"Doug Miller" wrote in message ...
Danny D'Amico wrote in :

On Mon, 25 Nov 2013 15:10:28 -0500, clare wrote:

Line1 and Line2 are generally red and black, with the neutral white
and safety ground bare or green

Everything you said about the "single phase" center tap made perfect sense.

People keep saying the neutral wires is normally bare, but, I must
say, mine is insulated.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3780/1...9139da3c_o.gif

Maybe that's odd, for the USA though, 'cuz everyone is saying that
the neutral is normally bare.

Depends mostly on how the wire is brought to the home -- overhead supply often (but not
always) uses an uninsulated neutral, but IME underground supply *always* uses an
insulated neutral.


Yep. That's why you see the wire with the fancy stripe. :-) Generally you will
only see the messenger cable used as a neutral for residential services. Poly-
phase drops use four insulated conductors.

(Of course, the exception is the rule types will chime in.)