Phasing Question Post War ZW

[Fred Bear]

Thanks much, I appreciate your help with all of this, makes the whole experience much easier and more enjoyable! Jake

[lionelsoni]

Any transformer's power cord can be wired inside the box to the transformer itself with either polarity.  There is no guarantee that the manufacturer will be consistent during the production run.  Likewise, a cord-replacement repair is liable to be done either way.

The rib on the cord, strictly speaking, indicates the "grounded conductor", which is not quite the same thing as the neutral, although they are almost always the same wire.  In any case, it is meaningless on an unpolarized two-pin plug.

Don't assume that the two outlets of a duplex recepticle are on the same phase.  There is a commonly used "three-wire circuit" that puts them on different phases.

[Anonymous]

On the older zw's if you look very close to the wire you will notice on side of the wire is ribbed. That usually indicates it is the neutral side of the plug.

[Fred Bear]

Once I went through the wiring, I figured the track power that was giving all the sparks was on the smaller tranny running that section of block. Rather than do all the testing, I just turned the plug over and the sparking stopped. Simple enough! Thanks to all, Jake

[ChiefEagles]

Also the same outlet?  If different outlets, they can be on different "legs" of your house panel.  If reversing the plug on one does not work, let us know.

[dwiemer]

Yes, if you are talking about older ones, they have plugs that can be reversed in the receptical

dennis

[Fred Bear]

Thanks for the nice site on the Phasing. Very easy to understand, but I do have one question. Is it possible for two ZW's to be out of phase, if they are about the same tranny? I can understand two different tranny's , but if they are the same, can they still be out of phase? Thanks again to the brains on here that simplify all of this, Jake