Date:         18 Sep 96 12:14:26 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "William A. McKinley" <75112.2101@CompuServe.COM>
Subject:      Re: replacing elec. hookup


>The electrical hookup has three screws on the back, on the original the 
>black wire went to the brown screw the white wire to the silver screw 
>and the green screw. The new one worked out so the black wire went on 
>the silver screw and the white wire went on the brown screw and the 
>green (ground) screw. Is this OK?


Rick,
The white wire needs to connect with the side of the plug
with the wide blade. This *should* be the silver colored
screw. You can check with an ohmmeter if necessary. Looking
at a female receptacle, the configuration of the holes is
thus:


			|	
wide hole 		|		|narrow hole
(white or neutral wire)	|		|(dark wire, hot)
			|		|
			|


	round or U shaped	O
	hole (green ground wire)

Looking at the end of a male plug would be a mirror image.
The wires should be connected this way to prevent 
electrocution [rhymes with execution :-(  ]. In home wiring,
the green wire is always ground, the white wire is always 
neutral, and the hot us usually red or black, but if it
is controlled by a switch, it may be any of a number of
other colors. If you look in your circut panel at home, 
you will see that the neutral wires and the ground wires
are attached to the same buss. They are effectively the
same. Some older equipment (TV's, etc) had the chassis
grounded to the neutral wire. If the "polarized" plug
(one blade wider than the other, only fits the receptacle
one way) was somehow overcome so it could be plugged in 
backwards, the TV would still operate, but the chassis
would then be energized. Touching a metal part on the
TV chassis (this was years ago, they're different now)
while you were grounded (barefooted on a tile floor,
touching another appliance or plumbing at the same time)
you would receive an electric shoch proportional to the
quality of the ground and the resistance of your body.
[Lets see now... what would the voltage drop be if we
all held hands and the last one in line grabbed the sink
faucet? How many lumens....   ;-)   ].

Bottom line, you've got it hooked up wrong. Unless
someone switched the screws around.

Andy McKinley
75112.2101@compuserve.com
'72 Westy