Tony WA4JQS said:
"use either the black or red wire and the green wire" Reply by Jim WD5JKO: Tony, this will work, but you are returning the 120 volt circuit through your safety ground (green or bare wire), and as others have warned, just don't do that because it is dangerous and illegal. If the load is strictly 220v and you have the 3 wire circuit, this is OK to use (I think this is grand fathered??) so long as the green or bare wire is ONLY a safety ground: "use the black and red wire for 220v and the green or bare wire for safety ground" If you have a 4 wire 220 volt circuit this will be OK as follows: "use either the black or red wire for the AC HOT, and the white for neutral. Then use green for the safety ground." ONLY DO THIS IF THE WHITE WIRE IS THE SAME GAUGE AS THE BLACK OR RED. * Pulling this load off one side of 220 will imbalance the 220 which is not too big of a deal so long as other loads in the house load the other side as well. What I am saying is that it might be better to use the Black instead of Red or visa-versa to get a better balanced load distribution in your home. *With this option you could also power 220v as well as 120 v loads, and do so safely so long as the 120v load if lower current has a suitable fuse going to it. A 220v 30 amp circuit won't blow the big breaker if the 120v one sided circuit is in trouble, and pulling a mere 1 ampere. I still like the 230/115 step down auto-transformer idea since you pull equally off both sides of 220 (perfect balance), and do so at 1/2 the AC amperes. Lower current means less voltage drop. Hammond makes a similar unit as the Stancor, and Signal Transformer also has a 2000 va 230/115 autotransformer. Some discussion about 3 versus 4 wire 220 volts pertaining to appliance hook-ups: http://www.applianceaid.com/electric.html http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/wiring/msg0321054514075.html?6 73, Jim JKO -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.430 / Virus Database: 268.13.27/517 - Release Date: 11/3/2006 4:30 PM ______________________________________________________________ AMRadio mailing list List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Partner Website: http://www.amfone.net Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html Post: mailto:AMRadio@mailman.qth.net
