Electrical.......Negative polarity. (1 Viewer)

Movin' on

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I have recently seen an advert for a gadget that detects if an electrical supply is operating on negative polarity and switches it automatically to positive polarity and thereby protecting you electrical goods. I've never heard of any country that uses negative polarity and now I'm wondering (as I'm about to embark on full timing) if there is something I should know about some of these strange little electrical quirks that some of these far off lands have. Has anyone ever come accross this problem? Movin' on.
 

hilldweller

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I've never heard of any country that uses negative polarity and now I'm wondering.

Oh you soon will, trust me :Smile:

Just enter polarity in the search engine and it'll keep you reading for about three days.

To sum up - if it kills you than the gods were going to get you one way or another. You've a better chance of getting killed in a RTA on the way to the reversed mains.
 
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Movin' on

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Thanks

Thanks for that Brian, I'll have a look on line as you suggest and do some research. How common is it, would you say these gadgets are a good investment? Movin' on.

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keith

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I have recently seen an advert for a gadget that detects if an electrical supply is operating on negative polarity and switches it automatically to positive polarity and thereby protecting you electrical goods. I've never heard of any country that uses negative polarity and now I'm wondering (as I'm about to embark on full timing) if there is something I should know about some of these strange little electrical quirks that some of these far off lands have. Has anyone ever come accross this problem? Movin' on.

It's called "Reversed Polarity" when live and negative are reversed. It happens on many foreign sites, commonly rectified by a short lead wired to correct it.

Not an in-surmountable problem.
 

vwalan

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i do carry a polarity testerin my truck. its been there for ten years .having ouredmost of eu and n,africa have never used it. dont use electric hook up .hardly ever use a camp site .worth having one if you want to .but only if you want to worry. as brian says look at previous threads i reckon you could be there for ever if you google.
 

hilldweller

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Thanks for that Brian, I'll have a look on line as you suggest and do some research. How common is it, would you say these gadgets are a good investment? Movin' on.

I don't know how common. I carry a £5 tester plug and a crossed over short lead. Usually forget to test and never had to use the lead. I still seem to be alive.

This is the lead circuit - might not display properly but all it does is swap L and N.


E----------------------------------E
L--------\
________\-------------------------N


________/...............................L
N--------/

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keith

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I don't know how common. I carry a £5 tester plug and a crossed over short lead. Usually forget to test and never had to use the lead. I still seem to be alive.

This is the lead circuit - might not display properly but all it does is swap L and N.


E----------------------------------E
L--------\
________\-------------------------N


________/...............................L
N--------/

Very pretty Brian. Does the exclusion of the Earth on the lower diagram indicate the likly absence of an earth on some continental sites, as is often the case. :ROFLMAO:
 
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Movin' on

Movin' on

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Thanks

My thanks to every body for their swift response, you have all been very helpful.
 

wildbri

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Dec 16, 2009
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Other countries use a different system for their electrical installations than we have, better and safer in my opinion. They use double pole switching on their appliances and also circuit breakers in the installations. If you plug into a reversed polarity system your equipment will work as normal but when switched off, although the equipment will stop working will still be connected to the live supply, this could be a safety issue. My van has a light which tells me of this situation and I use a short lead with cables reversed ( and clearly marked as such) to rectify it at that site. Regards bri::bigsmile:

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dave newell

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Oct 31, 2008
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Movin' on, can I ask where you saw the advert for the automatic chager please? I ask because we stock a manual unit and several people claim to have seen an auto chager but no-one can point me to it. It usually transpires that they have been looking at the manual units we sell but have mis-understood what it does.

Cheers, D.
 

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