FW: Newbie charger wiring question.

["Walls, Jim R" <WALLSJR@sce.com>]

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Peter Howell Jr wrote:

>    In wiring up my zivan k2, I've run head on into my utter lack of
> real world electrical know-how.  Gary Flo's directions are quite
> clear.  They tell me that the green/yellow wire is ground.  The
> blue is neutral and the brown is hot.  Only one problem.  What's
> the convention for electral outlets?  Which spade is neutral and
> which one is hot?  And what's likely to happen to you charger if
> you reverse them?

Since you are asking about hot vs neutral, I assume you are talking
about a 120 volt outlet.  I will forgo with the attempt at ASCII art
and go just with a verbal description.  This description will be from
the prospective of looking at the wall outlet (not the plug on the
end of a cable).  If the outlet you are looking at has the ground at
the bottom, then the neutral is the connector on the upper left.  It is
also a wider (vertically in this case) slot than the hot is.  On the
plug, the wider blade is the neutral.  If what you are trying to do is
wire a plug on the end of the cable, in MOST (but not all) plugs, the
screw terminal of the plug for the neutral is a silver color whereas
the hot is brass, and the ground is green.  WARNING - NOT ALL PLUGS
are colored that way, but if the three screw terminals are the above
colors, then they are likely wired that way - If they are not in the
three colors stated above, the are likely all the same, in which case you
need to use the positions to determine which is which.
As to reversing hot and neutral, I don't know about the zivan, but
in most cases, no damage will result from reversing them.  The power
switch will switch the neutral so there is a safety issue, but you
should not damage anything.
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Jim Walls - K6CCC
wallsjr@sce.com
Mobile Radio Operations
Southern California Edison
(626) 308-6515    FAX (626) 308-6516