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Electrical polarity on foreign sites

W

WiltshirePete

I have seen a couple of threads on this subject and am now confused. As I see it the EHU is ac current, and therefore doesn't have a polarity as such, so recommendations to test it and if necessary "reverse" it with a homemade lead don't make much sense to me. On my Hymer all lights etc are 12volts, run from a leisure battery topped up by an "Electroblock" which seems to do everything to control voltages etc. This is fed from the 240volt supply, as is the fridge, sockets, heater and water heater. All of these are just heating elements running from the ac current, so do I really need to pay any attention to "Polarity"?

Any comments welcome (even if you think I am an idiot!)

Pete
 
Pete,

You own a Hymer family van and like our Eriba, you can basically forget about what people call "reversed polarity".

All Hymer caravans and other continental manufacturers and an increasing number of UK makers are now fitting two pole circuit breakers - cutting both live and neutral in the event of a fault.

All continental household circuit breaker also cut live and neutral, so it doesn't matter which way those wires are routed.

However previous generations of UK caravans used the marginally cheaper single pole switches, and then it did sort of matter if the "polarity" was reversed when you connected to a randomly wired European power pole. The wire carrying phase could then be routed on the neutral wire and only be interupted by the circuit breaker on its way out of the appliance.

So because some UK caravans were engineered with single pole circuit breakers - it could be a good idea to correct incorrect phase - for when you have an appliance fault.

Robert
 
Thanks for your answer, that ties in with what I thought. It seems that this is yet another reason to be grateful for buying a Hymer! (apart from the superior build quality, handling, space for a 2 bike rack on the front, etc. Even the right hand door is no problem.)

Sorry to sound smug, but when I read of the problems that the British caravan industry seems to build in, I am amazed that people put up with them.

I now await a barrage of criticsm for my views!!

Pete
 
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