I have someone tell me which wire is which on a new roll of romex then I strip the end of the black and tye a knot in the red on both ends of the roll.
As I install the wires I use a continuity check and mark both ends of the wire as I cut it so I'm ready to go with the rest of the roll and can install fixtures later. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of R & S Enterprises Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 1:39 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [BlindHandyMan] identifying black and white wires etc. Hello folks, I was listening to the handy show and Phil mentioned there was no way for a blind person to tell which wire was the hot one. or rather what color a wire was Well one can put the talking multi meter to use. Please note a audial continuity tester and or a 110 volt buzzer can also be used. First if you are replacing an outlet examine it closely. If it is the three wire with a equipment ground it is a matter of replacing one wire at a time. Put the equipment hole down. A bare or green wire will be attached to that terminal so remove it from the bad outlet and put on the new one in the same spot. The narrow slot on the right will be the black and the left wider slot is the white wire.location. If you are doing a single pole switch with only two wires it really does not make a different. Note I am not counting the equipment grounding wire sometimes fastened to the metal yoke of the switch. Now if the out let is gone and only three wires are left.in the box proceed as follows. If one is totally bare without insulation that is the equipment grounding wire. It is fastened to the grounding bar in the panel box. Check continuity between it and each of the other ones . The one that shows continuity is the white, which is also hooked to the metal of the panel box as the equipment grounding wire is. There fore we read continuity.. The one that doesn't show continuity is the black. This is assuming number one the power is off and two nothing is plugged into the circuit and is turned on. Your tester can backfeed in that case. Using a voltage tester and alligator clips if you are a total turn power off. Hook one lead to the bare wire using a jumper wire with alligator clips. Hook the other jumper assembly and lead to one of the other wires. Turn power. Click the talk switch on the meter and see what it reads. 120 volts means you are hooked between the hot wire and the equipment grounding wire. No reading means you hooked to the white wire. What to do when there are only two wires with no equipment ground, bare wire. Basicallly the same thing I had to do many times when I was sighted. You have to bring in a equipment ground. If you have metal water pipes you can hook to them or the metal panel box if it is closer again with jumper wires. For extended lengths a extension cord can be used. A straight screwdriver inserted into the female cord end allows you to make connection with out tearing the cord apart. Again a jumper wire hooked to the screwdriver allows you to have a solid connection. Don't try to hold wires together with your hands use the clips and jumper wires, they are more apt to stay together that way. So now with a known grounding point measure for voltage to each wire to determine the hot or black one. I have also used this method to straighten out incorrectly wired three way switches when there was no equipment ground in the switch box. In this case you need to understand the basic theory of the circuit to be able to trace through the wiring, but it can be done. The talking multi meter is great although a 110 volt buzzer could be used. Ron [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit The New Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following Address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. 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