Oh and I am going to be butchering a 3 prong extension cord to use with it so how do I tell which wire in the cord itself is hot and which is neutral?

@Richard R

Line(white wire) and Neutral (black wire). And usually there's a PE (Potential Earth, green wire) after those 2.

You're right AC it doesn't matter what + and - is, it is just there to differentiate the 2, as it has to be the same on the other end of the connection. This is particularly useful if you're daisy chaining multiple components like breakers, etc.

@Doombot ... Thanks Marc... Should have known that you would have known that....

@Richard R Funny I didn't even look at the power supply pic...Yeah the wires on an extension cord should be color coded so just hook to prong (green and yellow wire) to the earth ground symbol beside "N".

Got it... Thanks Dude...

L is line or +, N is neutral or - . With AC it really doesn't matter which wire of the two power prongs of your plug goes to either of these two. However don't hook up the third one that sits below the two power prongs there. That's the earth ground. It gets attached to the connector with the funny lines that look like an arrow. Use a continuity tester to find out what wire is attached to each prong but usually geeen is the earth ground. However I never trust anything and always test.

@Dave.... I will definitely test with my multimeter....Thanks dude....

Standard UK kit.

L = Live/Line/Hot whatever you want to call it. N = Neutral The other one is Earth for a 3 pin plug (although do the US/Canada use earth?)

Live and Neutral don't really matter which way around they are connected however it may do in some circumstances (i.e. if used with residual current devices). Over here Live has an inline fuse where as neutral doesn't. Generally though, and highly likely in your case it wouldn't matter.

Quote:

(although do the US/Canada use earth?)

We have a few standards. For 110v circuits (common household outlets) all modern outlets support earth (we call it ground in the US, not sure about Canada), however, they will accept a 2 prong plug without it or a 3 prong with it. Typically low watt devices like lamps are 2 wire and high watt devices like heaters and vacuums have 3 prong, but it is not consistent.

220v circuits which we only use for a few large appliances like clothes dryers and commercial applications require a three conductor plug, and there are several different shapes and sizes, so you need to order the cord to match the socket.

Our 2 prong 110 plugs are largely compatible with Japanese 100v outlets, although some of ours have polarity (the L spade is wider than the N spade, so they only plug in one way) and need an adapter for use in Japan, but it is just straight through with narrower spades.

Alan

We call it ground too

@thetechguru

The Neutral is the wide spade, Line is the narrow spade on a plug.

Quote:

The Neutral is the wide spade, Line is the narrow spade on a plug.

Good thing I do phones and computer networks for a living, and not electricity.

Alan

These are the kind of plugs I use where I work here in Wisconsin, USA. LOL: