No current flow on a balanced neutral?
- Thread starter ronaldrc
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LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
That was my point: splitting the neutral for separate DC meters won't change anything relative to a single AC meter.ronaldrc said:
Not even in your voltmeter?
Larry
Its worth a try if it does flow we will have to rethink harmonics.
Heres what I thought about after I posted that last night.
I have not run this experiment yet.So I don't know yet rather current actually flows or not with a balanced circuit.
The example I am showing is indicating or showing that there is actual current flowing on the neutral.The two meters with the diodes
on both sides prevents the meter from getting current from both directions so they read 10 amps. The one single top meter gets an equal amount of current flow from both sides so it will read null or zero.
If current does flow which I don't think it does,then we will have to go back rethink our theory on why the neutral conductor gets hot even when it shows no load with the standard clamp on ampere Meter.
Ronald
Its worth a try if it does flow we will have to rethink harmonics.
Heres what I thought about after I posted that last night.
I have not run this experiment yet.So I don't know yet rather current actually flows or not with a balanced circuit.
The example I am showing is indicating or showing that there is actual current flowing on the neutral.The two meters with the diodes
on both sides prevents the meter from getting current from both directions so they read 10 amps. The one single top meter gets an equal amount of current flow from both sides so it will read null or zero.
If current does flow which I don't think it does,then we will have to go back rethink our theory on why the neutral conductor gets hot even when it shows no load with the standard clamp on ampere Meter.
Ronald
winnie
Senior Member
- Location
- Springfield, MA, USA
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- Electric motor research
ronaldrc said:
I think that I missed something.
Do you have a real situation where you have a neutral that is getting hot, but are measuring no current flow on it?
-Jon
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Where have you ever seen this phenomenon? I believe it to be impossible, and that harmonic current would be read.ronaldrc said:
Rattus
That was my real belief that there was no current flow but its always been in the back of my mind maybe thats not the case. I'm more guilty than anybody to say if it looks like a Duck and quacks like a Duck its a Duck.
Larry
I read a article once not to long ago where a neutral was running warm and it did not read any current with a regular clamp on ammeter. I did a search in meters and harmonics and couldn't find anything.
Threads are cheap I give fair warning and it was fun.
Larry I like the cat video
That was my real belief that there was no current flow but its always been in the back of my mind maybe thats not the case. I'm more guilty than anybody to say if it looks like a Duck and quacks like a Duck its a Duck.
Larry
I read a article once not to long ago where a neutral was running warm and it did not read any current with a regular clamp on ammeter. I did a search in meters and harmonics and couldn't find anything.
Threads are cheap I give fair warning and it was fun.
Larry I like the cat video
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LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
I do! It's what carpenters drive through cables to create short circuits.ronaldrc said:Do you know what the term null in electricity means?
Benaround
I know this whole idea I have seems like a childest question but I have always had to see something in a practical demostration to understand it.
But even my DC circuit does not work since the positive flow would flow through the diodes to toward the bottom and meet somewhere in the junction of diode #2 and oppose each other and at that point stop dead in there tracks.
Winnies idea about the heat being generated in the neutral is proof enough that know current flows.
Larry I was not putting you on.
I know I read some litature that a neutral would run warm and a standard non rms clamp on ammeter would not read the current because it was harmonics. Thats what give me the idea that there might be current flow on a balanced neutral altough I always believed there was not.
I know this whole idea I have seems like a childest question but I have always had to see something in a practical demostration to understand it.
But even my DC circuit does not work since the positive flow would flow through the diodes to toward the bottom and meet somewhere in the junction of diode #2 and oppose each other and at that point stop dead in there tracks.
Winnies idea about the heat being generated in the neutral is proof enough that know current flows.
Larry I was not putting you on.
I know I read some litature that a neutral would run warm and a standard non rms clamp on ammeter would not read the current because it was harmonics. Thats what give me the idea that there might be current flow on a balanced neutral altough I always believed there was not.
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