Live, neutral and earth electrical wires explained (AKIO TV)

In this video, we take a look at the basics of electrical wiring; we explore what live, neutral and earth wires actually do using a scale model.
(AKIO TV) MMXX

[@ravindujayasekara2969]

I've been browsing about this for hours. This was the best explanation I found. thanks man

[@algordon5843]

Im 63 years old and have been doing things including electrical things my whole life. Ive always known about active and neutral but have never fully understood what was going on. 6 minutes watching your video and now I do. Thanks.

[@waqamehdi6171]

very interesting and useful content. i didn't know that the neutral wire is initially grounded before into a property therefore making it not carry a current

[@juliopimenta8521]

Very well explained.

[@chellenta1175]

Brilliant work! Clearly, easy explanation.

[@avrosaha]

The best explanation I've found for this topic; thank you so much!

[@davideickhoff694]

Great video! Very clear and short. Good job man

[@steve-o6413]

Nice job, explained well. Another job for the ground wire is to trip off the circuit breaker or fuse if the livewire becomes loose...

[@AKIOTV]

Absolutely, although it's more likely that the RCD would be triggered first given it responds to much smaller currents than a circuit breaker. In a system that has no RCD*, or one that's broken, the short circuit would indeed eventually trip the breaker. *North american systems often only use RCDs in wet rooms rather than the whole house (referred to as GFCI)

[@SAIDDAHIR442]

Great video, great channel.

[@Flipclockfans]

I really appreciated your modeling of the situation. You even took the time to put the KZbinr up on the second floor. But where's the bathroom? Anyway, thanks again!

[@AKIOTV]

Haha good to see someone noticed it

[@AlbertRei3424]

awesome

[@zsoltszilagyi8349]

Hi, Thanks for the video and the great explanation! However, there is one thing I still can't understand: If the neutral is connected to the ground, why do we need the third (ground) wire? Why can't we just simply split the neutral and put one side to the light-bulb, and the another one to the metal thing? (I have a power supply, similar like yours, and there are 3 inputs in it (live, neutral, ground). My idea was just to cut an ordinary cable which can be plugged to the system. (For example a cable of a lamp.) But my problem is that it has only 2 cables in it. So after your video, I thought I can use the neutral and connect it to both inputs.)

[@AKIOTV]

Using neutral as earth is earthing as done 100 years ago, it technically works, but it's quite bad for several reasons: - Your ground fault protection switch won't work in certain situations since a connection to the chassis will now not lead to leakage current - If the neutral wire ever disconnects from the outlet, but not from the chassis, the chassis becomes live, even if the live wire itself isn't faulty/touching the chassis. (That risk is actually greater than a faulty live wire in the chassis, because broken wires at the plug are much more common!) - Depending on where you live, power plugs may plug in both ways, so neutral could be live if it's plugged in upside down, which would energise the chassis. TLDR: don't use neutral as earth in your house. If you have no earth, it's better to not use earth at all than to try and use a neutral wire. Not using earth is not as risky as you might think, plenty of devices will be perfectly safe without it. So, with that PSU, just connect live and neutral and leave earth open.

[@zsoltszilagyi8349]

@@AKIOTV Thank you for the quick answer!

[@whatispraveen]

Why is the neutral wire connected to the ground ? It makes sense why the ground wire connected to the ground

[@AKIOTV]

You have 2 wires, then you connect one of them to the ground to make the system ground referenced. At that point the wire you connected to the ground is at ground potential, making it a neutral wire. long story short: you don't connect a neutral wire to earth because its neutral, the wire *becomes* neutral because you connect it to earth.

[@jimblob78]

My outlets have two flat prongs and a hole at the bottom please help the hardware store won't sell me your cables or outlets

[@AKIOTV]

probably none of your appliances uses them either haha.

[@jimblob78]

@@AKIOTV Just checked per your recommendation and they don't. I am so relieved right now 😁

[@d71mau]

on modern day systems, I believe there is no earth at the house , as it now "earths" back down the the negative wire. Not something I quite understand

[@AKIOTV]

Well as I mentioned, at the end of the day the neutral is earthed at the transformer anyway, so it doesn't make much of a difference.