Reverse Polarity

[Lou Gentile]

I am a new Catalina 30 owner, and I noticed on my electrical panel that the "Reverse Polarity" light has been coming on when I hook to shore power. This does not happen all the time, mostly when I turn the Hot Water Heater on. The boat has a 30 AMP battery charger that comes on automatically when I turn the AC power switch on.I checked all the connections and all seem tight.Any thoughts?Thanks for your replies in advance.

 

[Bob]

Some Ideas

The reverse polarity light senses when the neutral and hot wires are switched at the shore power supply outlet. I don't know why this would be intermittant unless you had switched outlets at the supply box. I don't know, but perhaps a leak to ground could cause the light to go on (this could mean there's a problem in your water heater wiring). Have you tried plugging in a standard three prong polarity tester (avail @ hardware store) into one of your auxiliary outlets to see if it also shows reverse polarity at the same time your panel does? It could also be that your panel indicator is faulty and gives false readings at high current draws as when you're running the water heater.