What color wire goes to the gold screw on the socket?
Content
- Which wire should I connect to the gold screw on the socket?
- Various types of color codes for electrical wires and output screws
- What wire connects to the silver screw?
- Which wire connects to the green screw?
- Explanation of 12/2 AWG and 12/3 AWG wires
- What happens when I connect a hot wire to a silver screw?
Can't figure out which wire goes to the gold screw on the socket? In my article below, I will answer this and more.
Perhaps you are renovating your old outlet or installing a brand new one. Either way, there's a good chance you'll have to deal with gold screws instead of the usual letter markings. Gold screw for hot wire? Or is it for the neutral wire?
In general, the gold screw is dedicated to the black wire (hot wire). If there is more than one gold screw, there is more than one hot wire. However, in some cases, a gold screw may be recognized as brass or bronze.
Which wire should I connect to the gold screw on the socket?
The black wire must be connected to the gold screw. And the black wire is the hot wire.
Quick-Tip: Some may identify the gold screw as a brass or bronze screw. But remember that everyone is the same.
In addition to the gold screw, you can find two more screws on the socket. In addition, you need to clearly understand the color codes of electrical wires, and I will explain them in the next section.
Various types of color codes for electrical wires and output screws
Different parts of the world use different color codes to represent electrical wiring. Here are the standard color codes used in North America.
The hot wire should be black (sometimes one black and one red wire).
The neutral wire must be white.
And the ground wire must be green or bare copper.
Now you know that the hot wire (black wire) connects to the gold screw. But in most residential areas, you will see two more terminals in different colors; silver screw and green screw.
What wire connects to the silver screw?
The neutral wire (white wire) is connected to the silver screw.
Which wire connects to the green screw?
The green screw is for grounding. So the bare copper wire or the green wire will connect to the green screw.
Explanation of 12/2 AWG and 12/3 AWG wires
AWG stands for American Gauge Wires and is the standard for measuring electrical wires in North America. Residential outlets often use 12/2 AWG or 12/3 AWG wire. (1)
Wire 12/2 AWG
12/2 AWG wire comes with black hot wire, white neutral wire, and bare copper wire. These three wires connect to the gold, silver, and green screws of the socket.
Wire 12/3 AWG
Unlike 12/2 wire, 12/3 wire comes with two hot wires (black and red), one neutral wire, and one bare copper wire. Therefore, the output should have two gold screws, one silver screw, and one green screw.
What happens when I connect a hot wire to a silver screw?
Connecting a hot wire to the silver screw or a neutral wire to the gold screw creates reverse polarity inside the socket. This is a potentially dangerous situation. Even if the polarity is reversed, the socket will work normally.
However, unneeded parts of the outlet will be electrically charged. This means that the device connected to this outlet will be electrically charged. When this happens, there is a high chance that you will be electrocuted or electrocuted.
How to determine the reverse polarity of the outlet?
Using a plug-in GFCI tester is the best way to check for reverse polarity in an outlet. To use this device, plug it into an outlet and it will check the polarity of the outlet and ground. The plug-in tester will turn on two green lights if everything is OK. (2)
Take a look at some of our articles below.
- Why is the ground wire hot on my electric fence
- What happens if you connect the white wire to the black wire
- Where to find thick copper wire for scrap
Recommendations
(1) North America - https://www.bobvila.com/articles/gfci-outlets/
(2) GFCI – https://www.bobvila.com/articles/gfci-outlets/
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