Black And Red Wires In A Plug. The old wiring colours used in the uk in domestic electrical situations and in domestic appliance plugs used to be three colours. Thus both hot and neutral wires have the potential to shock and injure you. While wires designated as hot black or red insulated wires carry power from the service panel breaker box to the device neutral wires carry power back to the service panel.
It is important to note that neutral wires may also be carrying power and can shock you. One is that the outlet is a 240 volt one which requires an extra hot wire. For now it doesn t matter which lead you connect to which wire. Anything powered by 220 volts of electricity.
Ensure that the plug will be used to operate a 220 volt appliance.
The cable has a black wire which connects directly to the circuit and a red wire which connects to the switch. Another is that the box is on a circuit three way switch loop. The following diagram shows the australian plug wiring configuration. In standard 120 volt wiring the hot wire is black but it can also be red. The earth wire colour used to be pure green before 1977 then changed to green and yellow and has been the same ever since.