How to keep your family safe while on the road

Whether you’re at home or in a far-flung part of Australia, an Ampfibian power adaptor can keep you, your van and your family safe.

Us campers are a thrifty bunch. If there’s a problem, we’ll MacGyver a solution – who needs fancy equipment? So when you start down the road of caravan touring and need a different power point to run your electronics, the temptation is just to chop off that 15A power plug and replace it with a standard house 10A one. But this is one place that a little DIY-ing can be seriously dangerous.

While your house runs multiple circuits on 10A power, your caravan only has one circuit, and so it needs a bit more juice. That’s why 15A power became the standard for caravans. But there’s a problem: many places won’t have a readily available 15A power supply. And if you try to jerry-rig a regular 15A power lead to run from a wall powerpoint to your caravan, you’re playing with fire. A lead like this is prohibited by law, and could void your insurance cover. More importantly, though, it’s also potentially deadly: it’ll allow more current through than it’s designed to handle, and could start a fire.

But it’s not uncommon to be staying somewhere without a 15A power supply, where you need some way of powering your caravan from a regular 10A wall socket. Your mate’s farm that you visit every now and then is unlikely to have the right electricity, as are many smaller caravan parks. So what’s the solution? Well, the super-smart engineers at Ampfibian have done the MacGyver-ing for you. They’ve made a range of adaptors that let you connect your 15A caravan to any regular 10A wall socket in a safe and convenient package.

Whether you’re charging your batteries, cooling your fridge or warming up the ‘van on a chilly night, it’s important to make sure you are doing it safely.

A convenient alternative

While a regular power cable will continue allowing power through until it begins to heat up, Ampfibian’s Australian-made line of adaptors limit the power flowing through the cable to 10A – the amount of current that the wall cord can handle. Also built into the adaptor is a miniature circuit breaker, which cuts power in the event of a fault or overload, and can be manually reset to restore it, as well as a residual current device, which protects the whole family from any risk of electrocution that might arise from dodgy wiring.

There are three products in Ampfibian’s consumer line of adaptors. Smallest are the Micro and Mini Power Adaptors, designed for undercover and indoor use – perfect if you’re just using the caravan as a spare room for guests at home. But, if you’re the kind of family that loves getting out in the rain and mud – or anywhere beyond your own home, really – then the water- and dust-proof RV-Plus is the one for you.

So whether you’re charging your batteries, cooling your fridge or warming up the ‘van on a chilly night, it’s important to make sure you do so safely. By using an Ampfibian adaptor, you’re not only protecting against the risk of fire, but also potentially saving your life, and the lives of your family.

This article originally appeared in Caravan & Camping with Kids magazine. Subscribe to the latest issue here.

Keep reading:

• Review: Ampfibian Weatherproof Caravan Surge Protector
• Products to keep you powered up on your next camping trip

Australian family accommodation