> This does make me think of another question: Since my amp (and several
others)
> has only the 2 hots and a ground, does that now mean the ground is acting
as the "Neutral"?
No, unless that "ground" is normally carrying current. The ground should
not be acting as a neutral (even though they are at the same potential being
tied together at one point...the distribution panel.
When a ground is deliberately being used to carry current, it is no longer a
ground. It then functions like a neutral. A ground that carries current
during a fault condition is doing its job well...but the ground should not
normally carry any current.
Circling back to your case, your amp appears to only require 240VAC in a
Line--Ground-Line configuration. The only conductors carrying current
should be Line-Line...the ground is connected to the chassis for safety and
would only conduct current only in the event of a fault condition.
Part of this whole Ground & Neutral confusion is that we tend to think of
the ground and neutral being the same. Why? Because they are tied together
at the same point in the distribution panel. Hell, just open up the home
panel and what do you see? You see white neutral conductors connected to
bare ground conductors...and they're appear to be attached to the same
terminal block? (although for wire management purposes, I've recently seen
neutrals and grounds connected on their own blocks but still tied together
with buss bar). So, from an electronics engineer view, they appear one in
the same. From the electricians point of view, they are indeed at the same
potential but their *functions* are vastly different.
It wasn't until I drew the home electrical system on a sheet of paper and
considered various fault events that this became apparent to me. Until
then, I just wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. Then, when I studied
the Alpha 70 and 77-series amplifiers, I knew that since the amp required
two lines, a neutral and a ground that it actually required 4, not 3,
conductor power cabling. The good news is that Dick Ehrhorn and his team
had the intelligence to tie the neutral and ground (even though wrong)
together at the power plug and not within the amplifier. And although the
design was wrong initially, I was very pleased to see that the correction
only involved changes at the power plug. You don't even have to open up the
amp to make the necessary changes.
-Paul, W9AC
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