maxautotrail Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 Whilst away in France and Spain this year we found a few sites that had reverse polarity. I have a couple of connectors to correct it but on a site in Spain I simply put the cable into an adjacent socket and all was fine. One socket block served 4 pitches. The French neighbour thought I was taking some-one else's electricity and when I explained and said anyone turning up on that pitch could simple use mine. He went on to say that he was an engineer and didn't understand "reverse polarity" even after I explained it. This got me thinking. I'm not an electrician so I'm now confused. Can someone enlighten me in plain English please. The electric supply is AC. I think this means that the "direction" alternates between live and neutral. So if that is the case a fuse on the live wire won't necessarily protect you. So is the English system right or wrong - better or worse than the continental system. Confused from Crewe, Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 This has been discussed many times on here just put reverse polarity into the search facility at the top of the page and you will get flooded with posts. We have a reverse polarity indicator on our supply line with a simple switch that reverses the wireing if indicated to be reversed but in actual fact< AS I UNDERSTAND IT, reverse polarity only becomes dangerous if you dismantle any electrical equipment while it is still conected to the mains and still switched on otherwise it doesnt really matter Try the search facility for more difinative answers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkc Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 The neutral side does not reverse, it remains at near ground potential, the positive side does. A real expert will no doubt be along soon. Brambles where are you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 I am here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkc Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 Good, ask your mum if you can play out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 Brambles - 2011-11-13 11:15 AM I am here. You may descend from the naughty step..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brambles Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 I shall keep this brief if I can. The floating earth system as used in europe in some areas basically has 2 live conductors for the supply and basically float around the earth connection. The earth or ground plays no part in conducting any of the power. In Britian we being clever brainy people decided we would tie one conductor to the earth or in effect the ground. So we have Neutral which is in effect the same potential as earth. Hence we can get crossed conductors when wiring up outlets. In a floating system both conductors are in effect the same and mirrors each other, balanced around the safety earth. Hence this system needs a fuse in both conductors. WIth a tied earth sytem you just need one fuse and reverse polarity ( reversed conductors) is an issue. The earth potential in relation to the two conductors does not move around as it does with a floating system. So electricians in France when wiring up an outlet in a floating earth system will just wire the two mains conductors in whatever order they feel like. In many cases both cables will be the same colour. However, 'reversed polarity', or the better term reversed conductors is not really an issue with double insulated appliances and RCD devices for protection. I better get back to the naughty step now before I am caught. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxautotrail Posted November 13, 2011 Author Share Posted November 13, 2011 mmmm many thanks for the reply, I think I understand. Would any harm be caused in the Saergent power system if a reverse situation was ignored? It does have a light to indicate this situation and I usually correct it with a converter lead. Bye the way searching the forum brought up either nothing searching for "reverse polarity" or lots of posts on revering cameras when searching for "reverse". Regards, Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxautotrail Posted November 13, 2011 Author Share Posted November 13, 2011 mmmm many thanks for the reply, I think I understand. Would any harm be caused in the Saergent power system if a reverse situation was ignored? It does have a light to indicate this situation and I usually correct it with a converter lead. Bye the way searching the forum brought up either nothing searching for "reverse polarity" or lots of posts on revering cameras when searching for "reverse". Regards, Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 YES! You could start of a catastrophic chain reaction that COULD escalate and destroy not only our planet but our solar system as well! *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 Keith - They mean well..... really! This was a 4 page "discussion" in which all the differing views about reverse polarity were aired. Read it at your peril! :D :D :D Posted: 28 June 2011 3:12 PM Subject: RE: Reversed Polarity in France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 And just to help, here is a Link to the start of it. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 maxautotrail - 2011-11-13 12:34 PM mmmm many thanks for the reply, I think I understand. Would any harm be caused in the Saergent power system if a reverse situation was ignored? It does have a light to indicate this situation and I usually correct it with a converter lead. Bye the way searching the forum brought up either nothing searching for "reverse polarity" or lots of posts on revering cameras when searching for "reverse". Regards, Keith I to have no real wish to go into all this again but reverse polarity in a M/H will cause no problems at all. Carrying around meters or reversed leads etc is a total waste of time and space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallii Posted November 13, 2011 Share Posted November 13, 2011 Nothing to do with the original post but here goes. as Brambles said :- "In Britian we being clever brainy people decided we would tie one conductor to the earth or in effect the ground. So we have Neutral which is in effect the same potential as earth. Hence we can get crossed conductors when wiring up outlets" So, when I connect my own earth ( Earth rod etc) to a PME mains, should a fault develop on the neutral/earth I could end up earthing many amps of neighbours leccy. No so brainy? I use an earth rod to provide a clean signal on my crystal set B-) H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 rupert123 - 2011-11-13 5:01 PM I to have no real wish to go into all this again but reverse polarity in a M/H will cause no problems at all. Carrying around meters or reversed leads etc is a total waste of time and space. Yes and No, I agree but strongly recommend the van has an RCD fitted. If you have a UK sourced van it will have an RCD. If you imported the van yourself it may not, our Hymer did not so I fitted one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 maxautotrail - 2011-11-13 12:34 PM mmmm many thanks for the reply, I think I understand. Would any harm be caused in the Saergent power system if a reverse situation was ignored? It does have a light to indicate this situation and I usually correct it with a converter lead. Bye the way searching the forum brought up either nothing searching for "reverse polarity" or lots of posts on revering cameras when searching for "reverse". Regards, Keith Using the forum's Search facility to best advantage is more Art than Science. You SHOULD have got a useful response by putting "reverse polarity" (omitting the quotes) in the Keywords box and selecting "All posts" as the Date limit option, though you'd inevitably have retrieved a large amount of non-related threads too. If you got absolutely nothing I suspect that you may not have selected "All posts", as this is a very easy thing to do, or you spelled "reverse polarity" slightly differently. Although there'll be a lot of extraneous stuff, you should be able to identify all the threads that are relevant going back to 2005 (when this incarnation of the forum began) via their title. (Works for me, anyway!!). It needs to be understood that the forum's Search facility searches via 'character string' not by discrete 'words'. That's why it can be such a swine to use. Try searching with "reverse-polarity", "reversepolarity", "reverse plarity" or "reverse polarety" and you'll see the different effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark hinde Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 The main danger present if you have reverse polarity is that with a single pole switch in the off postion and the appliance still plugged in, it will still be live. Also all switching circuits of equipment will be in the phase wiring and not the neutral wiring so the equipment will be effectively live all the time its plugged in. But if you are pluggedinto an earthed network on site, introducing your own earth stake should be avoided because, as was pointed out, should a fault occur then very large currents could become present at you earth stake and I wouldn't want to be the one to pull it out of the ground if that were to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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