Charging stuff in French campsites

[robing]

Does anyone know how you charge your phone etc in french campsites? My experience is fairly limited but I thought you had to pay extra for electricity and then you needed one of those caravan adaptors. Are there sockets in the toilet blocks? It was a doddle in Spain as there were plenty of normal sockets on campsites for no extra charge.

[andymiller]

People do leave phones charging in the toilets, but you run a risk.

Your best bet is probably simply to ask the campsite if there's somewhere you can charge your phone - many would rather you did that than come crying to them when your phone had been nicked. Some will charge your phone in the reception itself. Very often there will be normal sockets, and providing you don't take the micky (eg sit in the bar charging your phone without buying anything) I'd doubt anyone will mind too much - but best to ask.

You might want to consider getting a power pack which would charge your phone a few times between needing to be charged itself.

The adapters aren't that expensive or that heavy, and I think that it's worth carrying one for emergencies. Yes most seem to charge and extra 3 or 4 euros - but that's based on someone with an RV running aircon and a fridge, if you just want to charge a phone then hopefully there'll be some flexibility.

[DevonDamo]

Last summer, going across France, Belgium and Holland to Amsterdam, I used one of those mobile charger things, but made sure I charged it up at any opportunity I got. I found that by being nice to the staff in the campsite, you could get them to plug it in behind the bar and I'd come back and I'd pick it up before the bar closed in the evening or the following morning. I also found plenty of plug sockets in the bars/cafes so I would charge my phone up whilst having a stop. I never found anywhere where I couldn't leave a phone or mobile charger plugged in.

[bohrsatom]

Wouldn't recommend leaving anything charging unattended overnight in the sanitary block. I did once, went to bed and the next day the device, cable and charger had disappeared. This was on a small site in Bedoin next to Mount Ventoux.

Buy a portable battery charger of reasonable capacity (we now have one that's 15000mAh) and use this to charge your devices. When it's empty, leave it overnight at reception and it'll be full by the time you ride off in the morning.

We also have a very short electric hookup cable to use at campsites. It cost about £8 from Amazon and was really useful for keeping devices charged up. As it's so short it's not practical to run into the tent but of course takes up very little space in your bags.

[robing]

Thanks for the replies. I have the power monkey extreme which also has solar power. Sounds like it shouldn't be too difficult to keep charged. When I tour I take phone, mp3, Garmin and kindle (which lasts ages).

[tatanab]

I do not carry a phone so do not have the daily problem. I do however carry a Kindle so would like to top it up at least once a week. For that purpose I carry a battery as suggested above and I have a very small French USB charger. On occasion I have left the battery on charge in a toilet block, but I'd suggest you make your own assessment of the campsite before doing so. I tend to use very small rural ones. Also, on this type of campsite I have found that the power boxes on the pitches sometimes have the French power socket as well as the big caravan job, and I have found that these sockets are ready for use. Since the charger would take very little power I have used those, also keeping an eye on things so that it is not plugged in any longer than needed.

Something I've not tried - a French camper told me that with some of the big caravan type sockets you can insert your French plug, twist through 90 degrees and it makes contact. As I said I've not tried it.

One thing to note - I've only seen it once, but on one site there was a big notice in the toilet block saying not to leave things on charge. I imagine this is not only because of theft but also the danger through people using cheap chargers (you will have read in newspapers about them causing fires).

[bikes4two]

A couple of options not yet mentioned:
> Ask a fellow camper who has electrical hook-up (e.g. caravan, motor home, large tent) if they'd mind charging your power pack - I've done this many times and have always found folks happy to help
> Consider a dyno-hub to charge your power pack as you cycle - there are a number of threads on this topic - I'm trying this out this year for the first time (link here)
> In my case I had a power pack and a spare wheel rim for which I bought a dyno-hub and spokes for £40 (and built the wheel) and a voltage converter for £27
> If I'd needed to buy a rim and power pack this would have added maybe another £40, so for £110 you'd have your own power generating system for a bit more than the Power Monkey Solar Charger costs and the sun wouldn't need to shine brightly every day

NB - prices based on Rosebikes products and a 15,000mAh power pack from eBay.

[hamster]

When arriving by bike the person on the office often offers to charge my phone for me! Axa now do a dynamo light with a built-in USB charging socket and regulator - at around £55 it's much cheaper than the B&M one. I've just bought it from Rose and not yet used it in anger.

[Heltor Chasca]

+1 for harnessing the power of the Sun. http://youtu.be/yWzRDUZubcw

[ossie]

Pop in a cheap hotel / hostel for the night...with the strength of the pound its worth it for not only charging devices but washing your kit, drying your kit, nicking soap and topping up your shower gel etc...its a no brainer

That aside loads of sites have a spare plug somewhere....

[tim_f]

I have 2 smallish power packs, and charger with four outlets and a EU plug

I use the following strategies on my 2 week camping trip last summer to chanrge the pack

a) sometimes the site has electric point on the pitches with a normal french plug, so I can charge by my tent.
b) sometimes I get a caravan dweller to charge pack for me.
c) sometimes I leave a pack with reception to charge. (but need to co-ordinate with opening times)
e) sometimes I leave overnight in toilet block to charge (if site is very quiet and I collect it at dawn)
f) sometimes there is a games room / kitchen and I sit there in the evening in comfort wile my stuff charges.
g) if none of the above work I have enough capacity to wait to the next night.

Having two packs means I can recharge stuff from one whilst the other is charging in reception overnight.

I find this works so well somewhere like France that no longer bother with dynamo and AXA lamp.

[thornie1543]

Can I ask a similar question save starting another thread-- in my home city people take their laptop to the local library to use the wi fi and they seem to plug it into the mains aswell,can you go to libraries in france and just plug something in to charge,are there power points there for use,and do they mind if you use them while you pretend to read a book