Would thinner orange cable be ok? Forums

peejay · Campsite DB Admin

Ok all you electrical experts out there...

I'm fed up with lugging 1/2 a ton of thick orange cable around with me on my travels and storage is tight on our van. It just so happens that our flymo has given up the ghost and it comes with some lovely orange 3 core cable at least 1/2 the thickness of the other stuff and so much easier to coil up so i was thinking of using that.

We rarely plug in and even if we are on a site with high amp mains we rarely use much power and the cable will always be fully uncoiled.

Can you see any probs?

pj

Jana

We dont use the thick orange one either we use a blue one bought at B&Q just to annoy the CC. If people ask we say with a straight face that "We had to have a blue one to match our van" and people actaully believe us.
We like you keep it unrolled and havent had a problem.

Road_Runner_644

Hi peejay

I did the same thing, used the strimmer cable as a hookup.

In theory you will lose some volts, but most UK sites are 230-240 and your appliances are rated at 220-240.

Voltage has only ever hampered us at one site when the reading on the voltmeter was 180V, i don't think having super thick cable would have made much differance.

Dave

Keith-n-Deb

gaspode · Moderator

Maplins sell a low temperature blue cable rated at 16 amps by the metre. It is much lighter than the usual orange stuff, complies with IEE regs and remains very flexible in freezing conditions. The only point to note is that you should always uncoil your lead completely to prevent overheating and induction problems when drawing a high current.

peejay · Campsite DB Admin

Thanks for the replies guys, the flymo cable it is then.

pj

SidT

Have you ever seen a continental van with a thick orange cable? Smile

Cheers Sid

ScotJimland

peejay · Campsite DB Admin

Sid wrote;