Live wire campervanners
At present on a site in Ireland. just waleked past at least 4 pitches where the camper van is out and the EHU cable has been left plugged into the post and probably therefore live.. Is this practise not a little foolhardy?
Comments
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As has been said before, it depends whether they've deactivated the power via the push button, if one exists.
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If you unplug the lead the plug end, without the flap, can get wet. These leads are designed for outdoor use. The important thing is to keep the socket end, with the flap above ground level so it has no chance of ending up in a puddle if it rains. My pitch,
my lead, my choice , what others do is up to them, none of my business ..As to people possibly lifting the flap..every bollard on site also has a live under the little flap !0 -
If you unplug the lead the plug end, without the flap, can get wet. These leads are designed for outdoor use. The important thing is to keep the socket end, with the flap above ground level so it has no chance of ending up in a puddle if it rains. My pitch,
my lead, my choice , what others do is up to them, none of my business ..As to people possibly lifting the flap..every bollard on site also has a live under the little flap !The bollards are female couplings so the live terminals are recessed and very unlikely little fingers can get at them. If you leave the cable plugged in the male terminals at the end are live and are simply dangerous. One day a child will be killed or seriously
injured by one.For safety reasons cables should not be left plugged in and for the effort it takes to remove them it baffles me why people just leave them lying around. All you need is a sign to show you are using the pitch.
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If you leave the cable plugged in the male terminals at the end are live and are simply dangerous.
I just cannot visualise that - unless someone has been at work with a screwdriver..
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My pitch, my lead, my choice , what others do is up to them, none of my business .
Oh yes it is! My country, my government, my laws. What others do has to be regulated to protect against stupidity. These connectors ARE NOT WATERPROOF! It rains, it puddles, it floods. One does not need to actually touch such a connector lying on
the ground to be killed.If motorcarvanners/campervanners are too lazy to take their lead with them then I recon it is fair game for them to come back and find it safely unplugged and stacked in neat three foot lengths.
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The sites we stay on (mainly overseas) never have the red button so I would assume that any cable left connected is live and that is potentially dangerous. As has been said, the sockets are not waterproof and a child (or pet) could easily start messing around with it. Would you trust somebody's life to the rcd working (assuming your Italian bollard has one)?
I think I would be tempted to disconnect the lead if I saw it plugged in. As a former electrical engineer it is difficult to ignore an unsafe situation.
Of course, you are supposed to plug the van in first and also have the main isolator off, not sure I do that all the time!
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My pitch, my lead, my choice , what others do is up to them, none of my business .
Oh yes it is! My country, my government, my laws. What others do has to be regulated to protect against stupidity. These connectors ARE NOT WATERPROOF! It rains, it puddles, it floods. One does not need to actually touch such a connector lying on the ground to be killed.
If motorcarvanners/campervanners are too lazy to take their lead with them then I recon it is fair game for them to come back and find it safely unplugged and stacked in neat three foot lengths.
Not sure there is a law that says you have to disconnect the hookup lead.
I and a lot of other campervans use waterproof plugs. Yes waterproof in that they can be submerged.
Is there anybody that has a hand big enough to unscrew the flap and then be able to poke their fingers down a 6mm hole to reach the live pin recessed 19mm down that hole?
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I have seen a kiddie of abot 4 playing with the caravan end of a EHU cable left plugged in when at Tragedar (sp) House a few years ago. Yep the child may have been protected by RCD but I unpluged the cable. And yes the child should have been better supervised but .............. better safe!
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I think you will find that most wardens if noticeing a lead stiil plugged into a bollard because the "owner" could not walk that far to unplug will press the switch and unplug,I think it state in most handbooks and info that on plugging in you connect to
leisure vehicle first then to bollard,as it is a known fact that if the other way round the live end can arc on plugging in or removeing0 -
Not sure about the arcing comment, is it better to have an arc when connecting to the EHU or the van? I think it is mainly that if you plug into the EHU first you are wandering around with a live lead. Best practice is to switch off the mains incoming switch
in the van first. If there is a fault it will be evident when you close the switch and the arc fault (if there is one) should be contained in the switch rather than you hand. So the correct sequence as stated in all the handbooks etc. is:Switch off main isolator in the van
Connect lead to van
Connect lead to bollard
Switch on van isolator.
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If motorcarvanners/campervanners are too lazy to take their lead with them then I ....
Is it laziness or just used as an indication that the pitch is in use? It seems to me that you always think the worst of people in general
It is no way to show a pitch is taken. The correct way is a sign although a few chairs or similar is acceptable but a live cable is certainly not.
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As a first time motorhomers this year (after 30 years plus caravanning) we stayed on one site in France for two weeks (the weather was bad everywhere else). I marked the position of the wheels, left table and chairs out and hook-up lead roughly in position
and unplugged from bollard. Returned later in the day to almost exactly the same spot so that I could connect the canopy tie-down straps without removing the pegs. Seemed to work.0 -
.... The correct way is a sign although a few chairs or similar is acceptable but a live cable is certainly not.
I never realised there was a 'correct way' ... just a suggested way ..... & I didn't mention anything specifically about the cable being live or not
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Sorry OP, as it's not quite on subject, but should I always be turning the mains off in our caravan then? I always plug the van in first, then connect to the bollard, and vice versa when packing away, but I never turn off the mains on the isolator in the van?
Should I be starting a new thread for this or am I OK to post the question here?
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Sorry OP, as it's not quite on subject, but should I always be turning the mains off in our caravan then? I always plug the van in first, then connect to the bollard, and vice versa when packing away, but I never turn off the mains on the isolator in the
van?Should I be starting a new thread for this or am I OK to post the question here?
The correct procedure is as I described above so, yes, you should turn off the mains switch in the van first. Not many do though and that includes me as an Electrical Engineer!
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Not sure about the arcing comment, is it better to have an arc when connecting to the EHU or the van? I think it is mainly that if you plug into the EHU first you are wandering around with a live lead. Best practice is to switch off the mains incoming switch in the van first. If there is a fault it will be evident when you close the switch and the arc fault (if there is one) should be contained in the switch rather than you hand. So the correct sequence as stated in all the handbooks etc. is:
Switch off main isolator in the van
Connect lead to van
Connect lead to bollard
Switch on van isolator.
Write your comments here...
I wander around my house with a live vacuum cleaner lead on a regular basis, now add in my domestic iron, hair dryer, food mixer etc. Are you suggesting that this is unacceptably dangerous?
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I wander around my house with a live vacuum cleaner lead on a regular basis, now add in my domestic iron, hair dryer, food mixer etc. Are you suggesting that this is unacceptably dangerous?
A very valid point, if your cutting the grass and something needs adjusting on the mower. How many of us wander back to the plug to switch off. Or more likely just unplug the lead from the machine.
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..... Or more likely just unplug the lead from the machine.
I can't ... it has it's own cable. The two pin plug & socket for garden tools has been generally faded out due to when people replace them for what ever reason, they wire the plug & socket back to front ie they put the plug on the live side the socket on
the tool. In normal use they get away with it, until they get pulled apart and then there's a plug on the wet grass with live pins0 -
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I wander around my house with a live vacuum cleaner lead on a regular basis, now add in my domestic iron, hair dryer, food mixer etc. Are you suggesting that this is unacceptably dangerous?
But there is an appliance on the end of each cable with its own on/off switch that is designed to make/break a supply
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I wander around my house with a live vacuum cleaner lead on a regular basis, now add in my domestic iron, hair dryer, food mixer etc. Are you suggesting that this is unacceptably dangerous?
But there is an appliance on the end of each cable with its own on/off switch that is designed to make/break a supply
Write your comments here...
How does an appliance connected to the end of a flexible cable make it safer than a properly engineered socket with a spring loaded cover? My iron doesn't have an on/ off switch, just a thermostat.
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I wander around my house with a live vacuum cleaner lead on a regular basis, now add in my domestic iron, hair dryer, food mixer etc. Are you suggesting that this is unacceptably dangerous?
But there is an appliance on the end of each cable with its own on/off switch that is designed to make/break a supply
Write your comments here...
How does an appliance connected to the end of a flexible cable make it safer than a properly engineered socket with a spring loaded cover? My iron doesn't have an on/ off switch, just a thermostat.
...You iron wnen control turned to zero is switched off
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