Another camping noob question. It’s been googled but couldn’t find anything.
I’ve been looking at camping grounds and the ones that have power specify how many amps it is. So far it’s ranged from 3A to 50A, with most of them 6A or 10A. From my little experience with power I’ve only every encountered electricity being measured in voltage.
Why do they do this and how is it different to regular 240V electricity?
P=VI
Power = VoltageCurrent
Power of your lamp = Voltage SuppliedCurrent at camp site
I’m assuming they use 240V or 220V as a standard
Current draw.
It won’t matter for you with your little appliances that barely draw one amp. Domestic points in Oz are 10A. If you see a three prong with a bigger earth slot, it’s 15A. Matters more for people with large current draw requirements, like huge RVs.
Most modern plugpacks are auto voltage switching, but France is 220V/50Hz, so you’re good, you’ll just need a plug adaptor to suit the two round prong sockets.
PS: P = VI, Power (Watts) = Voltage (V) x Current (A).
15A is what my caravan uses.
Phew, I won’t have to worry about frying my precious Garmin with all that current.
Thanks
10A is good for running one appliance at a time + lights, etc.
if you like to have a kettle, microwave, sandwhich maker, computer, steamer, etc all at the same time, you will need something bigger.
Its sad because, you can not stick a 15A appliance in a 10A socket but you can stick a 10A plug in a 15A socket…hello safety regulations.
How is not being able to start an electrical fire sad?
Plugging an appliance that has a 10A plug into a 15A supply doesn’t mean that it then draws 15A. It’ll only draw the current it requires.
It is sad because it denies Darwin a chance to do his best work on improving the gene pool.
You can, you just need to file/dremmel down the earth pin. You see it all to often on residential building sites with dodgy blokes running high amp welders and things.
This is pretty amusing.
This is perfectly safe, as someone said if u plug in a 10a thing it will only draw what it needs, 10A.
As people have said p=vi
The best way to describe voltage and (A)mps or current is to think of a circuit like a garden hose
The pressure ofthe water at the tap is the voltage, 230v in aus.
The current or amps is like the amount of water flowing through the hose/cable/appliance.
The higher the voltage/pressure the more current/water flows.
The safety standards in Australia are quite high.
*it’s obviously not really quite this simple but for the purpose of understanding volts and current it works. Appliances have a resistance to the flow of current and so only allow what they need at the 230v.
As for camping, the more appliances u using at the same time will increase current. Kettles and stuff use heaps.