[HAM] Alignment of Start Motor. Warning about exposed AC mains

[Kon Zissis]

Hi John.
Thank you for your explanation about the US electrical wiring system. 
The Australian  electrical system has three wires .
 One wire is the live AC  active  , the other wire is the live AC
neutral and a voltage meter connected between the active and neutral
wires  will produce an AC  240 volts reading. The Australian  mains VAC
cycle is 50 Hz 
The third wire is the isolated earth ground and similar to the USA
system it is also derived from a rod or pipe driven into the ground  and
a stiff wire from this goes to the electrical wiring of the whole house
or building.
 
 When  an electrical appliance is working properly there  should be a
zero reading between the  active and the ground and the neutral and the
ground. The word ''neutral''  seems to be inaccurate when it comes to
the Australian electrical wiring system. Even though the mains
electricity is Alternating Current , it is common in Australia for the
active to be referred to as 'positive' and the neutral to be  referred
to as 'negative' .
 
 Before reading  your explanation, my previous assumption was that the
USA electrical system was similar to the Australian electrical system
except that with the USA electrical system the  voltage between the
active and the neutral was 110 or 115 VAC.
Your explanation about the  grounded neutral carrying  current  helps to
explain the  problem of people in the USA receiving  electric shocks by
touching the grounded chassis of  the manuals , the Tone wheel Generator
, the preamp or the drawbar base of a faulty organ.
In  the Hammond organs in Australia there is no conductivity or current
between the chassis and the active or the chassis and the neutral . If
this conductivity does develop  through a malfunction ,the  electrical
safety switch will trip and switch off the electricity. 
 
 When I visited Greece in 1992  I used my electric razor  that I brought
with me from Australia because the Greek  voltage supply is 220 VAC / 50
Hz. I think that most if not all of Europe also uses  the 220 VAC / 50
Hz. I do not know if there is any bonding with the earth ground and the
neutral wire  in the Greek and the rest of the European  electrical
system.
 
All the best.
Kon
 
 
John Doyle wrote :
>A typical US residential electrical service has three wires coming to
the 
>meter. Two hot wires and a neutral. The voltage reading between the two
hot 
>wires is 220VAC. The voltage reading from either of the hot wires to
the 
>neutral is 110VAC. These three wires go to the electrical meter can.
The 
>neutral goes thru the can and directly to the service panel (breaker or
fuse 
>box). The two hots go to the service panel after going thru the
electric 
>meter. At the service panel there is a ground buss. The neutral is
bonded to 
>this buss. The neutral is called a grounded conductor since it does
carry 
>current but is  grounded.