Reverse polarity light on. Can I still use charger safely?

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RV-AL

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i am in Spain at the moment, having left my reverse polarity cable in UK! Every site I have stopped at ehu works fine until I switch on inbuilt charger when the reverse polarity sign comes on, so I switch it off again. On a couple of sites they have standard eu socket so I just turn it upside down and all ok. Current site has type 2 connector so can’t do that. It it safe for me to ignore the warning light and charge anyway?

The van is a 2018 auto-trail.
 
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Wait for a proper sparky but as far as I know you are fine. Just don't rely on a switched item being truly Off and then touch the wires (but why would you anyway,!)
 
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The reverse polarity light is warning you that the incoming live and n neutral connections of the EHU are the wrong way round.

The idea being that you then disconnect the EHU and don't use any 240 volt electrics. Switching the charger on will not make anything any more dangerous than it already could be.
 
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LithiumConvert said:
The reverse polarity light is warning you that the incoming live and n neutral connections of the EHU are the wrong way round.

The idea being that you then disconnect the EHU and don't use any 240 volt electrics.
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What nonsense! There is no reason not to use the onboard mains system with reverse polarity.

Ian

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Does make me wonder why Sterling or whoever went to the trouble of putting a reverse polarity light in if it makes no difference. I do know it doesn't matter if polarity is reversed, but why tell us
 
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Fontie said:
Does make me wonder why Sterling or whoever went to the trouble of putting a reverse polarity light in if it makes no difference. I do know it doesn't matter if polarity is reversed, but why tell us
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In case you want to poke around any electrical items while they are plugged in. 🤣
 
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Fontie said:
Does make me wonder why Sterling or whoever went to the trouble of putting a reverse polarity light in if it makes no difference. I do know it doesn't matter if polarity is reversed, but why tell us
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In case you want to poke around any electrical items while they are plugged in.:ROFLMAO:

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Try another outlet. I found one in Spain where one was reversed but the one next to it wasn't.
 
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bigtwin said:
What nonsense! There is no reason not to use the onboard mains system with reverse polarity.

Ian
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Agreed. Europe and the UK have completely different electrical systems. The EU systems assume you can plug things in both ways. Right and Reversed. The plug works both ways. In the UK it is (in very very odd fault circumstances) could make the “neutral” live) so reverse polarity is a concern.

Real electrical engineers can correct me - but reverse polarity in Europe is not an issue.
 
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IRHP said:
Try another outlet. I found one in Spain where one was reversed but the one next to it wasn't.
Click to expand...

There is a 50/50 chance that a given EHU post on the continent will have ‘reverse polarity’ because they don’t have the same regulations as the UK and it’s pure chance which way round the wires are connected.

And the strange thing is, folks on the continent aren’t suffering anymore electrocutions than we do in the UK. If ‘reverse polarity’ was such a hazard we’d expect 1,000s of more electrocutions on the continent, but we don’t see that.

Ian

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Never had any real problems using reversed polarity EHU while touring France and Spain decades ago but I think I remembered about 1/4 were reversed. I did make a patch cable with a crossover to connect in line with the EHU hookup though - belt and braces.
 
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OldCodger said:
could make the “neutral” live) so reverse polarity is a concern.
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That depends on your definition of ‘concern’.

‘Reverse polarity‘ only changes the percentage of the inside of a device that is ‘live’ when the device is switched off. Even with the correct ‘polarity’ there is still a portion of the device that remains ‘live’ (granted, it is a small percentage).

In the UK, regulations define how Live and Neutral should be connected so reverse polarity would be non-compliant with the IEE regulations.

Ian
 
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OldCodger said:
Agreed. Europe and the UK have completely different electrical systems. The EU systems assume you can plug things in both ways. Right and Reversed. The plug works both ways. In the UK it is (in very very odd fault circumstances) could make the “neutral” live) so reverse polarity is a concern.

Real electrical engineers can correct me - but reverse polarity in Europe is not an issue.
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The distribution boards in EU, well France they do, have double pole connections, ie both live and neutral pass through the interrupteur, their sort of RCD. whereas in UK only the live passes through the MCB and both live and neutral through the RCD if fitted, which isnt always the case in older distribution boards. Therefore reverse is France isnt as critical as in UK. Also, like most self respecting sparks, I like things just so, like what I was taught. But Im old and standards are a bit different nowadays.I hope thats clearer than mud.
 
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Bodoge said:
Also, like most self respecting sparks, I like things just so, like what I was taught.
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Regulations are regulations and should be applied/adhered to where applicable.

In jurisdictions where those regulations don’t apply, it’s a complete over-reaction to suggest that if you encounter a ’reversed polarity’ bollard on the continent that you should disconnect the EHU and not use any 240V appliance.

Ian

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bigtwin said:
Regulations are regulations and should be applied/adhered to where applicable.

In jurisdictions where those regulations don’t apply, it’s a complete over-reaction to suggest that if you encounter a ’reversed polarity’ bollard on the continent that you should disconnect the EHU and not use any 240V appliance.

Ian
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Exactly.
 
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Bodoge said:
The distribution boards in EU, well France they do, have double pole connections, ie both live and neutral pass through the interrupteur, their sort of RCD. whereas in UK only the live passes through the MCB and both live and neutral through the RCD if fitted, which isnt always the case in older distribution boards. Therefore reverse is France isnt as critical as in UK. Also, like most self respecting sparks, I like things just so, like what I was taught. But Im old and standards are a bit different nowadays.I hope thats clearer than mud.
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We have a place in Portugal. When we moved in I tested all the sockets with my basic UK tester. Many where reverse polity till I turned the plug the other way round. Then it was ok🤷‍♂️

However, the earth faults I fixed fast. :wink:

If anyone can explain to laymen the problems created by PME in the UK, they will understand the problem with the way we do stuff here and why it is different in Europe - otherwise

Doc Brown Shock GIF by Back to the Future Trilogy
 
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RV-AL said:
i am in Spain at the moment, having left my reverse polarity cable in UK! Every site I have stopped at ehu works fine until I switch on inbuilt charger when the reverse polarity sign comes on, so I switch it off again. On a couple of sites they have standard eu socket so I just turn it upside down and all ok. Current site has type 2 connector so can’t do that. It it safe for me to ignore the warning light and charge anyway?

The van is a 2018 auto-trail.
Click to expand...
Just turn your two pin plug upside down on the campsite electrics
 
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Thanks for all the responses. I get the reverse polarity generally not being a problem with 13 amp circuit. My concern is with the inbuilt charger. If I am in the UK and connect a standalone charger to the vehicle battery and absentmindedly connect life and neutral cables to the wrong poles of the battery the charger says polarity reversed and I disconnect the cables and connect the right way round. I was sort of assuming that it was the same effect with reverse polarity from EHU when using charger. Aren’t I effectively connecting +ve to -ve and Vice versa if I use the charger.

apologies if I am being thick!
 
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RV-AL said:
apologies if I am being thick!
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not being thick..

The confusion arrises because 240v AC does Not have polarity .. it does not have positive and negative .. that is a misnomer .. it has Live and Neutral .. current flows in BOTH directions .. hence calling it AC .. alternating current.. in the UK it alternates at 50hz.. (50 times a second )

On the other hand , DC voltage does have polarity , + positive and - negative , current always flows from positive to negative... so it can be connected reversed.. as you describe when connecting the leads of a charger to a battery
 
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RV-AL said:
Thanks for all the responses. I get the reverse polarity generally not being a problem with 13 amp circuit. My concern is with the inbuilt charger. If I am in the UK and connect a standalone charger to the vehicle battery and absentmindedly connect life and neutral cables to the wrong poles of the battery the charger says polarity reversed and I disconnect the cables and connect the right way round. I was sort of assuming that it was the same effect with reverse polarity from EHU when using charger. Aren’t I effectively connecting +ve to -ve and Vice versa if I use the charger.

apologies if I am being thick!
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The battery charger converts AC to DC and drops the voltage, this is done through a transformer and a full wave bridge rectifier so the outputs will not change, ie output positive will always be positive
 
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OldCodger said:
We have a place in Portugal. When we moved in I tested all the sockets with my basic UK tester. Many where reverse polity till I turned the plug the other way round. Then it was ok🤷‍♂️

However, the earth faults I fixed fast. :wink:

If anyone can explain to laymen the problems created by PME in the UK, they will understand the problem with the way we do stuff here and why it is different in Europe - otherwise

Doc Brown Shock GIF by Back to the Future Trilogy
Click to expand...
Had our place in Portugal rewired. Asked the guys who did it please to get earthing within the current regulatory resistance thresholds. The earthing spike was 6 metres deep before this was achieved. Almost no-one, including expats in the country, seems to do this and as far as I can tell (I’m no electrician) there is a large stock of older properties built to far lower regulatory standards
 
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scotjimland said:
not being thick..

The confusion arrises because 240v AC does Not have polarity .. it does not have positive and negative .. that is a misnomer .. it has Live and Neutral .. current flows in BOTH directions .. hence calling it AC .. alternating current.. in the UK it alternates at 50hz.. (50 times a second )

On the other hand , DC voltage does have polarity , + positive and - negative , current always flows from positive to negative... so it can be connected reversed.. as you describe when charging a battery with a charger
Click to expand...
So is it still ok to use the onboard charger?
 
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