Nope!

[Enzo]

Many years ago, I was talking to Tom at Magic Parts, and they had some blowout cheap IEC power cords, I think they were the extra useful 8-foot ones. But they were cheap, like a dollar or something. I was going to buy like 10 or 20 of them. He asked why I wanted them. I told him that it was far cheaper to buy an IEC cord and cut the female end off when replacing power cords. Buying actual replacement cords - molded male, loose wires on other end - were much more expensive.

He then told me, the cords he had were so cheap because the internal wiring was wrong color. Electrically they were right inside, and since the ends were all molded, they worked just fine as power cords in IEC sockets. But he refused to sell them to me for my use, because the green wire at the female end was not ground, etc. So as the above posts report, if I used it, someone in the future could make faulty assumptions about the wire functions based on their colors. I actually thought that was pretty classy of Tom.

[Justin Thomas]

Hey Nevetslab,

I can see where that logic would come from, and it would come from incomplete knowledge... Cuz most amps I open use black for all the ground wires, & in Fenders anyway, "green" = heaters.

I remember reading in the AARL anual that there were suggested color codes for wiring innards of equipment... I tried following it once, but then didn't feel like ordering a bunch of colors. So I made up my own. Green for heaters & black for grounds- of course!

Though it might be hilarious to see what happens if someone connects the safety ground to the heaters... Hmmmmm... GOTTA GO!

Jusrin

[Chuck H]

My band use to play this little dive near a huge Navy base. It was always a great crowd and a fun show, but for one thing...

The owner of the place fancied himself as pretty handy and did all his own maintenance. Including replacing all the AC outlets in the place. I didn't carry a receptacle tester then but I know at least several were wrong because of all the shocks we got from our gear. I told the guy and even offered to redo the stage area for free, but he took some offense at his work being suspect and that was that. We knew of two stage outlets that were at least wired the same, maybe even correctly. So whenever we played there we all plugged into just those two. It was that venue that got me to buy a bag of spit guards and got our singer to go wireless.

[Enzo]

We have to be aware we operate in electronics, and we have color codes and other standards. The main is part of the electrical grid and they are electrical, not electronic. SO their color codes may, and do, differ from ours.

And things we take for granted in the USA don't apply elsewhere. Our black/white/green is not the same as the Euro blue/brown/green-yellow. I grew up knowing transformer color codes. Like OT plates were brown and blue with red CT. PT red for HT, green for heaters yellow for 5v, blue for mid volts, and I used to know tons of others, like interstage xfmrs and stuff. And then I encountered things like Marshall OT wiring with pink or white or who knows.

[dmeek]

Many years ago I had a Hi-watt amp to repair. The first thing I did was put it up on the bench, plug it in and turn it on. I instantly FLEW back about 8 feet.
Someone had mixed up the wires between the standby and power switches, and of course disconnected the chassis ground wire. I figure I was getting 120VAC
on top of 650VDC. I was a little buzzed for about an hour. Touching 120VAC never bothered me before that. Now when I get vintage 2-wire chassis I clip a ground wire on
before plugging in just in case.

Back to the original topic. Years ago my sister called me, she had just replaced the plug on her electric lawnmower and it wasn't working. I asked her about the wire colours and she said
"Oh, I just hooked them up any which way". She survived.

[SoulFetish]

Oh and by the way, the vice was just to take the pictures

[eschertron]

I can see where that logic would come from, and it would come from incomplete knowledge... Cuz most amps I open use black for all the ground wires, & in Fenders anyway, "green" = heaters.

The house I'm living in was wired in the early half of the 20th century. Cloth-covered 110VAC wiring, and of course no ground, only N and L. Different color code than I'm used to? I think it was just seat-of-the-pants wiring by the same feller who put his 16"-center studs anywhere from 14" to 17" or more. made it a hassle to install an attic fan, but that's another story. Anyway, it took me a few attempts before I realized black was neutral and white was line voltage. Of course, maybe what I saw as white was actually a very faded red? At least THAT would make sense.

[Enzo]

My hundred year old farmhouse had cloth wwiring. MY grandmother's house had the old knob and tube wiring. Pretty cool in its own way, but scary in today's world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob-and-tube_wiring

[eschertron]

My hundred year old farmhouse had cloth wwiring. MY grandmother's house had the old knob and tube wiring. Pretty cool in its own way, but scary in today's world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knob-and-tube_wiring

Yup, seen it. But I wouldn't allow it in MY house

[Mick Bailey]

In the UK appliances of any kind were sold without a fitted mains plug right up until the late 70s or early 80s. Because we have cartridge fuses in the plug, and the plug was marked rated for 13A, people thought that was the required fuse size. So pretty much everything had a 13A fuse and the plugs were very often badly wired. My dad had a few really nasty shocks - 240V hits very hard.

Our first house had lead sheathed wiring - lightweight multi-strand conductors with fabric insulation and a lead protective sheath. All run on the surface and painted over with gloss enamel paint.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Many years ago, I was talking to Tom at Magic Parts, and they had some blowout cheap IEC power cords, I think they were the extra useful 8-foot ones. But they were cheap, like a dollar or something. I was going to buy like 10 or 20 of them. He asked why I wanted them. I told him that it was far cheaper to buy an IEC cord and cut the female end off when replacing power cords. Buying actual replacement cords - molded male, loose wires on other end - were much more expensive.

He then told me, the cords he had were so cheap because the internal wiring was wrong color. Electrically they were right inside, and since the ends were all molded, they worked just fine as power cords in IEC sockets. But he refused to sell them to me for my use, because the green wire at the female end was not ground, etc. So as the above posts report, if I used it, someone in the future could make faulty assumptions about the wire functions based on their colors. I actually thought that was pretty classy of Tom.

I remember that - rarely did I get any phone time with Tom, but his salesman clued me on to this botch. I applaud their honesty. And remember - if it's too good a deal maybe there's a reason for it. Other dealers might not have been so forthcoming.