Campervan trip: diesel nozzles, electrical service, and booking ahead

Mate you can't fit diesel pump into a car (unleaded) hole. all the servos i worked at use one size for diesel...

most to nearly all caravan parks either run a 15 amp plug, which has a bigger earth point on it, ten amp is the other size. you can't plug a 15 amp plug into a 10 amp socket. and it is illegal to plug a 10 amp plug into a 15 amp socket ( i think, someone will correct me if wrong please). most likely cable is supplied.

bring a laptop and look and book onlin e as most places you will likely visit will be there and an email or two ( drop a line) will help also.


i hope this helps.

Servos have normal sized pumps
They also have truck stop pumps often in a different place.
Some have hiflow ordinary ones

Dont worry it will be ok

Camps have 240 volt 15amp sockets and the camper should have the same matching cords.
It is illegal here to use adapters from 10 amp to 15 amp or vice versa.

In a hired camper ask them to show you that it has a 15 amp cord with it.

They have a larger earth pin than the 10 amp one.

So a 10 amp one wont attach to the camper.

Depending on when and where you are going it may be better to book a few days in advance.

Especially as lots of roads are covered in water ATM in different parts of the country.
Like north Queensland, inner west QLD, Victoria.

Still lots of places to go.

Perhaps an itinerary would help get a few answers.

Read your post.

Coklebiddy and across the Nullabor probably wont have water on each site but may have power.
Rest will be OK

At caravan parks or other places where you can plug in to 240 V, do they all have the same (Australian) socket, or are there different kinds? Should I get an adapter?

All Australian caravan parks will have the same 15amp plug so only one cord is necessary and that should come with the van. If not they are available at any large hardware store.


I know that on the weekend, or on the holidays, places will fill up fast, and the place on the beach will probably fill up faster than a place in a small country town. Just wondering if it is generally easy to get a spot, or if I should always plan on booking ahead by at least a few days.

Well it varies a lot. Out of school holidays and away from the "grey nomad' hot spots in the Kimberley, Far North queensland and say the Gold coast, there should rarely be a problem . Usually a non powered spot will be available if there are no powered spots. In very busy places eg Broome they will not accept bookings days ahead anyway. On busy routes with long hauls eg Longreach it pays to get there before about 2PM to ensure a spot.
Regards Philip A

Matt,
The truck stops have both larger nozzle with high flow & smaller slower ones in amongst the petrol pumps , normal servos have the smaller nozzle. Both will usually fit but the high flow ones sometimes keep cutting out in the smaller vehicles.
Cheers Dave..

Matt



These other turkeys have missed the point/s re your queries I think, so I'll have a go and see if I can explain it a tad better.

(1) Diesel pumps - Firstly the different types and grades of fuel sold in the service stations here are delivered by colour coded pump guns. Diesel is BLACK and normally signed/marked as diesel. Some diesel pumps have a safety catch on them marked diesel, that makes you physically have to look at it and release it to get the gun out of the slot to use it. Idea being to stop idiots putting diesel in a petrol vehicle and vice versa.

As you you drive into a fuel/service station you will see separate rows of pumps, no doubt similar to what you have in the States. At the front of each row there is usually a sign that tells you what type of fuel is delivered in each row. Once again these are colour coded with type of fuel denoted within the colour bar. You will see, LPG, ULP (Petrol) other different grades of petrol and Diesel ( in black)

So just locate the row that has diesel and then pick which side matches your filler cap on your vehicle.

The aforementioned diesel pumps in these rows for vehicles other than large trucks, will normally have the smaller slow fill nozzle, however, having said that you do come across both Large fast flow and small slow flow on occasions in smaller service stations and/or country ones.

The nozzle inlet size on the vehicles here other than commercial trucks varies over all vehicles that use diesel. It just depends on where the vehicle was manufactured.

(2) The 240V Electricity thing - All RV's in Australia regardless of type have a common connection method between the RV and the Electric Power Supply. ie an Electric Extension Cord. The RV that you hire should have one of these cords supplied and they are usually 30 meters in length. The Electrical fittings at each end are the usual Female Socket and Male 3 pin plug. In most instances all power supply here in Australia is 230/240V and delivered via a three (3) core) cable that includes an Earth.

Each of the abovementioned electrical fitting on the Extension Cord are what we call 15amp fittings as opposed to 10amp fittings. The Earth pin is a big mother and the authorities in their wisdom design it as such, so that a 10amp delivery system could not be accidentally connected to a 15amp delivery system. Thats a simplistic description of a big story that boils down to a safety thing.

As long as the hire company supplies the subject extension cord and shows you how to use/connect it (very simple) you will have no trouble.

Now once your RV is connected as described above, everything passed the Safety Circuit Breaker inside the RV will be 230/240V with normal 3pin power points.

Australia uses a National 3pin plug and socket profile which is the same everywhere you go. So as long as you have the adapter/converter plug from Nth America to Australia everything will be easy.

(3) Booking accommodation etc - what the others said.

regards

DD

Dust Devil must think the poor yank can't fart and chew gum at the same time, eh.

Regards Philip A

from memory you are crossing the Nullarbour but any way if not this info is relevent

in the city alot of servos have both car and truck diesal fill spots

cars are discoaraged from using the truck fast fill spots and as said usually the flow is too fast making it cut out often

however out of the big smoke often (but not always) the only diesal pumps are the truck pumps which are set up away from the undercover car pumps

these nozzles while a bit bigger should fit your camper

to further complicate things some servos (in the city) have a bio diesal blend diesal as a choice for a few cents less. Unless your hire agreement specifically excludes its use it s a good way to save a bit and doesnt seem to effect performance or economy

I havnt stayed at a powered caravan park for ages but yes there are 2 types of power cords as well covered one with the bigger earth
.

If your RV has one iof these make sure it comes with a cord as they are not overly cheap too buy

remember Diesal passenger vehicles are alot more common over here than the states so it wont matter where you go you will be catered for in that regard