Earth Leakage

Perhaps the cheaper one is a one off use? Like some of the spike protection things that die after one hit?

I have a Clipsal one. Not sure on cost as it was an old work one. If nothing else they make great short extension leads with built in quad adapter.

Quite surprisingly the leads with built in ELP plug can't be plugged into most caravan park sockets as there is not enough space, you have to use a short standard lead between it & the park socket, which sort of defeats the purpose.
We don't normally stay in c/van parks but on our recent long trip we stayed in a few & noticed this problem.

Without testing the trip time of the cheaper unit it is hard to know if it infact does do what the packaging claims. If you have a sparkey mate, I would get him to approach bunnings with his RCD (residual current device) tester in hand and ask if he can test the cheaper unit. I would have him test it a few times at different leakages and see how it goes. If it passes, chances are that it will do the same in the field.

ps I do not advocate buying products without Australian standard compliance (and neither should Bunnings).

pauls I don't know whether the chaeper unit is less safe than a better known brand but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way. I use a good quality one at work and wouldn't be without one, you get what you pay for generally.

G'Day Paul,
I install many rcds and you get what you pay for.
Whilst the rcd may trip the same I doubt the quality of the plug contacts and bet London to a brick the plug will not last once you put a bit of current through it.
IMHO I would stick with either Clipsal or Ringrip...same same.
I believe all Caravan park outlets are protected by RCD's anyway and if you are contemplating your purchase soley for that reason you may be throwing good money away.
Jeff

Hi paul, all caravan parks have to comply with the Australian standards as does the equipment being sold by Bunnings. But I would recommend you go to an electrical wholesaler to buy that sort of gear and still shop around.
Caravan parks all have on site 16 amp power supplies with earth leakage protection, so you can decide whether you need it or not.
As for quality, it wasn’t all that long ago that Ringrip made elcheapo stuff so I can not see how there could be so much difference in price for a justifiable difference in quality. As I said, it might pay you to shop around.
Cheers

All caravan parks open to the public have to comply with specific requirements where power is concerned. Part of the requiremnet is 16 amp circuit breaker and earth leakage protection.
Cheers

Hi sean, see AS/NZS 3001:2001 for details. This was updated in 2001 but the standard has been around for at least 10 years, probably longer.
Cheers

In January of this year we attended the Tamworth Country Music Festival and left our caravan parked at the Kootingal Kourt Caravan Park. One day when we returned back to the van we found that the power had been off (microwave clock no longer set) and on checking found that the park management had put a double adaptor at the park outlet point and then given power toanother caravan as well as ours from the same supply. This double adaptor was a Bakalite 10amp type with the earth sockets filed out so that they would now fit a 15amp earth plug into them.

Had no joy with park owners/managers so went into town to report to electrical authority, only to find that the nearest electrical inspectors were on the coast at Coffs Harbour, (I think). Went to Work Cover and although very helpful did not have jurisdiction and could only ring and make some threats to have power disconnected etc.

It is hard to see how a lot of these caravan parks could comply with the electrical requirements when there is no one out there inspecting premises, even when complaints are made.

I knew there was a reason I didn't like powered sites ...

However, given we're talking about potential electrocution here of a family member, isn't that worth the extra $100 to be absolutely sure??

Ringgrip is the consumer brand of Clipsal, so qaulity is assured - just ask the 70% of electrical contractors who use Clipsal gear.

I work for the company that owns Clipsal, so yes there is an affiliation. However, one of the company's tasks is to find gear that is imported and sold, without complying with the relevant standard - there is lots of it, and some is just plain dangerous. And this product makes no compliance claim in the first place ... hmmm

As always ... caveat emptor

Cheers
Andrew