Watch out for the other guy. Especially his electrical work! (Mis-wired cord plug)

[denrep]

Like electricity, I try to take the path of least resistance.
So when I recently needed to change a cord plug, I did the lazy man thing and grabbed this used plug, complete with cord. It had been cut off of something or other, and I was just going to swap the cord and plug complete.

Looked like another gravy job.

But I'm always hesitant to install "the other guy's" work without a close inspection.
Here's why:

When I popped it apart for inspection, I found that the green ground conductor was wired to one of the power blades! On this plug the green ground lead should pass through the center hole and ground to the housing.

Obviously it must have been previously used without a proper housing ground, because the housing grounds only through the center. If it were installed by color, as wired, the frame of the cord connected device could be energized!

So - Watch out for the other guy!

Good Luck

[duaneb55]

I think Alfred was testing you.

[Sandy]

That's the old ASSume thing they always talk about. Never ceases to amaze me. Who knows what the history was on something like that.

Trailer connectors are something else I just could never figure out some folks logic on.

[farmersamm]

And y'all didn't think I travelled that far North

Dare ya to find my fingerprints on it. I carry Handi Wipes on every field job

[Billy]

I was called out to look at a MIG, all they told me was that it was not working properly !
I have a habit of when ever I go to touch a machine I use the back of my hand and go in slowly, as my hand got close I felt a shock!!

To cut a long story short, a guy wired the plug with an active 415V to the earth terminal.
He no longer works there, and was a bit messy looking when they carried him out

Cheers
Billy

[denrep]

I should have mentioned that although the plug carried non-standard wiring, it may have been functionally safe, depeding on how it was installed.
However, the non-standard wire colors could mean trouble for the next guy, when he -as Sandy says- assumes a standard color code was followed.

Good Luck

[Ken Dennis]

I think one of the biggest mistakes that has been made in color coding for AC is the use of black and white as a hot, and green or red as the ground, because in DC, the standard used was to make the hot red and the ground black of which makes sence because we associate fire with red, so naturaly one would think of something hot as red or even white!
The standard should have been to use red and white for hot leads and black or green as a ground for AC and DC both so people would not confuse them!
And then when you buy wire, to confuse things even further, there is orange, blue and yellow coded wires
Then theres 3 phase, at least they had the good sence to tag them with L-1, L-2 and L-3, but watch out for older motors that where tagged with just an actual paper tag that has come off and you can no longer differentiate between them!
Like samm say's, I hate electrical stuff...

[dakook]

Originally Posted by denrep

I should have mentioned that although the plug carried non-standard wiring, it may have been functionally safe, depeding on how it was installed.
However, the non-standard wire colors could mean trouble for the next guy, when he -as Sandy says- assumes a standard color code was followed.

Good Luck

Looks like in it's previous life that it was used for 480 vac 3 phase w/o a ground. Would of worked fine for that. But your point is valid, specially when it comes to welders. I have found twice were some wired a leg of the 480 vac to the case ground of a welder.

[MAC702]

Originally Posted by Ken Dennis

...The standard should have been to use red and white for hot leads and black or green as a ground ...

That's the color code in Australia. red, white, and blue are the standard 240V hots, black is the grounded conductor (neutral) and yellow/green is the safety ground.

[lugweld]

Had that experience too Denrep...Glad I checked.

[Sandy]

Originally Posted by lugweld

Had that experience too Denrep...Glad I checked.

I always say "I know what it should be, now let's check to see what it is".