# Hook-up conversion adapters?



## Wz4jc3 (Oct 27, 2011)

Hi, I will be venturing across to France for the first time this coming half term. I understand that I will need a 3 pin to 2 pin adapter to fit at the end of my 240v cable, and also an adapter to cope with reverse polarity. 

I have purchased a polarity checker, but will I need to buy an extra adapter with reverse polarity with a 2 pin end and a 3 pin end? Am I correct in thinking to make the reverse polarity adapters I just need to open up the end and swap over the blue and brown cables over? 

Any help would be very much appreciated. Thank you.


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## froggy59 (Jan 18, 2009)

hi
i just bought 2 adapters and swapped the wires round on one and marked it with the letter R.
also i made up a small lead with the blue plugs and swapped the wires about on that to. the plugs are cheap at screwfix only a couple of quid.
the blue one is the one we used the most on our recent trip to france.

Alan


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## fatboy6 (Feb 26, 2007)

*reverse polarity*

Hi you are right in thinking to make the reverse polarity adapters I just need to open up the end and swap over the blue and brown cables over this is what i do not very often hope you have a good time hope this helps steve


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## alshymer (Nov 4, 2007)

*Hook Up Conversion*

Hi
A useful lead to make up is one male connector with two females from it.
This way if the Aires are busy, you can 'piggyback' into someone else's connection.
It has been useful to me so many times.
Regards
Alshymer


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## alshymer (Nov 4, 2007)

*Hook Up Conversion*

Hi
A useful lead to make up is one male connector with two females from it.
This way if the Aires are busy, you can 'piggyback' into someone else's connection.
It has been useful to me so many times.
Regards
Alshymer


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## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

Hi one of these adaptors would be all you will need over and above the normal 16amp blue plugs we use, quite a few sites in france have converted to our standard....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CARAVAN-ADAPTOR-HOOK-UP-LEAD-EURO-2PIN-16-AMP-RCT1640-/140422258902

and far as poliarity I would not bother as the supply you are getting is an alternating supply there is no correct way around its only convention over here and nothing more than that. If it were a DC supply yes then there would be a big bang if you conected your supply around the wrong way.... have a good time over in france....


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## cronkle (May 1, 2005)

Here's a guide that is listed under the guides tab:

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftoptitle-70164-polarity-testing-and-changeover-cables.html

Hopefully that should answer your question.


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## bigcats30 (Aug 13, 2012)

I wonder if on German/french etc forums they go on about coming to the UK and buying an adapter for reverse polarity?


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## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

clive1821 said:


> Hi one of these adaptors would be all you will need over and above the normal 16amp blue plugs we use, quite a few sites in france have converted to our standard....
> 
> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CARAVAN-ADAPTOR-HOOK-UP-LEAD-EURO-2PIN-16-AMP-RCT1640-/140422258902
> 
> and far as poliarity I would not bother as the supply you are getting is an alternating supply there is no correct way around its only convention over here and nothing more than that. If it were a DC supply yes then there would be a big bang if you conected your supply around the wrong way.... have a good time over in france....


This is not correct. The N line on a supply should be at earth potential and the L alternates between ±340V (aprox.) A.C/D.C has nothing to do with the problem.
If all is working correctly polarity does not matter. The problem arrises if there is a fault and one of the methods designed to keep you safe will not work with reverse polarity. In practice the "ELT" should trip out and protect you.
Old electronic equipment can have operating problems with reverse polarity.


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## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

safariboy said:


> This is not correct. The N line on a supply should be at earth potential and the L alternates between ±340V (aprox.) A.C/D.C has nothing to do with the problem.


I think that you might need to look at that figure again?

The POLARITY reverses on AC, so the L and N alternate at the connector pins, that's why in the first instance it is not critical to have either pin connected in particular, and most domestic continental plugs are 2-pin which can be fitted either way around.

The voltage cannot get to 340V under any normal circumstances.

The need for a particular configuration occurs with 3-pin connectors where I believe the European standard has the L & N pins reversed to what we normally see over here, but in ALL cases the connecting plug that you use will show the polarity of the pins and should be wired accordingly.

For more detailed information, have a look at this Wiki article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_pow...2Schuko.22_16.C2.A0A.2F250.C2.A0V_grounded.29

Peter


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## Wz4jc3 (Oct 27, 2011)

A big thank you for all of your speedy responses. Just to clarify, i basically need;

1 x 3pin to UK socket to plug the polarity checker into the site's connection and check the connection's polarity;

1 x 3pin to 2pin adapter - do I need to buy 2 of these? One for UK polarity set-up and the other for reversed polarity which I will swap the blue and brown cables over.

1 x 3pin to 3pin with revered polarity as listed above.

Would it be possible to connect my standard hookup cable to a reverse polarity 3 pin adapter, and then plug in the 3pin to 2pin adapter to reverse the connection, or would this be too convoluted and potentially dangerous?

Thanks again for your help!


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## cronkle (May 1, 2005)

Perhaps best if I try to explain what I carry. 

1. The main hook-up lead.

2. Short adapter to two pin 'continental'

3. Short reverse polarity lead

4. Polarity checker.


I plug the polarity checker into a socket in the van before plugging into the site supply and unplug the lead from the supply if it is reversed polarity. This would be with or without (2) above. If needed I would then add (3) to alter the polarity.

I hope I have explained clearly.


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## listerdiesel (Aug 3, 2012)

We just have a standard BS4343 UK 16A plugged extension plus a Schuko European 2-pin plugged extension.

The Schuko plug is reversible in the outdoor type so if for any reason you need to change anything, you can just flip the plug, although we've never needed to.

Amazon do converters from Schuko 16A to BS4343:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HDIUK-rated...9M/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1350819060&sr=8-12

Or the basic plug, note that it has the socket for the earth pin, required in some sockets:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/outdoor-connector-hookup-Belgium-Germany/dp/B001T73LUY

Peter


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## safariboy (May 1, 2005)

The peak voltage of L is over 390V (240v X square root of 2) so it is not far off 340V!


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## oldun (Nov 10, 2005)

froggy59 said:


> hi
> i just bought 2 adapters and swapped the wires round on one and marked it with the letter R.
> also i made up a small lead with the blue plugs and swapped the wires about on that to. the plugs are cheap at screwfix only a couple of quid.
> the blue one is the one we used the most on our recent trip to france.
> ...


Why not make a small ehu lead with blue plug/sockets and the live and neutral swapped at one end?

That way you will only need one reversed polarity adapter as it will be placed between the normal ehu and the motorhome. At the other end you will just need the standard adapter.


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## joedenise (Jul 20, 2007)

You have a Hymer why are you worried about reverse polarity I would only be worried if i had an English van

joe


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## drcotts (Feb 23, 2006)

oldun said:


> froggy59 said:
> 
> 
> > hi
> ...


Grrr I was going to say that oldun

To confirm if you get a short UK hook up with the std plug and socket on each end but reverse these and then...

Get a euro to Bs (blue plug) adaptor then this will cover all circumstances

Some vans (mine included) wont work if the polarity is reversed so you may need the rev polarity lead in anycase a the mains unit wont let you use it in reverse.


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

_ in France they have converted to *our* standard_

Err - Blue plugs are a pan-*€uropean *standard!

Now, let me lay to rest once and for all the confusion about AC mains.

There are two wires, conventionally one is blue and one is brown.

It is the voltage difference *between* them that provides the oomph.

Note that I have not mentioned the green/yellow "earth" wire - yet.

We are talking about *A*ternating *C*urrent but for a current to flow there must be an *A*lternating *V*oltage so let's concentrate on voltage.

This side of the pond we have 50Hz AC (AV) mains.

I can't draw a sinewave on here but I'm sure you all know what one looks like - a snake.

Draw one on a piece of paper. (a sine-wave - not a snake!)

Now draw three horizontal lines.
One through the middle, one touching the top of the curve and the third one touching the bottom of the curve.

Your sinewave should start on the middle line, go up to the top one, down through the middle line to the bottom one and come up to the middle one again.

That is one Hz or cycle. There are 50 of them every second.

Let's call the bottom line Neutral or the blue wire.

The bottom line is fixed and doesn't move up or down.

Draw a dot on the middle line at the left where the sinewave starts.

Imagine the brown wire aka the Live connected to that dot.

As time advances the brown wire rises up, down passing through the middle line and then up again until it reaches the middle line again.

The wire has to be "flexible" to follow the movement.

Now, just for clarity let's call the blue wire zero.
The "flexible" brown wire is the live and by definition has an *average* voltage of 230V relative to the blue or neutral wire.

You can see from your diagram that when the brown wire is touching the bottom line there are no volts between it and the blue.

You can also see that when the brown wire is touching the top line there is a high voltage between it and the blue.

You will have to take my word for it that for an *average*
voltage of 230 (the middle line) the top line is 1.4141 times higher than that.

(For the more mathematically minded it is called RMS)

So to summarise: the Brown wire goes from +339V down to zero fifty times a second with respect to the blue wire to give our average of 230V.

Now, let's factor in the green/yellow wire or earth.

In the UK it is convention that the blue and green/yellow wires are joined together - usually by the electricity board where they enter your property.
They are connected to earth at the substation.

So, that is why we call the blue wire Neutral.

Between you, it and earth there are no volts and hence no shock.
Unless there is an earth fault somewhere.

You don't want to touch the brown or Live wire at the same time as you are touching either the Blue or earth, especially if you are barefoot on wet earth!

In UK we need switches only in the brown Live wire because that is the only one that has volts on it.

So, what is different in €U-land that causes us to mither on about "reverse polarity" and "reversed leads"?

Remember that I said that in UK we tie blue and earth together?

Well that ain't necessarily so in €U.

The blue wire might be connected "flexibly" to that moving point on the sinewave and the brown wire connected to earth.
This is unlikely but can happen - in which case you can get a shock from it to earth.

Or neither blue nor brown tied to the earth green/yellow.

So, the blue wire could be floating anywhere between zero earth and halfway or even all the way to the top, remember that is 339V!!

That is why in €U-land they use two pole switches, one for the blue and one for the brown.

Your UK-sold MH (even if manufactured in €U) will almost certainly have single pole switches in the brown/Live wires only - because they are cheaper (by a few €cents!!).

It raises complications with earth leakage trips (RCBs) too.

We seem to have settled on the term "reverse polarity" which is a total nonsense as there is no such thing with AC (AV).

For want of anything better I think we should adopt the term "reverse polarisation".

So, do you need to worry about it?

Ideally - yes.

In practice - not really, perhaps maybe, probably yes - who knows!

Even though I know all about it, I invariably forget to check on the odd occasions we use hook-up in foreign parts.

I ain't had a shock yet! (touch wood - a good insulator when dry)

We would be better off demanding that our electrics are to €U standards with double pole switches and double pole trips - the extra cost on a £50k MH would be not much more than twenty quid!

My Hymer was built in Germany but to UK electrical standards - why?!

So, I hope the above clarifies things a bit - if anyone needs more info please ask.

E&OE - that's a disclaimer.


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