Every 15A blue outlet fits my portable charger a bit differently at Big4 parks — is the AS/NZS 3123 spec actually consistent, or is it just worn plugs?
Six months a year on the road in the van, EV towing it, so I've plugged this same 15A portable charger into more caravan park outlets than I could count by now. Most of the time it seats in fine, firm click, no drama. But every few parks, especially the older Big4 sites, it's a proper wrestle to get the plug to sit right, sometimes I'm holding it in at an angle just to get power flowing.
Always assumed 15A blue outlets were all built to the same AS/NZS 3123 standard regardless of who installed them or when. Is that actually true, or is there enough tolerance in the spec that some manufacturers run looser or tighter than others? Or is it simpler than that and I'm just finding the outlets that are worn out from twenty years of caravan fridges and kettles going in and out of them. Genuinely don't know which it is.
Filed under: Caravan Park Charging
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7 answers
7 ANSWERS
@trent_b87July 27, 2026
Bit of both, honestly. AS/NZS 3123 sets a legal range for the pin tolerances rather than one exact number, so a plug built at the tight end meeting a socket at the loose end always feels different even when both are technically compliant. Add twenty years of insertions wearing the contacts and you get exactly what you're describing. Nothing wrong with your charger.
Good to actually have a reason for it rather than just assuming my gear's on the way out. Does a loose one like that ever tip into an actual fire risk or is it just an annoying fit?
On its own, loose fit's more annoying than dangerous. Combined with a high continuous load, a car pulling for hours instead of a kettle for ten minutes, a poor connection can genuinely arc and heat up. That's the actual risk, not the loose fit by itself.
@jonno1985August 01, 2026
Started carrying a brand new lead specifically because of this, a slightly worn cable end makes a marginal socket noticeably worse again. Noticed it most at parks further out from the bigger regional centres, where I'd guess maintenance gets less attention.
@just_lurking22July 29, 2026
had this exact thing at Merimbula
@fi_macJuly 31, 2026
Never plugged into enough of these myself to notice a pattern, but is there an easy way to tell before you're already relying on it overnight, or only after the fact once it's already loose?
There's a rough field check. After it's been in a few minutes, feel the faceplate around the pins, not the plug itself — properly warm beyond just ambient heat means there's resistance somewhere in the contact and it's working harder than it should. Also don't ignore the fit itself: if you're holding it in at an angle to get power flowing at all, that's already the warning, not something to shrug off and leave running overnight. A firm click with no play when you wiggle it is what you actually want before you walk away from it for eight hours.
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