Quote:
Originally Posted by moandick
Hi Solitaire
In terms that I can understand - not being an electrician.....
You are already aware that some European sites use two pin plugs rather than three - the third pin being an earth lead.
Each English lead contains three wires - a live, a neutral and an earth - all of which must be located in their proper place in order to make the equipment work properly - and that is done by the shape of the plug - it will only fit into a socket in one particular way.
On a two pin site there is NO earth wire (just a live and a neutral) and that means that it is possible to fit the plug into the socket the 'wrong' way round - hence 'Reverse Polarity' - in theory it could mean that your appliances works backwards.
Seriously - it actually means that the appliance could still be live even when it is switched off.
Go to any caravan dealers where they have a spares shop and they will be able to supply a polarity tester and a specially wired cable which fits between your lead and the socket - and corrects the polarity to that which you need.
|
Most French sites do use a plug with only 2 pins but it does have a hole to accepts the "third" earth pin on the socket.
So effectively they are still three pin.
Some older sites have connections with a dodgy earth and this can be lethal.
The plug-in adaptors that check for an earth do not do the job properly. All they confirm is that a least one minute strand of earth wire is there. This earth wire may fail if asked to carry a significant load.