Electricity in Camping!
Hooking up to the mains!
Upon arrival, please inform our personell at the box office that you need help with electricity hook-up. They will give you all needed instructions. Hooking up will be done by our technician. You need to show him proof of payment. He will also provide his contact, so you can reach him in case of any problem.
We provide a 230V supply, which can power most of the appliances you might use at home. However, we have restricted supplies, rated at 6A each, so you need to be careful what you use to avoid ‘tripping out’ the system.
Tripping the electrical supply can make you unpopular on site. The least you will need to do is contact the site manager to ask him to reset the system. In cases of “extending” your supply to your friends you will also have stopped the electricity supply to your friends’ pitches.
Use electricity with care
Make no mistake about it. Electricity can be dangerous, especially in the damp conditions of a tent or in the open air. Even a 12V battery can give you a nasty shock if used incorrectly. Used in the right way however, you can benefit from mains electricity and, if you take the right precautions, you can use it safely.
We recommend you use a cable length of 25m, because the layout of pitches means you can be pitched a fair distance from the hook-up bollard. However, if you’re closer to the bollard, you should still uncoil the full length of your cable, to avoid it overheating in use. Avoid using extension cables. If you need to, always use weather-proof connectors and keep the connection off the ground – to avoid water getting inside.
Many tents now include a small zipped flap where the cable can enter the tent, so cables don’t need to cross the entrance.
Making life safer
Most caravans, motorhomes and folding campers have electrical equipment fitted by design. If you are bringing electricity into a tent you will need to buy a special hook-up lead with two or more damp-proof sockets, each of which will take ordinary 13A plug, as you would use at home.
Residual Current Devices (RCDs)
One of the reasons for using a properly-designed electrical connection to your unit is that a Residual Current Device (RCD) safety device will be wired into the circuit. This is designed to cut off the supply immediately in the case of a leakage of current to earth. Such a leakage can occur when someone touches an appliance that is damp. Particularly if the person is standing on damp ground, which can easily happen in a tent.
Keep it all dry
Tents, and particularly the floors of tents, can be damp and moisture and electricity do not mix. The socket end of the cable will usually have some means of fixing it well above level ground. Often special clips will enable it to be fixed to a frame tent pole off the ground. Arranging to mount it off the ground in other tents, especially those with flexible poles, can be more difficult. The equipment you plug in must also be placed safely. Don’t use electrical equipment on the tent floor as leaks or condensation could lead to dampness.
How much power
You’ll also need to think about the equipment you want to use on site. At home you’ll probably have plenty of sockets and it’s rare to overload them, but a campsite socket can be easily overloaded. If you are using an electric kettle it really ought to be a small camping one. Heaters should be low powered and ideally designed for camp life, and don’t try to run your heater and kettle together – you could overload your pitch socket causing it to cut out and you may even cut out other sockets on the campsite.
You can purchase your Camping electricity hook up from 12.4., 12:00 (noon) here : https://www.mhshop-online.com/p1837/MetalDays%202019%20Camping%20electricity%20hook%20up.
