# Reverse polarity?



## Brock (Jun 14, 2005)

Please be patient with me on this ...

I am sure my dealer said that I had reverse polarity. He tested my plug sockets in the van. I said it had never been mentioned before and nobody had tinkered with the wiring in the 5 years I had the van from new.

All my plugs sockets work and so does my fridge.

After some discussion he agreed to fix it for free. He said it was the 'trip box'(?)

From what I have read, reverse polarity is a safety issue in that the live feed would not be switched off. However, the appliances would work. Have I been using an unsafe van for the last five years?

Sorry to be so vague


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## bognormike (May 10, 2005)

sounds a bit wierd to me; I always thought the reverse polarity thing was on the supply at continental sites, not a problem with the 'van itself.

Maybe somebody who knows what's what will come along. In the meantime I'll move this to the electrical forum


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## Tezmcd (Aug 3, 2009)

As an electrical engineer I would have to see a lot more info. 

However anyone dealing with electrical installations of any type that calls your protective devices a "trip box" has just proven themselves as being not exactly a trustworthy source


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## aikidomo (Jan 8, 2008)

New one on me....................
I always thought that reverse polarity only applied to your hook up when abroad, there are no instances of reverse polarity on sites in this country, that I am aware of, unless someone knows different.
Is your van an import bye the way, or a British make?That could possibly be what he is referring to, ie the electrics are set up for continental touring,. which on the whole is reverse polarity to our electrics.
Clive :roll:


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## mark406 (Mar 18, 2010)

If you've had the van from new, I'd be very surprised if it had been wired 'back to front' as it were.

Reversed polarity just means that a live conductor ends up where a neutral conductor should be and vice versa. Everything works as normal and you probably would never know _until_ one of your appliances developed an earth fault. 
Even with it switched off and the appliance not working, the switch (if it's single pole) will be breaking the neutral instead of the live conductor. This means that the live is still able to find it's way around to the fault and possibly an exit path to earth through you!

Polarity checkers are commonly available and as has been suggested above, would be more commonly used on sites overseas where best electrical practice appears not to have blossomed yet. 8O


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## daddysgirl (May 31, 2008)

I have no light to shed on 'reverse polarity', however for what it is worth, our van is a german import - we recently changed the hook-up socket on the outside because the cover was missing, and found tht it was wired up "in reverse" i.e. live and neutral swapped round.... having not experienced any problems on hook-up, we decided to wire the new socket in the same way as we found it, and still have no problems....

I wrote the above before seeing the last previous post.....
so possibly we will have problems if appliances become faulty... 8O


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## Wizzo (Dec 3, 2007)

I thought I had read somewhere that continental vans used double pole switches so this would not be a problem anyway?

JohnW


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## mark406 (Mar 18, 2010)

Wizzo said:


> used double pole switches so this would not be a problem anyway


This is true...if ALL switching was handled by double pole devices then reverse polarity would instantly become a thing of the past. Manufacturers (and indeed house wirers) put in single pole switching on the grounds of cost as both poles would have to be taken to every switch position and back again whereas with the current situation (no pun intended ) only one is needed.

Don't know about continental vans, but as far as UK built vans are concerned, sadly the only double pole switch you are likely to find in them is the Main Isolator to the 230v Consumer Unit and _possibly_ the switch to the Immersion Heater of the hot water system.

Mark.


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

*Wizzo* is correct but the double pole switching should also apply to all the circuit breakers as well and sometimes it doesn't.

*Mark406* our single pole switching is only best practice in a system where the difference between live and neutral is preserved throughout. On the whole the continental system is better (apart from their awful plugs and sockets). We are agreed I think to move to their spur system of wiring as opposed to our ring system in the not too distant future (in dwellings) perhaps it will include double pole switching then.

*Alkidomo* I think you have misunderstood, the continental live and neutral arrangements is not opposite to ours it is merely random.

*Brock* if you have double pole switching of socket outlets and circuit breakers it is intrinsically safe whatever country it is in. If you have single pole switching then reverse polarity can be a problem under certain unlikely circumstances.

I always check the polarity and only once in UK have I found it to be wrong.


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

You can check for yourself in a matter of moments if you have one of these:

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/level5/module.jsp?moduleId=cpc/267542.xml


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## RobH (May 1, 2005)

*Dodgy electric socket*

Hi All,

Having just purchased a mains socket tester for home I thought I would try it in the van. All was ok except one socket showed as live /neutral being reversed. I disconnected the mains and removed the socket and sure enough the blue wire was in the terminal marked live and the brown in the terminal marked neutral. I have now wired correctly but what puzzles me is the van is 5 years old and I have had a Hab check done every year. 
Could one socket have been wired this way for any purpose ?
My van is built in Europe but to UK spec......
Cheers,
Rob


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

See previous thread on this subject for fuller details.
C.


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