Polarity reverser - home made. (2 Viewers)

[savantuk]

I'm a newbie, so I cant tell if this tip has been used before here, but I've found it so useful, so others may too.

Quite often on the continent, I've plugged in to the on site electrics, only to find the polarity warning light on the consume unit turning red

Last year, I decided to make a polarity reverser. I purchased a waterproof cable connector from a chandler in Honfleur, France, together with a rugby ball shaped cover which is 2 parts, which snap together forming a waterproof seal at both sides of the cable joint, and which completely protects the connector.

The connector (2 pin) is completely symmetrical, allowing it to change the polarity just by turning one end through 180 degrees. I have marked both ends with a -/+ indicator.

Lining up both sides at the +/+ position gives normal polarity feed, but if the polarity warning light comes on, lining up the +/- sighns automatically reverses the polarity.

Cheap but effective!

Doug

 

[bigfoot]

Just make up a Short lead with the blue plug and sockets and reverse live and neutral.
The rugby balls hinges wear in no time and they are not completly water proof.

 

[sinbad1]

i made one of these a while ago

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simply made from a male and female connector with + reversed ,caps ends removed with a short pipe to join them up.( no bigger than a single plug

Not had to use it yet ;but tested and works fine

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[peter marshall]

Hi I made up some spare leads by changing the wires around and marking up the reversed ones on both 3 & 2 pin plugs as I have had both combinations it saves a lot of time and trouble if required. Peter:thumb:

 

[scotjimland]

me , I don't bother checking nor have a reverse connector, never have and never will ..

not going into the whys and wherefores , it' been done to death already

 

[pappajohn]

me , I don't bother checking nor have a reverse connector, never have and never will ..

not going into the whys and wherefores , it' been done to death already

Awww!!!! come on Jim......give us a clue.

this old chestnut hasnt had an outing for a while now

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[savantuk]

me , I don't bother checking nor have a reverse connector, never have and never will ..

not going into the whys and wherefores , it' been done to death already

Seems to me that this is a put down to a newbies first post

Did I upset you somehow??

I thought I'd post a useful tip - I haven't been long here, so I didn't know that the subject had been 'done to death'. Please excuse me. I'll try to be more circumspect in future!

 

[scotjimland]

Seems to me that this is a put down to a newbies first post

Did I upset you somehow??

I thought I'd post a useful tip - I haven't been long here, so I didn't know that the subject had been 'done to death'. Please excuse me. I'll try to be more circumspect in future!

not at all.. no offence meant, it wasn't a put down,

my comment was about previous discussions on using a reverse polarity adaptor ... and wasn't going to start another debate as it had been done to death already ..

not about your post or tip..

 

[savantuk]

not at all.. no offence meant, it wasn't a put down,

my comment was about previous discussions on using a reverse polarity adaptor ... and wasn't going to start another debate as it had been done to death already ..

not about your post or tip..

Hi, that's ok then

Would you, or somebody else that's party to the 'reason that you don't ever bother', please contact me, PM or email (dougdarterATaol.com). If it isn't strictly necessary to have the correct polarity, then it would ease my mind.

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[savantuk]

Just make up a Short lead with the blue plug and sockets and reverse live and neutral.
The rugby balls hinges wear in no time and they are not completly water proof.

Hi Bigfoot,

My 'rugby ball' is a round 4 years old, and has been opened and closed at least 100 times, and there is no sign at all of fatigue, and it has good 'O' ring seals at either end. It's a marine item, and built for heavy use. Came from the chandlers at the Vieux Port in Marseilles, if you ever get down that way. Cost about Eu10.

 

[Geo]

Hi, that's ok then

Would you, or somebody else that's party to the 'reason that you don't ever bother', please contact me, PM or email (dougdarterATaol.com). If it isn't strictly necessary to have the correct polarity, then it would ease my mind.

In a Nut shell
Every thing works either way round and presents no hazard or danger to you or the van:thumb:
Bring on the Expertsoh:
Geo

 

[scotjimland]

Hi, that's ok then

Would you, or somebody else that's party to the 'reason that you don't ever bother', please contact me, PM or email (dougdarterATaol.com). If it isn't strictly necessary to have the correct polarity, then it would ease my mind.

Hi Doug

Try a search 'reverse polarity ' .. pulls up plenty of threads..

in the meantime here is your starter for ten..

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after wading though all that you may still be just as unsure and maybe more confused.. but it makes good reading.. and if you feel safe checking and correcting then it can't do any harm.. unless your ball fills up with water .. (only kidding) ..


Jim

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[mondo]

Correct me if I'm wrong, (and I'm sure someone will) but I thought reverse polarity leads, HAD to be made by a qualified Sparky. When I spoke to a friend of mine,he said when you connect up and you get Reverse Polarity if your'e on a 2 pin connector turn it through 180 degrees and it's problem solved! Is he right..I know this is one of those threads that carries on and on and on AD INFINITUM.
Can we have an expert put it to bed !!!!

 

[Geo]

Yes your mate is right, if the plug can be reversed its as simple as that, if its a 3 pin of course it cant just simply be reversed thats where the made up short lead comes in simply make a short male and female lead and deliberatly wire the live and nutral in one of the plugs the wrong way, ie live to the nutrel pin and nutrel to the live pin, I repeat in one plug only,it matters not which one.
then mark the lead so you know what it is, and hey presto your an expert:thumb:

 

[bigfoot]

I must have bought the cheapo version,it failed in about 6 months. Ended up using a box from Maplins,the type used for outside lighting

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Or are these the ones you use?
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[Road Runner]

Seems to me that this is a put down to a newbies first post

Did I upset you somehow??

I thought I'd post a useful tip - I haven't been long here, so I didn't know that the subject had been 'done to death'. Please excuse me. I'll try to be more circumspect in future!

Don't be daft I found it useful and plenty have viewed it:thumb:

 

[savantuk]

Hi Doug

Try a search 'reverse polarity ' .. pulls up plenty of threads..

in the meantime here is your starter for ten..

Link Removed

after wading though all that you may still be just as unsure and maybe more confused.. but it makes good reading.. and if you feel safe checking and correcting then it can't do any harm.. unless your ball fills up with water .. (only kidding) ..


Jim

Thanks Jim,

This confirms more or less what I had suspected.

For several years, I toured Europe without worrying too much about correct polarity. Quite often I would connect to the post, and find that the 'polarity' light would come on on my consumer unit. Whilst annoying, I didn't give it much notice, except that it was so bright, I had to cover it at night!!

It was only a couple of years ago, when a fellow traveller told me of the untold dangers that it posed, that I decided to make a converter.

I shall still use it, and be 'polarity aware', but I won't let it bother me any more.

 

[sinbad1]

Think the way to solve this is to reverse the standard wireing from the socket to the consumer unit and ask a qualified electrician to certificate it


hardhathardhathardhat

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[gazznsam]

cant see a qualified sparky making up a reverse polarity lead, they arent even suppsoed to sell them in shops... or werent a while back.

as for the 'dangers'.... the only dangers are if theres a fault, and that's why you have an rcd in your van, and another one on the supply post,

if your in the habbit of taking apliances appart whilst they are plugged into the mains, albeit with the socket switch off, then you should know there's a chance you'll get a 'tingle' if you touch the wrong bit.

i grew up living in germany, where the 2 pin side earth shuko plug is used, polarity is meaningless over there, AC current is as it's name suggests, alternating, i.e. it changes polarity 50 times a second, so dont matter which way you plug a shuko plug in, the appliance works.

england is one of the very few countries left that uses such a bulky polarised plug, and one with a fuse in it too, we are also one of the few to still use ring mains,

everywhere else uses radial circuits, where every few sockets are protected by their own circuit breaker,

the house we had in germany had a breaker box the size of an A3 piece of paper, 4 rows of breakers, each room had a couple of breakers feeding no more than 3 sockets i believe it was, the lights were also split up into rooms,
things like the washing machine and drier sockets in the basement had individual breakers, as did the furnace, outside socket etc.

the house im in now has a 4 way breaker box, 1 circuit for all the lights, 1 for all the sockets, 1 feeding the garage, and a spare that used to feed an electric shower.
i have more circuits in my van, and i dont have a lighting circuit in there,

 

[stagman]

[QUOTE=gazznsam;england is one of the very few countries left that uses such a bulky polarised plug, and one with a fuse in it too, we are also one of the few to still use ring mains,

everywhere else uses radial circuits, where every few sockets are protected by their own circuit breaker,

I think you will find that the electrical standards are far better in Britain than other European countries and have been for years . The other thing I agree if you reverse live and neutral on an AC circuit then the appliance will still work.But that doesn't make it the right thing to do and you will have a far bigger shock which could be leathal if you touch the live as opposed to the neutral.:thumb:

 

[Parcverger]

Electricians in France simply do not worry about polarity - having had all of the electrics for Parc Verger professionally installed, I followed the electrician round with a tester to ensure that every socket had the correct polarity! As was mentioned in previous posts, the wiring system here is totally different to the UK's ring mains, hence the totally relaxed attitude to polarity.

Bob

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[stagman]

Electricians in France simply do not worry about polarity - having had all of the electrics for Parc Verger professionally installed, I followed the electrician round with a tester to ensure that every socket had the correct polarity! As was mentioned in previous posts, the wiring system here is totally different to the UK's ring mains, hence the totally relaxed attitude to polarity.

Bob

Great to hear you made sure all the polaritys were checked .But just to clear something up . In the UK we also use a lot of radial circuits but that does not alter the safety aspect at all so I don't really understand what you are saying.A lot of the new 17th regs come from European Electrical Regulations .Probabally we stick closer to the required regs and the bottom line is it's there to make it safer for us all.

 

[uzsnowdrop]

Brand newbie and still working out 'priming the water system' so please don't confuse me with reversing polarity devices yet.........

 

[Allanm]

Have you read the Norme? It's the French equivalent to the UK wiring regulations (IEE17) it makes very interesting reading and you will soon become aware, as I did, that French wiring practices are far safer than the UK.

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[laurieash]

Won't the red light come on if there is no earth?

 

[Lenny HB]

Won't the red light come on if there is no earth?

Nope, the neon is wired across neutral and earth, requires a parth to earth to work.

 

[irnbru]

This thread is over 7 years old . Maybe best to start s new one. Times change and equipment too

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[Camping Gaza]

Earth netural bonding back at the substation... if all you appliances are double insulated not a problem if not then here's a couple of scenarios that could make it easier to understand:

First off, the reason we get shocked in the first place is that we become a part of an electrical circuit and the power goes across our hearts and stops it.
That's why birds dont explode if the perch on incredibly high tension (voltage) wires that cross our land on big pylons. They do not touch the other wire or the earth. If they did...BOOM!

I'm toasting a muffin and it gets stuck in my toaster. I look in the toaster and see that the heating elements are off, so I assume it's safe to stick a knife in the toaster to get my muffin. I should be safe doing this, because the switch that controls the flow of electricity to the heating elements in the toaster shuts off the LIVE wire. Unfortunately, my toaster is plugged in to an outlet with reversed polarity, so the switch on my toaster is shutting off the neutral wire instead of the LIVE. This means there is always electricity at the heating elements, and that electricity will travel up the knife, through my body, and back to earth on the metal casing.

I'm using an old bayonet or screw light fitting, and my finger accidentally comes in contact with the outside of the metal socket that holds the light bulb in place. (cos its broken away etc) The socket is always connected to the neutral wire, so no big deal... unless the light is plugged in to an outlet with reversed polarity. In this case, I'll get a shock. If this happens while I'm laying on the garage floor working on my car, there's a good chance that this could be the last shock I ever get. This can also happen with old table lamps that have exposed metal sockets.

Even the German and French 2 pole sockets now have an earth contact. Some appliances like radios, tvs etc may only have 2 pin plugs, that's because they are double insulated

 

[tonyidle]

France (and possibly other Continental countries) use appliance and light switches that disconnect both Live and Neutral which offers a considerably safer arrangement than ours. All our switches (other than in the Consumer Unit or fused spurs) only disconnect the Live. In certain cases in France neither leg of the supply is earthed at the substation making Earth Protection less than useful to the person on the other end. Bayonet fitting metal lampholders have the metal shell earthed and most definitely not connected to Neutral. Edison screw lampholders have the threaded part connected to Neutral as it forms one of the lamp connections. Household RCDs trip whether L or N is accidentally earthed and I assume the ones fitted to MHs do too which means sticking a knife into a toaster or handling an ES lampholder that is correctly wired AND switched off is likely to result in the van (and possibly site) RCDs tripping. As an aside I've suffered numerous (by which I mean I can't remember how many) mains voltage electric shocks without ill-effect which means (probably) that one needs to be very unlucky to suffer serious ill-effect as a result of one. Unless one is wearing steel slippers and standing in a pool of water at the time .

 

[Camping Gaza]

As an aside I've suffered numerous (by which I mean I can't remember how many) mains voltage electric shocks without ill-effect

Is that you Tony???

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