Length of hook up cable
In a recent review of the Cirencester site the reviewer referred to the warden unplugging cables of the wrong length. They were irritated by owners not being told until they found fridges no longer working. I know the Club doesnt allow two cables to be joined together but I know nothing else about length. I would have thought that as long as it was a single cable the length wouldnt matter. I know some have short cables to avoid having to unwind, and re wind cables.
Can anyone throw any light on this matter? I havnt replied to the reviewer because , in my experience, once a review has been left it is not revisited. In fact my guess is that few reviewers are even aware that they show up on CT.
Comments
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It is suggested that a 25Mtr hook up cable is carried although a shorter one may suffice if within range of the electric bollard
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Check out the using hook up point on site section in this link.
https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/advice-and-training/technical-advice/mains-electrical-installation/
There is nothing wrong with joining cables providing it is done correctly but CAMC does not allow it on site.
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Duplicate Deleted User.
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When we recently visited a site particular mention was made of make sure you fully unwind your EHU cable. I also noticed the review and wondered if not being fully unwound might have been the reason for them being unplugged. In effect they would not have been full length as some was still on the reel.
We carry both a 10 metre and 25 metre. Both are properly made up cables and I can see no reason why the 10 metre should not be permissible. It is particularly useful on service pitches where it is often only about 6 metres to the bollard, much better than having 25 metres zig zagged across the pitch.
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Even two cables joined wouldn’t have reached the bollard at Sestri Levante but a helpful Italian (about two metres away) took my cable in through his caravan window, and between us we found an adaptor to plug into an internal socket outlet in his caravan. I bet the Club frowns on that too.They do have a lot of rules, don’t they.
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Hi
I have just returned from a Club site where we had a problem with the cable length. My wife and I arrived on site to be told we could pick any pitch we liked as long as it had the two white posts. Pitch selected, caravan set up, levelled etc. went to connect electric cable to find it to short by about 4m. Just then saw warden walking along Service road so called him over to show him the problem only to be told very brusquely that my cable must be the wrong length. Explained that cable was the one supplied by the caravan manufacturer seven years ago and that we had never had this problem before. Warden strode out length of cable and then said that he was going for his tape measure. Upon measuring (which I did not observe) warden stated that the cable was short at only 24m (when measured at home with a certified tape measure cable was 24.9m long) and thus to short. Had to explain that had cable been 1m longer ie 25m long it still would not reach as bollard was to far from pitch. I was not willing to move caravan as all set up and it looked as if rain was due I therefore suggested that as I had two smaller cables that joined together would overcome the problem I should use them and that any connections would be waterproof as the plug/socket where IP7* after some discussion warden agreed to this arrangement. Talking to another caravan ner latter I appears that the site had been amended to allow wild areas of grass to grow but unfortunately whoever set it out could not measure
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I am aware that the club does not allow joins in a cable. As above if this has been done with the correct IP rated connections I cannot see why the club has a problem and suspect they are are on dodgy ground in refusing such a join.
We use a 25m 2.5mm cable on UK sites and had considered carrying a 10m cable instead but soon discounted the idea due to our continental method. When abroad we use a 45m 1.5mm cable, put two tent pegs in the ground about 5m apart and unwind the cable around these until the cable is fully unwound.
Incidentally the club does not like 1.5mm cable. Why is beyond me. This cable has an open air capacity to carry 20amp, far higher than the 16amp at the bollard.
Colin
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You are right in what you say about the power rating of 1.5mm cable but I don't think you actually use cable. On the other hand 1.5mm flex, which I imagine you have, is rated at 15 to 16 amp. In most cases this is more than adequate and much lighter than its 2.5mm brother.
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As with many club rules, it’s not a legal thing but if the club say "you must not", then that’s the way it is. There’s no dodgy ground in them refusing as it’s simply a matter of CAMC calling the shots and members agreeing to abide by the rules.
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That might be the stuff we saw most Italians using - flexible, black, rubber coated, on wind up reels , and looked as though they bought it at their version of Wilko - but they knew it was too flimsy to lay it across dirt roadways for cars to drive across over.
We arrived at Spotorno one evening when the site was clearly full, but of course Italian sites never are actually full, so they welcomed us in. Rather than lay cables (or flex) across the dirt road the locals had put them up into trees at one side of the roadway, over and across, and back down a tree at the other side. They were high enough to walk under and even high enough to drive a car under, But we rolled in with a caravan - so everyone turned out and unplugged and climbed trees and dismantled cables to let us through.
No problem at all. No bad temper. No stress. No rules.
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Flex is the description that fits what we often refer to as cable, the orange umbilical 😉. Cable is the stuff we normally see used in domestic and commercial wiring, the stuff with a solid copper core rather than the wound copper strands of flex.
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Come on LLM what about 7491X 😉
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They still do have the pictures, generally in the toilet block. We have always fully unwound ours and where possible used our short 10 metre cable. However, the very fact it was highlighted at check in suggests not unwinding fully is an issue.
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Yes saw those, are they new this year? Very gruesome!
We always do and the advice was there when we started but certainly that picture would make you want to unwind it fully if you are not in the habit.
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Maybe wardens are a bit more lenient towards foreign visitors because I've never had any problems at any of the sites that I've stayed at in the UK. I have a 25m cable but it has a Continental 2 pin plug at the end so I need a separate adapter cable for a blue three pin connection. Nobody has ever raised any objections.
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Lutz
I think maybe the difference is that your connecting cable is probably quite short, and maybe off the ground? Rather similar to those of us that have been to Europe and had to convert the other way. I don't know what the objection to joining cables is on Club sites but its probably to do with Health and Safety and the risk of electric shock or damage from a joined cable that might even be laying in sodden grass? When ever I have joined cables, usually abroad, I have one of those torpedo plastic cases that encloses both sockets to give and extra degree of protection.
David
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Standard blue plugs are IP 44. The plugs that have an additional locking nut are IP67
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Like this? The idiot that had this had tucked it under his van all nice and tidy 🙄.
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Evening
LLM, with respect most people could as you say tour around for many years and never see an example shown. Living and working on site you see thousands of outfits and many many scary things. Most people are as you say sensible but knowledgeable is quite often questionable.
So, we have the photos of the melted cable coil, I've actually experienced a partial melted cable tucked under a van, it was the smell that was the alert. More importantly we have photos (just for awareness) of a caravan and a motorhome burnt down to the chassis which both happened on our sites in the last few years. Not related to the cable but shows what happens and more importantly how quick any leisure vehicle is reduced to smouldering scrap in minutes. At Exeter racecourse one year some smoke coming from the front of a caravan to nothing left in 18 minutes.
JK
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Yes, I've seen a caravan burn on a campsite that I was staying on a few years ago and there wasn't much left of it even before the fire brigade arrived. All they could to was to stop the fire spreading too far, although the plastic windows of the adjacent caravans had already melted by that time.
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Yes. Six meters is not enough!
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Having Fire training every year that I was with Social Services with Adults with Learning Difficulties and was shown what can happen to coiled cable on a drum quite a shock to see as the trainer knew I was a caravanner and glad that the club are using photos of what can happen to electric cables.
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I was on site at Grafham a couple of years ago when a caravan started smouldering as it was leaving. No idea what caused it, but the reaction of the Wardens was exemplary. They had it isolated, unhooked and doused in foam before you could blink.
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The cable reel, doesn’t actually draw a high enough current and so it doesn’t trip the circuit out, until the melted insulation has burnt away enough to allow a short circuit across to the other conductors.
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Many of the problems caused by unreeled EHU's stem from those using 1.5mm sq cable. At a max rating of ≯ b 16 amp it will heat-up. Using 2.5mm sq is much safer as with a max rating of 25 amp it offers a considerable safety margin over the 16 amp max output from a bollard.
The photo I posted above was of a reel with just 1.5mm sq cable.
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2.5 cables can get warm. Any one that has toured in winter, can see the melting snow and that they can dry off the morning dew along their length when in use.
A reel of 2.5 can also overheat and start a fire, so play it safe and unwind the complete length and loose any excess along its route or in large open ‘S’ loops under the vehicle, where it wont become a trip hazard.
The cable didn’t catch fire but a fellow camper tripped over it and bashed his head 🤦😂
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