Where did I say that it would work with only one leg connected? Oh, you mean use the earth line instead of the neutral line? I see.
That's interesting. I always thought that one leg of a plug was larger than the other to ensure that it was inserted a specific way, and the reason for that was to ensure that the correct pin got the ground potential.
That was only the case (and may still be) for old "AC/DC" radios/TV's etc. These ran with one leg hot. If you put the plug in the wrong way, the chassis would then be hot.
I don't know any equipment that is designed that way anymore, do you?
If you shave down the big plug on your cd player/TV/VCR etc, and plug it in to the wall socket "backwards", will it run? Of course it will. Why?
I don't know any equipment that is designed that way anymore, do you?
If you shave down the big plug on your cd player/TV/VCR etc, and plug it in to the wall socket "backwards", will it run? Of course it will. Why?
Because it's AC, and all the component needs in order to work is a potential difference between the two legs, it doesn't care about absolute potentials.
I understand that part. Nowhere did I say that the component wouldn't work if things were connected backwards, and I'm not sure why you're still trying to explain to me that it will. I repeat, I understand that the component will work. What I'm trying to understand are the safety issues involved, and absolute voltages (i.e., voltages referenced to earth) do make a difference there, don't they? Or don't they?
A component that has a 2-prong plug is supposed to be double insulated, so the outside chassis never comes into contact with the electronics. A component that uses a 3-prong plug usually connects the chassis to the third prong (if this statement is incorrect, please let me know). From what I've seen in my apartment, one of the other two prongs measures 0V with the 3rd prong (and this is marked N on all plugs I have, and is the one with the wider pin), and the other prong measures 120V with the 3rd prong, and is marked L. I thought this was standard for US electrical wiring, but your posts seem to indicate that it isn't, if I understand you correctly.
In this situation, if you touch the N prong, you won't get a shock, if you touch the L prong, you will. At least, that's what my voltmeter tells me, I haven't verified this "by hand". So, it seems to me that it would be safer to wire a component so that if the fuse blows, everything else remains connected to the N line, and not the L line. And to do that, you would make sure that the fuse is the first thing the L line connects to inside the component. The power switch, transformer primary, AC filters, anything else would come after the fuse.
That's all I'm trying to say and/or ask.
I'm not talking about the chassis being hot. I'm talking about the transformer primary winding, the soldered connections at the end of those wires (which may or may not be insulated), and what happens if you accidentally touch them when the fuse is blown but the power cord is still connected.
Once again, I do understand that as long as the fuse is intact, the component will work no matter which way it is connected, and if you connect only one leg and leave the other open, it will not work no matter which leg is connected. Just so we all know that I understand that, and can move on from discussing when a component will or will not work.
Safety
I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the UK, we have three pins on our (240VAC) mains plug. Line, neutral, and earth. Unsurprisingly, earth is bonded to all household plumbing (and if provided by the electricity supplier) their earth. Somewhere, neutral is bonded to earth. Breaking either L or N breaks the circuit, but breaking N does not prevent wandering fingers finding L and completing a circuit to E. The only safe place for a fuse is at the incoming L of the equipment, and the best place for it is built into the IEC connector. Remember, that a blown fuse indicates a fault, so the covers will come off, and fingers will be roaming around. That is why the fuse MUST be in the L, and before ANY other circuitry.
This is way off-topic, but safety is of paramount importance.
I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the UK, we have three pins on our (240VAC) mains plug. Line, neutral, and earth. Unsurprisingly, earth is bonded to all household plumbing (and if provided by the electricity supplier) their earth. Somewhere, neutral is bonded to earth. Breaking either L or N breaks the circuit, but breaking N does not prevent wandering fingers finding L and completing a circuit to E. The only safe place for a fuse is at the incoming L of the equipment, and the best place for it is built into the IEC connector. Remember, that a blown fuse indicates a fault, so the covers will come off, and fingers will be roaming around. That is why the fuse MUST be in the L, and before ANY other circuitry.
This is way off-topic, but safety is of paramount importance.
Thank you, that is exactly what I've been trying to say. As far as I'm aware, US wiring is connected the same way.
I know that the wiring in my parents' house in India is different - both L and N measures 120V with E, and L and N measure 240V against each other. So that's a 2-phase supply (or whatever the correct term for it is), and then it doesn't matter which leg you put the fuse in, the other leg will always have a potential difference to E.
But AFAIK most US home wiring is single phase with N and E at the same potential, so in that situation it makes sense to put the fuse on L.
I know that the wiring in my parents' house in India is different - both L and N measures 120V with E, and L and N measure 240V against each other. So that's a 2-phase supply (or whatever the correct term for it is), and then it doesn't matter which leg you put the fuse in, the other leg will always have a potential difference to E.
But AFAIK most US home wiring is single phase with N and E at the same potential, so in that situation it makes sense to put the fuse on L.
I am told that North American house wiring adopts a similar convention to your Indian example in that 220V is available, but only applied to cookers, and a single phase (110V) is distributed to sockets. If this is correct, 220V appliances would need to be double-pole fused so that a short to E would blow both fuses.
arnoldc said:... i have had the opportunity to use a single plate RCA 2A3 on the same amp and there's audible improvement, to my ears. will i spend $200 for an RCA 2A3, nah, but that's me.
That's what I've been hearing from others. That the single or mono plate is the best for audio, but that they are expensive. At that kind of mone,y I wonder if the TJ mesh matrix would be any better or just stick with the tried and true reference RCA ?
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