cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/61326066
Before:
There are actually a couple runs of relatively modern grounded, albeit still old and crappy, grounded wire in my basement, including one powering my shed that ran right next to this outlet, and its shitty old ungrounded black cloth cable. I hijacked that and repurposed it for this outlet.
So, no shed power currently, but this first job gave me the confidence and motivation to tackle the rest of the house now.
A quick mnemonic device for wiring receptacles:
black guys like gold, white guys like silver…
the black wire goes on the gold lug, the white wire on the silver lug. Green is ground if you’ve got one. another common mistake- the larger of the 2 slots is the neutral and on any receptacle/plug/whatever the SMALLEST hole or prong or blade is always the one that carries power (black wire).
the reasoning is that you always want to grant the largest surface area/conductor to the white and green wires which take electricity to ground and away from you so that YOU don’t become the ground yourself… when that happens it’s what we all think of as “getting shocked”.
People who don’t know better very commonly miswire receptacles and cords, falsely thinking that the biggest blade/prong/hole must carry the power because… <caveman voice> power big, ground little… </caveman voice> when actually the reverse is true for some rather abstract safety reasons.