How do you wire a household electrical plug?

Answer 1

Answer for USA, Canada and countries running a 120 volt 60 Hz supply service.
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.

<<>>

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.

<><><>

The BLACK wire is the "hot" or "live", WHITE is the neutral and the BARE or GREEN wire is the safety ground wire.

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!

<><><>

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.