# Polarity reversal? How very odd.



## Mebyon (Jun 16, 2011)

Hi folks,

Our 'new' 654 gets closer and closer to being usable by the day.

Today was the lets-get-the-mains-electricity-sorted-out day. The previous owner had left me with a very sad and rather short lead so the first job was to make a new one. Blue monster socket one end and three-pin plug on 'tother.

I think I'm missing something here. The three-pin plug will be a standard Europlug as I live in Portugal and the Europlug is used in all the EEC counties. It's not a polarised plug. That is it can go in either way round. The concept of live and neutral isn't something that bothers our masters in Brussels it seems. So what's all this about polarity reversal.

Looking here it seems that I don't have to worry about that unless I wend my way outside the ECC. (Not this week-end at least!).

Or have I missed something?

Chris


----------



## rosalan (Aug 24, 2009)

This does not seem to be a problem with French and German models I believe. There have been some threads on this topic lately when considering a polarity tester. Please read up before you trust my opinion.
Alan


----------



## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

Hi I assume you are referring to the blue 16a c form plug which is the standard industrial plug, in the eu wiring regs are slightly different to ours, in essents it dose not matter which way you plug in your EU plug, as the curcuit breaker on the main supply (which you plug into) is always in the live conductor, so if theres a fault its safe, the main thing which is the same the earth conductor which is very important as its needed for the RCD to work if there were an earth leakage fault on an appliance etc or if the live conductor was exposed and you became in contact with it you would be safe as the rcd would then trip and remove the supply..... my motor home is wired to comply with the uk IEE reg 17th edition as all newer vans would be wired to, and its still just the case you have to make sure the earth is connected correctly.... this topic can go on and on.... the blue plug you have is a standard plug you should find at any camp site in the future.... its one thing that the good old eu are having to adopt from us for a change... its a stand polarised plug and is also damp proof to IP44 if i recall, the same goes for yellow plugs for site use on 110 volts and the red plug for 3 phase..... sorry to woffel on....


----------



## Mebyon (Jun 16, 2011)

Thank you both.

I suspect we don't have an RCD (yet). Just another thing to add to the 'have to get' shopping list. 

I've made up my lovely bright orange cable and so far the fridge and microwave oven seem to be working off the mains. Another step forward.

Fitting the gas bottle was yesterday's epic tale. We use light-weight, (I think 13kg), BP butane gas here, The bottle fits into the cubby-hole no problem and still leaves room for another as spare. But I note that the Hymer specs say 11kg. I assume that they're talking about the weight of gas as a metal gas bottle plus gas will come in at over 25kg; these new fibreglass ones weigh about 15kg even when full. The old, perished, rubber tube needed replacing but the fitting at the camper end defeated my local plumber. He managed to make up a new connection but pretty it's not!

Once the week-end crowds have gone back to their sticky offices we'll be taking off on our first shake-down trip. There is an air of anticipation in our house! 

Thanks again for your advice.

Chris


----------



## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

pleasure Chris..... we only have two seasons here and they are winter and July..... still in winter :lol: have fun and dont worry about things just go out and enjoy.... life is far to short.....


----------



## ched999uk (Jan 31, 2011)

I believe the main reason that the 'continental' electrics may have reverse polarity issues is that they don't just switch the live as we do in the UK. All their mains switches switch both live and neutral. So it's not critical which way round things are wired.

So if ALL your switches are double pole (both live and neutral) then the polarity isn't as critical. 

I would it's safer to make sure you have the correct polarity, the safest is to get a qualified electrician to do the install. Failing that get a qualified electrician to complete a full test of the installation.

Above all BE CAREFUL electricity can KILL!!!


----------



## Borisd0 (Jan 3, 2006)

My understanding is that an RCD (residual current device) is not an earth leakage trip (ELCB). It does not rely on an earth connection to work. It monitors the current in the live and neutral (it also works if they are reversed), if they are different it trips. It could be that some of the current is flowing through your body instead flowing to where it should and thereby offers some protection. The problem is if the RCD is single pole and there is a reversal the trip would not cut the live supply only the neutral. If the RCD is two pole it would. I suspect all new trips are two pole.

I believe that trips are usually designed to work on 30 milliamps in 30 milliseconds. I think that these numbers were chosen as most healthy hearts will survive this exposure. 

Remember I'm no expert this is only my understanding of the issue.


----------

