Type b was created to provide a connection for an electrical safety system. The two prongs provide a hot and neutral electrical connection.
Household Electric Circuits
Which wire is hot. If there are three wires the wire with black insulation is hot. Neutral wires should be white. The white wire is the neutral wire which takes any unused electricity and current and sends them back to the breaker panel. In the most basic 110 volt electrical setup youll find two wires. Look at the colors of the wires in your lamp. The black wire is the hot wire which provides a 120 vac current source.
The type a plug has two flat parallel prongs and can fit in both styles of outlets. The black wire is hot. The white wire goes by many names that all mean the same thing. The neutral wire is connected to an earth ground. If you have four then the black and red wires are both hot. Neutral common or return.
If you see a black wire you should always assume its hot. A two wire plug uses a type a outlet. It provides the return path for the current provided by the hot wire. These outlets are the older version of the current type b outlet. The white wire is called the neutral wire. Power flows from the box to the outlet through the black wire and back to the box through the white one.
The standard color for your hot wire is black. There can be other colors of hot wires in some systems as well but black is the most common. The black wire is the hot wire which carries the electricity from the breaker panel into the switch or light source.
Gallery of Which Wire Is Hot
