He is GOOD, anyone can work a screwdriver but knowing theory is such a big + and very important for anyone who wants to or neds to work with volts n amps. I give him 2 thumbs up.
Yup! 6V on one side, 6V on the other (because batteries in series are voltage-additive). Either set of batteries is 6V; together they're 12V. This is exactly how a center-tapped secondary on a transformer works. You could easily swap in a 12V center-tapped transformer here as well, since they're very common.
As a journeyman electrician with 17 years experience, I am very impressed with how completely clear and understandable this explanation was! Subscribed and am gonna forward a link to my friend who teaches apprentices. Thanks so much for this video and thanks to the mysterious youtube algorithm for sending me here. Now off to watch more!
@Chomp Chomp Katze That's no "live - neutral - earth" but "live - neutral - dephased live" circuit. It will run the same way as with batteries, just more dangerous.
Wow!! Awesome explanation. Decades ago, my parent’s house had an open neutral. Lights were dimming; others were burning bright. Voltages were all over the place. Now I know why. Thank you!!
My wifes house had resistive intermittently neutral. The flakey contractor she hired to fix it scared the shit out of her with a doom & gloom story saying the entire house needed rewiring. She went for a second opinion (me).. 30 min. later, I refit neutral in her loadcenter. She was so happy, six months later she married me.
I'm nearly 70 years old and have seen this twice. Once at work, and once in my own home. At work, we had partitions between cubicles that had wiring embedded. A plug on one end of the partition mated with a socket on the adjoining partition. The neutral opened on one connection and caused a number of computers and printers to be fried because they suddenly had 220 volts instead of 110. At home, when the electrician installed my new panel, he didn't get the ground and neutral bars securely bonded. A couple of years later, the bond worked loose and blew out a few items. A couple of surge protectors gave their lives but protected their loads. I saw several of the situations Dave describes. At the time, it was pretty confusing. Excellent video!.
This guy is a electrical genius! The way he teaches makes it so easy to understand vs reading out of a book! I have watched every video of this man I could find and he has made me say "wow" so many times. This guy deserves a trillion subscribers! He's my go to for learning! Thank you Mr. Gordon!
@@error200http It's a "dumb concept" to you because your homes are only wired on one side of the transformer. An "open neutral" to you is a completely-open circuit.
@@error200http You missed the most important thing which he said in the introduction: let's mimic a single phase, 3 wires circuit (240V phase to phase). This is how electricity is normally brought to domestic and small commercial users in the US, and I suspect, other 120V countries. It is very practical to split all the loads in two halves, and the electrical cabinets are in fact designed to make this easy and evident. Then, an abnormal open neutral condition is examined and explained. No comparison to Europe, or name calling applies here.
This is pretty standard in second and third year apprentice schooling, out of the total 5 years of school required to become a journeyman electrician (at least on the union side of things).
This has to be the best explanation of how a circuit works that I've ever seen. I unintentionally learned this lesson the hard way over 20 years ago when my band was playing at a bar. Halfway through our first set, a couple of our guitar amps and one of the PA amps literally caught fire and the whole shebang shut down. An electrician informed us the next day that it was due to a loose neutral wire in one of the bar's stage power circuits that someone had monkeyed with earlier. In fact, he was cool enough to draw a diagram similar to yours to show how circuits work, thus giving me a crash course in basic wiring. From that moment on, we invested in a $5 circuit tester before we plugged anything in and that saved us a ton of grief from potential electrical gremlins.
Excellent lesson!! Thank you for helping me understand an electrical problem I am facing now in my house. I appreciate the time and energy you spent helping the rest of us out here. God bless you.
As a first year apprentice and just started the chapter on 3-wire branch circuits / open neutral, this was TREMENDOUSLY explained. I read the chapter three times and was left more confused than anything. After stumbling upon this video, I now feel I have a much better grasp on what an open neutral is. Thank you kind sir!
If you're getting notifications on this thread a year down the line, may I ask what the book or other publication was that let you down? No shade on Dave's outstanding video, but open neutral shouldn't be terribly hard to explain.
As I slap myself in the forehead…”yes!!!” Outstanding demonstration.. as a picture paints a thousand words… a physical demonstration literally lights up the room with illumination.. thank you
As someone with interest in electricity: this is an excellent explanation video about electrical loads and series/parallel circuits. But as an European: We just simply have 230V ac. One live, one neutral and one ground. We have simplicity, you have flexibility.
When I explain this to my apprentices, this is what I see in my mind. Thank you for all your videos! In my book, you sir make a difference in the lives of people that really take an interest in the electrical trade.
Mr you are the best electrical teacher that I every seen on RU-vid!! I was about to type world!! Lol Your way of explaining is the best and I wish I could give you a 1000 likes. Please keep posting, your are really doing a hell of a job.
I love the setup you created for this video. The use of clear, color coded wires, simple incandescent lamps, and a clear layout makes it so much easier to understand.
Wow, funny that this came up in my suggested videos. We had a 'data center' that was being serviced by a UPS 'electrician'. He had inadvertently removed a neutral at the UPS output to the subpanel that fed all our racks for some unknown reason and in the process smoke started pouring out of server power supplies, switches died, surge protection blocks caught fire and the fire protection system kicked in and the end result, the whole data center went offline! Four painful hours later we finally got things rebuilt but what an expensive mistake he made! I knew it had something to do with what you describe here but to get this visually is an excellent method, thank you for your efforts and time :)
I really appreciate this analysis. It's brought me a couple good insights that I've just chalked up to an open neutral and started hunting for the open, ad I've seen it. Particularly the imbalance. I knew it was from the loads shifting into a series configuration, but never bothered to draw it out before. The time and attention to detail that you put into making this is phenomenal and not only do I respect it, but I'm thoroughly impressed. And this is coming from a practicing master electrician and newly minted electrical engineer.
Liked -> Downloaded -> Saved Great video, amazing actually. Instructors need not waste time, just play this video in your classes and be prepared to answer any questions
This is the best open neutral explanation I have seen on the tubes. I learned it this way in electronics class back in the 90s. Had almost the same setup and we were tested on different orientations and had to mathematically predict the voltages at given points. The operating resistance of an appliance being different is what is key in voltage potential difference. Great video!
I just came across this video. I teach second-year apprentices and I cover theory in the first module of the year. I am always looking for new material and resources (outside the book) to explain complex concepts. This is absolutely useful in demonstrating how the neutral truly works. Very good video. I will be watching all of them.
Mmmm I love this. Before I dropped out of studying electrical engineering, I remember studying " mesh analysis". From what the professor said, it's one of the first complex concepts to fully understand and stay oriented with. But boy howdy! This is a wonderful visual demonstration of those Concepts at work! I love it. Wish I would have found this when I was in school.
Excellent Production Dave. Your attention to detail in the white board drawings as well as the clean demo circuit construction really makes it easy to learn. I learn as much about teaching as the circuit theory with you. You're an inspiration. Thanks!
I like how you arranged the wiring ladder similar to a breaker panel so that some can easier compare it to what they are going to see in the field. I don’t know if you have done it already, as this is the first video I’ve seen, but you could also show how losing a phase and having 240v loads will also affect the 120v loads on that phase, and the relationship there Good job!!
If you lost a phase all of the lights on that phase would just go out. And the lights on the other phase would act normal. All the amps on the working phase would also be on the nuetral. Don't think there would be much to sure in that video right?
This reminds me of being back in school during my apprenticeship. That was more than 20 years ago. I remember doing ladder diagrams for fellow classmates that were having trouble understanding and they looked a lot like what you were showing (maybe not as neatly drawn). Some classmates would complain because I wouldn't show them my answers when they didn't get around to doing the homework. Instead, I told them I would help them figure it out, because I felt it would be better if they understood the process rather than copy or just memorize the answer. This was more self-preservation than altruism because I didn't want to be stuck working with idiots in the field. Unlike most, I enjoyed my apprenticeship.
Thank you for the thorough explanation! I had very odd power issues all day, only to discover a neighbor's contractor hit their line with an excavator, breaking the tensioning cable and leaving me with an open neutral. Initially viewing them as sags (down to 80v that I saw), and knowing nothing of the damage, I couldn't explain why one surge suppressor began shorting internally and melting. No other video I found explained it in the same depth or clarity.
The Visual learning here, got a lot of useful information about the open neutral from the display board with the lights on. Greatly appreciate that demonstration. As an IBEW member, don’t do much work on residential work & needed some info on an open neutral. Thank you
Gotta say, you saved my butt when I moved into a new house. Plugging my phone into an outlet in my shop caused the lights to dim, almost to the point of being dark inside, but not popping breakers, and turning on the outside light caused the lights to get brighter. It was a helluva time trying to diagnose the issue until I randomly stumbled upon your videos. Keep up the good work!
This is the best explanation and demonstration I have seen for this subject matter. I have struggled with open neutral in the past. Thank you for this lesson. Great teacher.
Very well explained! I once discovered an open neutral in the feeder inside of a parent panel before it ran to the sub-panel I was having issues in. Thankfully, there weren't that many branch circuits even being used and very minor loads at that. This was a 3-phase panel where 3 circuits would share a common neutral, so without the feeder neutral being connected in the upstream panel, the loads on one circuit were using loads on another circuit to complete the path. They noticed an issue when the voltage drop across one load was odd and didn't match any system voltage. Very good visual example and a good supplement with the whiteboard analysis as well. Thanks for sharing!
I Loved this! With my RV repair business, I recently had a 5th wheel with an intermittent open ground at the junction of shore power cord (on a reel) and line to the panel. This perfectly explains the whacky voltages I was getting on both the neutral buss bar and crazy receptacle tester indications. Thank you!
Simple title, simple wiring, simple diagram, and simple explanation, all for a complex subject that so many people dont understand. Doesnt get much better than that!
I've watch more videos on this subject than I want to admit and finally found one that actually explained, through a brilliant demonstration, what is actually happening. Thank you VERY much!!
I have the same fluke and had it for over 30 years, I only use it for easy machine breakdowns but it has served me well, long live the fluke it's all I use
An excellent demonstration! So simple I can't believe no-one thought of it sooner! I'm now retired, after a long career in healthcare as a building systems technician, and I've never seen such a great explanation. Even my wife understood and enjoyed it.
Excellent video! I've had to deal with a few open neutral issues in the real world (on single-phase 120/240 volt systems), and they do make for very interesting troubleshooting. This is a great visual representation on the how they work, and the problems caused. Thanks for sharing!
Ive not fundamentally understood what a neutral is for almost 40 years and this man comes along and makes it completely clear. Instant follow! DC is so much easier to comprehend than AC so making a dc analog of an ac system was genius. THANK YOU!!!
The DC battery setup may be easier for people to relate to, but this example operates _exactly_ like the center-tapped secondary on the transformer to your home. Each battery pack is 6 volts (because batteries in series add voltages, 1.5V × 4 = 6V). Each battery pack alone is 6V, no matter which pack it is; both together are 12V. The two windings on the transformer are exactly like these identical battery packs. Because the winding ratio determines the voltage change of the transformer, doubling the number of windings doubles the available voltage to make 240V.
Great video!! Thank you. I’m an electrician at a large work camp and recently had to explain to my managers the dangers of running split receptacles off of the same phases. This video explains that and open neutrals perfectly. Thanks for the great explanation. 👍🏻👍🏻
This is a fantastic demonstration of something we would rarely encounter having an open neutral... and if so would leave some of the most qualified technicians scratching their heads. Bravo Sir!
I am an instructor in my union, I Sir am not at your caliber of teaching, both me and my students benefit from me watching and learning not only techniques but simpler ways of instruction. Thank you for all your videos. I most certainly have subscribed.
I did this demonstration for the son of my previous employer. I was explaining how I don't like using 3 wire to run 2 circuits (MWBC) and I set this up using recessed cans we ripped out of the ceiling. At first I had 2 lights using the same bulb and nothing changed. After lunch it clicked that I needed to imbalance the loads, I did that and none of the LED lights would turn back on again, blew up the driver. You will destroy electronics if you lose a neutral and it puts devices in series with each other. I have since come to be fine with MWBC but the neutral must be clearly marked at every single point.
Great video. I'm a master electrician that's been in the field for 38 years, mostly in service work for commercial and residential. I have had many issues over the years with open branch circuit neutrals as well as service neutrals. After a while it got to where I could tell what it was as soon as the customer explained what was going on. Have seen electricians remove a receptacle that wasn't pig-tailed, and open the neutral on a multi-wire branch circuit and fry equipment, since those MWBC's are rarely balanced. In 3-phase systems they are usually 3 hots to a neutral. The code change that requires handle ties for all breakers feeding MWBC's helped out a lot...that is if you turn the circuit off before breaking the neutral, which many don't do.
Well done ! Many people cant get past the fact that current can flow with open neutral , or to a center tapped transformer, or both at the same time. (and that 240v doesn't even need a neutral ) Exceptional hands on presentation.👍
Is it weird that I've started listening to this guy in the background while I do other things? This stuff is fascinating to me, I don't think I could ever get sick of his lessons.
I’m about to watch all your videos before I start my new job to have a better understanding and clarity. Thanks for your hard work and gift your sharing with me and the internet! 🔥🙏🏾💯
Very nicely done sir! I've been an electrician for almost 60 years and I realize the difficulty for guys to think with this concept. It can get pretty confusing! You've done an excellent job of representing just 'What the Heck' is happening. IYour's is one of the clearest I've seen. This problem is not something that I see often as I'm not that involved anymore. Your video has given me an excellent 'Refresher' course. Thanks again, Garth
