Reverse Polarity

Hi,

With our holiday to France/Ital fast approaching & a long journey in our Broadway FB 2016, I wanted to be sure about all things "Reverse Polarity", the site we are staying on are the Eurocamp Independant sites, so I am not too sure what the general rules on elctrics over there is? I have bought myself a polarity tester, plug into socket thingy & also the Reverse Polarity EHU adapter, which goes into the electric point then into the standard EHU mains cable coneected to the MOHO(hope im right) & the 2 ping EHU adapter as I guess they don't use 3 pins over there? my question being is the setup process on arriving at the site, do i connect everything to the electric stand point & then plug the polarity tester into any of the electric sockets in the MOHO, or is there another setup procedure everyone else does?

Sorry with the dafte question, but i don't fancy blowing myslef up.

Cheers

Sean

I would connect up then use your tester to check before you switch on anything, your power supply unit in the wardrobe should have a reverse polarity light.
Most people that travel in mainland europe have an adapter lead  that will correct the polarity.

230v units will work ok with reverse AC, the problem is the in the UK we switch the live supply, if reversed the neutral wire is switched which if you are playing around with 230 electrics leaves the live connection active.

Hi .Welcome to the forum. Never heard that anyone has been blown up or injured by reverse polarity.
Your van being new, will tell you if you have reverse polarity when you plug in.
If you are worried then you can use your extra devices if your Van electric reverse polarity light is on.
Its not something to worry about.
enjoy your trip.

Micky

You will find a mix of 2 and 3 pin sockets, but with your selection of plugs etc. you are well covered.

Your van like ours will have a reverse lamp on the charger and this will not do any harm as stated in the above thread, just beware the live not be switched off, not that I expect you will have any need to play around with the wiring. So just use the rev plug if needed and sit back and enjoy the trip. We have just returned from S France and had no problems.

Richard

Never bothered about it at all. A consultant electrical engineer neighbour (and motorhomer) put my mind at rest years ago.

His response:- "Are you likely to pull the cover off an appliance and firtle around inside it WITHOUT pulling the plug out of the socket? Assuming you are not that daft there's nothing to worry about."


The earth connection is another matter entirely, and it's not too uncommon (abroad) to find there isn't one. That would worry me and I would find another outlet or not use the mains hookup at all.

One of these is well worth carrying to check the earth continuity. 

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Totally agree with Gromit on this one.

This is one of those subjects which polarises opinion!

Mainland European countries have a mix of 2 pin and 3 pin (although on some the earth 'pin' is actually on the socket to mate with a female receptacle in the plug)

They don't worry about polarity over there since they use double pole switches which isolate both sides when switched off.  In the UK we only use single pole switches which when wired according to UK standards isolate only the 'live' which is also consistently wired.

As has been said, unless you plan to open up and 'firtle' (?) with appliances, there's unlikely to be a problem, however as a belt & braces chap I carry a tester and short reverse corrector cable and use them as required, particularly since I have an older van with no built-in indicator.

Since you've already kitted yourself out with the bits, then why not use them anyway?

When you do use the reversor, make sure you plug it in the van end not the supply socket.  Not for any technical reason, just it's less likely to get pinched!

I have never yet had a known problem caused by reverse polarity. 

But I am not one who subscribes to the school of thought that if something has never happened to me in the past, it won't ever happen.  I've never been run down crossing a road, had a heart attack or been hit by a falling watermelon.  I understand enough about probability and causality to know that doesn't mean that I won't ever be. I also understand that after tossing 24 heads in a row, the chances of the 25th being heads or tails is still 50/50 - some folk find that hard to get their heads around.

Just my two penn'orth, no doubt many will disagree.

cheers
Roger

I disagree - using two pennies will completely mess up the odds.

meanchris wrote:I disagree - using two pennies will completely mess up the odds.

Nice one!   

Hi Dave, thanks for the info on earth tester plug. I have just ordered one from your link. On another subject, we have had the work done by AS to install a Shurflo pump. It all went well and was fitted without rotating the battery. Well done Mark and service centre team. Used it recently when we went away and perfect pressure with  no leaks so far. Thanks for letting us see your installation.
I will be creating a new thread soon with photos for information.

Pete

Maasai Warrior wrote:Hi Dave, thanks for the info on earth tester plug. I have just ordered one from your link. On another subject, we have had the work done by AS to install a Shurflo pump. It all went well and was fitted without rotating the battery. Well done Mark and service centre team. Used it recently when we went away and perfect pressure with  no leaks so far. Thanks for letting us see your installation.
I will be creating a new thread soon with photos for information.
Pete

Pleased I could help Pete. 

Mark and the team do a good job don't they? Not the cheapest I'm sure, but you are confident of the work, plus good support later if anything goes wrong.

I've no doubt you will be as pleased with the Shurflo as we are, not least the peace of mind in knowing that you can purchase a new one almost anywhere in Europe, and fit it in minutes with only a screwdriver. That's worth a lot to me. 

Yes Dave I agree with you. Also Mark reduced the final price as they didn't have to move the battery. It doesn't look crammed in either, easy to get to, as you say, if we needed to replace. Overall a great job. It was cream cakes all round! 

Pete

PS sorry admin about highjacking the thread! Won't do it again -