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hi youtubers jeff cote here with pacific  yacht systems  we've got a question from a fellow  boater pat and pack  has a question regarding uh the little  lights on our ac panels okay here goes  jeff my ac 120 volt  panel has a light which is green and  another light which is red  first up what is this for  great question so um let's talk with the  green light  green is good right that's probably why  they chose it and that's why it's there  uh green means that you're sensing and  that light is basically  wired to the neutral and the hot  so when you connect to shore power uh  you're going to have two line in  you're going to most likely be 120 and  you're going to have  um a hot and a neutral and so they're  putting a light literally in between  those two lines the hot and the neutral  and if that light  has enough voltage 120 volts it's going  to light up  pretty bright and that tells you that  they're sensing  ac before even the breaker is turned on  so it's a way for you to know  especially on the input breaker that  your ac  is being sensed before the breaker is on  so it's a good way to just so visually  know that i have ac  being sensed at my panel so  because that light is on a lot of time  over time it dies  you know that light is going to be every  time you connect to shore power that  light is bright and shining and so  over time that green light might die uh  because it's simply being not overused  but it's being used a lot because every  time you're plugged in  that light is energized there's another  little light beside it  and that light is called reverse  polarity light  and that light is red red is bad  bad reverse polarity happens  when the neutral and the hot light are  actually  swapped and this is  very critical on land generally that  never happens  or pretty rare but in marinas it does  happen because there's a lot  unfortunately a lot of macgyver's  at marinas and there's a lot of things  that leave the world of common sense at  a marina  so it is possible it is possible that  you're going to go to a destination  marina  and someone is going to have basically  not properly connected the shore power  receptacle  at the dock and instead of putting hot  on hot  and neutral on neutral they actually  swapped it  and that can lead to very very very  serious problems  that's a separate video but i have tons  of articles on this and that is called  reverse polarity  and that light is energized between  neutral and ground  now remember neutral and ground should  be tied they should be common  and if you measure a voltage  differential between  neutral and ground you're basically  going to have a light show up because  that's how voltage works right voltage  is simply a differential of  two points and so that red light is  energized  and can be very bright if you have 120  volts on the neutral when it should be  zero  so if ever that light is energized you  need to disconnect  your boat from shore power yes things do  work  but you're it can be very dangerous so  disconnect and bring it to the intention  of the marina and tell them by the way  i'm  sensing reverse polarity at my panel and  then that's where you want to bring an  electrician to troubleshoot  that issue thank you for watching this  pys video if you've got further  questions  ask them down below or go on our website  to fill one of the forms don't forget to subscribe and thanks for  watching  you