# Electric Hook up in Europe - Which adaptor?



## zen navigator (May 7, 2010)

Not exactly sure if this is the correct adaptor for hook up on European Campsites as it looks like a domestic 2 pin connector(see pic).



Please could some confirm or point me in the right direction.



Dave


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## zen navigator (May 7, 2010)

That reversed polarity sounds a bit ominious, but easily rectified with a tester and an adapted cable.

Thanks for the info Guys.

Dave


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## Kontiki (May 7, 2010)

The French & German plugs usually have a pin for the earth but the Spanish & Portuguese ones have the earth on the outside of the plug.


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## biggirafe (May 8, 2010)

zen navigator said:


> Not exactly sure if this is the correct adaptor for hook up on European Campsites as it looks like a domestic 2 pin connector(see pic).
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yep thats the one we use 
As you say reverse polarity is easily fixed by swapping the wires over in a cable, some people carry 2 adapters just for this. My van has a red light that comes on on the board if it senses reversed polarity.

My understanding is that Its not always a problem, as someone said AC contantly current swaps polarity anyway, but UK electrics only have the fuse on the 'hot' side and only switch off by breaking the circuit on the hot side so its possible that if something failed you could have electricity travelling down the negative and into the earth leaving your circuit live even though its turned off or the fuse has blown. I'm not sure which is better or why the Europeans went down their route, maybe one of the experts on the forum could tell us 

On all the major sites I've used in Europe I have never had a problem, only on small sites and less well used ones have I found reverse polarity 

Just noticed this is also answered here in another thread
http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/motorhome-knowledge-base/9959-french-electrics.html

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## biggirafe (May 8, 2010)

***** said:


> We have had reversed polarity quite a few times, however the most alarming time was at Uzerches.
> We plugged into free electricity and off we went for a walk
> On our return a French van had plugged in his adapter between the supply and our van so I checked the polarity again and found that the earth & live were changed around



It is scary what other countries allow 'businesses' to do, We all winge about the rules in the uk but even countries that we would consider to be on the ball allow some odd practices.

The site we stayed at in belgium on the way to Holand, which I'm guessing was licenced  had a nice row of 5 plugs, all had reverse polarity  

but when I looked inside the barn that housed the connections I was gobstruck it was being fed by a single feed of what looked like light cable draped across the barn and pluged into a single socket


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