Thread: Funny plug
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Old 11-09-2014, 09:50 AM   #12
rwidman
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City: North Charleston, SC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dhmeissner View Post
................... The wiring to these had Black, Red, and an "off white" This one was wired Black to the hot, red to neutral, and "off white" to ground. Does that sound right? I have to dig further to see if they are all wired this way. I didn't have a MM with me today.
No, that's not "right" at all. Hot (the narrow slot) should be black, neutral (the wider slot) should be white and ground (the round hole) should be green.

However, Electricity flows equally well in wires regardless of the insulation color so if your boat's wiring doesn't follow the conventional color coding, you will have to figure out which wire is which and wire the replacements accordingly.

In theory, you could just see how it's wired at the electrical panel but it's always possible that some dufuss changed the colors at some junction point so you would be wise to get an outlet tester at your home center and check everything when you're done.

Adding GFCI protection as someone suggested above is worth while at this point. You can do this by using a GFCI receptacle as the first receptacle in each circuit and wiring it following the instructions that come in the box.
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