Connecting to house power

Just get a short lead made up with a 10amp male one end and a 15amp female the other. Carry this with you in the van as you will need it at some time on yoyur travels.

You get an extension cord, plug it into a handy power point and plug the other end into your poer in point of your caravan. If you need to use those ones with the wide earth easiest way is to atack the earth you are plugging into the house with angle grinder or file so it fits I actually had a short extension cord which was pliable enough to fit the larger earth blade in so I plugged the long extension from the van to the short extension and then to the power point

Travellingblooms,

Short extension leads with a 15A female and 10A male is fine, but make sure you use suitable heavy duty cabling to be on the safe side. They put a 15A plug on there for a reason and the earth pin is larger to carry the extra load.

The safest way is to get an electrician in to install a dedicated 15A socket and switch near were you are going to park your van. This way you know you are electrically perfect and can run all the equipment in the van safely. In reality a 15A socket on your house is simply a single circuit on the power board with no extra outlets on it, as I understand.

I've found some caravan park outlets need a 15A male to go into their powerboards, so don't chop off the only 15A male you have.

Tim

travellingblooms.

It is not my intention to be rude but you paid good money for your van.
Do it right, 15amp outlet with earth leakage circuit breaker.
I have seen what happens when poor wiring makes the hole van live (240vac).

regards

As an Electrician by trade for the last 25 years I think there should be some mistruths staightened out here.

The earth pin carries no load until there is a fault of some description.

The reason the earth pin is bigger than a standard 10 amp plug top is to STOP you pluging in a high load to a standard 10 amp circuit

Yes you can go the other way and plug a 10 amp plug top into a 15 amp outlet

Technically, reducing the earth pin size on a HD 15 amp lead will not cause any performance or safety issues as the current carrying conductors (active and neutral) should be be large enough to support maximum demand and as already stated the earth pin doesn't carry any load, it is however illegale and if inspected would be made inoperable by the relavant authority, and given insurance these days I would not like to have a fire or some one get a shock in a van park and be using a lead with ground down earth pin.

As stated most people usuall only want to run the fridge etc before they go and these are usually plugged into a gpo (powerpoint) in the adjacent cupboard, so if you dont want to go down the path of a seperate 15 amp gpo at home or aren't able too, then just run a standard 10 amp lead to the fridge lead and you will be perfectly inside the law and comply with all the regulations.

Regards Glen.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I work in aviation under a strict safety management system

We deal with risk, likelyhood and consequences that may affect aviation safety.

Weighing up the likelyhood of something going wrong with do it yourself electrical work and the consequences of mistakes, It is obvious to me to leave it to a proffessional. Electric shock, fire, no payout on insurance and overall the safety of my wife and kids. just not worth it.

Thanks,

Travellingblooms

..just one of life's little observations.

Isn't it funny how we can have a 'million & one' power boards plugged into our greatest asset (our homes) and run multiple power appliances from these and yet when we want to plug in our van fridge into the garage, we get all sorts of different opinions and theories. In the home we use logic, fuses and circuit breakers and we trust them, but when we use a modified lead for the van this same logic, fuses and circuit breakers are discarded.
It's illogical to me.

Cheers.
Lyndon.

Travellingblooms

do you have an airconditioner with a plug into a power point

you may find this is a 15amp outlet , evident my the wider earth plug

unplug the aircon and away you go

Now I'm confused. I've just bought a Yamaha 2400iS generator to run the van but it only has 2 10amp outlets. Does this mean that legally I can't use the generator to run the van? Also the inverter only has a 10 amp outlet so therefore I can't legally run the van via the battery bank/inverter? Also the split system room airconditioner fitted at home came fitted with a 10amp plug and is plugged into a 10 amp socket. Does this mean the aircon at home has less draw than the roof mounted one on the van?

...oh, one more final word.

You are more likely to be killed towing the van to your fantastic holiday spot than to be electrocuted!!!

But don't worry about that..take care and enjoy your Easter.

Cheers,
Lyndon.

It may pay to re read post number 5,,,, it says it all IMHO. Well stated Glen.

Others also say why spend many thousands of $$$$$$$$$ and baulk at something that WILL void your insurance if a fireetc, and MAY kill (it IS possible) but who wants to risk that.

Another post quite rightly points out IMHO (again) that these safety features are designed to assist those who don't know basic elec safety. By encouraging them to modify you could unwittingly contribute to a sad accident.

I'll probably draw the crabs with this but it has to be said.

Barry

I bought a long 15 amp extension lead and cut it in half. On one length I put a 10 amp male and on the other length I put a 10 amp female.

Now I can plug the camper in at home, or, plug my waeco in at a caravan park, or, join the two together and keep everyone happy.

It is true that more people are killed on the roads getting to and from their perfect holiday destination and apart from always advising people to take it easy and slow down, remember your there for enjoyment not an endurance contest.

It is also a higher number than most realise as electrocution (not always resulting in death) is a very real danger around the household.

The main reason as quite a few people here have demonstrated is the lack of understanding and respect for the danger involved.

You cant see the danger till it bites you!

I've done my share of electrical accident investigations and repairs after the event and believe me you dont want to go anywhere near it ever happening to you.

Also if you value your home and your family, install a safety switch.

Heed my warning all you people out there playing around with something you are not really sure about, you may get away with doing the wrong thing for years, but one day it will get you unless you treat it with care.

Sorry for the rant and I'll step off the soap box now.

Regards Glen.

KISS...for about $100 an electrician can install a 15 amp outlet in your power meter box. No more problems.

A 20is Honda Geni will run an Electrolux caravan air con. Turn all other electrical appliances off when starting the air con. Then when it's running steadily, you can turn the essential appliances back on. Make up a short (about 300mm) adapter (10 amp male to 15amp female) using 15amp rated three core cable.

Enjoy your travels...........Rob