3 pin or 2 pin abroad?

[giovanni_5060838]

As far as i know when touring europe you need an adaptor to hook up from uk 3 pin to europe 2 pin hook ups?

Am now being told that 3 pin is becoming the standard? Surely thats wrong.

 

[rambler1]

A lot of sites in France have changed over to the 3 pin hook up points but many are still using 2 pin points so you really need to take both connectors with you.I also carry reversed polarity connectors so can quickly change over should the polarity be reversed cannot help you for the rest of Europe.

 

[giovanni_5060838]

Thanks john.

Are these new 3 pin hook ups, 3 pins in line? will the 2 pins still fit in? ie no earth?

And where can you get the 3 pins from?

 

[SteveW77]

Along the same lines, can anyone tell me what kind of connection they use on Italian campsites.

Steve W

 

[trucker]

giovanni, The 3 pin plug is the same as we use in uk. Ive only seen 1 campsite in 5 years of touring France with the 2 pin socket, and guess what I didnt take that year yes my adapter

Kevin

 

[rob_jax]

"Are these new 3 pin hook ups, 3 pins in line? will the 2 pins still fit in? ie no earth? And where can you get the 3 pins from?"

There's a popular misconception that European mains connectors are "two pin" and don't have an earth. They do have Earth connections, but the earth is just arranged differently to the UK household plug.

In France and Belgium their plug has three connectors arranged in a triangle, just like the UK - except it has two pins and an earth socket - the wall point has two sockets and an earth pin.

In Holland and Germany, the CEE 7/4 (Schuko) plug has the same pin spacing as the French design, but the earth connections are two side-grippers.

There is a CEE 7/7 plug that has both the earth socket and the side grippers - and it's this type of plug that is sold in UK shops as a "universal" connector.

This "universal" connector may work in Italy as they have at least two standards for plugs - a derivative of the CEE 7 family with the earth pin in-line - a plug they call an industrial model which looks like the German Schuko (I've used this when on business) but the pin spacing may not be standard.

Hopefully more and more sites will adopt the IP44 blue 16 amp sockets and plugs.

Robert

 

[giovanni_5060838]

Thank you, rob jax.

Bit worried though,as the caravan shops i have seen over here in the uk,only do one type of convertor! Hopefully it fits or an adaptor for that adaptor is readily available over on the continent...

 

[Lutz]

For the adapter to be universal for France/Belgium AND Germany/Holland it will have a hole arranged in a triangle with the 2 pins, as Robert described. If there is no hole (for the earth connection in France/Belgium), it won't work in those countries.

 

[GrahamSouthBrum]

I have 2 x 2 pin continental plugs, 1 normal & 1 reversed.

I also have a UK blue plug reversed.

This should cover every thing I have found in France so far.

 

[Lutz]

For Holland/Germany you don't need 2 adapter cables. You can just pull the plug and insert the other way round.

 

[EvansofSprot]

"Are these new 3 pin hook ups, 3 pins in line? will the 2 pins still fit in? ie no earth? And where can you get the 3 pins from?"

There's a popular misconception that European mains connectors are "two pin" and don't have an earth. They do have Earth connections, but the earth is just arranged differently to the UK household plug.

In France and Belgium their plug has three connectors arranged in a triangle, just like the UK - except it has two pins and an earth socket - the wall point has two sockets and an earth pin.

In Holland and Germany, the CEE 7/4 (Schuko) plug has the same pin spacing as the French design, but the earth connections are two side-grippers.

There is a CEE 7/7 plug that has both the earth socket and the side grippers - and it's this type of plug that is sold in UK shops as a "universal" connector.

This "universal" connector may work in Italy as they have at least two standards for plugs - a derivative of the CEE 7 family with the earth pin in-line - a plug they call an industrial model which looks like the German Schuko (I've used this when on business) but the pin spacing may not be standard.

Hopefully more and more sites will adopt the IP44 blue 16 amp sockets and plugs.

Robert

Absolutely right.