Unbalanced Current

[FionaZuppa]

They are 180 degrees apart, if you look from the point of view of the wires outside the transformer.

I'm aware that they aren't really produced by a 180 degree phase delay, but the two waveforms are mathematically equivalent to having a 180 degree phase delay between them.

180 visually only because of the way the diagram was written. Draw L1 and L2 as endpoints of same single horizontal line and then drop a N center-tap on that line. When current flows (balanced or not) the current vector across L1 and L2 is always in same direction, not 180 apart. Reacll it's single phase power in the basic center-tap xfrm. For just the L1L2 load, X amps out of L1 = X amps into L2, and vice versa.

And I don't think the "mathematical 180 between them" is correct at all. The unbalnced amps in the N CCC ends up just being the difference between L1 & L2. And recall that, the Hz sine wave flips, so all the vectors flip too. Best to just analyze it from a scalar perspective.

Nomenclature and diagramming has to match. And when it does not match that's when readers get confused.