h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

To remember which wire goes where I always think to myself

BLue - Bottom Left
BRown - Bottom Right

I always think that 13A fuses are commonly brown - so the wire that leads to it is brown too.

I was just about to post that one too, Kelli!

I always use that when I wire a plug!

Do you know the one about how to undo a screw?

Right is tight and left is loose?

I always use BRight eLectricians BLow Nothing! (BRown=Live, BLue=Neutral; it makes perfect sense to me!)

Personally, as someone who thought the red/black/green system easier, I find the earth wire obvious, and then 'black and blue' an easy way to remember which should be neutral, with the brown live following by default.

Stripping the outer sheath with a penknife is easy if you run the knife once around the cable gently to start, then slowly work it round whilst bending the cable away from the knife. Though the insulation is flexible, it also has a degree of brittleness so cracks tend to propogate through it given a bit of bending tension and it is possible to cut whilst not touching the inner insulation. I find cutting *along* the sheath unnecessary and liable to increase the risk of inner insulation damage.

It *is* worth checking your plugs occasionally - sometimes the outer sheath creeps back and escapes a slightly loose cable to leave the cable relatively unrestrained.

If anything, it is worth making the live connection the one with least slack, so if the cable is pulled, it will tend to stop working *before* losing its earth connection.