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I did meet a motorhomer with a compressor type freezer who claimed that the reversed polarity destroyed the motor and on another occasion in France where the whole van became live; that was real, I touched it. Moved power point and all was ok! This spread over 40 years; so not too many issues.
Alan
We have one and have had for years, we have detected "reversed polarity" several times on continental sites and I have a spare short length with reverse wiring simply to swap it back.
Why?
Because at the time we got one it seemed sensible, when we plugged in to reverse polarity it also showed as a warning bulb on our mains input, and we were concerned as the handbook said to be concerned.....
BUT really it is not needed provided you do not intend to start rewiring appliances that are still plugged in. In the UK our switches cut ONE of the two wires, we are told it is the "live" but of course with AC the polarity is reversed 50 times per second......
My understanding of the electrical regs on the continent are that the circuit breakers they use instead of fuses and switches a) cut off much quicker than fuses if there is a fault and b) cut off BOTH wires so the whole system has no chance of causing a problem.
Of course the "polarity" does not matter for the actual running of an AC appliance as far as I am aware - there are numerous threads on here which say so produced by people with many more active brain cells crammed full of electrical understanding that my limited amount who will come along and point out any errors of understanding that I have stated in this post....
But we will still plug it in and check every time "just in case" and 'cos we have got it and might as will use it........
>>>>>Here is the question.
If the tester shows that the live and neutral are swtched round. What will happen?
Most devices in my van should be able to cope and have done for ages. So what should I do if the socket indicates a problem and why?
Alan<<<<<
As you say, most devices can cope with reverse polarity so nothing will happen. But, whilst things still turn on and off as normal, they will be live. Normally switches cut the power in the live wire, ie BEFORE it enters the item being powered, if polarity is reversed the switch cuts the power in the neutral wire, ie AFTER it leaves the item being powered. So, for instance, if you were changing a bulb in a reversed polarity situation you would get a shock if you happened to touch the terminals. I'm no electrician and this is only my very simplistic understanding of things. Maybe someone better qualified can expand on this. In the meantime I always check polarity and correct it if reversed, it only takes minutes to swap live and neutral in the mains hook-up cable - or no time at all if you have a prepared 1 metre extension cable with live/neutral already swapped over.
What you say is correct Remus, but only those wishing to confirm Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection would firtle about inside an appliance without pulling the plug out at the socket.
With just a smidgen of common sense it's easily possible to survive a hookup with "reversed polarity" - even though the term is meaningless when dealing with alternating current.
As you quite rightly say however, if anyone is bothered it's dead easy to make, or cheap to buy a short lead with reversed connections to insert between the hook-up post and their van.
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