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American power connector

R

Ron Eggler

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,

I've moved to N America from Europe and I'm changing some power connector.
My Question now is, when I look from the front on the connector, Ground on
the bottom, is the phase on the left or on the right? I unfortunately don't
have a phase tester handy.

Thanks,
Ron
 
F

Frank S

Jan 1, 1970
0
I spent some time in Sweden, where it is 220 single phase 50 HZ. In the US,
it is 120V 60 HZ single phase. there is a hot a neutral and ground (earth).
You can wire up "stuff" for 220, which is still single phase (is you go
across both sides and not reference ground). Some co-workers Sweden used the
electric dryer socket to get the power they needed for some of their
"stuff". Most electronics use switching supplies, so they will work from 100
to 250 VAC.
As for the outlet, the at it, there are 3 holes the one on the left is
neutral (the return) which is a bigger blade so it can't be plugged into the
hot lead. the hot is on the right, and ground (earth) is the round one on
the bottom.
On 220 outlets, they look like this
__ __

O the 2 at the top are 220, the bottom is earth
Good Luck
Frank
 
E

Eeyore

Jan 1, 1970
0
Michael A. Terrell said:
In residential wiring Romex is very common so Black or red is all you
are likely to see

Which is line/live ? In the UK red was the live conductor for many decades (now
brown in conformity with other European countries).

Graham
 
A

Allodoxaphobia

Jan 1, 1970
0
Which is line/live ? In the UK red was the live conductor for many decades (now
brown in conformity with other European countries).

In the U.S., 110VAC service, 'live' is black, and neutral is white.
Go figure.

It's always been my cynical view that this 'plan' was put in place by a
consortium of electricians to kill off do-it-yourselfers that would
assume the color coding would be rational and logical.

Jonesy
 
I

Ian Jackson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Allodoxaphobia said:
In the U.S., 110VAC service, 'live' is black, and neutral is white.
Go figure.

It's always been my cynical view that this 'plan' was put in place by a
consortium of electricians to kill off do-it-yourselfers that would
assume the color coding would be rational and logical.

Jonesy

For an Englishman, the US colo(u)r code is easy to remember.
Think 'Black Death' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death).
We used to have green for earth (ground) - but, for a long time, now
green and yellow. Close enough. Think 'England's green and pleasant
land' - 'land' = ground. The only problem is white - a sort-of 'neutral'
colo(u)r, I suppose.
 
J

James Sweet

Jan 1, 1970
0
Eeyore said:
Which is line/live ? In the UK red was the live conductor for many decades
(now
brown in conformity with other European countries).

Graham

Black is live, red is also used as live, most often in a 240V circuit where
you have live on both sides. White is neutral which connects to ground in
the panel.
 
A

Allodoxaphobia

Jan 1, 1970
0
For an Englishman, the US colo(u)r code is easy to remember.
Think 'Black Death' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death).
We used to have green for earth (ground) - but, for a long time, now
green and yellow. Close enough. Think 'England's green and pleasant
land' - 'land' = ground. The only problem is white - a sort-of 'neutral'
colo(u)r, I suppose.

Just don't get "Black = dark, cold; White = white hot" burned into your
brain. :)

Jonesy
 
E

Eeyore

Jan 1, 1970
0
James said:
Black is live, red is also used as live, most often in a 240V circuit where
you have live on both sides.

Right. Thanks for the explanation.

White is neutral which connects to ground in the panel.

Yes, familiar with that one.

Graham
 
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