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Topic: mains electric in france

sktcvs123

07/9/2005 at 11:06pm
Location: leeds
Outfit: fleetwood colchester

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what is the voltage of ehu,s in france and if 110v is there any way of adapting a uk spec caravan thanks

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ste kaz

Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!

davidc

07/9/2005 at 11:24pm
Location: Lancashire
Outfit: Hyundai Santa Fe & Coachman Pastiche

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France is 230v so you do not need to worry about any adapting. What you do need to becareful of is that most french sites don't give you 16A like the UK. Some do 10 but most are 6 amp so you have to be selective at what you turn on together! Also buy a plug tester so you can check for revers polarity as they ar not too bothered which way round they put their live and neutral leads!

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DavidC

wlee

08/9/2005 at 10:17am
Location: Zoetermeer Holland
Outfit: Chateau 430 Nice

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> Some do 10 but most are 6 amp <

Many basic sites have only 4 amps. I even had 3 amps once. 5 amps also occurs more often.
That still allows for my 800W kettle (at 3 amps formally not, but in practice it does) and the boiler (300W) to work, as long as switch on just one at the time. My fan heater is 500W (I think even 400 only) or 1000W, so that also works on these low amps.

Most sites have the blue European plug, but many still have only French plugs or sometimes both (some pitches blue, some pitches the other one). So bring an adapter. There is an adapter from the blue plug towards french/german. This means that it has side earth (side contact for i.a. Germany, Sweden, Netherlands) as well as centre earth (hole with contact in the middle - French). My 'french adapter' thus also worked in Sweden, where they use the Dutch inhouse earth contact for outside contacts.

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WL

sktcvs123

08/9/2005 at 11:04pm
Location: leeds
Outfit: fleetwood colchester

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thanks, thinking of touring in france next year so your information is very helpful

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ste kaz

Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!

n1ckv6

08/9/2005 at 11:25pm
Location: Warrington
Outfit: Elddis Crusader Sirocco

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It peaks at 230 but some sites ask you to go with smaller fuses on appliances. When in France we run the frideg on gas (much colder and much quicker) and lights on elec.....

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Disco TD5
Chipped and Cooled at 202BHP

Floydfan

09/9/2005 at 8:58am
Location: Mouliherne near Saumur FRANCE.
Outfit: Small but perfectly formed campsite!

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Hi,

our site's 6-amp/230v. It's European 'blue' plug just like you're used to back in the UK too, so there's no messing about with adaptors or swapping wires etc.

6-amp seems to be acceptable too as we've been pretty busy this summer, and no-one's managed to trip it yet!

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Floydmail

Floydsite

Stu.

wlee

09/9/2005 at 10:23am
Location: Zoetermeer Holland
Outfit: Chateau 430 Nice

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> When in France we run the fridge on gas (much colder and much quicker) <
If gas is colder and quicker it means that the voltage on the campsite is too low. They often stretch the capacity, i.e. put too many connection on the electrical groups. This implies that the electricity is divided over too many campers, while their basic power connection is too light. In these circumstances tye voltage may drop as low as 180V and the fridges won't work properly anymore. If the voltage fulfils the standard (230V) electricity and gas are equally effective.

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WL

Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!

Telbell

13/9/2005 at 1:38pm
Location: Worcestershire
Outfit: Lunar Champ H621 m home

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Hi Floydfan-nice pics! Interested to see you use Photobox-I use them too & find them very reasonable for printing-and quick. Do you re-size before uploading?? (Yr pics reem to run at about 2mb)

I like the idea of running fridge on gas in France-never thought of that!!

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