Right-angled drill tripping boats 240v RCCB

[fredrussell]

I have an old Makita right angled drill that is tripping my boats RCCB. The drill works fine at home, but the boat just doesn’t like it. Initially I thought the fuse in plug had gone so had the plug apart and found that the cable is unusual in that the earth wire is the usual yellow and green but the live and neutral wires are both an identical black. I assume this is not the original cable - is it possible that the live and neutral wires are on the wrong way round, so to speak? The drill is uni-directional and business end of it spins the correct way when trigger is depressed. I’ve no reason to suspect boat 240v electrics are dodgy - only this device causes problems.

 

[Clash]

You'd have to check at the drill end to see if they're wired correctly. Assuming there's some indication at that end. And if you're going that far, I'd suggest you replace the cable with a properly colour coded one. A drill or other appliance could still work with the wires reversed, but your circuit breakers might not trip which could be lethal. And maybe that's the issue you're finding now.

 

[starfire]

I have an old Makita right angled drill that is tripping my boats RCCB. The drill works fine at home, but the boat just doesn’t like it. Initially I thought the fuse in plug had gone so had the plug apart and found that the cable is unusual in that the earth wire is the usual yellow and green but the live and neutral wires are both an identical black. I assume this is not the original cable - is it possible that the live and neutral wires are on the wrong way round, so to speak? The drill is uni-directional and business end of it spins the correct way when trigger is depressed. I’ve no reason to suspect boat 240v electrics are dodgy - only this device causes problems.

It's quite possible there is something else on the boa that is causing some earth leakage, below the level where the rccb trips, even if turned off, water heater element is favourite.
Any additional leakage from the drill takes it over the 30mA trip rating.

 

[fredrussell]

Cheers for replies - will investigate as per.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Neutral and earth are joined at source. If the live and neutral are swapped over, that could present a safety risk but I can't see how they could cause your problem.

 

[jdc]

It might be worth checking that neutral and earth are properly separated in the drill. Frequently a short from earth to neutral, even if the potential difference at the mains socket is only a Volt or two, can cause an RCCB to trip; your house and boatyard could well have different impedances or currents flowing in the neutral line so it might cause a trip in one and not the other (in my case it's the other way round: at home a neutral - earth short always causes a trip, whereas on the boat it very rarely does).

Whatever, I agree with the instruction to rewire the drill with the correct cable - use of strange cable might go hand in hand with other bodgery in the past!

Edit: the OP doesn't tell us the source of the 240V [sic, surely it's 230V?] in the boat: was it a marina, shore-power once the boat is stored ashore, or internally generated from an inverter or generator? And if shore-power in a marina, in which country? If a UK marina, then the marina side has to have a 30mA RCCB at the 16A or 32A cable socket as well as one in the boat; which one trips? Is it always the boat one and never the shore-side one?

 

[fredrussell]

Edit: the OP doesn't tell us the source of the 240V [sic, surely it's 230V?] in the boat: was it a marina, shore-power once the boat is stored ashore, or internally generated from an inverter or generator? And if shore-power in a marina, in which country? If a UK marina, then the marina side has to have a 30mA RCCB at the 16A or 32A cable socket as well as one in the boat; which one trips? Is it always the boat one and never the shore-side one?

Sorry, should have said - boat is in marina in Uk with shore power. RCCB on boat trips first. If you reset it and try again, the pontoon supply trips.

 

[fredrussell]

Update: well, swapped the live and neutral wires at plug and happy days - no tripping of RCCB. I’ll put some correct flex on it in the Xmas break. Thanks to all.

 

[Boater Sam]

Probably the suppressor capacitor in the drill has a higher leakage on one pole to earth. Is this an American import drill?

The wire colours suggest it could be.

 

[st599]

Edit: the OP doesn't tell us the source of the 240V [sic, surely it's 230V?]

It's 230v -6%/+10% - UK was 240v, Rest of Europe was 220v, so the EU range was set to cover both - neither actually changed anything,

 

[fredrussell]

Probably the suppressor capacitor in the drill has a higher leakage on one pole to earth. Is this an American import drill?

The wire colours suggest it could be.

I don’t know I’m afraid, it was bought second hand. If it was American, would it not be 110v?