Reverse polarity

[asdfghjkl]

First of all i should point out that I am not an electrician, but having spent the last 3 hrs trying to find an answer to this, I hope you don't mind me posting this topic... I have recently installed some basic wall and celing lights, where the lights previously had celing rose connections. They were fairly standard (I think..!!) with 3 standard cables coming in - all 3 cables were twin and earth. The lights have been in for around 6 months, then strange things started happening (flickering, with the fuse tripping). An electrician came round and the problem looks as though it might be sorted - he advised it is something called reverse polarity, and that it looks as though I had wired the lights incorrectly. Can someone advise (in laymans terms) exactly what reverse polarity is, with reagrds to a celing rose fitting? He explained what it was over the phone (I've not had a chance to look at it properly myself), but it sounds pretty complicated. I dont really understand how I could have wired it incorrectly, as I kept all cables in the same place etc, unless of course they were incorrect in the first place before I got my hands on them... or I know loads less about electrics than I thought in the first place!! Thanks

 

[Cirrus]

switch wire and neutral wired incorrectly I think.

 

[tufan]

reverse polarity in electronic is that;

you connect (+) to (-) and (-) to (+) side of the circuit.(for DC circuit). but i never heard reverse polarity in AC, polarity changes about 50 times in a second at AC.

i dont think that wrong button or switch connection is called "reverse polarity"

 

[tufan]

yes you are right ;



but i did count one cycle as one polarity changing...

 

[DadofTwo]

Sorry to revive an old thread but Id hazard a guess that there was a loose connection somewhere and your spark has fabricated a story to justify his charges.

 

[rumrunner]

hi ya ,i think your problem was a loose conection,if the lights worked for 6 months
i once connected a consumer unit wrong ,all the circuits were wired correctly and all worked but because the mains were wrong way round all the "neutrals" were now lives
and with the single pole swich off and all the fuses out i still had a live supply at the light i was working on ,i found out the hard way as i compleated the circuit to earth ,
thats reverse polarity