tonyfletcher Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Hi, We're off to France for the first time in the Motorhome. I hear about reversing Polarities?? what do I need to do? Puzzled Tony!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred grant Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 nuthin if you don intend to use electric hook up my andsum. frazzledfred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trooper Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 If you are worried, get a socket test plug which checks polarity, and get new sockets as on your hook up cable,about 18 inches of cable and wire one end live to neutral,and mark it well, Icovered my cable with coloured tape and the wrote reversed on it just in case any one else used it, hope this makes sence as not good with words. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickwiggans Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 The issue stems from the fact that generally, in the UK, we use single pole switching. So, when you switch something off, you disconnect only the live wire. Therefore, it matters which wire in the socket is which, so to speak. Generally, in much of Europe, they use double pole switches, which means that when you switch something off, both live and neutral are disconnected, so it doesn't matter which way round a socket is connected. If you connect your motorhome to a French EHU, and it happens to have reversed polarity, when you switch stuff off in your van, it will apparently be off, but the live wire will still be live - potentially dangerous. So, you need to know which way round the EHU is connected. Use a mains tester (about 5 or 6 quid from Maplins) to see whether live and neutral are reversed. If not, you are OK. If they are, use an adapter to reverse them back again. You make one by connecting a plug and socket with a short length of mains cable, but reversing live and neutral at on end. Hope I'm not teaching Granny to suck eggs here, but it helps to know the background. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Cole Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Hi, take a socket tester with you, they are available from most campervan accessory shops. Don't assume that if you are on a site or aire with blue sockets they will be correctly wired it seems to be very ramdom. its not just reverse polarity I always check the sockets to make sure they are correctly earthed.You will come across French sockets on some sites and they are often wired in reverse as are the sockets in French houses this is because the French wiring system uses bipolar circuit breakers where the live and neutral is fused, so they don't seem to bother. Buy a spare blue trailing plug and socket reverse wire it (swop live and neutral wire in one of them) and put a lable on to say reverse polarity. also you will need a blue trailing socket with a French plug on the outher end you can make this up your self. I bought one made up with a rubber French plug on in castorama for about 15euros. Your camper should be fitted with an RCD in the mains unit so even reverse polarity you will still have protection in the event of a fault in any of your equipment. Enjoy your trip hope this helps Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 There are lots of scenario's with reverse polarity but I don,t know of any that are particularly dangerous. The most important thing is that your motorhome is EARTHED by the hookup lead. As has been said, irrespective of the supply polarity the earth leakage circuit breaker (RCD) will trip if the amps flowing along the live wire does not match those flowing down the neutral wire (because its flowing somewhere else!) You should not have any equipment where the neutral part of the circuit is connected to anything you can touch and you would be a total idiot to dismantle any electrical equipment with it still plugged in. (And this includes a motorhome) If you travel to Norway there you will find supplies in some older parts where the substation earth connection is mid way electrically between LIVE and NEUTRAL. But even here its safe providing your van has an RCD. It confuses the hell out of some "intelligent" systems with reverse polarity indicators though. Many French sites now use the blue round 16 amp connector, but a few older ones still use the 2 pin French domestic jobbie. Just be sure about your earth connection. In the event of a fault to chassis you don,t want any fault current flowing from the step, up one leg and down the other leg as you touch the ground. It might fry your equipment!! C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brubell Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 if you have a 'continental' made van then the short answer is 'nothing' for an english van there might be some implications if you hook up anything with a defective 'earth' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panagah Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Probably not good advice, but I have stayed in many sites all over France and europe. I have never worried about reverse polarity and I am still here. :$ I have a euro plug which is rigged for the scenario but have rarely used it. But like I said not great advice only my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Perhaps also worth adding that, if you purchase an adapter with a French plug (as mentioned by Geoff Cole), there's a sporting chance it will be reversed wired. I recall obtaining 2 of these adapters from Marquis at Tewkesbury years ago. I reversed the Live and Neutral wiring on one of them to deal with reverse-polarity French EHUs only to find on testing the result that I'd reversed an adapter that had already been wired 'backwards'. Like Geoff and Clive, I'm interested in an EHU's Earth state rather than its L&N polarity. As my Hobby retains its German-style 230V sockets, it's possible to reverse the polarity at the socket by using a UK 3-pin adapter in the socket and rotating that adapter through 180 degrees should one so choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomo3090 Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Toured France & Spain for 10 weeks last year and bought the tester, used it for about 6-8 times in 10 weeks, but did nothing about it when it showed a reverse polarity situation anyway! So we stopped testing in the end. We used hook up for a lot of the time, "but like Fred Said " you have to go hook up free when you can!", and we had no problems with any electrical equipment. We charged phones, used an extension lead with a hair dryer on it and watched the telly via the satellite and everything still works today! I am not saying everything will be safe, we didn't use a laptop for instance, but I think if you don't put your fingers inside the equipment or socket then you will be OK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brubell Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 using the laptop should be no problem at all.. the laptop will be powerd by a transformer .... there might well be an earth lead into the transformer.. but from the transformer to the pc only the pos and neg of whatever low voltage ...... I can still remember poking one of those bent wire 'guns' that fired small cotton reels into an old style round pin british socket, when I was a kid.... not sure what the other connection was.. probably a 6 inch nail ........ the sparks were VERY impressive. .... and I did get slightly 'fried' so whatever language it's in 240 volts can hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djchapple Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 The main danger with reversed polarity is the position of the fuse in the UK 3 pin plug. Normally the fuse in in the live line so if it blows it will cut off the electricity before it reaches the faulty equipment. With reversed polarity the fuse will be in the neutral line so when the fuse blows the equipment will remain live and thus highly dangerous. As far as I am aware nearly all equipment will work properly with reversed polarity and the RCD will continue to provide the correct protection. A problem only arises when the plug fuse blows and you think the equipment is not live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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