Just got back yesterday from a week at the camping Municipal site in Épernay in France. The mad layout of the electrical supply meant that a number of campers had to run their leads across the access roads, whilst others (like us) had only a few metres to the cabinet. Most of the leads being used by the other campers (mostly Dutch, German, French and Italian) were thinner than ours (so I guess 1.5mm not 2.5mm) and that seemed to be quite acceptable to everyone... And the electric cabinets were mostly left wide open... they used blue IP44 connectors, which was good - and correct polarity, which was a bonus, so no need to use my short polarity reverser lead. No great issues as far as I could see and I am always glad to have equipment that exceeds the minimum necessary!

Surely the whole point of the IP44 design was to allow connections out in the open? As long as the cable is correctly wired and the core the right thickness it should be fine in a downpour. And as long as someone hasn't wired it up backwards with a male socket at the beginning!

A few years ago we stayed in a site at Castelnaudary near Carcassone in southern France and the electricity had been fed around the site using 50m coil drums with 4 way plug blocks on the end running off each other like daisy chains - and no covering to keep them dry - and some had the cable hardly run out, so giving a massive chance of cable overheat. And there was a serious threat of thundery showers... We only stayed there one night......

If anyone ever doubts the need to unwindd their cable completely then I'll tell you about an incident my Dad had whilst providing microphones , amplifiers and speakers for an event in a cinema many years ago. He had it all set up in advance, neatly hidden behind a curtain, running off a four way socket at the end of a 50m drum of 2.5mm cable left with about half on the drum. He was only using a very small amount of amps, so he wasn't worried. However, when he went to disconnect it all afterwards he discovered that some wise monkey had, just before the start, plugged all the stage lighting into his adaptor block (via a 16amp to 13amp adaptor) and the cable left on the drum had become fused into a solid lump as the cable sheathing had melted... A very near miss.

Moral? Always check your power supplies and cables before use and check your polarity isn't reversed - you never know what some kind/ ignorant soul might do while you're not looking!

Thanks for posting those Randa - absolute proof if it were ever needed. I have always kept my cable simply looped when not in use (which is a pain from a tangling point of view) so that I can spread it all out to avoid it overheating - if you use a cable drum or winder there is a great temptation to leave your unnecessary metres of cable coiled on the drum.. All humans get lazy and cut corners - it's what makes us what we are! With the ever increasing trend to take more and more power hungry equipment camping it's vital that people use the right core cable and don't leave it coiled when in use.

Going back to your original point - Couldn't you fit a "power out" IP44 socket under the caravan, wired back to the fuse unit? Then connect your awning power supply through that? Both my first two Tritons had that fitted - and I will be getting mine done as soon as I stop using the van this summer...

From the HSE guidance for outdoor events:

Select and rate all cables to meet electrical safety standards and to withstand any unusual environmental or adverse weather conditions.

Route cables to minimise tripping hazards or potential mechanical damage, and in a position that allows them to be safely installed and removed. Give particular care to the position of cable connections.

You can also use cable ramps or similar to protect cables running overground across route ways to help avoid them becoming tripping hazards.

Running cables alongside existing or temporary fence lines is advisable and it is important to segregate vehicle traffic and cable routes wherever possible. If this can't be achieved, you can route the cable by a cable bridge, a supporting catenary or cable ramps.

That certainly doesn't say you can't use a "Y" splitter

Then there’s the unexpected. Whilst on holiday in Somerset we found our EHU cable chewed through to the wire after 3 nights. Luckily we weren’t staying any longer as it might have caused some real damage to us and the rodent responsible. Luckily we had insulating tape with us and were able to make a good temporary repair. We had one more site before home. Once home we cut off to behind the damage, only six inches or so and reinstalled the plug. Never heard of this happening to anyone before, most bizarre.

Friends of mine had young children with a pet hamster. The hamster escaped, went behind the washing machine and chewed through the power cable. Big bang and smoke, brief fire, then a new washing machine needed.

Plus a £400 vet's bill to repair the much loved (by the children) hamster that had blown half its jaw off...