EHU (1 Viewer)

Mick James

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I'm a newbie
HI all, was checking my ehu lead and noticed it is only twin wired with no earth, is this ok or dangerous. I have been using it the last seven months.
 

pappajohn

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Bin it........

No earth = no personal protection, and that includes anyone touching metal parts outside your van if the chassis becomes live.

RCD protective breakers rely on an earth to be able to trip....no earth, no trip.

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iceni

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Get a socket mains tester and plug it into a free socket each time you hook up. This would have shown this up immediately. Also shows any dodgy site sockets up. Only a few quid from an accessory shop.
 
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Badknee

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Used my socket tester once and live and neutral on the site plug were wrong way round!:oops:

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Feb 24, 2013
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Used my socket tester once and live and neutral on the site plug were wrong way round!:oops:

and then what did you do?

I wouldn't check, but if told it was wrong what do you do?

Rewire one end of the lead? or just get on with it?

Question is open to all not just aimed at you bad knee you have just raised a query that niggles me, as I don't know what to do
 
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scotjimland

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Used my socket tester once and live and neutral on the site plug were wrong way round!:oops:
and then what did you do?

I wouldn't check, but if told it was wrong what do you do?

Rewire one end of the lead? or just get on with it?

Question is open to all not just aimed at you bad knee you have just raised a query that niggles me, as I don't know what to do


Been debated often on here... I am in the 'doesn't matter ' camp..

first of all AC does not have 'polarity' .. so it cannot be wrong.. AC by it's very nature changes polarity 50 times a second. It has a LIVE and NEUTRAL .. and no matter which way round it is connected all appliances work, all safety devices work..

So where is the risk ?

Well, when you switch an appliance off at the socket and it is wired with 'reverse polarity' you are only breaking the neutral feed, the live is still present.. not an issue unless you intend to poke around inside the appliance with it still plugged in.. and if you do.. and it goes 'bang', .. the gene pool has one less numpty.

The other camp say it is dangerous and lethal .. and if you feel better having it the 'right way round' buy a socket polarity tester and a short reverse polarity lead..

Continental vans have double pole switches that break both Live and Neutral.. that' is why they don't bother or care which way it is wired..

you decide..
 
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Badknee

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I reported it to the site manager who said they had been having problems with that plug stand so I offered to rewrite the whole stand, six sockets,ejob done. If you can't do that move stands if your cables long enough or move pitches.

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Badknee

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Don't you just love predictive. I rewired the stand, job done.
 
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Feb 24, 2013
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Been debated often on here... I am in the 'doesn't matter ' camp..

first of all AC does not have 'polarity' .. so it cannot be wrong.. AC by it's very nature changes polarity 50 times a second. It has a LIVE and NEUTRAL .. and no matter which way round it is connected all appliances work, all safety devices work..

So where is the risk ?

Well, when you switch an appliance off at the socket and it is wired with 'reverse polarity' you are only breaking the neutral feed, the live is still present.. not an issue unless you intend to poke around inside the appliance with it still plugged in.. and if you do.. and it goes 'bang', .. the gene pool has one less numpty.

The other camp say it is dangerous and lethal .. and if you feel better having it the 'right way round' buy a socket polarity tester and a short reverse polarity lead..

Continental vans have double pole switches that break both Live and Neutral.. that' is why they don't bother or care which way it is wired..

you decide..

Thanks (y)

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motorhomer

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Been debated often on here... I am in the 'doesn't matter ' camp..

first of all AC does not have 'polarity' .. so it cannot be wrong.. AC by it's very nature changes polarity 50 times a second. It has a LIVE and NEUTRAL .. and no matter which way round it is connected all appliances work, all safety devices work..

So where is the risk ?

Well, when you switch an appliance off at the socket and it is wired with 'reverse polarity' you are only breaking the neutral feed, the live is still present.. not an issue unless you intend to poke around inside the appliance with it still plugged in.. and if you do.. and it goes 'bang', .. the gene pool has one less numpty.

The other camp say it is dangerous and lethal .. and if you feel better having it the 'right way round' buy a socket polarity tester and a short reverse polarity lead..

Continental vans have double pole switches that break both Live and Neutral.. that' is why they don't bother or care which way it is wired..

you decide..

I agree that the risk, if there is one at all, is minimal with regard to "polarity" - by which I mean reversed live / neutral. But if the earth / neutral are reversed it becomes much more serious. So if travelling in suspect foreign parts (eg morocco) it is worth carrying a checker and making sure.
 
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pappajohn

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I reported it to the site manager who said they had been having problems with that plug stand so I offered to rewrite the whole stand, six sockets,ejob done. If you can't do that move stands if your cables long enough or move pitches.
then the site manager is a fool.....as are you.
if anyone gets a shock, possibly fatal, you are the one responsible for that shock......unless you officially tested and certified it to be safe.

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pappajohn

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I agree that the risk, if there is one at all, is minimal with regard to "polarity" - by which I mean reversed live / neutral. But if the earth / neutral are reversed it becomes much more serious. So if travelling in suspect foreign parts (eg morocco) it is worth carrying a checker and making sure.

earth neutral reverse......the moment anything is plugged into that socket it will trip.

dead short to earth.
 
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Badknee

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then the site manager is a fool.....as are you.
if anyone gets a shock, possibly fatal, you are the one responsible for that shock......unless you officially tested and certified it to be safe.

Thank you I am aware of that and all work was carried out and tested by me but once again thank you for your concern.
 
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motorhomer

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earth neutral reverse......the moment anything is plugged into that socket it will trip.

dead short to earth.
Not convinced that papajohn is right. Alt
I agree that if you connect live direct to earth current would be very high and it would trip. But the same is true if you connect live direct to neutral. But surely its not a dead short as the resistance of whatever device is plugged in would come in? Would this not be dangerous if neutral and earth were reversed - especially if the earth is poor as is often the case in some countries. You could end up with live current around the van earth circuitry. So as I said I think it is worth carrying a checker to make sure. If I am wrong then no harm done, at least I will still be safe!
earth neutral reverse......the moment anything is plugged into that socket it will trip.

dead short to earth.
Would it be a dead short when the current would have to pass through whatever device is plugged in? And what if - as is often the case in some countries - the earth is very poor, wouldn't the van's earth circuits then be live? Personally i'd rather check and make sure.

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Feb 24, 2013
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Electrics are really dangerous, anything you cant see scares to bee jeezus out of me

But putting a practical hat on here, unless you turn up at a brand new site, or just rewired at least, the EHU post must be safe or it would have killed the previous user

There can't be many sites that would allow consecutive fatalities

Its late and I have had a glass or two, so may be my opinion is probably not overly useful :(
 
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Techno

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John is completely correct.
Line OR neutral to earth will cause an imbalance that will immediately be reacted to by an RCD or RCBO
If you have a faulty earth then the protective device may not operate correctly which is why you should function test the trip EVERY time you hook up.
 
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DBK

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We had some work done in our kitchen recently and as part of the work the electricians upgraded the circuit breakers in the consumer unit to the latest standard, which only came in about three years ago. The house itself was built/converted (it was a barn) only 10 years ago so the system wasn't exactly old.
After they left we found the lights were tripping out. Back came the electricians and after a full morning of testing they found the fault in a upstairs bedroom where a wire in the ceiling had a dead short between earth and neutral.
Interestingly, this fault was not detected by the 10 year old ELCBs but it was by the latest versions.
Now you could argue if this was really a dangerous fault as further back up the grid all the neutrals are connected to earth anyway.

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Feb 24, 2013
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John is completely correct.
Line OR neutral to earth will cause an imbalance that will immediately be reacted to by an RCD or RCBO
If you have a faulty earth then the protective device may not operate correctly which is why you should function test the trip EVERY time you hook up.

Please explain 'function test', is this just press the test button?
we have no RCD in our MH, so is pressing the test on the post any use?

David
 
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Techno

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David
Most European vans are built with only a double pole switch and rely entirely on the RCBO at the post. I fitted an RCBO in my van like most UK built vans. This is a better investment than worrying about polarity.
 
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DBK

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The new circuit breakers fitted were RCBO, these detected the fault between neutral and earth, the older I think RCDs, didn't.
The RCBOs are much bigger: Broken Link Removed
 
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Feb 24, 2013
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David
Most European vans are built with only a double pole switch and rely entirely on the RCBO at the post. I fitted an RCBO in my van like most UK built vans. This is a better investment than worrying about polarity.

Thanks Andy (y)

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Techno

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Typical European built van , plenty of room to fit an RCD and leave the circuit breakers to cover overcurrent protection
IMG_0785-L.jpg
 
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