Bongo Fury

Sounds like you were lucky, we had this in Belgium, probably assembled by Smurfs....

Not sure how the prices compare, but I have bought all my odds and ends (ends, mostly!) from this fellow on EBay http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/jegs11/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

You know how sometimes you get a positive feeling about certain EBay sellers? I just had this feeling this fellow cares whether his customers are safe out there what with some of the shocking state of some continental hook up points. We saw one similar to the one Muz has pictures with loads of splitters on it and about 10 tents being served by four sockets when we were in Spain last year

Some of the Welsh ones aren't too hot either....

Oh yeah, this was another one in Belgium. Father Abraham must have put this one together

Buy 2 of the cheap ones..... wire one reversed and mark it with tape....then buy a plug in tester.... which will tell you via lights which is the adapter you need .....Some EU sites (especially France) have reverse polarity electrics.....

I thought this might give you a giggle, spotted on the Tertre Rouge campsite at this year's Le Mans 24 hours race.....

Humm interesting!
Why I'm glad to at least have my own RCD in my cable, not sure I would like to trust anything further back up the line

Yep, French wiring is dead easy to do.

Any cable, any colour, any size. any where. Lucky if you get an earth.

Here's one I came across in Holland that you have to clamber over the ditch to get to. Watch out for reversed polarity which is very common abroad.

Hi

I'm taking my Bongo to the Netherlands next month - it's the first time I've driven in Europe, let alone camped...

I've got the standard three round pin blue/grey plug adapter that features in a lot of the pictures above - will I need an adapter to use that in the Netherlands?

Regards

CL

You may need an adaptor depending on which they use on a given site http://www.davidklyne.co.uk/frencheuropeanelectric.htm its also wise to have a tester plug to check for reversals, and an adaptor to reverse it back again correctly!

Hi
ALWAYS carry a polarity tester plug...even in the UK i've seen some appalling hookup points, but the polarity is most often correct.
On the Continent, campers often re-wire the boxes to suit their own hookup cables, according to write-ups in various Camping and caravaning clubs, so they may have started off as an adequate installation, and been re-hashed time and time again. Listen to Geoff regarding having adequately protected cables....anything before your caravan / Bongo installation may be decidedly dangerous due to the less than adequate wiring
Regarding French wiring , as Briwy says...Oh, Boy...colours????...all mains wiring is brown here, and there's no earth....they just earth onto the neutral wire!, and many houses have 3-phase wiring indoors!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....our shower room had a 3-phase pump switch on the door frame for pumping water from the well!.....AND another by the kitchen sink!!!!!!!!
Cheers
Helen

This, I reckon, is the ideal cable setup for Europe, it covers all eventualities....



1. 50m cable with normal blue BS4343 plug & socket
2. Blue plug & UK 3-pin socket (orange cable)
3. Euro (Schuko-type) plug & blue socket (white cable)
4. Blue plug & socket with live & neutral reversed (marked with earth tape)
5. Splitter
6. 3-pin polarity tester

So, if you're presented with Euro-type sockets, plug the white cable in and then add the orange one, plug in the polarity tester and see if you're ok. Check all the sockets on the hookup post while you're at it in case they're not all the same and someone kindly switches your cable to a different socket. If all's well on the tester, unplug the orange cable and connect your van up with your normal cable.

If the tester indicates reversed polarity, add the reversed cable (item 4 above) between the white & orange cables, and re-test - should be ok now, in which case leave the reversed cable connected, remove the orange one and add your normal cable.

Some would suggest just having two of the white cables, one with reversed wiring, but that won't help you if you are on a site with proper blue sockets on the hookup post and it's wired wrong.

Oh yeah, if you're using the reversed cable and need to use a splitter too - connect the splitter between the reversed cable and your normal 50m cable, then everyone else on your splitter has got the right polarity