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Usually, it is the black wire. But it may be better to say that the white wire does not go on the 'hot' side. In 3-way switches, oven plugs, and so forth, a red wire can be 'hot'.
By the way, in AC, which is what your plugs are, there is no positive and negative side. That only happens in DC . . . things operated from a battery.
Also, just to be safe, the 'hot' side on a convenience outlet is connected to the smaller of the two holes.
Also, just to cover the bases, sometimes a white wire must be used on the 'hot' side, but it is supposed to be wrapped with black electrical tape to show you that it is 'hot'.
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For AC connections, there is no such thing as "positive". The convention there is that the "neutral" wire is white, the ground wire is green, and the "live" or "hot" wire is ... whatever isn't white or green (usually black in a two or three wire situation, but in multiphase or industrial wiring where it's important to be able to distinguish what circuit a given wire belongs to, red, blue, and brown are also often frequently used).
For DC connections, such as are used in vehicles and electronic battery powered equipment, the color conventions are that red is usually positive and black is usually negative.
Wiring a duplex receptacle
Looking at the duplex receptacle from the front side directly on, you should see a larger blade hole (silver) on the left, smaller (brass) blade hole on the right and a U shaped ground blade on the bottom. The white wire connects under the left (silver) coloured screw, the black wire connects under the right (brass) coloured screw and the green wire under the green ground screw.
Answer for countries in Europe and other world areas running a 230 volt 50 Hz supply service.The BROWN wire is the "hot" or "live", BLUE is the neutral and the GREEN/YELLOW wire is the "earth" / "safety ground" wire.(In the UK, if your socket outlets are wired with the old Black, Red and Green/Yellow wires (as were used until 2006) RED is the live wire and BLACK is the neutral in the socket outlet but the BROWN wire is still the "live" wire in the plug on the flexible cord to your appliance.)
If in doubt, please leave it to the professionals for your own safety!
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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 JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
Answer for USA, Canada and countries running a 60 Hz supply service.
In the US the black wire in a plug is the "hot" conductor. The neutral is white. In most of Europe and Australasia on old or fixed house wiring the black is neutral.
It depends on the type of the plug and what voltage is applied to it. The common household plug had three wires to it. Black for "hot", white for neutral and green for ground. For a receptacle it is black, white and bare for ground from the cable set.
Black is HOT and white is Neutral. Neutral is bonded to ground at main panel.
Black wire to the gold screw terminal, white wire to the silver screw terminal and green wire to the green screw terminal.
black
Live Wire = usually brown, if not then its grey or black. Neutral Wire = Blue Earth Wire = green and yellow striped
In Bangladesh the color of live is green and neutral is blue and ground is black.
The black wire originating from a breaker box or fuse box is the live wire. However, in certain cases, the grey (or white) neutral wire can also be live. For example, the black wire may feed a lighting outlet, and if the neutral wire is broken on its way back to the neutral bar in the panel, then the neutral wire from the lighting outlet will be hot, because there is an electrical path from the black wire, through the light, and to the neutral. The point is, always check with a voltmeter before assuming the white or grey wire is not live.
No, the wide prong is neutral it is the white wire. The narrow prong is hot it is the black wire. The round prong (in a 3 wire plug) is safety ground it is the green wire.
In the UK Brown is the live, blue is the neutral and green/yellow is the earth. The live and neutral are the two wires that normally carry the current.
Live Wire = usually brown, if not then its grey or black. Neutral Wire = Blue Earth Wire = green and yellow striped
In Bangladesh the color of live is green and neutral is blue and ground is black.
The black wire originating from a breaker box or fuse box is the live wire. However, in certain cases, the grey (or white) neutral wire can also be live. For example, the black wire may feed a lighting outlet, and if the neutral wire is broken on its way back to the neutral bar in the panel, then the neutral wire from the lighting outlet will be hot, because there is an electrical path from the black wire, through the light, and to the neutral. The point is, always check with a voltmeter before assuming the white or grey wire is not live.
No, the wide prong is neutral it is the white wire. The narrow prong is hot it is the black wire. The round prong (in a 3 wire plug) is safety ground it is the green wire.
The green wire is for ground. You can attach that to any metal part of the frame. The red is the active and coincides with the lefthand prong into the plug and the black in this case should be the Neutral and ciocides with the right prong into the plug as seen standing behind the plug.
When ever there is a potential difference between it and ground.
Green with Yellow Stripe Wire - Earth Wire (E) Blue Wire - Neutral Wire (N) Brown Wire - Live Wire (L) When you look at the plug with the terminals facing towards you: /\ / \ / E \ / \ / \ / L N \ ------------------
The green and yellow is the earth wire The brown is the live wire The blue is the neutral wire A poem to help is: The brown live cow drinks from the blue neutral water and eats the green grass from earth
In the UK the neutral wire is 'blue'.
neutral
In the UK Brown is the live, blue is the neutral and green/yellow is the earth. The live and neutral are the two wires that normally carry the current.
The earth wire, striped green and yellow, is connected to the terminal marked E; this should be the longest of the three wires so that it is the last to become detached if the cable is strained.The live wire (brown) is connected to the terminal marked L.The neutral wire (blue) is connected to the terminal marked N.