Cable - yellow or blue
We have been told to get a long cable to plug in our Motorhome to the outdoor socket to keep leisure battery topped up when MH is not being used. (It seems that the alarm will drain the battery over winter??)
We have bought a mains coupler to plug into the MH - do we need blue 1.5 mm cable or yellow 2.5mm. I have read that one is 16amp and the other is 25amp.
Can’t seem to get hold of one in our local camping stores.
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You need 2.5mm in any colour you like. Blue is Arctic flex and copes better in cold weather as it is less prone to cracking. Blue, yellow and orange are available in either 1.5mm or 2.5mm.
Yellow denotes a cable is plugged into a 120v supply, blue denotes use of 240v supply but the cable core is the same. Orange has no voltage classification but is used because it is highly visible.
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Thanks!
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You're welcome.
Make sure it's 3 core cable.
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Go Outdoors sell both 10 and 25 metre cables, complete with connectors, if you have a branch near you.
You might also want to check that connecting your motorhome to the mains actually charges the cab battery, not all do and you may need to take extra steps to ensure the cab battery is charged.
David
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Quite right. I was keeping it simple so as not to complicate the issue but bear in mind the length of the cable is a consideration as well as load. 👍🏻
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Again, I agree but there's no guarantee the cable will only ever be used on a 13amp supply. I thought you wanted to cover all bases but I think we're in danger of boring folk now with the minutiae.
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🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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You mention keeping the cab battery charged - is this something we should know about? MH will be stored at home ver winter. Just thought we would need to keep the leisure battery charged.
(as you might have guessed we are new to all this)0 -
It would probably be handy if you mentioned the make and model of your motorhome as it might be easier to identify what, if any, alternative arrangements need to be made. Even if you have a solar panel you need to check whether a charge is going to both batteries or just the leisure battery. Some makes only charge the leisure battery and then even within brands there can be differences. The only thing we know for certain is that the cab battery is charged when the engine is running! Even if the charger does not provide a charge to the cab battery there are simple solutions. Something like a Battery Master will push any excess charge to the leisure battery through to the cab battery keeping both fully charged.
David
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I have spare hook up cable that I have shortened that we use to plug our caravan at home rather than having a very long cable spread around the drive or forming any coils in the lead plus we can leave the long lead in the van and not have to coil it up and stow it away before setting off or indeed leave it at home
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Coil the cable up, turn everything possible on to draw current, warms the cable up makes it easier to handle, job done. After all you are paying for the hook up, plus a surcharge on a CAMC site.
OP use as short a length of cable as you need, clip it to your house wall, plug into a timer to charge for a couple of hours a day. Our caravan is plugged into an old EHU cable cut short, clipped below damp proof course around the house external wall, plugged into a timer in the garage on a protected circuit to only come on when our solar PV system is generating. You don't want to leave it on 24/7 in case you boil the battery. You could add a battery charger on the vehicle battery from the MH 240v supply that then only charges as and when, or a battery master type device that maintains charge level.
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My EHU cable is black rubber - and thicker than a 'normal' orange, plastic coated EHU lead. It was supplied by Knaus with the van and is much much easier to coil up than the orange one.
I do worry, though, that it's not as visible when in use and always make a point of pointing it out to site owners before grass cutting starts.
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I also have a thick black cable, appears to be supplied with all European manufactured vehicles.... I was concerned initially regarding the grass cutting (& was reluctant to spend even more £'s to replace it) so stuck some red & white hazard tape along its length which I had anyway....
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I’ve got one as well that I use to hook up at home. It’s years old and very durable.
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That’s solely for visibility on site.
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i think you will find there is a little more to it than that TW. I believe the orange, blue and yellow cables are built with tougher compounds to withstand outdoor use. You can run over orange cables with a vehicle and they will remain damage free. Not so other types. Whether the black continental stuff is similarly built I have no idea but over there, where cable runs can be "all over the place," I do see attempts to protect it where necessary..
peedee
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As you said, orange, blue and yellow are for outdoor use. Orange is chosen over the other two in the club's guidance only for reasons of visibility. See my post at the start of the thread.
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I won my bet! 🤣🤣🤣
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Crickey! Didn't think it was that complicated but I am not a techie. I have one of each colour!! The blue from when I had a yacht, the black an emergency replacement in France a few years ago and an orange one which I have not had to use yet. Quite often I have had to connect two cables as the distance from pitch to EHU was too long for one cable.
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In the UK I carry a 25m standard orange heavy cable
For abroad I have a 45m 1.5mm 3 core blue reel that gets unwound. I've have found this is frequently needed as hook ups can be a fair distance away. I'm not worried about the reduced load capacity as my van is wired with 1.5mm 3 core and conti ental electrics seldom exceed 10 amps. In 20+ years I have not tripped a breaker or had any issues.
Colin
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