How to find Neutral wire

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How to find Neutral wire

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Multimeter Test for breaks in wire/ Test for voltage Most appliance require 80% rated voltage to function correctly Buy Multimeters at Amazon Electric testers at Amazon Resource: How to test and replace element How to test thermocouple Element tests for 120 volts How to test wire	Safety when testing wires: Never touch wet or previously flooded appliance. Never stand on wet surface when working on electric. Never stand on bare soil, put down dry boards. Tape tester leads to wood sticks to keep hands away from power. Use non-contact voltage tester before touching wires. Never touch or lean into any made of metal. Remove metal objects from pockets. Do not use oxygen or fuel accelerants in same room as electrical repairs Resource: What causes electrocution	Non-contact voltage tester Test for power without touching connectors NEVER assume power is OFF Buy: Non-contact voltage tester Amazon Electric testers at Amazon Resource: How to test electric power is off
Buy Basic extremely detailed electric book at Amazon Or learn about basic household electricity... use and search my site/ Resource All electric pages	Resources See inside main breaker What causes electrocution Difference between single-phase and 3-phase	Use ohmmeter to verify resistance between earth and motor frame is less than 0.5 Ω Resource Why you need ground wire
Use solid copper wire not stranded wire Fire inside timer caused by stranded wire Keep enclosure door closed at all times Buy: soldering guns Resource Timer caught fire	Weatherproof lever switch on outdoor lights Safely operate outdoor toggle switch Replaces outdoor cover Install over top of ordinary switch Works with single-pole, double-pole, 3PST, 3-way, 4-way switches etc Use weatherproof box for outdoor Can be used indoor or outdoor Buy: Best choice: Cantex lever switch Outdoor lever switches at Amazon Lever switches Resource Cantex-toggle-switch-covers.pdf Cantex-PVC-junction-boxes.pdf	GFCI must be installed in Bathroom, kitches and outdoor outlets Resource: How to wire GFCI What causes electrocution

The white-insulated electric wires that carry normal circuit current are called "grounded wires" (also known as the neutral wires). Grounded wires are connected to the earth by the grounding wires. This normally occurs at only one point in a residential electrical system - inside the service entrance panel.
	How to test for Hot and Neutral wire: Find the Hot wire first... every box has a Hot wire ... then use the Hot wire to find Neutral. Turn power off Separate all wires for testing except ground wires. Turn power on. Tape tester leads to wood sticks for safety. Keep hands away from power. Test each wire to bare ground wire. Tester lights up on Hot wire. Hot wire should be black (except 3-way switches) Test Hot wire to all other wires except ground Tester lights up on Neutral wire. Buy: Voltage neon testers at Amazon Electric testers at Amazon
	Correct wiring. Single pole - Neutral in box Modern wiring has Neutral wire in every switch box. Neutral is normally two or more white wires covered with wire connector and pushed to back of box. The Neutral connects to each outlet and light, but does not connect to switch, unless the switch is a combination device with outlet or pilot light. It is against code to connect 20 amp switch or breaker to 15 amp wire (white 14 gauge wire) ,,, but ok to connect 15 amp switch or outlet to 20 amp breaker (yellow 12 gauge wire)
	'Old school' wiring works correctly, but is no longer code because white wire carries power. With older wiring, not every switch box has a Neutral wire. Usually if a switch box has just two wires and a ground wire, then a Neutral is not present. Switches turn the Hot wire on and off. It is against code to turn off the Neutral instead of Hot. The Hot wire is connected to each switch and each outlet, and runs to each light. Ground wire runs continuously and connects to all devices and metal boxes in the circuit. Plastic boxes contain ground wire but ground wire does not need to be bonded to the box. Resources: How to wire switches Basic house wiring
	Add black tape when White wire carries voltage (applies to 208 and 240V circuits) With 120 and 277 Volt circuits, White wire is Neutral, and Black is Hot With 208 and 240 circuits, both wires are Hot, and both wires carry voltage Black tape on White wire identifies wire is Hot and not Neutral Wires for 240 volt can be Red-Black but are usually White-Black " a white wire is allowed to be used as an energized conductor as long as is marked with a black band to indicate that it is an energized conductor. With any type of switch, only the energized conductor(s) should be switched. Never place a switch within a neutral conductor’s path."

Neutral wire universally connects to silver screw.
Notice color code on screws. Black Hot connects to Brass screw (often black color).
Both Neutral screws are bonded together so 1 connection point is all that's needed. Brass screws are also bonded together, but often they are connected with a breaker-away fin that can be removed to accomplish various wiring options not shown on this page.
Outlet shown is for 120 volt ONLY. DO not use two-vertical-slot outlet for 240 volt. Outlets for 240 volt have different blade configuration.
How to wire 240 volt straight blade outlet

The Green Ground screw is always on the Neutral side of outlet.
Outlets can be rotated either way, with Neutral or Hot on left or right.
This illustration shows Hot right, Neutral left. Illustration above shows the same.

Outlets are wired in parallel
Electrical switches, timers, outlets, lights etc are never wired in series.
Wiring in series will not work. Wiring must be in parallel as illustrated on this page. Wiring in series causes voltage drop across the line.
Parallel wiring ensures that voltage remains the same across entire circuit.
Resources:
Basic house wiring

Neutral and the Single pole timer
(With or without neutral wire available inside box)
Applies to most ordinary in-wall timers
How to replace ordinary wall switch with single pole timer
Your wall switch has 2 wires, plus green ground screw for bare-copper ground wire.
Timer has 3 wires, plus green ground wire.

Extra wire on timer is used to run clock inside timer.
Typical in-wall timer clock consumes .8 Kwh per year

Manual says:
Timer-Black-wire to Hot;
Timer-Red-wire to Load (lights)
Timer-White-wire to Neutral.
Timer-Green to ground.
Here's what to do
1) Timer-green-wire connects to bare ground wire.
2) Switch has 2 wires.
Take switch wires and connect them to timer-black-wire and timer-red-or blue-wire.
Choose either one for now.
Variations: (Leviton timers have blue wire instad of red) (and Some 3-way timers have both red and blue... use blue and cap red)
3) In back of electric box are white wires twisted together and covered with wire connector. Connect timer-white to these wires.
4) If electric box does not have white wires described above, then connect timer-white to bare ground. Timer will work until you have time to run additional White neutral wire from nearby outlet.
5) Turn on electricity, and push ON-OFF button. If lights come on, timer is wired correctly. If lights do not come on, then reverse timer-red and timer-black wires.
If lights blink after installing timer, then white wire is connected to red wire.
Resources
See all programmable timers
See all countdown timers

Single-phase circuit breaker box found in residential installation
-Electricity arrives in the breaker box after passing through the meter box, and meter.
-The breaker box has 2 Hot busbars and 1 Neutral busbar. Each Hot busbar carries 120 volt electricity that is out of phase... likethe pedals on a bike, each phase in either rising or falling but always opposite the other pedal.
-When double breaker is installed over two 120 volt out-of-phase busbars, there is 240 volt potential across the 2 Hot wires.
-When a single-pole breaker is installed over a busbar, there is 120 volt potential across the Hot wire and the Neutral.
-Each 120 volt circuit requires a How and Neutral wire. Each 240 volt circuit requires 2 out-of-phase Hot wires but does not require a Neutral.
-All 120 volt and 240 volt circuits require ground wire.

Resources:
Generator to power pole
Power pole to residential breaker box
Power pole to commercial breaker box
How to wire commercial 3-phase

Contactors/ relays

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Programmable timers

Woods timers

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