Re: ANOTHER house wiring question (this one's basic)

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Article #9512

#9512

From: John Murray
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 1991 21:49

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In article <1991Jan15.142034.5801@mlb.semi.harris.com> jws@cica4.mlb.semi.harris.com (James W. Swonger) writes:
>In article <5884@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> bender@oobleck.Eng.Sun.COM (Michael Bender) writes:
>>
>>anyone know why they choose BLACK for the hot wire and WHITE for
>>neutral?  I always associated black wires with ground.
>>
> I think it was done that way because the average schmoe associates 
>black with death, i.e. "don't touch that one, dummy"

US Three-phase color coding:
GReen=GRound
White=Neutral (white is sorta a neutral color, I guess..)
Black=Phase 1
Red=Phase 2
Blue=Phase 3

Working with 50, 100,...,1200 amp AC three-phase services, I have seen
these colors used a whole lot. I have also seen black=ground, red=hot...
in low-voltage DC electronics. They're pretty much different critters,
so the color confusion doesn't bother me much. Kinda hard to confuse black
0000 gauge with black 24 gauge wire :-)

Anyway, this is where the green(or bare)=ground, white=neutral, black=hot
color scheme for three wire AC cables comes from.

-- 
Disclaimer: Yeah, right, like you really believe I run this place.
John R. Murray              |        "Never code anything
murray@vsjrm.scri.fsu.edu   |          bigger than your head.."
Supercomputer Research Inst.|               - Me

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From: murray@sun13.scri.fsu.edu (John Murray)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: ANOTHER house wiring question (this one's basic)
Message-ID: <1919@sun13.scri.fsu.edu>
Date: 15 Jan 91 21:49:50 GMT
References: <kJhTxoE@quack.sac.ca.us> <1948@umriscc.isc.umr.edu> <5884@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> <1991Jan15.142034.5801@mlb.semi.harris.com>
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