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Please help! am v. confused  re eletcric hookup thingies, have always camped without but we off again in august and hookup is free with pitch sooo am thinking would be great to get an electric coolbox up and link in up. Would make life much easier with kiddies but have NO idea where to start or what I need! Have had a peek at usual sites but just dont know what to get! Please help this daft girl .......dont want to blow us all up ...!

one of these

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/redirect.asp?redir=http://www.towsure.com/product/533-Awning/Tent_Mains_Kit_-_3_Outlet

A fan heater was the deciding factor for my Mrs.  She will not go away without hookup now for that reason alone.  Electric kettle is nice in the mornings, & it scares me how many battery chargers for cameras, Mp3 players etc. we manage to need now.  We use 12V lights run off the leisure battery, but there are lots of purpose built awning & tent lights that either charge a battery form the mains or run on the 240V with a waterproof case.  Do buy your EHU from a reputable shop.  There are some real horror stories on E Bay that are not safe.  Mine looks like the one above, there are threads on here with them going for about £30.

Steve.

You need an EHU as above and if you want to use a 12v coolbox (available quite reasonably in many places) you will need a power converter which has a 12v mains on one end and a box converts into a cigarette lighter socket for the cool box. These are available tow sure and many places. I have seen one for 9.99 but cant remember where. Ours wa ablot 15.99 from halfords i think. That will sort the cool box out. As for the rest as above we sometimes are very grateful for the 9.99 fan heater from argos. We only use a travel sized kettle not a big one and the awning lights or an inspection lamp. we tend to leave the lights and cool box on and use the third socket for the fire OR the kettle as they are the heavy wattage ones.  We tend to unplug the cool box and use the kids DVD player. The cool box stays cool for ages.

Basically so long as you dont start using extension leads and double sockets etc and stick to the 3 plugs you are fine. The kettle and the fire and like the mini ovens are all high usage so only one at once.

Aw brilliant thank you will get on and find one, jus wondering, are here any with just one socket? Only really want the cooler, have a lead in my shed like this:

http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/shop/Detail.asp?ProductID=41

and seen this too:

http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/shop/Detail.asp?ProductID=1862 

could these be used together? If not you'll see why I posted re safety LOL!!!!

xx

me again! found this :

http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-1428744-10475506?url=http://www.outdoormegastore.co.uk/acatalog/Sunncamp_Mobile_Mains_Supply_Unit__1_plug_.html

used with the adapter thingy for the coolbox should it do the job??

thank you!

Hi crazyplace, thanks v. much for your help, guessed the 1st option might be a bit dodgy and hadnt thought of lead length, will keep searching on!

Hi all. have been reading this thread with interest as I am also a bit of a newbie and not well up on my knowledge of electrics.

We have until recently used a whistle kettle on the stove. Decided to upgrade to an electric kettle and bought a cheapy one. Didn't seem to have any probs until recently when we stayed at a campsite only to find our kettle and fridge wouldn't work but the lights and stereo did. It seems the plugs and fridge are on the same loop (it wasn't something obvious like a fuse blown...I'm not quite that daft). When we got home...lo and behold, the electric plugs all worked when hooked up to our house mains.

This is a rambling way of asking if this might have something to do with the fact that the campsite was 10 amp hook up (i think) and the fact that we tried to use a cheap (and therefore probably high voltage ) kettle??? If so...any ideas how this all works?? Can anyone explain and advise on kettle-buying???

Quote: Originally posted by Crazyplace on 09/7/2008

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You need an EHU as above and if you want to use a 12v coolbox (available quite reasonably in many places) you will need a power converter which has a 12v mains on one end and a box converts into a cigarette lighter socket for the cool box. These are available tow sure and many places. I have seen one for 9.99 but cant remember where. Ours wa ablot 15.99 from halfords i think. That will sort the cool box out. As for the rest as above we sometimes are very grateful for the 9.99 fan heater from argos. We only use a travel sized kettle not a big one and the awning lights or an inspection lamp. we tend to leave the lights and cool box on and use the third socket for the fire OR the kettle as they are the heavy wattage ones.  We tend to unplug the cool box and use the kids DVD player. The cool box stays cool for ages.

Basically so long as you dont start using extension leads and double sockets etc and stick to the 3 plugs you are fine. The kettle and the fire and like the mini ovens are all high usage so only one at once.

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I have just bought a coolbox from Aldi which was was very reasonably priced but the main thing is it will run off 230v or 12v so you dont need a converter.

You can plug it into the car on the way there and then use the hookup when you are there.

How else will you keep the wine chilled????????????