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From: Richard Goodwin (no email)
Date: Mon Oct 01 2001 - 09:04:08 EDT
> A floating neutral has the great advantage of being safe if there
> is no leakage. One can touch a neutral or a hot while standing in the
> bilgewater without danger.
But not both, presumably... :-)
The only downside to a completely floating neutral AND hot (in which
case there is no difference), is that if an appliance should develop a
short from a voltage to ground, then the other side, whichever one that
is, becomes hot (120v with respect to safety ground). That would mean
that if an appliance should develop a short from its hot wire to ground,
then the neutral of the rest of the circuit would be at 120v potential.
Or in Norm's case, his lamp would light right up.
> I have a floating neutral on my boat. There is a small 120v light bulb
> connected where the jumper between the neutral to the grounding terminal
> strips would be in a house.
Excellent idea. It's not really floating then, especially for small
voltages/currents, which will go through the bulb without lighting it.
But if you do have a fault of some sort, the light lets you know about
it. Neat system!
Dick
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