Things some idiot got wrong and now can't be put right

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swansonj

Guru
Why don't we drive on the same side as Europe
Errr... don't you mean "why don't we drive on the same side as the rest of Europe"?:smile:
 
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User33236

Guest
Electronics is quite a hard subject, but it would be a little easier if current flowed the same direction as electrons. Unfortunately, Benjamin Franklin had a 50-50 chance of getting it right and he got it wrong. It would have been worth the bother of nominating the charge on electrons as positive when it was discovered they were the primary charge characters, but now it's too late.

Wires on three pin plugs: whose bright idea was it to colour the live wire brown and the earth wire green and yellow? Blue for neutral sort of makes sense, but earth should be brown and live should be green or maybe red. Why give the earth wire the most vivid colours when it's not always necessary anyway.
The earth wire is the most important to get right. Even if wiring up a detachable 3 conductor mains lead for a double insulated item the earth must always be connected is case the cable gets moved to another device.

As noted upstream the stripe makes it possible for most of the population to see even the majority of colour blind folk.
 

KEEF

Veteran
Location
BURNOPFIELD
upload_2017-5-19_16-53-49.png
before I plug my guitar in is this right
 

snorri

Legendary Member
View attachment 353076 before I plug my guitar in is this right
Yeah, you've got the writing on the fuse the right way up, so all ok:okay:.


Maybe not:whistle:.
 

winjim

Smash the cistern
OK, can somebody explain what the actual difference is between live and neutral? I mean it's alternating current so they must be the same and just swap over fifty times a second right? Right?
 

broadway

Veteran
OK, can somebody explain what the actual difference is between live and neutral? I mean it's alternating current so they must be the same and just swap over fifty times a second right? Right?

Neutral is very close to earth so effectively neutral = 0v and live = 0-230v
 
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