engineering:electrical:check_neutral_phase_ground_ac_wiring [Carlos Sousa Wiki]

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====== How to check Phase, Neutral and Ground of AC Wiring Using a Multimeter ======

I'm by no means an Electrical Engineer but from time to time I have to do your typical DC wiring and soldering. But AC is a completely different beast to me, since I rarely have to interact with it.

That's why this was done: so I can get this information quicker instead of burning stuff down and / or having 230V - or read that as 120V if you live in 'Murica - rushing through my heart.

  * With the Power Supply / Lamp / LIVE **(BE EXTRA CAREFUL)**
  * Set the Multimeter to AC Volts
  * Connect to 2 terminals
      * If you connected Phase and Neutral = 230 Volts
      * If you connected Phase and Earth = 230 Volts
      * If you connected Neutral and Earth = 0 Volts
      * So the same wire giving the 230 Volts reading will be the Phase (Live Wire)
  * Now that you've identified the Phase Wire:
      * Shut of Power Supply **(SHUT IT OFF)**
      * Set meter to Ohms
      * Test Phase to Earth = should be open/high resistance
      * Test Phase to the other wire = if it reads 0 - or near - Ohms, that is the Neutral wire.