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hi lawrie09

using a hook up in a tent you should definiteley go for one with a circuit breaker , the load will depend upon the site supply as they vary . there is a method to work out how many amps an item will use ...can't remember it but someone will help .

Forget the £15 ones.  They could be dangerous in a tent.  Remember, no matter how dry a tent feels, you can still get a build up of condensation or other water in a tent at anytime.  The expensive ones ( £50+ ) have electronics in them to cut the power if it detects any faults.  Also, everything is built to be  more water resilient.  For the difference in price, I would go for the triple one.

The sites vary in the amount of power than can be drawn from them ( in this country all the places I have used is 16amps, but I hear of 10 as well. A lot of places abroad tend to have 6amps so I am told ).  Once you exceed those amounts the electric power will cut-off ( this isn't serious, it just means that someone has to flick a switch to turn it back on again ).

The EHU are normally 10amps.  This means that if you pull more than 10amps of power then your EHU Unit will switch off ( hopefully this is before the site electrics go ).

You can work out how much power you are using a simple calculation.  The calculation is watts divided by volts gives you amps.

For example.  If you plug in a kettle and it is 1000watts ( 1 kilowatt ) it means you are using 1000 / 230 = 4.3amps.  If you now plug in a hairdryer that is 800 watts at the same time that would be another 3.5amps making a total of 7.8 amps.  Once you exceed the 10amp mark then the EHU will trip ( turn off ).  To turn it on again you have to turn something off that is using power and then flick the switch on your EHU and power is restored.  The wattage values are normally written on the appliance or in the instructions mannual.

This is why they seem a little expensive because they have this built into the unit.  Also there is a nother device in there ( an RCD - Residual Current Device ) that turns off before you get an electric shock.  The cheap ones will not have these things.

I hope I explained that ok.

If your head aches from all these calculations just estimate at around 4 amps for every kW.

Easy way - don't use two high wattage things at the same time - light, heater, kettle and mini fridge - switch off the heater while you boil the kettle and it should all be ok.

PS Make sure the kettle and heater are only 2 Kw, not 3.

Hi

I found the information on this site very useful - click the club data sheets, and scroll down the list. 

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/technical.htm

Tracey

Quote: Originally posted by langleys on 23/1/2006

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Electricity over here is anywhere between 230 and 240 volts.  Mine here measures about 234, at work it measures 237.  Using 230 allows a bit of a margin.  The voltage varies by a couple of volts in different areas.

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you will find the household power can spike over 300 volts and drop well below the 230. not sure if its the same on EHU, (never covered that in college).

as for camping get the low power stuff, takes longer but wont give you as many problems. most camping shops sell that sort of thing.

floppy

Yes, it can happen anywhere.  The EHU cables have what is called a type B circuit breaker in them ( basically means it trips fairly quickly ).  If will trip if there is a surge of upto about 5 times its normal current handling.  The C type is 5-10 and the D type is 10-20 ( I think those figures are right, if not, they are not far out ).  The spikes and lows are usually for a very short period of time ( milliseconds ).

Normally, a quick spike will not affect the EHU but big ones can damage equipment severely.  There are regulations on the supply of power that is suppsoed to prevent this, but it does still happen.