Rewiring old plug - red, blue and black

[Amesh1263]

Hi,
I'm trying to rewire an old plug. I've rewired a few in my time, but all have been with the post-2006 wire colours. I have this old welder, not really sure how old it is (I got it from a friend who got it from the dad of one of the guys he works with) but safe to say it is definitely pre-2006. There's only one problem: the colours don't match up. If I remember correctly, before 2004/6 they were red for live, green and yellow (or bare) for earth and black for neutral.

This welder, however, has a red/brown wire, a blue wire and a black wire. Can anyone help me with working out which is which so I wire it up in the new plug (the old one was smashed and none of the wires connected when I bought it) I don't blow fuses/trips?

It's worth noting that it had a 13a plug (not a 16 or 32 a as some other welders do) and the welder says "Made in Italy" - I don't know if that latter fact makes any difference, although I have looked at european wires on Google and have come up empty again. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Avo Mk8]

Hi,
I'm trying to rewire an old plug. I've rewired a few in my time, but all have been with the post-2006 wire colours. I have this old welder, not really sure how old it is (I got it from a friend who got it from the dad of one of the guys he works with) but safe to say it is definitely pre-2006. There's only one problem: the colours don't match up. If I remember correctly, before 2004/6 they were red for live, green and yellow (or bare) for earth and black for neutral.

This welder, however, has a red/brown wire, a blue wire and a black wire. Can anyone help me with working out which is which so I wire it up in the new plug (the old one was smashed and none of the wires connected when I bought it) I don't blow fuses/trips?

It's worth noting that it had a 13a plug (not a 16 or 32 a as some other welders do) and the welder says "Made in Italy" - I don't know if that latter fact makes any difference, although I have looked at european wires on Google and have come up empty again. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

In this situation I don't think you should rely on colours to reliably tell you how to connect it. You need to dive inside the welder and determine where the wires go and which, maybe via a contactor etc, ultimately connect to the transformer.
There may not even be an earth connection?
It may be intended for 'split phase', which apparently was once a thing in Italy. It might be 3 phase. It may be that the previous owner never solved the puzzle and that's how you come to have it .

 

[brianmoooore]

Might be worth checking for continuity (zero ohms, or a very small fraction of an ohm) between the metal casing and each wire.

 

[littlespark]

FYI, the colour change circa. 2006 was only for fixed wiring… within buildings.

Appliance flex has been brown/blue/gy for a long long time before that.


Is there any manufacturer name or model number on it that you can google up a wiring diagram?

Does it even have a data plate? Something that tells you it’s kW rating and required supply voltage