ISB Sola Basic Corrector de Voltaje
http://isbmex.com/pdf/REGULADOR%20DOMESTICO.pdf What a great thing! Bought one on our way out in March, have been using it here in Mexico since November 1, it's amazing. How did we live without i...
Forum Discussion
Here is some stuff from a website called No Shock Zone by an electrician named Mike Sokol. If you really want to know more you can go to the website to learn a lot of basic stuff every RVer should know about electricity.
We are seeing some bad advice on this forum. Hopefully some of you readers are smart enough to weed out the nonsense and recognize that there most certainly are rules regarding electricity that cannot and should not be broken. Sometimes breaking rules will get you killed. No – you cannot jump out of an airplane without a parachute because you cannot fly. Would you jump off a cliff because some fool did it?
To try to be clear. I am trying to explain how you should properly wire your own equipment and how to test outlets in RV parks to make sure they are wired properly. I have clearly said on this forum many times that wiring in Mexico can leave a great deal to be desired. But there are rules whether they are followed or not. Test any outlet you plug into no matter where you are. If the outlet is not wired properly do not plug into it. Go get the manager and tell them to fix the outlet - or find another outlet that is properly wired. Do not rewire your equipment or your RV to suit the RV parks negligence. They will get you killed!
You are probably not going to able to see what colors the person who wired the RV park used. But basic tests can easily and quickly tell you if they are wired properly.
http://noshockzone.org/category/rv-safety/
The No~Shock~Zone: Part IV – Hot Skin
Understanding and Preventing RV Electrical Damage
Copyright Mike Sokol 2010 – All Rights Reserved
If you’ve read the survey we did July 2010 in www.RVtravel.com, you know that 21% of RV owners who responded have been shocked by their vehicle. Review the 21% report at http://new.noshockzone.org/15/.
An RV Hot-Skin condition occurs when the frame of the vehicle is no longer at the same voltage potential as the earth around it. This is usually due to an improper power plug connection at a campsite or garage AC outlet. Now to be honest, I think the majority of campgrounds have properly wired and maintained power pedestals, but certainly there are instances where a campsite has outlets with reversed polarity or without proper grounding at all. But I’ve seen enough “rewiring” jobs to know that RV owners are also to blame for improper wiring of their own extension cords and 30-amp adapters.
The scenario could go something like this: You plug your RV plug into a loose or worn campsite power outlet. Everything seems fine until you crank up your air conditioner and turn on your coffee maker. That’s when you notice the smell of burning plastic and find that the male plug on your RV extension cord has melted down due to all that current going through a loose connection. Rather than throw that expensive extension cord away, you go to your local big box store and buy a new power plug. However, when you take the wires off of the old plug there’s no diagram to show you how to connect the new plug properly. If you guess right while putting on a new plug, then all is well. If you guess wrong, then you’ve reversed the polarity of your incoming AC power. After that it just takes the right combination of circumstances such as a rainstorm to wet the ground in front of your RV, and you touching the screen door with a damp hand while standing outside. That’s when you can get shocked or even electrocuted. The severity of the shock can vary from a mild tingle to stopping your heart, depending on how wet you and the ground are and the voltage of your RV skin. But make no mistake, rather than the 30 or 40 volts of a high-resistance tingle, it’s possible to have the skin of your RV go to 120 volts with full current of the campsite pedestal with 20, 30 or even 50 amps available.
This picture shows 15, 20, 30 amp outlets and what you should see if you test with a standard voltmeter. This picture also shows wiring colors.
Click For Full-Size Image.
This shows the back of a 30 amp outlet with proper wiring
Here is a 50 amp outlet showing voltages and colors
KLEIN tools quick voltage tester – Home Depot or Amazon about $20
FLUKE quick voltage tester
Proper quick voltage test. This will not tell you how much voltage – only that there is voltage. Purpose – to ensure there is no voltage on either NEUTRAL or GROUND and that the only voltage is seen on the HOT leg. NOTE – the NEUTRAL slot is longer than the HOT slot. Today’s two prong plugs will often have one blade larger than the other. You cannot plug the larger blade into the smaller slot. This ensures proper polarity.
We are seeing some bad advice on this forum. Hopefully some of you readers are smart enough to weed out the nonsense and recognize that there most certainly are rules regarding electricity that cannot and should not be broken. Sometimes breaking rules will get you killed. No – you cannot jump out of an airplane without a parachute because you cannot fly. Would you jump off a cliff because some fool did it?
To try to be clear. I am trying to explain how you should properly wire your own equipment and how to test outlets in RV parks to make sure they are wired properly. I have clearly said on this forum many times that wiring in Mexico can leave a great deal to be desired. But there are rules whether they are followed or not. Test any outlet you plug into no matter where you are. If the outlet is not wired properly do not plug into it. Go get the manager and tell them to fix the outlet - or find another outlet that is properly wired. Do not rewire your equipment or your RV to suit the RV parks negligence. They will get you killed!
You are probably not going to able to see what colors the person who wired the RV park used. But basic tests can easily and quickly tell you if they are wired properly.
http://noshockzone.org/category/rv-safety/
The No~Shock~Zone: Part IV – Hot Skin
Understanding and Preventing RV Electrical Damage
Copyright Mike Sokol 2010 – All Rights Reserved
If you’ve read the survey we did July 2010 in www.RVtravel.com, you know that 21% of RV owners who responded have been shocked by their vehicle. Review the 21% report at http://new.noshockzone.org/15/.
An RV Hot-Skin condition occurs when the frame of the vehicle is no longer at the same voltage potential as the earth around it. This is usually due to an improper power plug connection at a campsite or garage AC outlet. Now to be honest, I think the majority of campgrounds have properly wired and maintained power pedestals, but certainly there are instances where a campsite has outlets with reversed polarity or without proper grounding at all. But I’ve seen enough “rewiring” jobs to know that RV owners are also to blame for improper wiring of their own extension cords and 30-amp adapters.
The scenario could go something like this: You plug your RV plug into a loose or worn campsite power outlet. Everything seems fine until you crank up your air conditioner and turn on your coffee maker. That’s when you notice the smell of burning plastic and find that the male plug on your RV extension cord has melted down due to all that current going through a loose connection. Rather than throw that expensive extension cord away, you go to your local big box store and buy a new power plug. However, when you take the wires off of the old plug there’s no diagram to show you how to connect the new plug properly. If you guess right while putting on a new plug, then all is well. If you guess wrong, then you’ve reversed the polarity of your incoming AC power. After that it just takes the right combination of circumstances such as a rainstorm to wet the ground in front of your RV, and you touching the screen door with a damp hand while standing outside. That’s when you can get shocked or even electrocuted. The severity of the shock can vary from a mild tingle to stopping your heart, depending on how wet you and the ground are and the voltage of your RV skin. But make no mistake, rather than the 30 or 40 volts of a high-resistance tingle, it’s possible to have the skin of your RV go to 120 volts with full current of the campsite pedestal with 20, 30 or even 50 amps available.
This picture shows 15, 20, 30 amp outlets and what you should see if you test with a standard voltmeter. This picture also shows wiring colors.
This shows the back of a 30 amp outlet with proper wiring
Here is a 50 amp outlet showing voltages and colors
KLEIN tools quick voltage tester – Home Depot or Amazon about $20
FLUKE quick voltage tester
Proper quick voltage test. This will not tell you how much voltage – only that there is voltage. Purpose – to ensure there is no voltage on either NEUTRAL or GROUND and that the only voltage is seen on the HOT leg. NOTE – the NEUTRAL slot is longer than the HOT slot. Today’s two prong plugs will often have one blade larger than the other. You cannot plug the larger blade into the smaller slot. This ensures proper polarity.
