Weber Warning and an AC Question

[Five_E35]

or why do we bother having ANY standards at all.

Please tell me I'm not going crazy.
So the Weber schematic says connect the blue wire from the power cord to the un-fused black wire of the power transformer(5E3 Kit)

https://taweber.powweb.com/store/5e3_schem.jpg

I'm real glad I checked the power cord I received with my DMM because the Blue wire is HOT, Brown is Neutral, and yes I checked in several outlets & measured 120VAC Blue to green(which the DMM shows as 0 ohms to the ground prong). I'm not sue if he had some cords made up so blue would go to transformer's blue, or if this cord is for some foreign country with goofy color codes, but I thought I should post something. I resorted to using a good old Black/White/Green power cord and everything works.

AC Question: People seem to say the fuse should come before the switch, but current Fender practice is a DPST switch on both sides of the line before the fuse. If the switch is UL rated, does it matter?

FWIW, got it up and running and all seems well, think I'll go play it some more.

[dwhutchens]

Does the Weber kit use a socket for the power cord like a computer power supply. I've used those on a couple of amps I've built. I just scavenged a socket out of a bad psu earlier tonight so I went and took a look at it, still had a quarter inch of wire soldered to each terminal. Sure enough the neurtral terminal had a blue wire on it. Maybe that's a standard for that type of socket. I don't believe I have ever seen a 120vac power cord with anything other than black for hot, white for neutral and green for ground and I've cut up a lot of them, some on purpose even I won't mention the hedge trimmer incident

[Keyrick]

or why do we bother having ANY standards at all.

Please tell me I'm not going crazy.
So the Weber schematic says connect the blue wire from the power cord to the un-fused black wire of the power transformer(5E3 Kit)

https://taweber.powweb.com/store/5e3_schem.jpg

I'm real glad I checked the power cord I received with my DMM because the Blue wire is HOT, Brown is Neutral, and yes I checked in several outlets & measured 120VAC Blue to green(which the DMM shows as 0 ohms to the ground prong). I'm not sue if he had some cords made up so blue would go to transformer's blue, or if this cord is for some foreign country with goofy color codes, but I thought I should post something. I resorted to using a good old Black/White/Green power cord and everything works.

AC Question: People seem to say the fuse should come before the switch, but current Fender practice is a DPST switch on both sides of the line before the fuse. If the switch is UL rated, does it matter?

FWIW, got it up and running and all seems well, think I'll go play it some more.

It looks like you have a bad cord. IEC cables use the CEE standard that indicate that the colors are as noted:

Function North American International
(NA) (ICC)

Hot =Black =Brown
Neutral =White =Blue
Earth (Ground) =Green =Green w/yellow stripe

Please check the link.

http://www.quail.com/glossary.cfm#colors

I like Black, White, and Green myself as well. I have heard of mis-wired cords coming out of China lately. Maybe you recieved one of those.

Good luck.

Rick

[mbratch]

Did you contact Ted about the problem? I'm sure he'd want to know.

[hasserl]

It could be the cord, but I suspect it's the wiring at the outlets you checked the cord at. If I were you I'd check those. You can get an inexpensive tool to check these for just a few dollars, it's a good tool to have in your kit for when playing out too, so you can check the outlets where you're playing.

Ace - Ace Tree: Electrical: Electrical Tape, Tools & Testers: Testers / Tester Fuses: GB® Outlet Tester (GRT-3500)

[Five_E35]

Outlet testers are handy, but a DMM will do the same thing if you know the standards. Most 3 prong U.S.-style outlets made in the last 30 or so years have one slot wider than the other. The narrow slot is hot, wide slot is neutral, and the round one is ground. If you get 120V narrow slot(hot) to ground, and 0V wide slot(neutral) to ground, the outlet is wired correct. You should also get a very low ohms reading from the wide slot(neutral) to ground. If replacing an outlet in the U.S., the code is to have the ground hole on the right on horizontal outlets, or down on vertical ones.

In any case, the cord was color-coded wrong. Wired that way you get 0 volts between fuse holder and chassis. Like old Fenders the fuse wound still work most of the time, but I think the main point is to check everything. I can't imagine Weber QC'ing every power cord, but I can imagine the Chinese messing up.

[Dave Curtis, dB AudioTech]

"If replacing an outlet in the U.S., the code is to have the ground hole on the right on horizontal outlets, or down on vertical ones."


There is no NEC code regarding the orientation of receptacles.

In my opinion, if they're mounted vertically "ground-up", the plug tends to stay plugged in due to the fact that the ground pin connection holds it's pin better, not to mention that if it's mounted "ground-down", when the plug sags out of the receptacle, it exposes both hot and neutral. If mounted with horizontally with the ground pin connection on the right, the hot will be exposed when the cord sags. I always install them ground up or left unless the existing receptacles are otherwise.


I can attest to the fact that a cordset I've worked with was coded wrong. Blue was hot. It did not come from Weber, and I don't recall if it was already in a unit or I'd picked it up somewhere.

Assumptions need confirmation.

(and occasionally colored heatshrink)

-Dave
Master Electrician

[mbratch]

I'm not up to date on the codes per se but the practice in the US that I've seen for vertically oriented AC outlets is ground pin up for commercial, and ground pin down for residential.

[Dave Curtis, dB AudioTech]

I'm not up to date on the codes per se but the practice in the US that I've seen for vertically oriented AC outlets is ground pin up for commercial, and ground pin down for residential.

Generally: Canada is ground up and the US is ground down, but again, the NEC (NFPA 70) doesn't require a specific orientation. All the ones in my house are ground up; wired in the mid 70's (not by me). I think the further away from the Canadian border you go, the more you'll see ground down.

[tedweber]

I can attest to the fact that a cordset I've worked with was coded wrong. Blue was hot. It did not come from Weber, and I don't recall if it was already in a unit or I'd picked it up somewhere.

The Chinese get in a hurry and build them backwards, then dump them on the american market. So, this thread should be re-titled "Global Warning" rather than Weber Warning. Everyone got screwed on this one. We are working to ensure the coding is correct on the ones we send out and also making sure our customers are aware of the problem.

Word of advice to everyone... go to Harbor Freight and buy a $4 volt/ohmeter, then make it a practice to check all outlets, cords, and plugs/sockets that you are using in your amp builds and other areas of interest.

Ted

[loudthud]

Word of advice to everyone... go to Harbor Freight and buy a $4 volt/ohmeter, then make it a practice to check all outlets, cords, and plugs/sockets that you are using in your amp builds and other areas of interest.

Ted

They're less than the retail price of a 12AX7. Everyone should have one!!!