I am embarrassed to say that I do not get it.  What's the 500w load in your
diagram? In your scenario, is the faulty neutral at the breaker box or at
the lamp?

Every outlet/lamp fixture in my house has 3 wires - what I typically think
of as 'line', 'ground', and 'neutral'.  Ground and neutral are at the same
potential and 'line' is +-120vac.  I think of ground as an alternate return
path to ground in case the line is accidentally exposed. I have never quite
understood why ground and neutral should be electrically isolated.

So you are saying that with a faulty neutral, a 120vac appliance with see
240vac?

--BobG

-----Original Message-----
From: pic microcontroller discussion list [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On
Behalf Of Spehro Pefhany
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2001 2:45 PM
To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: [EE]: Bulb Life -- Burned out bulb resurected

At 01:58 PM 7/16/01 -0400, you wrote:
>What does the loose neutral do to make the bulb burn out faster?

Normal wiring in US and Canadian residences looks like this..

120VAC
o-------x    <----------x
        |               |
   [100W bulb]          |
N       |               |
o--//---x              240VAC
        |               |
    [500W load]         |
        |               |
o-------x    <----------x
120VAC


See what happens to the 100W bulb if the neutral connection is flakey?

Best regards,
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=
Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..."            "The Journey is the
reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com
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