Overload or not?
The normal North American residential power grid supplies three-wire split-phase 120/240 V 60 Hz Ac power. A frequently used arrangement to supply power to standard duplex type receptacle is to make use of a common neutral wire in a three wire split receptacle arrangement.
The schematic above illustrates a split receptacle outlet with a toaster and an electric frying pan plugged into the two outlets.
What is the current flow through the neutral wire in the circuit show in the above schematic?
The answer is 2.5.
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
1 solution
The “A” phases and the “B” phase are 180 degrees out of phase with each other. The AC voltage between the two phases is 240 volts. Most of the current will be carried by only the hot wires. The neutral wire will carry the difference in current between the two loads
12.5 -10 =2.5 amps