A bit more detail and history:
In the old NEC convention a 230 volt service was made up of three wires.
Those being L1, L2 and ground or neutral being the third wire. Standard
colors are Black, White and Green. This is the same color convention and
colors for a 115 VAC service. In the new NEC convention there should be 4
wires being L1, L2, Neutral and Ground. Standard colors are Red, Black,
White and Green. At the breaker panel the White and Green are generally
connected to the ground buss. In some local codes they require that the
neutral buss be separated from the ground buss. Usually there is a green
strap in the breaker panel to meet both type of codes.
In the 230 volt service, voltage between L1 and Neutral should be 115 volts
and voltage between L2 and Neutral should be 115 volts. The Neutral carries
any difference in current in the values of L1 and L2. Thus if the amp has a
115 volt fan, it is connected internally between L1 and Neutral. Thus the
current in L1 is greater than the current in L2. The difference is carried
on the Neutral. The Green is always a safety ground and carries no current
unless a fault occurs.
One can use a 3 wire power cord for the amp for 230 volt service. I would
strongly suggest that the voltage rating be checked and it should be 600
volts and not the typical 300 volt rating.
The point being, either can be used correctly and safely. Just be careful
and be sure of how things are wired.
73
Bob, K4TAX
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Brown" <ken.d.brown@hawaiiantel.net>
To: "Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment" <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 10:37 PM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Centaur Power Cord
Hi Mike,
The convention is that blue in a blue/green/brown cord corresponds to
white in white/green/black cord. And brown corresponds to black. Green
or green with a yellow stripe is ground. In a three wire 220 power cord
there is no neutral. There are two hot leads and a ground. NEUTRAL IS
NOT THE SAME AS GROUND, anywhere except in the main load center panel
(meter panel or circuit breaker panel) where they are connected. Three
wire 220 circuits cannot have any 110 loads from one hot lead to
neutral, since there is not neutral wire, and no load of any kind should
ever be connected between a hot lead and ground. If a piece of equipment
fed by a three wire 220 circuit has a fan or other small 110 volt load
inside it, that load must be fed by a 220/110 stepdown transformer. A
four wire 220/110 circuit can supply both 220V and 110V, since it does
have a neutral AND a ground, which are two separate wires.
Again, just to be clear: NEUTRAL IS NOT THE SAME AS GROUND!!!
Make sure you understand this before you attempt any connection to any
AC power source of any voltage.
I'm sure you will get plenty of responses to this ground = neutral error
on the reflector. No doubt one of them will explain why GROUND IS NOT
THE SAME AS NEUTRAL. I'll explain it later if nobody else does.
DE N6KB
I just bought a used Centaur and want to change from 110v to 220v
source.
Have reconfigured jumpers for 220v but don't understand the color code
to
install 220 plug on power cord. Changing from AL811H which uses
standard
"black/white/green" color coding, Centaur has "blue/green/brown" wiring
color code.
Can anyone enlighten me on which color is neutral, etc ? Thanks for
the
help, 73. Mike K4KJC
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