What is indicated if a voltmeter connected...

🔍 Key Concepts

• Ship’s DC distribution: one side of the DC system is normally bonded (connected) to the ship’s hull/ground, and the other side is insulated from ground • Voltmeter reading to ground: what it means when you measure between one pole of a DC system and ground and you get full line voltage vs. half or zero • Ground fault: what it means physically if the ‘wrong’ side of the line is unintentionally connected to the hull

💭 Think About

• Visualize a simple DC system: a battery or generator with a positive and negative terminal, and the ship’s hull as ground. If the negative side is properly grounded, what should a voltmeter between negative and ground read? • Now imagine instead that the positive side is grounded (intentionally or by fault). What would a voltmeter between the negative side and ground read relative to the full line voltage? • Think about whether reversing the generator terminals would change the physical grounding condition or just polarity labels.

✅ Before You Answer

• Before choosing, decide clearly: in a normally grounded DC system, which side (positive or negative) is intended to be at the same potential as the hull? • Mentally sketch the circuit and label: +, −, ground. Mark where the ground connection actually is in each option and what a meter between “−” and ground would see. • Check whether reversing generator terminals alone would fix a side-to-ground fault, or if the real issue is which side of the line is bonded to the hull.

What is indicated if a voltmeter connected between the negative side of a ship's DC line and ground reads the full line voltage?

It indicates that the voltmeter leads are reversed

This indicates that the positive side of the line, rather then the negative side is grounded

The generator terminals should be reversed

Both B & C are correct

🔍 Key Concepts

💭 Think About

✅ Before You Answer