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other people posted:Thank you guys. Is this what you mean? Yes, that is one possibility. But you need to actually figure out what is wrong before you buy parts. Google for your model number and find a repair manual. It will tell you how to test for various faults.
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Jul 18, 2017 17:29
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I need to pull 10/3 and 3x12/2 through a wall cavity. I got a 25ft fish tape and snaked it down from the 2nd floor. Should I try to pull all 4 runs at once?
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Jul 18, 2017 19:18
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:I need to pull 10/3 and 3x12/2 through a wall cavity. I got a 25ft fish tape and snaked it down from the 2nd floor. Should I try to pull all 4 runs at once? That's either multiple holes or a hell of a big hole assuming you're going through a top plate or bottom plate somewhere. If it's multiple holes, there's your answer.
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Jul 18, 2017 19:33
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Got some equipment for work, it's an amplifier and tone generator that run the bells at a school. It's kind of stupid because the main tone generator/controller piece has a plug-in like a PC and a plain old power cable like a PC. The amplifier however just has screw terminals for 120VAC Since this is just 120, can I take a regular power cord, cut & strip one end, and tie it in that way? Are there pre cut cords I could use? Maybe a pre-wired socket that could then use a regular power cord? We have regular grounded wall outlets at the location, I just don't want to burn down the school edit: I did find this and similar, am I in the right neighborhood? https://www.amazon.com/IEC-C14-Power-Cord-Connector/dp/B002T0JMW6 Fart.Bleed.Repeat. fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Jul 28, 2017 |
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Jul 28, 2017 15:10
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Fart.Bleed.Repeat. posted:Since this is just 120, can I take a regular power cord, cut & strip one end, and tie it in that way? Are there pre cut cords I could use? Maybe a pre-wired socket that could then use a regular power cord? Either way you strip the cable back, separate out the hot/neutral/ground wires, strip the insulation off of them, and put them into the correct screw terminals. If you do find you have stranded copper conductors, you can try leaving some insulation on the ends of the conductor to hold the strands together; just make sure the screw terminals make good contact with the strands.
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Jul 28, 2017 18:02
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Fart.Bleed.Repeat. posted:Are there pre cut cords I could use? Yes there are. They're sold as appliance repair cords, with a molded plug on one end and the 3 bare wires on the other end.
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Jul 28, 2017 21:17
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Nice! I found some of those and seems like a better idea than adding a receptacle and then a power cord Thanks
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Jul 28, 2017 21:35
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if you're not silver/brass colorblind you can also grab a convenient length of wire and just buy a connector for it
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Jul 29, 2017 05:11
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Do you want to plug the amp into the wall or into the tone generator? Assuming you meant plug it into the wall, the product you linked isn't the right shape (for US wall sockets, anyway). But so long as the cable you're using is rated for the load you want to put on it, you can just buy some 14/2 or 12/2 Romex and a plug from Home Depot, or you could just buy a normal extension cord and chop the socket part off. The latter would save you from having to attach a plug to the cable, but it's possible that the copper in the cable is stranded copper instead of solid, which can be a little irritating to work with. Please not romex, do not use solid core wire in anything that's going to be flexed more than once. SJOOW if you're putting a plug on it. H = black wire N = white G = green On the plug side Brass screw > black wire Silver screw > White wire Green > Green shame on an IGA fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Jul 29, 2017 |
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Jul 29, 2017 06:03
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Saw this in a building... yes that's copper. It's obviously copper tubing and the actual wiring is inside of that and insulated. Never seen anything like it, can anyone share more information about this style of wiring? 
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Jul 30, 2017 00:18
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`Nemesis posted:Saw this in a building... yes that's copper. It's obviously copper tubing and the actual wiring is inside of that and insulated. Never seen anything like it, can anyone share more information about this style of wiring? Type MI cable: Metal-sheathed mineral-insulated. Hardcore (pun intended) stuff: "Where not exposed to touch and not PVC sheathed, Type MI cable may be operated at a continuous temperature of 250 °C. It will withstand an intermittent temperature of close to the melting point of copper, which is 1,083 °C. The refractory magnesium oxide powder is not damaged by that amount of heat." babyeatingpsychopath fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Jul 30, 2017 |
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Jul 30, 2017 02:03
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Type MI cable: Metal-sheathed mineral-insulated. I like that the cable will fail from the conductors melting before the insulation -- now that's a failsafe design!
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Jul 30, 2017 03:48
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I don't think this will be too complicated, but I just bought this house and would prefer not to burn it to the ground so I think it is worth a quick confirmation. I've got this 2 outlet receptacle:  Both outlets are controlled by this switch (the one on the left):  I am aiming to do two things: Make the receptacle nonswitched and always on, and then I'm hoping to add a light fixture from the ceiling and control that light via the switch that was controlling those receptacles. From what I can see it would appear the black hot is currently running first to the switch I'm going to bypass and has a little jumper to the right side switch as well. I think what I want to do is this: Turn off the circuit at the breaker and double check that I don't have power running through this poo poo before I start anything Disconnect the little jumper with the cloth insulation and throw that the gently caress out, disconnect both Red and Black on Left switch Connect via wire nut the Black input, red output from Left switch, and a new black jumper that would connect to Right switch - this should make the receptacle unswitched/always on and provide power to the Right switch Connect second new black pigtail from Right switch to Left switch to provide power to the Left switch Pull new 12/2 from attic above to switchbox, connect new Red to bottom of Left switch, add white to the current wirenutted whites already in box Feed 12/2 to the ceiling box I'm installing for the ceiling fixture Wire nut light fixture hot/neutral to new 12/2 - this should now have the switch controlling power all the way to the new fixture, right? Does this pass a sanity check? It seems to make sense when I think it through but having never done this before I wanted to make sure I'm not missing something.
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Jul 30, 2017 22:36
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Mutar posted:I don't think this will be too complicated, but I just bought this house and would prefer not to burn it to the ground so I think it is worth a quick confirmation. Super close. Instead of "connect second new black pigtail from right switch to left switch" just have black input, red output, and two black: one for each switch under one wire nut. Also 12/2 won't have a red. It'll be black, so the left switch will have 2 blacks on it. This is OK. Also, just to be safe, put a green ground screw in the box and bare copper wire to both the switches and to the new 12/2 from the attic. I can only assume that the box is grounded because it's fed by conduit.
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Jul 30, 2017 23:47
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We're selling our 1947 home and an inspector has pointed out that we have an "outlet with an open ground," and actually we have several throughout the house because whenever the old owners replaced an outlet they put in three-prong outlets that aren't GFCI. Can someone tell me when this would matter, besides for outlets that a surge protector gets plugged into? In other words is thing a thing that matters, meaning we should replace every outlet in the house with GFCI, or is this expected in old houses?
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Jul 31, 2017 20:55
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jackpot posted:We're selling our 1947 home and an inspector has pointed out that we have an "outlet with an open ground," and actually we have several throughout the house because whenever the old owners replaced an outlet they put in three-prong outlets that aren't GFCI. Can someone tell me when this would matter, besides for outlets that a surge protector gets plugged into? In other words is thing a thing that matters, meaning we should replace every outlet in the house with GFCI, or is this expected in old houses? You need to either do the GFCI upgrade (check my post linked in the OP) or swap out those 3 prongers for 2 prongers. Ground is for protection and not just surges. Suppose you have a big metal appliance with a 3 prong plug like a washing machine. The metal case is grounded and attached to that ground prong. Now suppose it's plugged into a 3 prong outlet that isn't actually grounded and that a hot wire is frayed inside and is touching that metal case. Now hot connecting directly to ground with no load will trip the breaker, immediately making that washer case safe to touch. With no ground, it won't trip and that metal case will remain hot until someone touches it... kid sinister fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Jul 31, 2017 |
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Jul 31, 2017 21:20
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kid sinister posted:You need to either do the GFCI upgrade (check my post linked in the OP) or swap out those 3 prongers for 2 prongers. So really, the difference between 2 and 3-prong outlets is that 3-prong are safer, but only if they're actually grounded or GFCI type. Would I be right in saying that the bigger problem with an ungrounded 3-prong outlet is that it gives the illusion of safety when it really offers none?
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Aug 1, 2017 17:28
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jackpot posted:I got nervous for a second with my own washer, but then I remembered we're using a grounding adapter plug to get around the two-prong outlet in the laundry room. Except then I saw the OP and he says "Don't use cheater plugs," and I'll bet a dollar that that's what he's talking about. Goddamn it. You would be right. And you're also right about cheater plugs. Ideally, the 2 prong outlets they're inserted into would be grounded, the little grounding tab on the bottom would actually line up with the faceplate screw and then be screwed into the outlet's frame via that screw. They would only actually ground if the 2 prong outlet is already grounded, in which case you could just directly swap out that outlet for a 3 pronger. In a perfect situation, all they could do is save time. Usually, they just save people from clipping off the ground prong.
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Aug 1, 2017 18:17
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kid sinister posted:You would be right. And you're also right about cheater plugs. Ideally, the 2 prong outlets they're inserted into would be grounded, the little grounding tab on the bottom would actually line up with the faceplate screw and then be screwed into the outlet's frame via that screw. They would only actually ground if the 2 prong outlet is already grounded, in which case you could just directly swap out that outlet for a 3 pronger. In a perfect situation, all they could do is save time. Usually, they just save people from clipping off the ground prong. In what circumstance is it unsafe to not actually have an equipment ground (i.e. use a GFI without a ground path)?
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Aug 1, 2017 19:52
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Hubis posted:In what circumstance is it unsafe to not actually have an equipment ground (i.e. use a GFI without a ground path)? Some surge suppressors need the ground prong in order to suppress. That's the big "safe" one. There's some other minor stuff too like grounding to prevent radio interference on sensitive stuff. You can even go overboard with grounding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity)
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Aug 1, 2017 21:13
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Hubis posted:In what circumstance is it unsafe to not actually have an equipment ground (i.e. use a GFI without a ground path)? In circuitry you trust. I'm saying, anything can fail. Also, say you plug something like a metal toaster into a gfci receptacle that is not on a circuit with a dedicated ground conductor. Now sat you have an internal short from the hot, to the case of the toaster. The neutral isn't tied to the case, and the toaster is sitting on a non-conductive surface. There is no current flow, so the metal case is sitting there energized at 120v, until a walking bag of meat comes along and touches it. Maybe they get no shock because they happen to be standing on a non-conductive surface wearing rubber soled shoes, maybe they're touching the water spigot at the same time and get enough current through their heart to go into fibrillation before the GFCI has time to open. Having an actual equipment grounding conductor that is installed properly allows both regular breakers, and gfci equipment to operate as quickly as possible, in more situations, without human inference.
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Aug 1, 2017 23:09
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kid sinister posted:Some surge suppressors need the ground prong in order to suppress. That's the big "safe" one. There's some other minor stuff too like grounding to prevent radio interference on sensitive stuff. You can even go overboard with grounding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_(electricity) yeah ground loops are some poo poo, i was troubleshooting something with a mixer and it turns out various combinations of lovely grounds were causing, among other things, a 60V DC offset on one of the mic inputs when someone had their laptop plugged in. i mean it didn't matter, everything's got dc-blocking capacitors, but that's still some poo poo. e: that's mostly what we use cheater plugs for in sound. if it's something like a keyboard that's running off a 12V power supply and is made entirely of plastic anyways, you can fix a lot of hum by just ungrounding it (it still gets some form of ground through the connector shields, but in a signal-ground sense, not a safety-ground sense) e2: i should mention that most of the time this is equipment that actually has no use for a grounded power supply, they just didn't want people to think their 2-prong nonsense was cheap SoundMonkey fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Aug 2, 2017 |
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Aug 2, 2017 02:37
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I'm removing the plaster on a wall to expose the brick. There's a BX cable snaking up the wall. I think it belongs to the ceiling light that I already disconnected. How can I confirm so I can cut the BX cable without getting electrocuted?
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Aug 2, 2017 23:55
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Hashtag Banterzone posted:I'm removing the plaster on a wall to expose the brick. There's a BX cable snaking up the wall. I think it belongs to the ceiling light that I already disconnected. How can I confirm so I can cut the BX cable without getting electrocuted? Got a clamp ammeter? How did that ceiling light used to turn on by the way? Do you know where the ends are?
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Aug 3, 2017 00:22
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not wiring, but electrical at least so 3 of the outlets in my house don't have proper faceplates on them. they're all either in inconvenient places or in the spare room so i haven't given many shits, except now I discovered why when my AC was being installed they had a hell of a time finding studs, and then when they took the hole saw to the wall, it was god drat 2.5 inches thick. they'd just put drywall over the lath/plaster. which made me realize that the reason the outlets have no covers is that they're recessed into the wall slightly, they didn't bring those ones forward when they put the drywall on. i mean the easy solution is to just get a dremel and do some notching of outlet covers, but is there a better way?
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Aug 3, 2017 00:44
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Box extenders.
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Aug 3, 2017 01:21
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Guy Axlerod posted:Box extenders. i thought this was a "pipe stretcher" style pranke but sure enough it's just that easy thanks!
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Aug 3, 2017 01:24
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kid sinister posted:Got a clamp ammeter? How did that ceiling light used to turn on by the way? Don't have a clamp ammeter and my voltage tester can't detect AC through BX sheathing. The ceiling light had a pull string. I think I know where the ends are, but I wouldn't be able to pull it through or anything. I can't get into the attic, but I could cut a hole in the ceiling and see if it looks like it's going in the right direction. Or I guess I could just cut into the BX sheathing and then use the voltage tester
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Aug 3, 2017 02:49
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Trying to hang a new light fixture in the dining room. The white neutral wire is a thick monstrosity that doesn't fit in the connector that the fixture came with. (The screw in the connector can't latch on to tighten and hold). How do I best approach this? 
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Aug 3, 2017 18:13
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Tortilla Maker posted:Trying to hang a new light fixture in the dining room. The white neutral wire is a thick monstrosity that doesn't fit in the connector that the fixture came with. (The screw in the connector can't latch on to tighten and hold). Remove the terminal block and use a wire nut. Also, wow. Rubberized cloth wires soldered together. You don't see that much any more.
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Aug 3, 2017 18:36
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kid sinister posted:Remove the terminal block and use a wire nut. This makes sense. Thank you. Alternatively, could I use a neutral wire from the fixture I just removed and use that as a bridge between the new fixture's connector and the main line in the ceiling (using a terminal nut to connect this end)? This is more drawn out than your direct approach but I may have just done this.
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Aug 3, 2017 18:54
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Tortilla Maker posted:This makes sense. Thank you. Yeah you could make a neutral pigtail if you really wanted to use that terminal block.
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Aug 4, 2017 20:05
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When I bought my house, there were two switches here: One was a dimmer that was literally not connected to anything, it was just screwed into the box (upside down), and the other was a regular switch that controlled lights and an outlet. I would like to move the lights to be controlled by the dimmer switch and keep the outlet on the switch as it is, but inside the box is a mess of black wires pigtailed together and white wires that aren't connected to the switch at all, they jus enter the box, pigtail, and leave.  Since the pigtail is before the switch and only one wire leaves the switch to go to the light/outlet, does that mean the lights and outlet are connected in a line and fixing would require getting into the walls?
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Aug 6, 2017 19:51
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Are you sure that the pigtail contains the constant hot, and the one wire goes to both the receptacle and light(s) you want to dim? I'm saying, it could be the other way, the one wire is hot from the panel and the pigtailed blacks split to the receptacle and light(s). If that were the case, what you want is easy. Do you have a volt meter?
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Aug 6, 2017 19:58
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Just got one on Amazon, so not yet but soon. As for the wires, you're right; I just checked and that switch actually controls
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Aug 6, 2017 21:18
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Friend posted:Just got one on Amazon, so not yet but soon. The only way to do this is messing around in that box with the power on, so be careful. For now, turn it off, remove all the dimmers and switches, then separate all the black wires. Next, turn the power back on and use the tester to figure out which one is still hot. That one is the source. You might want to turn the power off, label it, bend a hook into the end of it and turn it back on. Next up is figuring out the other wires! I'd recommend using some insulated pliers to move them to the source one at a time. Now you want them to stay touching. That hook trick I mentioned helps. Once one wire is touching, go around and figure out which device is powered on now. A light should be obvious, but try the voltmeter's probes in the outlet slots with itself set to AC Volts. Or you could use anything that plugs in like a lamp or radio if you don't want to wait on your mail. Label as necessary. Once you know what every wire is, turn the power off and hook up your switches and dimmers the way you want. As for the outlets having different functions, it depends on if each one is sourced from this box. If one is just daisy chained to the other, then they will have to be wired together, with your existing wiring anyway.
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Aug 6, 2017 21:30
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 Am I angering the code gods if I feed another circuit through this box, essentially using it as a junction box? As in, feed wire through existing conduit from new breaker on panel, run new conduit to a new outlet?
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Aug 6, 2017 22:30
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Two questions: 1) Can the main breaker box be used as a junction box at all? Use case: some lights need to be switched, but the layout of the installation would make it much, much easier to do an out-and-back from the breaker to the switch and back to the breaker box, and then on up to the lights, since this is all happening in conduit. Is it allowable to wire but that hot to the light's supply inside the breaker panel? I can draw a picture if needed. 2) Does a garage door opener have to be on its own circuit, or could three openers share a circuit, amperage allowing? In this case, the circuit would be dedicated just to those openers, so it would only be shared between those three devices. e: This is not in a house or a building that is in any way considered living space, it's a detached steel building being used as a garage/workshop, if that matters. Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Aug 6, 2017 |
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Aug 6, 2017 23:51
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Bad Munki posted:2) Does a garage door opener have to be on its own circuit, or could three openers share a circuit, amperage allowing? In this case, the circuit would be dedicated just to those openers, so it would only be shared between those three devices. i don't know if code says anything about it but presumable you're not gonna be opening more than one garage door at once so as long as the amperage works
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Aug 7, 2017 00:48
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Slugworth posted:
There's calculations regarding conduit fill. And it sounds like your new cables would just be passing though, so technically it wouldn't be a junction. That's actually a point regarding box fill. Then again, that box is huge. Bad Munki posted:Two questions: 1. In your case, it would also be a pass through. It depends on the inspector, but that should be OK. 2. There's no code for garage door openers, but there is code for garages. Garages need GFCI protection, but I swear I remember reading that ceiling outlets are exempt. Can anyone else verify this?
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Aug 7, 2017 01:17
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