Electrical – Need Help With Strange Multi-Phase Plug

This is what your circuit looks like now.

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Start by turning the power off at the breaker, and verify power is off using a non-contact voltage tester.

When you look at the side of the receptacles, you'll see a small tab between the screw terminals.

Using a pair of pliers, break the tab off of the ungrounded (hot) side of the receptacles (the brass screw terminals side).

So your circuit will now look like this.

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If you left it like this the top half of the first receptacle would work with the switch, but the bottom half and the second switch would never have power. Using a small bit of black wire and a twist-on wire connector, remove the red wire from the screw terminal and connect it to the black wire and the top screw terminal. So your circuit looks like this.

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With the circuit like this the top half of both receptacles will be controlled by the switch, but the bottom will never be powered. To make the bottom half of the receptacles work, you'll have to use a bit of black wire to connect constant power to the lower screw terminal of each receptacle. When you're done, your circuit will look like this.

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Finish up by remounting all devices, installing trim plates, and turning the circuit breaker back on. At this point the bottom half of the receptacles should always have power, and the top should be controlled by the switches.

_{If at any time during this project you feel uncomfortable, do not hesitate to contact a local licensed Electrician.}

_{I'm just a guy on the internet, not a licensed Electrician. Assumptions may have been made on the current wiring, based on your descriptions. Without being there, there is no way to be sure these assumptions are correct. Please proceed with caution, and at your own risk.}

Filipino electrical service is a morass. There is some Euro 230V single leg service, and there is some American style 120/240 split phase service. And if those services are wired to Euro or USA standard, they'll be as safe.

However, in actual practice, weird things get done in the Philippines. And there is a high rate of electrocutions. This is one of those weird deals. They are providing you North American style service, but not providing you a neutral.

In the top 2 diagrams, note where ground is bonded in the transformer, which wire that ties to, and how that same wire is bonded to ground in the service panel/consumer unit/breaker box. Then compare with the third diagram where something "ain't quite right".

The problem is, as you can see, this modified North American scheme gives you no place to bond ground in your panel. Ground is dangling there. It's not an isolated system, because the pole grounding pegs ground at the halfway mark. What do you do with it? Not this:

Neutral Is Not Ground.

You can't force one of them to be a neutral. Look what happens if you do.

Earth is a very unreliable conductor. It cannot flow enough current to be a reliable current return, as you may have discovered. However, under wet conditions, it can -- it can flow so much current to trip a -- Oh wait. Neutrals aren't on circuit breakers! So it'll just spin your electric meter madly until it heats up wires enough to burn your house down! Also imagine you have a fence between house and pole, and the fence wires are grounded at the house. At the pole, they're 120V above ground.

So... reality... You can't tie anything to ground, so you don't have a neutral. Both legs are "hots". And that means both legs need to have circuit breakers. Because a fault from either one of them to ground could potentially flow a lot of current in rainy conditions. (in dry conditions it would only electrify your grounds.)

The purposes of equipment safety ground

Grounds provide several important safety functions. Your grounding system is going to struggle to do its job under this setup.

• Provide a very high current path back to neutral for a hot-ground fault -- to assure a breaker will trip. This is a left-handed way of providing ground-fault protection. In this case, this setup Will Not Do That, and could create a dangerous situation. Your best bet to resolve this is use active/intelligent 2-pole ground-fault detecting breakers (GFCI aka RCD).
• Keep metal appliances at a safe voltage relative to your water pipes etc. Your in-house earthing system would struggle to do that against a ground fault.
• Protect equipment by giving static electricity and lightning a way to get to earth. Your earthing system can do that.
• Ensure your conductors don't float at very high voltage. This will be handled by the power company's grounding back at the pole.

What to do?

Given the service you have, your only option is to wire it like a NEMA 6 receptacle in the US - two hots, ground, no neutral.

First, you must remove any bonding inside your service panel between ground and any wire.

I would strongly recommend you use a split-phase or 3-phase panel, and wire this connection with a 2-pole breaker, so that both "hots" have overcurrent protection. Normally you don't need overcurrent protection on a neutral, but you don't have a neutral.

Ideally, the ground is simply a safety shield and the appliance should not connect with it at all. It's probably not a problem, but you need to consult with the manufacturer and make sure they can be powered with ground in between two hots (NEMA 6 style).

Ground is too weak to effectively assure breaker trip on a hot-ground fault. So it could sit there running 24x7 with a 10-15 amp ground fault - creating dangerous voltages in unexpected places (like your shower!), spinning your electric meter and running up your bill. Therefore I would strongly recommend you use a 2-pole ground fault detection breaker (GFCI or RCD). This would be your only protection against a ground fault in the appliance, since ground-as-high-current-path is not working.

The nuclear option

Sometimes the power company just can't provision a safe, proper service. In that case, the ultimate defense is to obtain a large service transformer of your own. Get one with a 240V primary (that goes to the utility) and a 120/240V split phase secondary (this is your main service). Since a transformer fully isolates the supply, you can configure the phase(s) and grounding as you please, i.e. correctly.

A 120/240 split phase transformer can be jumpered in either North American or Euro standard, with no compromises - exactly as you see in the first diagram. Which one would work best for you, would be a function of what electrical parts are available at sane prices, and what appliances are available at sane prices. This does not limit you. You can easily get 240V from a N.Am. configuration via NEMA 6. You can't get 120V out of a Euro panel, but you could add a parallel panel which gets 120V between neutral and the center tap.