Shocking Discovery! Electrical Safety Tip

[rockinrob]

Picked up a Rock-Ola 418SA a week ago and been working on it and finally decided to change the 120v male plug since the original one was pulling apart. It was a two wire cord so I just hooked up the black to the hot side of the new plug and the white to the neutral. Then when I would turn off the power switch on the back of the jukebox I would feel a little shock on some of the metal parts. This made me believe that the neutral line was being switched instead of the hot line and I have come across this many times in my electrical career. I removed the power supply and the white wire was being used as the hot side instead of the black. Looked liked this wiring was all original to me. Swapped the wires on the plug and all is good.

So be careful when changing out a plug. Might want to verify which wire is actually the hot wire.

[Ron Rich]

Hi Rob,
Yep-- run across that many times-- I sorta doubt it was 'original", although it coodabeen, as that came out about the time 3 wire power cords were made mandatory-- Most older phono's had non-pol plugs-- you may also get a "tingle" from them--which is why I suggest ALL "appliances" be plugged into only, a GFIC, outlet. Ron Rich