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Anonymous Poster

power plug

11/25/2010 5:58 PM

the earth pole of a power plug making big, why?
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kramarat
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#1

Re: power plug

11/25/2010 6:26 PM

Little side of plug neutral, big side hot. Some items don't like to have polarity reversed.

Big earth on bottom is ground, ground big so not burn when short happens.

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Kilowatt0
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#5
In reply to #1

Re: power plug

11/25/2010 7:17 PM

Little side of plug neutral HOT, big side hot NEUTRAL. Some items don't like to have polarity reversed. Big earth on bottom is ground, ground big so not burn when short happens.

The larger neutral (besides keying - also accomplished by the ground pin) means that in a worst case, the hot pin becomes the fuse.

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lyn
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#6
In reply to #5

Re: power plug

11/25/2010 7:42 PM

kramarat isn't an electrician. Fortunately. Below from Wiki:
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Kilowatt0
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#7
In reply to #6

Re: power plug

11/25/2010 7:48 PM

I figured it was the tryptophan from the turkey talking.

Speaking of which, being out west, mine is calling me now. Then the only thing you will hear from me is snoring!

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kramarat
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#8
In reply to #5

Re: power plug

11/25/2010 7:52 PM

I typed the exact opposite of what I was thinking, good catch. I was trying to be cute with my phrasing. Must be the turkey. Having a little sip too.

I always remember when wiring (w)hite goes to (w)ide prong.

I can't edit........somebody kill that GA

Thanks lyn.......I knew better.

Oh good, just realized I can vote myself OT.

I should know better than even fooling around with these threads.

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Kilowatt0
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#9
In reply to #8

Re: power plug

11/25/2010 10:50 PM

I got quite a chuckle out of that phrasing!

10 will get you 1 that "guest" can't find his way back to this thread anyway; so we might as well have fun hijacking it.

Hmm. I always remember Black= Black widow death my spidey sense is tingling! when wiring. Not that I don't check myself 3-4 times with a meter anyway!

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kramarat
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#12
In reply to #9

Re: power plug

11/26/2010 7:41 AM

I like the black widow idea. I've gotten pretty good with household wiring. I busted out a wall on a chase several years ago on my fixer-upper house and found a birds nest of wires, (probably 20), all connected with wire nuts. It took me three weeks to trace everything out, run new wires, put in junction boxes, etc.

I had a "real" electrician come over and look at it, and he didn't even want to tackle it.

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Kilowatt0
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#16
In reply to #12

Re: power plug

11/27/2010 10:11 PM

Ah yes. Wire nuts; the lazy mans "wire stretcher". I hate those things with a passion. On the instrumentation wired to my control system, they are an F'up waiting to happen. On house wiring, they are an electrical fire waiting to happen.

Kudos to you for running new wires.

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debasis.nandy
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#11
In reply to #5

Re: power plug

11/26/2010 3:09 AM

Also by this arrangement you can ensure plugging in one position only. Further the earth pin is also slightly longer than the others to ensure earth connection first for safety reasons.
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lyn
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#2

Re: power plug

11/25/2010 6:38 PM

Not always.

[PDF] The Different Types of AC Power Connectors in North America
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kramarat
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#3
In reply to #2

Re: power plug

11/25/2010 6:52 PM

Not worthy of a GA. Hard to tell what he was talking about. You were right in one of your posts a couple of days ago, these nonsensical questions are popping up like a rash. I'm starting to really think that google, (in the native language), is unavailable in a lot of places. It's the only thing that would explain it.

Hell, forget about google...........any search engine, for that matter.

The stuffed feeling is finally starting to wear off, which is good.....I don't like feeling like a pig.

I see your nice turkey day thread is beginning to unravel.

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lyn
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#4
In reply to #3

Re: power plug

11/25/2010 7:08 PM

Well, there's one more thing. They have people like us who do their searching for them.

I'm having margaritas now. My answers may start resembling the questions.

Adios Amigo.
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klearzen
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#15
In reply to #2

Re: power plug

11/27/2010 1:12 PM

Thanks for the link Lyn. I have a number of plug charts,but non with the VA ratings easy to see..... it is helpful. hope your Holiday was fun. we had the first snow of the season here in st louis . Warmest Regards, Ray

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bob c
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#10

Re: power plug

11/26/2010 2:15 AM

Viagra?

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Anonymous Poster
#13

Re: power plug

11/26/2010 8:05 AM

Not only bigger in diameter but also longer. Longer to ensure earth contact is made first and bigger because of two reasons (1) to ensure that one cannot mix it up with phase or neutral the other two terminals of a 3 pin plug top. This gives an unique manner in which the plug can be fitted. (2) safety aspect. Bigger contact area means less resistance so the fault current can flow to earth without any hindrance.
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mike k
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#14

Re: power plug

11/26/2010 1:49 PM

I always double check for safety, look at a new receptacle for reference. I'm so glad the manufacturers make the screw on the receptacle chrome (white) for the white wire and brass for the hot, it helps while you have the receptacle upside down for attaching the wires.

I don't like to work on wires without my 'tweety bird' (non contact voltage detector) or at least a neon voltage detector. Either will show me for sure which is hot.

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JRaef
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#17

Re: power plug

11/28/2010 3:05 PM

As a general rule, the ground pin on an AC connector is made to have more surface area than line of neutral pins because over time, corrosion builds up on all of the connector pins and you always want the ground connection to have less resistance than the line (or neutral).

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PWSlack
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#18

Re: power plug

11/29/2010 12:49 PM

Here is why.

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