Mikew Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 Beware: some multiway adaptors will reverse live and neutral...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Trollope Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 [quote]Beware: some multiway adaptors will reverse live and neutral......[/quote]As do those UK-French plug adaptors. But as I said, if you switch both poles ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 [quote]Beware: some multiway adaptors will reverse live and neutral......[/quote]Not just the adaptors: If you install a Legrand double socket (the type with two sockets side-by-side or one above the other if you prefer, set at a slight angle to each other, and a mirror-image) you will see, if you take it apart, that on one socket the live is to the left of the earth pin and on the other it is to the right.The givaway that the French codes make no distinction as to which side takes which pole is the fact that no socket I've ever seen labels anything other than the earth conection.p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcazar Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 This polarity reversal never failed to amaze me when we did a fair bit of touring in France with a UK caravan.Many smaller caravan/camp sites had reversed polarity. After the first year, (of reversing the wires in my adaptor), I invested in a polarity tester for the sockets in the van, and a seperate reversed polarity French to UK campsite adaptor, suitably coloured to show it was the reversed one.Our caravan had a then quite new type of battery charger, which DID NOT like reversed polarity on the mains side.With more and more French sites now using the "standard" 3 pin blue outdoor 16A connector, the problem seems to have disappeared, but I still carry reversed adaptors for both types of fitting.............Alcazar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 [quote]This polarity reversal never failed to amaze me when we did a fair bit of touring in France with a UK caravan. Many smaller caravan/camp sites had reversed polarity. After the first year, (of reversi...[/quote]I know exactly what you mean: the fuse box in our Swift had a light which would come on if it was reverse connected, and, touring in France, it was on more often than it was off! In the end I replaced it with a small French box so that it was switched on both sides anyway.As an irrelevant side bar... we have a White Knight gas tumble dryer which we brought from the UK. It is peppered with safety interlocks and sensors to gain it certification for butane all over the known universe, but one thing they didn't bargain for was the fact that the moisture detector (which permits the gas and ignition sequence to start once the drum has been spinning for a few seconds) doesn't work with reverse polarity. Fooled me for ages. It was only when I noticed the neon glowing dimly when the thing was ostensibly off that I thought to try reversing the polarity (it doesn't much like damp French barns either!).p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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