Now I only know wiring as blue to the left brown to the right when doing a plug. However today I have come accross and old clock with a black and red wire
Any ideas in my theory where the red and black go?
Thanks all
Sam
Red = Brown
Black = Blue
Toby...
red = live = brown black = neutral = blue
A new plug should give the wiring colours for both the current and old.
However, line is brown or red, and neutral is blue or black.
If it runs backwards, reverse the wires :-)
Owain
The other answers have given you the correct info but I would suggest using left and right is not the best way to look at things like this . The connections in a plug are usually marked Live, Neutral and Earth.
B-) Indeed.
Synchronous motors run either way equally well. Start direction can be fairly random. Decent clocks had a mechanism that "wound up" if the motor started in reverse then kicked the motor into the correct direction.
I hope Samantha checks the thing carefully, red and black wires indicates something fairly old. It will take very little power so the smallest fuse possible is recomended, 1A or less...
A mains clock .Can't remember the last time I encountered one of them apart from bedside alarms ..lol
clock power points were usually 2amp
Brown = Red = Live, which should be the only one with a fuse.
Don't rely on this being on the left, especially with old or unusual kit.
Blue = Black = Neutral. This should not be fused, and that also includes old kit with fuses on both sides.
If that's red & black flexible cable (not just clock innards), then I'd tend to throw it out! It'll be old and the insulation is likely to be perished.
Blimey. How young are you?
Lots and lots of PVC flex had red and black.
yes. And theres some lovely historic kit about. Reminds me of the hot plate where the flex conductors each had their own individual porcelain electrical connectors, and there were 3x bare 4mm pins sticking out of the appliance. No matter how you connected the flex you had a live pin sticking out.
NT
Must be at least 35 years old. It was late 60s/early 70s when the change took place.
1 amp in those days.
Not recently though, and I'm taking "perished" in a broad sense to include any materials that have failed through age, not to imply that they're necessarily natural rubber.
My new workshop is an ex-bakery and has effectively no re-usable electrics. I don't know what's been spilled on some of this stuff, but there's plenty of PVC in there that's downright _gooey_, not just tired.
Well any flex should be inspected reqularly - and plug changing should prompt you to do this. But because it's red and black doesn't say it will be perished - perhaps especially on something that takes virtually no current and is unlikely to have suffered abuse.
Thanks All
Well before I put the plug on I removed the back off it and glad I did it was a accident waiting to happen and has been returned to the seller now. Thanks all, I was cautious when you all said it was old so checked it out and glad I did.
Thanks again folks Sam
If you only just bought it, and it wasn't sold with a 13A plug already on it, the seller was breaking the law anyway.
Most sellers are really careful about electrical safety of secondhand appliances, because this is something trading standards do regularly check up on. Second-hand shops pretty much either need to get everything PAT tested, or decide they won't stock electrical goods.
When removing an old mantelpiece at our house, I came across a funny round socket with the words "Clock" on it. It looked like some sort of custom connector used to attach mains powered clocks to the wall and to the power at the same time. I think it was a Wylex device, it was in black-ish brown-ish bakerlite. And when I tested it it was still live, wired above the gas fire.......
Matt
Quite common at one time. I bought one about 25 years ago to fit in our previous house, but never did because of a shortage of tuits.
I still have it...plug and socket pair.
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