He is GOOD, anyone can work a screwdriver but knowing theory is such a big + and very important for anyone who wants to or neds to work with volts n amps. I give him 2 thumbs up.
Yup! 6V on one side, 6V on the other (because batteries in series are voltage-additive). Either set of batteries is 6V; together they're 12V. This is exactly how a center-tapped secondary on a transformer works. You could easily swap in a 12V center-tapped transformer here as well, since they're very common.
As a journeyman electrician with 17 years experience, I am very impressed with how completely clear and understandable this explanation was! Subscribed and am gonna forward a link to my friend who teaches apprentices. Thanks so much for this video and thanks to the mysterious youtube algorithm for sending me here. Now off to watch more!
@Chomp Chomp Katze That's no "live - neutral - earth" but "live - neutral - dephased live" circuit. It will run the same way as with batteries, just more dangerous.
Wow!! Awesome explanation. Decades ago, my parent’s house had an open neutral. Lights were dimming; others were burning bright. Voltages were all over the place. Now I know why. Thank you!!
My wifes house had resistive intermittently neutral. The flakey contractor she hired to fix it scared the shit out of her with a doom & gloom story saying the entire house needed rewiring. She went for a second opinion (me).. 30 min. later, I refit neutral in her loadcenter. She was so happy, six months later she married me.
This has to be the best explanation of how a circuit works that I've ever seen. I unintentionally learned this lesson the hard way over 20 years ago when my band was playing at a bar. Halfway through our first set, a couple of our guitar amps and one of the PA amps literally caught fire and the whole shebang shut down. An electrician informed us the next day that it was due to a loose neutral wire in one of the bar's stage power circuits that someone had monkeyed with earlier. In fact, he was cool enough to draw a diagram similar to yours to show how circuits work, thus giving me a crash course in basic wiring. From that moment on, we invested in a $5 circuit tester before we plugged anything in and that saved us a ton of grief from potential electrical gremlins.
This guy is a electrical genius! The way he teaches makes it so easy to understand vs reading out of a book! I have watched every video of this man I could find and he has made me say "wow" so many times. This guy deserves a trillion subscribers! He's my go to for learning! Thank you Mr. Gordon!
@@error200http It's a "dumb concept" to you because your homes are only wired on one side of the transformer. An "open neutral" to you is a completely-open circuit.
@@error200http You missed the most important thing which he said in the introduction: let's mimic a single phase, 3 wires circuit (240V phase to phase). This is how electricity is normally brought to domestic and small commercial users in the US, and I suspect, other 120V countries. It is very practical to split all the loads in two halves, and the electrical cabinets are in fact designed to make this easy and evident. Then, an abnormal open neutral condition is examined and explained. No comparison to Europe, or name calling applies here.
This is pretty standard in second and third year apprentice schooling, out of the total 5 years of school required to become a journeyman electrician (at least on the union side of things).
I'm nearly 70 years old and have seen this twice. Once at work, and once in my own home. At work, we had partitions between cubicles that had wiring embedded. A plug on one end of the partition mated with a socket on the adjoining partition. The neutral opened on one connection and caused a number of computers and printers to be fried because they suddenly had 220 volts instead of 110. At home, when the electrician installed my new panel, he didn't get the ground and neutral bars securely bonded. A couple of years later, the bond worked loose and blew out a few items. A couple of surge protectors gave their lives but protected their loads. I saw several of the situations Dave describes. At the time, it was pretty confusing. Excellent video!.
As I slap myself in the forehead…”yes!!!” Outstanding demonstration.. as a picture paints a thousand words… a physical demonstration literally lights up the room with illumination.. thank you
As a first year apprentice and just started the chapter on 3-wire branch circuits / open neutral, this was TREMENDOUSLY explained. I read the chapter three times and was left more confused than anything. After stumbling upon this video, I now feel I have a much better grasp on what an open neutral is. Thank you kind sir!
If you're getting notifications on this thread a year down the line, may I ask what the book or other publication was that let you down? No shade on Dave's outstanding video, but open neutral shouldn't be terribly hard to explain.
Excellent lesson!! Thank you for helping me understand an electrical problem I am facing now in my house. I appreciate the time and energy you spent helping the rest of us out here. God bless you.
Mr you are the best electrical teacher that I every seen on TH-cam!! I was about to type world!! Lol Your way of explaining is the best and I wish I could give you a 1000 likes. Please keep posting, your are really doing a hell of a job.
Thank you for the thorough explanation! I had very odd power issues all day, only to discover a neighbor's contractor hit their line with an excavator, breaking the tensioning cable and leaving me with an open neutral. Initially viewing them as sags (down to 80v that I saw), and knowing nothing of the damage, I couldn't explain why one surge suppressor began shorting internally and melting. No other video I found explained it in the same depth or clarity.
I love the setup you created for this video. The use of clear, color coded wires, simple incandescent lamps, and a clear layout makes it so much easier to understand.
Gotta say, you saved my butt when I moved into a new house. Plugging my phone into an outlet in my shop caused the lights to dim, almost to the point of being dark inside, but not popping breakers, and turning on the outside light caused the lights to get brighter. It was a helluva time trying to diagnose the issue until I randomly stumbled upon your videos. Keep up the good work!
This is the best open neutral explanation I have seen on the tubes. I learned it this way in electronics class back in the 90s. Had almost the same setup and we were tested on different orientations and had to mathematically predict the voltages at given points. The operating resistance of an appliance being different is what is key in voltage potential difference. Great video!
When I explain this to my apprentices, this is what I see in my mind. Thank you for all your videos! In my book, you sir make a difference in the lives of people that really take an interest in the electrical trade.
I really appreciate this analysis. It's brought me a couple good insights that I've just chalked up to an open neutral and started hunting for the open, ad I've seen it. Particularly the imbalance. I knew it was from the loads shifting into a series configuration, but never bothered to draw it out before. The time and attention to detail that you put into making this is phenomenal and not only do I respect it, but I'm thoroughly impressed. And this is coming from a practicing master electrician and newly minted electrical engineer.
Simple title, simple wiring, simple diagram, and simple explanation, all for a complex subject that so many people dont understand. Doesnt get much better than that!
I just came across this video. I teach second-year apprentices and I cover theory in the first module of the year. I am always looking for new material and resources (outside the book) to explain complex concepts. This is absolutely useful in demonstrating how the neutral truly works. Very good video. I will be watching all of them.
As someone with interest in electricity: this is an excellent explanation video about electrical loads and series/parallel circuits. But as an European: We just simply have 230V ac. One live, one neutral and one ground. We have simplicity, you have flexibility.
I like how you arranged the wiring ladder similar to a breaker panel so that some can easier compare it to what they are going to see in the field. I don’t know if you have done it already, as this is the first video I’ve seen, but you could also show how losing a phase and having 240v loads will also affect the 120v loads on that phase, and the relationship there Good job!!
If you lost a phase all of the lights on that phase would just go out. And the lights on the other phase would act normal. All the amps on the working phase would also be on the nuetral. Don't think there would be much to sure in that video right?
This reminds me of being back in school during my apprenticeship. That was more than 20 years ago. I remember doing ladder diagrams for fellow classmates that were having trouble understanding and they looked a lot like what you were showing (maybe not as neatly drawn). Some classmates would complain because I wouldn't show them my answers when they didn't get around to doing the homework. Instead, I told them I would help them figure it out, because I felt it would be better if they understood the process rather than copy or just memorize the answer. This was more self-preservation than altruism because I didn't want to be stuck working with idiots in the field. Unlike most, I enjoyed my apprenticeship.
Ive not fundamentally understood what a neutral is for almost 40 years and this man comes along and makes it completely clear. Instant follow! DC is so much easier to comprehend than AC so making a dc analog of an ac system was genius. THANK YOU!!!
The DC battery setup may be easier for people to relate to, but this example operates _exactly_ like the center-tapped secondary on the transformer to your home. Each battery pack is 6 volts (because batteries in series add voltages, 1.5V × 4 = 6V). Each battery pack alone is 6V, no matter which pack it is; both together are 12V. The two windings on the transformer are exactly like these identical battery packs. Because the winding ratio determines the voltage change of the transformer, doubling the number of windings doubles the available voltage to make 240V.
Dude. Thank you. I remember looking for something like this years ago to help me visualize what was going on. Im only 15 ...20 seconds in and already know this is about to be GOAT. Thanks again
The Visual learning here, got a lot of useful information about the open neutral from the display board with the lights on. Greatly appreciate that demonstration. As an IBEW member, don’t do much work on residential work & needed some info on an open neutral. Thank you
Absolutely perfect explanation. I tried to explain it to a new guy and he was a deer in the head lights! I will definitely send him your way. Oh and Glory to the one God❤!
Very nicely done sir! I've been an electrician for almost 60 years and I realize the difficulty for guys to think with this concept. It can get pretty confusing! You've done an excellent job of representing just 'What the Heck' is happening. IYour's is one of the clearest I've seen. This problem is not something that I see often as I'm not that involved anymore. Your video has given me an excellent 'Refresher' course. Thanks again, Garth
I don't even knew something like an open neutral existed, but I understood it perfectly with this video, and so can attest to the fact that this is a brilliant demonstration of the concept.
Great video. Perfect explanation of the open neutral concept. Applying it in my home, I found a double wired breaker where one of the neutrals had simply popped out. The wackiness of the symptoms caused all kinds of weirdness, complicated by the double wiring. The circuit served two lighting branches in three rooms, so some serious headscratching was involved. Your video made it plain as could be how an open neutral behaves and finding and fixing it only took about 30 minutes - after watching. I probably burnt 3 hours before I went online and found this. I figure you saved me about $300 in electrician callout and site time charges.
This is the best explanation and demonstration I have seen for this subject matter. I have struggled with open neutral in the past. Thank you for this lesson. Great teacher.
Before this I had no interest in electricity, I was recommended this video after a Tom Scott video... but I was so into this. This is so informative and in such plain English that I was able to follow along with no experience before this. Thanks Dave!
Wow, funny that this came up in my suggested videos. We had a 'data center' that was being serviced by a UPS 'electrician'. He had inadvertently removed a neutral at the UPS output to the subpanel that fed all our racks for some unknown reason and in the process smoke started pouring out of server power supplies, switches died, surge protection blocks caught fire and the fire protection system kicked in and the end result, the whole data center went offline! Four painful hours later we finally got things rebuilt but what an expensive mistake he made! I knew it had something to do with what you describe here but to get this visually is an excellent method, thank you for your efforts and time :)
This is a fantastic demonstration of something we would rarely encounter having an open neutral... and if so would leave some of the most qualified technicians scratching their heads. Bravo Sir!
Mmmm I love this. Before I dropped out of studying electrical engineering, I remember studying " mesh analysis". From what the professor said, it's one of the first complex concepts to fully understand and stay oriented with. But boy howdy! This is a wonderful visual demonstration of those Concepts at work! I love it. Wish I would have found this when I was in school.
Brilliant way to explain. Reading a book or undergoing electrical engineering is a joke in front of your imaginative way of explaining Open Neutral. Cheers to your way of simplicity for a complex topic!
I am an instructor in my union, I Sir am not at your caliber of teaching, both me and my students benefit from me watching and learning not only techniques but simpler ways of instruction. Thank you for all your videos. I most certainly have subscribed.
Very well explained! I once discovered an open neutral in the feeder inside of a parent panel before it ran to the sub-panel I was having issues in. Thankfully, there weren't that many branch circuits even being used and very minor loads at that. This was a 3-phase panel where 3 circuits would share a common neutral, so without the feeder neutral being connected in the upstream panel, the loads on one circuit were using loads on another circuit to complete the path. They noticed an issue when the voltage drop across one load was odd and didn't match any system voltage. Very good visual example and a good supplement with the whiteboard analysis as well. Thanks for sharing!
Slow, methodical and easily understandable. Good job. I know electricians and electrical instructors that know the subject matter very well but confuse the hell out of almost anyone with their scribbles on a whiteboard.
I’m about to watch all your videos before I start my new job to have a better understanding and clarity. Thanks for your hard work and gift your sharing with me and the internet! 🔥🙏🏾💯
An excellent demonstration! So simple I can't believe no-one thought of it sooner! I'm now retired, after a long career in healthcare as a building systems technician, and I've never seen such a great explanation. Even my wife understood and enjoyed it.
Excellent Production Dave. Your attention to detail in the white board drawings as well as the clean demo circuit construction really makes it easy to learn. I learn as much about teaching as the circuit theory with you. You're an inspiration. Thanks!
I Loved this! With my RV repair business, I recently had a 5th wheel with an intermittent open ground at the junction of shore power cord (on a reel) and line to the panel. This perfectly explains the whacky voltages I was getting on both the neutral buss bar and crazy receptacle tester indications. Thank you!
Well done ! Many people cant get past the fact that current can flow with open neutral , or to a center tapped transformer, or both at the same time. (and that 240v doesn't even need a neutral ) Exceptional hands on presentation.👍
Great video!! Thank you. I’m an electrician at a large work camp and recently had to explain to my managers the dangers of running split receptacles off of the same phases. This video explains that and open neutrals perfectly. Thanks for the great explanation. 👍🏻👍🏻
I stumbled on this video from a link with someone who was dealing with a dropped neutral that fried some appliances. Using the lights on a DC circuit is really, really helpful. 🔌💡
Great video. I'm a master electrician that's been in the field for 38 years, mostly in service work for commercial and residential. I have had many issues over the years with open branch circuit neutrals as well as service neutrals. After a while it got to where I could tell what it was as soon as the customer explained what was going on. Have seen electricians remove a receptacle that wasn't pig-tailed, and open the neutral on a multi-wire branch circuit and fry equipment, since those MWBC's are rarely balanced. In 3-phase systems they are usually 3 hots to a neutral. The code change that requires handle ties for all breakers feeding MWBC's helped out a lot...that is if you turn the circuit off before breaking the neutral, which many don't do.
I've watch more videos on this subject than I want to admit and finally found one that actually explained, through a brilliant demonstration, what is actually happening. Thank you VERY much!!
This mans videos are the most underrated. He’s the most gifted electrical teacher I’ve seen on the internet.
I was lucky enough to have him as an actual teacher. He’s the only reason me and at least 20 of my peers passed any of our DC theory or transformers.
I agree! That was a thorough and accurate investigation into a little understood phenomena that we all share with our household wiring.
I saw the thumbnail and knew that this would be informative.
Absolutely, this man is a great teacher
He is GOOD, anyone can work a screwdriver but knowing theory is such a big + and
very important for anyone who wants to or neds to work with volts n amps. I give him
2 thumbs up.
The example DC circuit with the neutral blew my mind. Simplified everything and made it make sense. Brilliant!
Yup! 6V on one side, 6V on the other (because batteries in series are voltage-additive). Either set of batteries is 6V; together they're 12V. This is exactly how a center-tapped secondary on a transformer works. You could easily swap in a 12V center-tapped transformer here as well, since they're very common.
As a journeyman electrician with 17 years experience, I am very impressed with how completely clear and understandable this explanation was! Subscribed and am gonna forward a link to my friend who teaches apprentices. Thanks so much for this video and thanks to the mysterious youtube algorithm for sending me here. Now off to watch more!
But when are you getting these open neutrals?
@@sillybilly686 because of age connections can get loose and also corrosion which can cause bad neutral failing
@Chomp Chomp Katze That's no "live - neutral - earth" but "live - neutral - dephased live" circuit. It will run the same way as with batteries, just more dangerous.
As a 24 second TH-cam master apprentice I like it when he talks about loads.
id like to see him go into a facility and find the lost N
Wow!! Awesome explanation. Decades ago, my parent’s house had an open neutral. Lights were dimming; others were burning bright. Voltages were all over the place. Now I know why. Thank you!!
Ohm's law.
@@westelaudio943 And Kirchhoff's laws.
My wifes house had resistive intermittently neutral.
The flakey contractor she hired to fix it scared the shit out of her with a doom & gloom story saying the entire house needed rewiring.
She went for a second opinion (me)..
30 min. later, I refit neutral in her loadcenter.
She was so happy, six months later she married me.
Ahh check for loose neutrals in the panel first!
Get married second!
This has to be the best explanation of how a circuit works that I've ever seen.
I unintentionally learned this lesson the hard way over 20 years ago when my band was playing at a bar. Halfway through our first set, a couple of our guitar amps and one of the PA amps literally caught fire and the whole shebang shut down. An electrician informed us the next day that it was due to a loose neutral wire in one of the bar's stage power circuits that someone had monkeyed with earlier. In fact, he was cool enough to draw a diagram similar to yours to show how circuits work, thus giving me a crash course in basic wiring.
From that moment on, we invested in a $5 circuit tester before we plugged anything in and that saved us a ton of grief from potential electrical gremlins.
That's a neat trick bringing your own circuit tester for gigs. I'm sure especially with older venues it might be a common problem
@@Spliteyemoto Definitely. Especially with dive bars and frat houses!
This guy is a electrical genius! The way he teaches makes it so easy to understand vs reading out of a book! I have watched every video of this man I could find and he has made me say "wow" so many times. This guy deserves a trillion subscribers! He's my go to for learning! Thank you Mr. Gordon!
It's rather that open neutral is a dumb concept. Haven't seen it in Europe.
@@error200http Als Fehler nach Isolationsmessungen ist das ein mögliches Szenario. Selbst erlebt!
@@error200http It's a "dumb concept" to you because your homes are only wired on one side of the transformer. An "open neutral" to you is a completely-open circuit.
@@error200http You missed the most important thing which he said in the introduction: let's mimic a single phase, 3 wires circuit (240V phase to phase). This is how electricity is normally brought to domestic and small commercial users in the US, and I suspect, other 120V countries. It is very practical to split all the loads in two halves, and the electrical cabinets are in fact designed to make this easy and evident.
Then, an abnormal open neutral condition is examined and explained.
No comparison to Europe, or name calling applies here.
This is pretty standard in second and third year apprentice schooling, out of the total 5 years of school required to become a journeyman electrician (at least on the union side of things).
I'm nearly 70 years old and have seen this twice. Once at work, and once in my own home. At work, we had partitions between cubicles that had wiring embedded. A plug on one end of the partition mated with a socket on the adjoining partition. The neutral opened on one connection and caused a number of computers and printers to be fried because they suddenly had 220 volts instead of 110. At home, when the electrician installed my new panel, he didn't get the ground and neutral bars securely bonded. A couple of years later, the bond worked loose and blew out a few items. A couple of surge protectors gave their lives but protected their loads. I saw several of the situations Dave describes. At the time, it was pretty confusing. Excellent video!.
The best explanation of an open neutral I’ve ever seen. Very good video.
Liked and Subscribed. This is the kind of content that changes the internet from a toy to a tool. Great explanation!
As I slap myself in the forehead…”yes!!!” Outstanding demonstration.. as a picture paints a thousand words… a physical demonstration literally lights up the room with illumination.. thank you
Im an apprentice, and this was the clearest explanation of an open neutral I've received.
A excellent explantation. The more I deal with the simpler 220v systems outside of North America the more I appreciate them.
As a first year apprentice and just started the chapter on 3-wire branch circuits / open neutral, this was TREMENDOUSLY explained. I read the chapter three times and was left more confused than anything. After stumbling upon this video, I now feel I have a much better grasp on what an open neutral is. Thank you kind sir!
If you're getting notifications on this thread a year down the line, may I ask what the book or other publication was that let you down? No shade on Dave's outstanding video, but open neutral shouldn't be terribly hard to explain.
Absolutely the clearest, most straightforward, and concise explanation I have found on the internet! Bravo!!!
Excellent teacher. A rare breed of men you belong.
Excellent lesson!! Thank you for helping me understand an electrical problem I am facing now in my house. I appreciate the time and energy you spent helping the rest of us out here. God bless you.
Both the diagram and the display are over the top!... backed by an clear and concise explainer!... Amazing video Dave, keep'em coming!
Mr you are the best electrical teacher that I every seen on TH-cam!! I was about to type world!! Lol Your way of explaining is the best and I wish I could give you a 1000 likes. Please keep posting, your are really doing a hell of a job.
Thank you for the thorough explanation! I had very odd power issues all day, only to discover a neighbor's contractor hit their line with an excavator, breaking the tensioning cable and leaving me with an open neutral. Initially viewing them as sags (down to 80v that I saw), and knowing nothing of the damage, I couldn't explain why one surge suppressor began shorting internally and melting. No other video I found explained it in the same depth or clarity.
You're a great teacher. Clear and concise. As an engineer, I found this all to be 100% accurate. Keep up the good work.
This 1 video summarizes and clarifies much more than literally dozens of TH-cam videos. Thank you!!
I love the setup you created for this video.
The use of clear, color coded wires, simple incandescent lamps, and a clear layout makes it so much easier to understand.
He even included the bond wire even though, as in real life, it has no connection to the current-carrying conductors. I'm totally copping this layout.
You have no idea how helpful this video was for explaining the REASON we use this circuit design.
SOLID! Im finally getting it. I hugely appreciate your 'explain it to me like Im a 4th grader' approach - w clear visuals and delivery style. Kudos!
Gotta say, you saved my butt when I moved into a new house. Plugging my phone into an outlet in my shop caused the lights to dim, almost to the point of being dark inside, but not popping breakers, and turning on the outside light caused the lights to get brighter.
It was a helluva time trying to diagnose the issue until I randomly stumbled upon your videos.
Keep up the good work!
What an excellent demonstration. Thanks for the refresher.
First time that I see any of your videos and already a fan. Fantastic demonstration. Thank you very much.
This is a FANTASTIC demo. Props to you for making this video so educational and visually easy to understand.
The thing you demonstrated is a very important concept in Electrical Engineering, which we never realise. Thank you so much for making this video.
Are you studying to be an Electrical Engineer? What country are you in?
@@MrWzeljunior Yes, I'm in my final year of my BTech, EE. I'm from India.
This is the best open neutral explanation I have seen on the tubes. I learned it this way in electronics class back in the 90s. Had almost the same setup and we were tested on different orientations and had to mathematically predict the voltages at given points. The operating resistance of an appliance being different is what is key in voltage potential difference. Great video!
When I explain this to my apprentices, this is what I see in my mind. Thank you for all your videos! In my book, you sir make a difference in the lives of people that really take an interest in the electrical trade.
That was the best demonstration of an open neutral I've ever seen. Great idea using batteries to keep it safe!
Wonderful demonstrations, thank you for your work!
One of the best explanations and demonstrations of it's kind. Woefully underrated video!
I really appreciate this analysis. It's brought me a couple good insights that I've just chalked up to an open neutral and started hunting for the open, ad I've seen it. Particularly the imbalance. I knew it was from the loads shifting into a series configuration, but never bothered to draw it out before.
The time and attention to detail that you put into making this is phenomenal and not only do I respect it, but I'm thoroughly impressed.
And this is coming from a practicing master electrician and newly minted electrical engineer.
Great stuff DIY Home owner here I was able to follow along . There seems to be so much to learn about electricity it's amazing thank you
This video is extremely clear and easy to follow. Absolutely brilliant.
That was the best lesson I’ve ever had on electrical troubleshooting.
Great set of videos by you. Very well explained.
Simple title, simple wiring, simple diagram, and simple explanation, all for a complex subject that so many people dont understand. Doesnt get much better than that!
I just came across this video. I teach second-year apprentices and I cover theory in the first module of the year. I am always looking for new material and resources (outside the book) to explain complex concepts. This is absolutely useful in demonstrating how the neutral truly works. Very good video. I will be watching all of them.
As someone with interest in electricity: this is an excellent explanation video about electrical loads and series/parallel circuits.
But as an European: We just simply have 230V ac. One live, one neutral and one ground. We have simplicity, you have flexibility.
I like how you arranged the wiring ladder similar to a breaker panel so that some can easier compare it to what they are going to see in the field.
I don’t know if you have done it already, as this is the first video I’ve seen, but you could also show how losing a phase and having 240v loads will also affect the 120v loads on that phase, and the relationship there Good job!!
If you lost a phase all of the lights on that phase would just go out. And the lights on the other phase would act normal. All the amps on the working phase would also be on the nuetral. Don't think there would be much to sure in that video right?
Until your electric water heater turns on and the other half of your house comes on at 40v
This is the best explanation for open neutral I have ever seen. really well done!
This reminds me of being back in school during my apprenticeship. That was more than 20 years ago. I remember doing ladder diagrams for fellow classmates that were having trouble understanding and they looked a lot like what you were showing (maybe not as neatly drawn). Some classmates would complain because I wouldn't show them my answers when they didn't get around to doing the homework. Instead, I told them I would help them figure it out, because I felt it would be better if they understood the process rather than copy or just memorize the answer. This was more self-preservation than altruism because I didn't want to be stuck working with idiots in the field. Unlike most, I enjoyed my apprenticeship.
Ive not fundamentally understood what a neutral is for almost 40 years and this man comes along and makes it completely clear.
Instant follow!
DC is so much easier to comprehend than AC so making a dc analog of an ac system was genius.
THANK YOU!!!
The DC battery setup may be easier for people to relate to, but this example operates _exactly_ like the center-tapped secondary on the transformer to your home. Each battery pack is 6 volts (because batteries in series add voltages, 1.5V × 4 = 6V). Each battery pack alone is 6V, no matter which pack it is; both together are 12V. The two windings on the transformer are exactly like these identical battery packs. Because the winding ratio determines the voltage change of the transformer, doubling the number of windings doubles the available voltage to make 240V.
Excellent videos sir, very helpful to brush up concepts!
Ran into this before i knew about trouble shooting an open neutral, was there most confusing few hours of my life.
Excellent explanation. Thank you!
What a brilliant way to explain open neutrals. Next time I try to explain it to anyone, they are getting this link first. Nicely done.
You are very brilliant. You have a true understanding of electricity. I would sure like to have you in my corner when I build my next prototype.
Awesome video. I can’t believe 40 years in the trade and this is the first time this was ever explained to me so simply and completely.
I never could understand the how’s and why’s of the neutral until you made this video. THANK YOU!
Dude. Thank you. I remember looking for something like this years ago to help me visualize what was going on. Im only 15 ...20 seconds in and already know this is about to be GOAT.
Thanks again
That is an extremely well put together video, with spot on simulation, and great supporting graphics all to explain a utterly trivial fact.
Brilliant explanation which really clicked in my head as a "oh that makes perfect sense!" Thank you sir!
Excellent analysis. I sent the link to this video to my son (he's an Electrician). Thanks for posting
amazing share thanks for your patiently explaining for us
The Visual learning here, got a lot of useful information about the open neutral from the display board with the lights on.
Greatly appreciate that demonstration. As an IBEW member, don’t do much work on residential work & needed some info on an open neutral.
Thank you
Probably one of the best demonstrations I've seen about this issue. Simple to understand and learn from.
Super clear demonstration and explanation. Knowledgeable electrician and a brilliant teacher.
Absolutely perfect explanation. I tried to explain it to a new guy and he was a deer in the head lights! I will definitely send him your way. Oh and Glory to the one God❤!
Very nicely done sir!
I've been an electrician for almost 60 years and I realize the difficulty for guys to think with this concept. It can get pretty confusing! You've done an excellent job of representing just 'What the Heck' is happening. IYour's is one of the clearest I've seen. This problem is not something that I see often as I'm not that involved anymore. Your video has given me an excellent 'Refresher' course.
Thanks again, Garth
I watched the silent thumbnail for ages reading the subtitles and was hooked ! Awesome thank U for explaing.like this
I don't even knew something like an open neutral existed, but I understood it perfectly with this video, and so can attest to the fact that this is a brilliant demonstration of the concept.
Great video. Perfect explanation of the open neutral concept. Applying it in my home, I found a double wired breaker where one of the neutrals had simply popped out. The wackiness of the symptoms caused all kinds of weirdness, complicated by the double wiring. The circuit served two lighting branches in three rooms, so some serious headscratching was involved. Your video made it plain as could be how an open neutral behaves and finding and fixing it only took about 30 minutes - after watching. I probably burnt 3 hours before I went online and found this. I figure you saved me about $300 in electrician callout and site time charges.
This is the best explanation and demonstration I have seen for this subject matter. I have struggled with open neutral in the past. Thank you for this lesson. Great teacher.
You make learning fun. That's a rare trait to have and I appreciate all the effort you give.
Before this I had no interest in electricity, I was recommended this video after a Tom Scott video... but I was so into this.
This is so informative and in such plain English that I was able to follow along with no experience before this.
Thanks Dave!
Wow, funny that this came up in my suggested videos.
We had a 'data center' that was being serviced by a UPS 'electrician'.
He had inadvertently removed a neutral at the UPS output to the subpanel that fed all our racks for some unknown reason and in the process smoke started pouring out of server power supplies, switches died, surge protection blocks caught fire and the fire protection system kicked in and the end result, the whole data center went offline!
Four painful hours later we finally got things rebuilt but what an expensive mistake he made!
I knew it had something to do with what you describe here but to get this visually is an excellent method, thank you for your efforts and time :)
Holy shit!! I hope he or his company were held financially responsible. And he was fired.
This is a fantastic demonstration of something we would rarely encounter having an open neutral...
and if so would leave some of the most qualified technicians scratching their heads.
Bravo Sir!
Very well done demonstration.
Mmmm I love this. Before I dropped out of studying electrical engineering, I remember studying " mesh analysis". From what the professor said, it's one of the first complex concepts to fully understand and stay oriented with. But boy howdy! This is a wonderful visual demonstration of those Concepts at work! I love it. Wish I would have found this when I was in school.
This answered my question I have been having for years. I appreciate this video so much!!!
Accidentally stumbled upon this video. Great explanation! Like it! Certainly deserves more attention
Probably the best explanation of the subject that I’ve come across.
Thank You Mr Gordon for this incredible show-off! Your teaching about this common issue is a masterpiece,You already blew my mind!!
Brilliant way to explain. Reading a book or undergoing electrical engineering is a joke in front of your imaginative way of explaining Open Neutral. Cheers to your way of simplicity for a complex topic!
I am an instructor in my union, I Sir am not at your caliber of teaching, both me and my students benefit from me watching and learning not only techniques but simpler ways of instruction. Thank you for all your videos. I most certainly have subscribed.
Very well explained! I once discovered an open neutral in the feeder inside of a parent panel before it ran to the sub-panel I was having issues in. Thankfully, there weren't that many branch circuits even being used and very minor loads at that. This was a 3-phase panel where 3 circuits would share a common neutral, so without the feeder neutral being connected in the upstream panel, the loads on one circuit were using loads on another circuit to complete the path. They noticed an issue when the voltage drop across one load was odd and didn't match any system voltage. Very good visual example and a good supplement with the whiteboard analysis as well. Thanks for sharing!
Slow, methodical and easily understandable. Good job. I know electricians and electrical instructors that know the subject matter very well but confuse the hell out of almost anyone with their scribbles on a whiteboard.
I’m about to watch all your videos before I start my new job to have a better understanding and clarity. Thanks for your hard work and gift your sharing with me and the internet! 🔥🙏🏾💯
This is the best explanation I've seen on TH-cam. Thank you! Subscribed after watching this!
This is the best explanation and example I have ever seen.
An excellent demonstration! So simple I can't believe no-one thought of it sooner! I'm now retired, after a long career in healthcare as a building systems technician, and I've never seen such a great explanation. Even my wife understood and enjoyed it.
Excellent Production Dave. Your attention to detail in the white board drawings as well as the clean demo circuit construction really makes it easy to learn. I learn as much about teaching as the circuit theory with you. You're an inspiration. Thanks!
I Loved this! With my RV repair business, I recently had a 5th wheel with an intermittent open ground at the junction of shore power cord (on a reel) and line to the panel. This perfectly explains the whacky voltages I was getting on both the neutral buss bar and crazy receptacle tester indications. Thank you!
Well done ! Many people cant get past the fact that current can flow with open neutral , or to a center tapped transformer, or both at the same time. (and that 240v doesn't even need a neutral )
Exceptional hands on presentation.👍
This is an outstanding demonstration that makes it much easier to understand. Great Video.
This is absolutely the best explination I have ever heard, thank you so much for putting this together using examples and common sense language
One of the best if not The best explanation of an open neutral I have seen. Well done.
This might be the most fantastic video for open-neutral and current balance. This is perfect for teaching. Jeez.
Great video!! Thank you. I’m an electrician at a large work camp and recently had to explain to my managers the dangers of running split receptacles off of the same phases. This video explains that and open neutrals perfectly. Thanks for the great explanation. 👍🏻👍🏻
What would make this video even more amazing would be a real world experience and troubleshooting of this issue. Still best video I have seen on this!
I stumbled on this video from a link with someone who was dealing with a dropped neutral that fried some appliances. Using the lights on a DC circuit is really, really helpful. 🔌💡
Great video. I'm a master electrician that's been in the field for 38 years, mostly in service work for commercial and residential. I have had many issues over the years with open branch circuit neutrals as well as service neutrals. After a while it got to where I could tell what it was as soon as the customer explained what was going on. Have seen electricians remove a receptacle that wasn't pig-tailed, and open the neutral on a multi-wire branch circuit and fry equipment, since those MWBC's are rarely balanced. In 3-phase systems they are usually 3 hots to a neutral. The code change that requires handle ties for all breakers feeding MWBC's helped out a lot...that is if you turn the circuit off before breaking the neutral, which many don't do.
Genius! This is an incredibly effective way to demonstrate open neutrals - thanks for your great work!
GREAT ! Demo . I can't say how wonderful this graphic demo with the meter reading is .
I've watch more videos on this subject than I want to admit and finally found one that actually explained, through a brilliant demonstration, what is actually happening. Thank you VERY much!!
A very well communicated example and theory of some of Ohms laws. I could watch and listen to these videos all day long.
Excellent explanation!!!
I’m not an electrician, but I know enough to understand your video, and it is indeed superb .