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 Topic: Reverse Polarity
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Don't forget to leave a review of the French and other European campsites you have visited!
Message posted by Val A23/8/2015 at 4:42pm
Outfit: Swift Speedbird 490 Mondeo Estate Location: West - North Yorkshire
Joined: 19/10/2004
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Val A
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I agree about forums worrying people - every new poster who asks any sort of question is told authoritatively about reverse polarity by those who worry about it. Those of us who don't are just trying to give balance to an answer and to make people aware that it isn't as 'dangerous' as it's made to seem.
When we first went to France thirty-five years ago there were no forums, no internet, and we weren't members of any club, so we just packed and went, buying whatever we needed, extra, once we were there. We never worried a jot about plugging in to 'strange' electrics, just as we'd never worried in any other country when staying in hotels and guesthouses. Nothing happened, so it was a revelation when suddenly reverse polarity popped up as a topic. We decided that as we'd managed for about twenty years, we would just carry on.
Unfortunately newcomers learn about the 'dangers' of reverse polarity and so most probably go out and buy or make up whatever is suggested. However, sometimes this can be dangerous advice - reversing the leads advice lead to someone (on this forum I think) coming back to show what he'd done, just to check, and he'd reverse the wrong leads! Now that really could have been dangerous!
So my take is 'take sensible precautions when using electricity'. Before doing anything which involves working on an electrical item, unplug it. That even means unplugging the caravan if there is a problem with a fuse, a lightbulb, or the fridge. That way we make sure we are protected when we need to be.
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