Neutral lines reversed

[grizz272]

I was camping last weekend and I noticed that my powerline protector indicated that the neutral lines for the 50 amp service were reversed to the power line coming in to my fifth wheel. Is this a big issue?

[grizz272]

Sorry about t not responding. I had not been able to log on in a while so I kind of gave up for a while. I will need to go out to the camper to find out what kind of protector I have. All I can tell you now is that it is 50 amp. I know no help.

[ppine]

Every electrical post on this forum is a wild adventure.

[happy2rv]

As time2roll suggested, please post the model of surge protector and exactly which lights or message it was providing. Bottom line, if your surge protector isn't "happy" with the power, yes it's a big deal. Some problems have more potential to do great harm than others, but all issues should be resolved.

As others have indicated, 50A service has 1 Neutral, 1 Ground, and 2 110V lines. It's not possible for both to be reversed, but it is possible for L1 and neutral or L2 and neutral to be reversed. If this is what was being indicated, it is a potentially dangerous situation, in terms of threat to life and damage to equipment, for several reasons.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Eddy earth currents near a major transformer can damned sure affect L0 to earth potentials. This is supposed to be the realm of the utility. Wet the earth or clean a metal pipe. Set voltmeter scale to 200 AC. Stab the earth and the earth ground socket. You will know for sure. This is a MAJOR MAJOR cause of early failures down here.

[Mike134]

wa8yxm wrote:

DrewE wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I wonder if the equipment is reading that neutral and ground are reversed?

There's no electrical way to detect such a fault, since the only difference between neutral and ground lies in what purpose they serve and whether the physical wire has a jacket around it.

I alomost agree with you Drew.. I suspect it detects some of the faults by measuring voltages.. Voltage between neutral and ground means "Reverse Polarity".. Mine said "OPEN GROUND" but the park technician who fixed it swears it was the neutral.

I'm thinking the error messages might be...er.. off a bit sometimes

You may almost agree with Drew but Drew is 100% correct.

[wa8yxm]

DrewE wrote:

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I wonder if the equipment is reading that neutral and ground are reversed?

There's no electrical way to detect such a fault, since the only difference between neutral and ground lies in what purpose they serve and whether the physical wire has a jacket around it.

I alomost agree with you Drew.. I suspect it detects some of the faults by measuring voltages.. Voltage between neutral and ground means "Reverse Polarity".. Mine said "OPEN GROUND" but the park technician who fixed it swears it was the neutral.

I'm thinking the error messages might be...er.. off a bit sometimes

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Correct connection of a service entry is rife with regulations. Lines L1, L2, L3. Lines to neutral, and neutral to earth ground are vital checks. Excessive neutral to earth ground voltage must be avoided. Up there, the utility must be consulted on this. I have seen differences up to 200 volts RMS. Campgrounds are sloppy about this. My facility down here was tiny. But the furthest site had a 20 volt difference. I raised hell with the CFE and they had to replace their pole transformer. Remember. This is a neutral to earth ground issue.

L1 L2 & L3 load balancing is another issue altogether. As Is the line balance into an+ RV 50-amp service.

[time2roll]

grizz272 wrote:
I was camping last weekend and I noticed that my powerline protector indicated that the neutral lines for the 50 amp service were reversed to the power line coming in to my fifth wheel. Is this a big issue?

OK... exactly what protector do you have and what indicators were illuminated?

[DrewE]

Bill.Satellite wrote:
I wonder if the equipment is reading that neutral and ground are reversed?

There's no electrical way to detect such a fault, since the only difference between neutral and ground lies in what purpose they serve and whether the physical wire has a jacket around it. Both are connected together (bonded) at the main service entrance, so both are at the same or very nearly the same potential.

(Just for clarity, note that the RV's electric panel is not the "main service entrance" referred to above; ground and neutral should be kept strictly separated in the RV electric panel.)

[BB_TX]

Two hots and only ONE neutral in a 50 amp hookup.

Good explanation here.

[rhochnadel]

I would like to know what you mean by the neutral lines reversed.

[wa8yxm]

Were you on 50 or 30 amps?
On 50 amps Reversing the two hot leads. makes no difference and in fact can not be detected

Reversing one hot and the neutral You'd know about it fast and the surge protector faster so it would protect you.

reversing neutral and ground is possible but again should NOT be detectable

[Bill_Satellite]

I wonder if the equipment is reading that neutral and ground are reversed?

[larry_cad]

I'm with MEX on this one but I'm going to subscribe anyway just to see where it goes.