I am going to France in the next couple of weeks and I am wondering if the electrical socket adaptors are the same as the two pin variety as used in Spain. We have a few of the 'Spanish' ones so we don't want to buy any others if these will do. Anybody know and also is their (France) voltage
230/240V?Cheers
John
France is 230v and the Spanish ones should be fine!
If you look at the "Spanish" side of the adaptor, there should be two pins sticking out, about 18mm apart (measuring from the middle of both pins) There should also be a hole at the top or bottom, that looks about the same size as the pins are - there should also be two metal strips down the sides
Here is a picture of one!
Sparks...
We have a few of the 'Spanish' ones so we don't want to buy any
Yes
Southern France. In France there are regional differences as to the form of earth contact..
Colin Bignell
No. France and Beglium use the earth pin sticking out of the socket. The side strips are for the Shuko connector used in Germany and some other EU countries. There may be some strange areas where country borders have moved around in the last century.
Here's a world wide collection which includes Spain but no info on voltages. Modem adaptors are on the same site too.
Here's a world wide collection which includes Spain but no info on voltages. Modem adaptors are on the same site too.
My electrical supplier in France told me that the Shuko connector is used quite widely in the North of the country.
Colin Bignell
I've seen the German format in a few hotels in the Paris area as well as around Strasbourg (i.e. closer to Germany.)
The plugs are compatible each way since there are the leaf spring contacts on the side, and a hole underneath.
The traditional French wall sockets have the projecting earth pin which mates with the hole.
Those in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Finland have the side leaf springs and pick up contact there. Denmark and Switzerland and parts of Italy have different socket formats with either a lozenge shaped plug or a Schuko style plug with projecting earth pin.
One other thing to watch for is that some parts of Spain and Italy have a socket that has the Schuko spacing but where the pins are thinner. Packs of adaptors refer to these as "continental" sockets and Schuko as "German". The Schuko type plugs often will not fit the Spanish sockets and likewise the "continental" plugs are a loose fit inb Schuko sockets and don't make good contact.
I recently bought one of these
There is not an earth connection, though, but that is OK for notebooks and the like.
This site contains information on voltages, frequency and plug types:
The few houses I've been to seem to have a mixture of both types, although generally favouring the Schuko type. The earth pin, being less practical, seems increasingly less common.
Christian.
France is 220, UK is 240. Theyre both now described as 230v with different tolerance margins, but IRL theyre still 220 and 240. Almost everything runs ok on 220, though filament bulbs will be rather dim.
NT
In Languedoc, only the types with the pin seem to be used. That was what prompted me to ask why all white goods came with a plug that would also suit the Shucko socket.
Colin Bignell
So are we, if I may tag on a Supplementary Question which springs to mind...
We're camping, and will be taking our usual lecky cable setup along, which consists of a 4-way 13A strip -> RCD plug -> length of Arctic cable -> blue IP44 plug (which plugs into a matching socket in the UK); together with a short adapter cable which "converts" the blue plug into a standard UK 13A plug.
For France, I was going to pack a standard continental socket adapter like wot John's got - I'm assuming that's what French campsites will use? Must admit I'd rather have a proper plug; using an adaptor outside doesn't sound too clever, does it?
Also - oops, a Supplementary Supplementary Question - I usually take my old mains inspection lamp with us to provide lighting, but I'm wondering about setting up something a bit more elegant (you'll gather I'm not really into the spirit of this camping mallarkey. Must be getting old). I'd quite like a central light to hang up in the middle, with another one (or two?) in the sleeping compartment(s); ideally with separate switches. How would the panel recommend doing this safely? I'm thinking do it all in 12V for a start. Where would I find suitable kit to do this?
Thanks David
It would seem that French electricians are cavalier about which way round they wire the socket outlets. Several years ago, when I had a caravan, I quite frequently tripped the RCD in the supply box on French campsites. The site owners were quite short with me in making them having to do some work ;-). The problem was that the RCD in the 'van would trip the site RCD if the live and neutral did not co-incide. I fitted a phase reverser which was available at the time and which was only a cross-over circuit. The little box went between the incoming supply and the 'van RCD. There was a neon which indicated the incorrect phases and extinguished when the cross-over switch was operated. (I always thought that it should have worked the other way round - lit OK, off not OK) This box was so simple, I was rather miffed that it was such a simple circuit was so expensive - I should have made one myself.
Reading the above post, I wonder if this still happens or was this just a problem with the design of my RCD.
HTH
The French/Belgium socket outlet is not polarised. Whilst you can only insert the plug one way round (unlike Schuko), it is not defined which is the live and which is the neutral pin. Indeed in any double outlet or two way adaptor, you will normally find the two sockets are hard- wired the opposite way round, so it's not like there's even any common convention. I'm told some parts of France have a supply where neither conductor is near ground potential, in which case the concept of a live and neutral is pretty meaningless.
There are RCD's which have additional fault detection circuitry and deliberately trip on live/neutral reversal, missing neutral, or missing ground. These are clearly not suitable for unpolarised supplies, or supplies where neither main conductor is near ground potential.
Most likely your RCD included supply fault detection. Merlin Gerin certainly have manufacturered such RCBOs (which MK used to rebadge ~10 years ago).
After all, that is literal French for "cowboy"
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