The harms of switching hot and neutral wires?

6 years ago

I have several LED flood lamps. So far they've all listed Brown as the hot wire and Blue as the neutral wire. I got a new brand in today and they list the opposite. I contacted th eseller who says the instructions are correct but he was clueless about a lot of the other things I asked and he just sells the stuff.

So what will happen if I follow the instructions and they're wrong? Thanks.

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Ron Natalie

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Eh? I can't believe that these LED luminaires have either a hot or neutral. They should be symmetrical. At least it should be safe (the worst that will happen is it won't work). Any exposed metal parts should be grounded (this is different from an old style screw in lamp where you'd want to make sure the exposed threads on the socket were on the neutral side).

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Comments (9)

rjcantor
Original Author
6 years ago
(all have green/yellow as ground)
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Posted by daytonb "...3 of the hot wires were wrapped together with a neutral wire ÂIt seems contrary to my logic but it is a circuit I guess and would just allow the juice to flow back to the circuit boardÂ" It sure would allow the juice to flow, lots of juice. When a neutral is connected to a "hot" itÂs called a short circuit. I assume you identify any white wire as a neutral, and any black wire as a ÂhotÂ. If things were always done properly, that would be the case butÂ Often a switch is wired using a cable having white and black conductors. The white becomes a ÂhotÂ. The code requires that the white wire is taped or painted to insure it is no longer considered a neutral. If not done, this could lead to someone creating a dangerous situation as I think you are about to do: "ÂI am thinking about wrapping all of the hot wires and all of the neutral wires togetherÂ" DON"T DO THAT! "ÂI recently removed a light and housingÂ" Do you mean a light fixture, or are these two different items? To get useful assistance, you will need to identify the wires by color, their exact location and how they were connected to whatever you removed before you did anything. Also, what do you mean by "wrapping"? The code has strict requirements as to how wires are connected. Twisting and taping is not acceptable. The use of Âwire nutsÂ is one approved means.
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Greg, it does sounded like I have a switch loop here which is switching on the hot side. I did not include this possibility initialy. But the problem is not a switch connection. The problem is I have no best way to know which wire is connected to which switches or outlet, especialy there are muilti-circuits tighted together ( another word, I try to figure out how the circuits are connected) . My initially thought was only one circuit which make sense to me for it is in the basement, not much power needed there. I doubt the condition is dangerous. Well, it is dangerouse when you walk when you trip and fall... or you can conside eating is dangerous,you can choke to death... I would say it needs to be cautious when you deal with voltage and current. But as long as you know what you are doing, and know what you need to look out for, any househood wiring is not as dangerouse as you think. Understand the circuits is important as well as having solid grounded wires. My attemp is to find the best way to understand how my circuits are connected together so I can track down if there is open/short somewhere. Once I know where is the problem at , I can fix it. Also, I can go on to add my ceiling light. ronnatalie, The ceiling box have 5 conduit ( which means 15 wires) in and out. I have no best way to tell which are feed lines from breakers which are not. I suppose I can untight the black wires and test the voltage presents. If the ones has voltage are the current "in" , and the onee doea not have the voltage are the current "out". At this moment, I hate to un-tight the wirenuts of red and black connection at the box. If I do, the box will be looking like a Medusa's hair, a mass. Is there a simply way to sort this out?
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It's almost certainly a switch loop. If you're hoping to grab a feed from it for something else, sorry, no dice. The white wire in the cable is supposed to be re-identified as black with paint or tape, but that step is pretty often omitted. In fact I have a little devil in the back of my mind saying something that sounds like "The code didn't require that re-identification back in the day," but he might be lying. I'm sure that our resident code expert Ron N will know.
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rjcantor
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks. I measured the ohms between both wires and a screw going into the casing. It seems neither wire is connected to the casing. Yet all the different brands specify which wire is hot, neutral or ground. Odd. :)
weedmeister
6 years ago
The LED probably doesn't care.
rjcantor
Original Author
6 years ago
Given your user name I consider you the expert. :)
DavidR
6 years ago
Brown for hot and blue for grounded (neutral) is the European standard.

I'd agree that it probably doesn't matter which way the LED is connected,so why don't they just make both power-carrying wires, say, white? It may have something to do with EU and/or Asian electrical code. Or it may be that they don't want inquiries from boatloads of people asking "which wire goes to hot?" Could be both.
rjcantor
Original Author
6 years ago
It doesn't matter seems to be the consensus since neither wire is connected to the case. Thanks.
Vith
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I thought LED and the integrated driver preferred hot and neutral to be correct with AC current, or it simply wont work. I am not thinking there is a safety issue with reversal, just that it wont work. I believe that is the case with most LEDs because most LEDs are DC current and require a transformer. There are some AC LEDs but not common in my experience. Usually they have the little adapter that transforms the current, or if it is a light bulb then that part is in the base of the bulb.

More LED literature.

Now if you had an AC current LED it would probably not care.
DavidR
6 years ago
Any LED connected to the mains has a built in power supply that converts the AC to DC.

AC has no polarity, so the light will work either way you connect it. The power supply takes care of feeding the LED DC in the polarity it needs.

Typically the concern with connecting hot and neutral as instructed is keeping the switch in the hot side.

In the case of a screw-in light bulb, you're also concerned with making sure the shell isn't hot, to prevent shock. (The Edison base isn't a very safe design, and I can't imagine any electrical company coming up with something like that today. In fact they didn't, the GU24 base is much safer, though I guess safety wasn't its main purpose.)

The harms of switching hot and neutral wires?

Ron Natalie

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The harms of switching hot and neutral wires?

Ron Natalie

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