toaster but only one at a time.
Some sites will give you one free reset, but will charge you the 10 amp rate if you offend twice. The EHU will probably be locked with no access to the reset buttons, and on small municipal sites, no one will be available to reconnect you after dark.
If you have a high wattage kettle, heater or hotplate, setting them to 'low' won't help: the current consuption is high but for shorter periods which may still trip the breaker,
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Whatever the supply rating it’s very unlikely to damage your motorhome. As others have said, just be aware of the current and power rating of the devices you use. For the record, off the shelf MCB’s come in a variety of current ratings (normally starting at 2 Amps then 4 Amps etc) and types (type B, type C etc) that determine their time to trip. Depending on its type, a 2 Amp MCB will not trip instantaneously when 2 Amps is passed through it and that goes for the other ratings too.
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Thanks to all for great feedback. Very valuable
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