Question one – We are camping somewhere with an electric hook up. The sockets look to be simply waterproof plugs. Can I make my own up using the correct plug, a length of flex and a gang or is there something I am missing that I need to consider? It will just be running a small fridge / coolbox and to charge phones etc.

Question two – I am considering getting an electric coolbox (looking at ones with a switchable 12v / 240v facility). If I didn’t bother with the electric hook up, how long will one of these run before it kills my car battery?

my electric box won’t run without the engine running – the battery doesn’t deliver enough current to stop the unit tripping out.

We got one of these last year;

http://emporium24.de/coleman-xtreme-p-42170.html?language=en

Using bags of ice it lasts days as long as you put pre-cooled stuff in it. Would recommend. As an example – we went for 48 hours this last weekend and ice I put in on Friday pm was still frozen Sunday afternoon (you do get a puddle of icey water though so make sure stuff is in waterproof bags). And this is quite a big unit – smaller oens are available.

re: electric hook up you really need one of these;

sites get funny about just an extension lead.

i’ve got one of those i need to sell – used twice. postage might be stupid though…

sites get funny about just an extension lead.

I wondered that but then I have seen loads like this (ie with no RCD)

Linky

Yeah, I think the campsite would be a bit pissy about you using something that wasn’t IPV67AB2012 rated (or whatever it is)

Believe it’s quite common on the continent to just have a flex, but really you’d be wanting an RCD lead much safer and you’d know it works.

If your coolbox will run on 240 or 12v then you’ll be fine, otherwise you’ll need some sort of 240v to 12v converter.

12v will drain a leisure battery in a matter of hours so not really good for a main car starter battery.

Waeco tend to be good if pricey.

Okay so I need an electric hook-up one way or the other then. Seeing as I don’t fancy having my small children fried I’ll look into the RCD type. TomThumb – how much would you want for yours?

Some sites won’t let you use anything without its own RCD in it. You’ll need quite fat flex, too, because you’ll be wanting 20m of it. Caravans and motorhomes all have RCDs, a tent doesn’t seem less likely to need one. Yes, the site wiring should have its own RCDs, although they’re not necessarily accessible and having seen the state of some campsite wiring I’d rather rely on one I brought with me 😉

I’d want the RCD at the supply end.
Particularly when I’m staggering about in my high heels with the flex on wet grass.

As far as fridges – we had to find one for our recently acquired Mazda Bongo.

It seems like there are roughly two types – those that work with some sort of fan arrangement and will get your box to a temperature relative to the ambient temp. Generally these seem to be the cheaper option with the size getting bigger and temperature difference growing the more you spend.

The second types are those with a compressor – they’re significantly more expensive but will cool to a specific temperature, may include iceboxes and use, dependent upon size, less energy.

We ended up going with the latter and finding a Waeco CF30 (I think, maybe the CF35) at a discount online. The primary reason being that some of the campsites we go to don’t have hook-ups available and it’d be good to be independent in that regard. It also comes with a decent guarantee, seems remarkably well-made and is v.efficient. We can also then run a cool-box proper with a couple of ice-packs that’ll freeze in it’s small icebox should we need more cool storage for food.

Asked the same question a week ago, as stated the rcd is most important at the supply end! Very unlikely you’re going to cut through your kettle cable!! Did a fair bit of research and the general consensus was most campsites like to see the “proper job” and so did mrs Wrightysonwrightyson so that was decision made!! 🙄
Last yr I made one myself but there was no way that was being allowed to be used again!!
Anyhoo long story short it was ace having a mini fridge keeping my beer and cheese cool this weekend whilst away camping!!

For the same price as MF’s link almost, you can get a full RCD job.

I got this one or very similar from Go Outdoors, it’s one of the things that pops up regularly on their “this week only!!!!” sales; think I paid sub-£30 for it.

Oh and I bought a used hook up for 27 quid via flea bay that was 10 mins from my house!! Retail new, at between 40 if lucky to 60 quid.

It seems like there are roughly two types

There’s about three 🙂 There’s your absorption fridge, which drives the coolant round with a heat source, either an electric element or a gas flame. That’s your usual caravan/motorhome “3-way” fridge, the ones that only run on 12V when attached to an engine. Then you’ve got compressor fridges (like your Waeco) which have an electrical compressor in them and use little enough juice that you can run them off 12V. And there’s thermoelectric (or Peltier) coolers which have the advantage of no moving parts but aren’t as efficient as the others — those are the ones that can only cool down to 18 or so degrees below ambient.

We’ve taken to doing without a hookup and running the fridge off gas, it’s often cheaper and broadens the campsite options 🙂

I liked the sound of that cold box until I looked at the price 😯
That’s almost what I paid for my tent! No power where I’m camping this weekend, I just need to keep some milk cool for morning cereals. Beer and food from the pub later… 😀

You could try evaporative cooling — stand milk carton in a pan of water with a dishcloth or similar over it.

I have a similar one to wwaswas, except it has one socket above the other 2, also has the built in RCD’s.(got it from Go Outdoors for £50) I got my fridge for Halfords (Halfords branded) that works off the car socket, handy when travelling, but I have a transformer that plugs into the 3 pin and the fridge then plugs into the car socket in this. Works very well and cools down to the same level as a standard fridge. If it is cold outside then it can ice up a bit.

I made ours from a two gang IP66 socket, with a built in RCD. I prefered it because it seals the plugs in completely. The cable needs to be the proper 16a stuff, its seriously thick (& heavy) stuff. Cost about the same as the Go-Outdoors one but we had crawling babies at the time.

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There’s about three…

🙂

I bow to your greater knowledge. My brothers caravan one runs off gas I think..

Used on in the van, simply got an external power lead from B&Q and the plug from electric shop. Wired up with RCD in the van. Nobody ever bothered to look at it.

It was “Integrated” with zip ties and the end was hidden from view….

Cost about £8

Then main thing as stated above tho is the cable, it really needs to be 1mm flex minimum over these sort of distances with 1.5 being preferred. A good quality 110 lead would suffice with the relevant ends replaced!