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In home wiring the white wire is neutral. Some light fixtures that are typically out of reach may not differentiate between hot (black) and neutral (white). In this case the black and white supply wires can arbitrarily connected to the two fixture black wires, one to each.
The NEC requires that the neutral be connected to the screw shell of a 'typical' light socket regardless of height. This allows that while changing out a lamp (called a bulb), if you inadvertently come into contact with the screw shell, you are not in danger.
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EzraIn residential wiring, assuming power to the light is being supplied at the switch box, the white wires are all tied together and pushed back into the switch box. If you are using a switch leg where power is in the ceiling box and not in the switch box you will have 2 wires + ground coming from the ceiling to the switch box and both the white and black are connected to the switch, either screw, and the ground is connected to the ground screw.
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If the white wire is connected to the switch, the electrical code requires that it be identified as a current carrying conductor. This is done by identifying the conductor by a wrap of black tape. This is required on both ends of the conductor. This is a safety precaution to let anyone that services the switch in the future that the conductor is not a neutral.
If the voltage source is at the fixture box, the wire will be a two wire that goes to the switch box. The colour coding should be, black wire going to the top of the switch as a "hot" feeder and the return from the switch to the light fixture will be the white wire. The white is not a neutral and should be identified as such. This is done by wrapping black tape around the white wire at both ends of the white wire. This tells anyone working on the circuit that the white is no longer a neutral but a current carrying circuit wire.
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How and where do you connect the white wire from the shunt breake to the electrical panel?
The white wire would go to the neutral bar. Just be sure of the shunt trip voltage required for the breaker and land the white wire on the appropriate neutral bar in the correct panel.
When you are replacing a male plug on an electric cord. Which screw does the black wire go on?
The black wire goes to the brass colored screw and the white wire goes to the silver screw.
If the wiring in your ceiling box is black white red and green but the light fixture only has black white and bare what do you do with the red ceiling wire?
Answer for USA, Canada and countries running a 60 Hz power supply service.Learn how to use a voltmeter, or at least a neon test lamp, and check those wires out before you touch any of them!That said, the bare wire on your fixture should connect to the green ground wire in your electrical box. The white neutral wire should go to the white, and your black (hot) wire for your fixture probably goes to the black wire in the box - you will need a voltmeter to take readings of the potential between the neutral and the black, then the neutral and the red, and see if the black or red is controlled by the the switch.The Black wire may be a "hot traveler" wire coming from the lighting circuit breaker on the main panel. The Red wire may be "switched hot" coming from the light switch for this light fitting. The white wire may be a Neutral coming from the main panel. The Green wire should only ever be a safety Ground wire coming from the main panel.Or there may be a two-way switched circuit feeding that light. If it is a light near some stairs and you have 2 switches controlling it, one switch downstairs and another switch upstairs, then the wiring could well be as follows: the Red (or the Black) is a "hot feed" to the switches and the other one, the Black (or the Red) is the "hot return" from the switches.However you must not just assume any of these suggestions about wiring colors is correct for your house.If you don't know how to check these things safelyDON'T DO IT - YOU COULD KILL YOURSELF!As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.Before you do any work yourself,on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOBSAFELY AND COMPETENTLYREFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
Why dining room lights go on and off intermittently?
Check for loose wiring at the light itself and also at the light switch. There can also be a loose wire anywhere in the circuit supplying power to that light switch. Start at the light itself and work backwards in the circuit until you find the loose wire.
How do you connect a 230 volt outlets using a neutral white wire?
I am taking this question to mean that you are making an installation using two wire cable that has a black and white in it. In this situation the white is not called a neutral. At the distribution panel end the white wire does not connect to the neutral bar. It will go to one side of a two pole breaker. the other side of the breaker will connect to the black wire of the cable. On the 230 volt receptacle end the two wires will connect to either side of the receptacle. Make sure that the cable wiring is rated to take the amperage that your plug-in device will draw. The last thing to do is identify the white wire as a "hot" current carrying conductor. This is done by placing black tape around the white wire. This is done at both ends of the cables white wire. This is done to ensure in the future that is someone else works on the circuit they will know that the wire is not a neutral conductor.In the market place there is a new cable that has no white wire in it. This cable is used for wiring baseboard heaters and has a different colour jacket to identify the type of cable it is. The internal wiring colours are black and red. This wire is used for all 230 volt circuits.
