Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Elendil004 posted:

Well I'm not too well versed but I know you can go catV to fiber to catV to run a longer internet data connection.

So could you not do the same with a phone line if you wanted to?

Phone lines have a fair amount of voltage running down them so I doubt it.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2009 00:12

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 17:17

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

bort posted:

I figured it out. What I did was to examine the wiring closely and found that the previous thermostat installer had used some molded branding on the insulation to distinguish the 4/Rh wire. I'm pretty sure it is a clipped length of extension cord... I put red tape on both ends of it in case I ever have to do it again and labelled the furnace properly. Presumably, I could wire in a fan wire to the furnace, but I don't know why I'd want to run the fan without the heat in a 1970s gas forced air system.

You'd be surprised how much having the air moving in the dead of summer helps keep things at least a little cooler feeling if you don't have AC.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2009 15:02

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

dorquemada posted:

Is that to tell the backhoes where to dig?

I thought that's what burial co-ax was for.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2009 20:10

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Dragyn posted:

I've decided to use direct burial power, coax wrapped in a rubber insulating tube and standard cat5 UTP in rubber tubing.

I tried a few of the runs last night. Got disconnected because there's a bend in the path. getting light and strong nylon rope to run through as a pull medium tonight to try again.

If you still have trouble, pick up some of this: http://ideal.datacomtools.com/idealcatalog/wire-lubricant.htm and squirt it into the hole before you start yanking too hard and breaking it.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2009 00:26

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

The red one has a button that will test a GFCI receptacle and trip it.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2010 00:10

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

There is additional information on the back!

Beyond that, what sort of wiring is hooked up to it? Because it's beside another smoke alarm it could be one tied into an alarm system, if so it'll have light gauge wire like phone wire hooked up to it. Also is the other smoke batteries only, or also tied into 120V?

# ¿ May 12, 2010 01:46

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

kid sinister posted:

edit: I also discovered that all of the ceiling fans were wired with 14-3 with ground, it's just that whoever put those ceiling fans up never hooked them up properly so the light was on the switch and the fan was always hot! I

That is how they should be wired, as far as I'm aware.

# ¿ May 16, 2010 18:44

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Kaluza-Klein posted:

I am trying to install a new phone jack. I have the phone wire ready to go (24AWG Cat5E UTP), I just don't know how to connect it to the NID on the side of my house.

Blue/white on the top, blue on the bottom where that orange wire is tied in should give you dialtone.

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# ¿ Sep 2, 2010 23:04

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

aphid posted:

Ha, thanks, I feel like a complete idiot here. This is my first wiring aside from changing out outlets and lightswitches.

To just get this straight so I don't gently caress anything up, I am going to attach those two black wires in the ceiling being held together with that little piece of metal to the black wire for my fan. How would you connect those to the wire? Do I need to undo them and then put all three together in a marrette or do I just put the black wire from my fan on to the little piece of metal holding those two black wires together with something else?

Please take pictures or explain this little piece of metal, that doesn't sound good or right on hot wires.

To connect them I'd spin all 3 together and put a marrette on them.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2011 23:16

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

You expect someone to sharpie on black tape? You know you should never use white electrical tape.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2013 07:12

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Safety Dance posted:

Do they make conduit that's designed to flex a little bit?

https://www.google.ca/search?q=door+cord&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=JANtVcDgKZHaoASstYPIAg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=775

What you're looking for is called a 'door cord'

There are also electric transfer hinges to do the same thing but within the frame/door.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2015 02:14

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

angryrobots posted:

The, uh, colloquial southern name for these is "red heads" and the inspectors here treat them as A Big Deal. They will spot check for the little tab that sticks forward, in at least a few boxes for your rough in.

Weird. In Ontario I learned of them as "anti-shorts"

# ¿ Sep 26, 2015 01:32

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

gently caress My rear end posted:

I also know alot about wall fishing, and setting up dmarcs, and generally running low voltage

These are my life.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2016 03:13

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Mimesweeper posted:

No, you fool, that's dangerous!

You want something nonpolar like oil or gasoline.

I highly doubt his water comes from the north or the south pole...

# ¿ Nov 11, 2016 01:45

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

glynnenstein posted:

Yeah, you can get box extension rings that will do what you want.

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# ¿ Apr 9, 2017 00:16

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

kid sinister posted:

If it's any condolence, that mouse chewed through the hot side. I bet he got a tingle at least!

How are you identifying the chewed side as hot?

# ¿ Dec 9, 2017 19:50

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

opengl128 posted:

Just replace the fixture. It's like a 5 minute job and will not require attic access unless there's something truly bizarre going on. Standard cheap replacement should be like $15 at home depot.

Perfect place for a boob light

# ¿ Oct 1, 2018 03:32

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

shame on an IGA posted:

Measure the AC voltage between the two surfaces you touch when you feel a shock for my entertainment.

This reminds me... can this be explained?

Reading 60VAC (also getting shocked by) touching a metal outdoor enclosure and a metal fish tape coiled up on the ground [grass and paving stones]. Inside the enlcosure has some 120vac breakers, as well as low voltage gate controls, data, and camera [12vdc] wiring.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2018 03:27

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Elviscat posted:

The listed product for this type of thing is cat poo poo (duct sealant) but a silicone sealant that doesn't produce (butyl?) Acid when curing should be fine too.

In Canada we call that bear poo poo

# ¿ Sep 16, 2020 01:43

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Sirotan posted:

Before:

All of the top coat of plaster was coming off in this area so I needed to cut out a big section. Was really worried that the damaged cement board meant some kind of water damage on the other side, but nope.

That fuckin screw...

After!

Staple those fuckers to the stud while you're in there!

# ¿ Dec 22, 2020 21:57

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

floWenoL posted:

How'd you survive grabbing a live outlet/switch by the screws?

120vac ain't so bad, just try to do it one handed.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2020 07:22

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Boxman posted:

Thank you! I got it without a problem. Weirdly, though, I have a completely unrelated question for the thread. Hopefully battery questions are within scope.

My cordless electric lawnmower - a hand-me-down from my parents, who have moved onto the "gently caress it just pay someone" phase of their lives - no longer takes a charge. Thats fine, its, like, 7-10 years old at this point. The manufacturer doesn't sell OEM replacements anymore, of course, but I open it up and it looks like they're fairly unremarkable batteries:

The mower advertises 12v, 40 amp hour batteries, so figure those are 2 20 amp hour dealies lashed together. And I get to batteries plus, and yeah they have replacements that are almost perfect. Except...well, see the terminals on the replacement? The fact that they're perpendicular and sunk into the battery a bit actually means the wiring provided with the mower doesn't work. In particular, the wire on the bottom there wouldn't reach with the replacement batteries.

Obviously buying a new lawnmower to replace some generic batteries is insane. While i'm sure just replacing that wire is an option, i feel like the fail case is "now your lawnmower is on fire," so i've once again come to the thread for help for what I'm hoping is a very simple solution. What sort of wire do I buy? What do I need to do to make sure I don't set my lawnmower/my lawn/my garage on fire?

Can you just slide the new batteries in with the terminals in the middle instead of on the outsides?

# ¿ Apr 14, 2021 00:59

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

BonerGhost posted:

Hahahaha what you can just abandon wires in the wall??? Why did no one mention this sooner?!

You have to abandon them at both ends, don't forget this key point.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2021 07:47

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

BonerGhost posted:

I can second the hell out of the cold water bidet. There is nothing more refreshing than a cool spray of water on your b hole the morning after spicy wings night.

Thirded.

But also of note, usually the water in the feeder hose has been sitting and is a nice comfortable room temperature when you go to use it. At least living alone it is.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2021 04:09

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

IOwnCalculus posted:

Question on pulling wire through conduit. I have a 1/2" schedule PVC conduit (unsure if it's schedule 40 or 80) running from my main panel out to a junction box that I need to add one more 12 gauge conductor to. However, it's already got five solid 12 gauge wires in it, and no pull cord. I don't know what route the conduit itself follows underground but it's at least ~65' long, probably closer to 80' if they didn't try to run it as the crow flies.

Do I have any chance at all of successfully pulling one more wire through this? Or should I just bite the bullet and pick up six spools of stranded 12 gauge and re-pull everything at once?

Alternatively, pull everything out (attach a pull-string), add your extra wire, and pull everything+1 back in with the string.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2021 01:00

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Arsenic Lupin posted:

No, the whole problem is that the previous owner removed the doorbell and cut the wire at porch level; I need to run a new wire so I can mount a new doorbell.

Can you have someone just triggering the chime at the chime itself until it doesn't chime? There should be 2 screw terminals in it which will be where the button was hooked up.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2021 21:50

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

movax posted:

Filing this one away... I've got a few outlets like this, but more switches so the screwdriver won't quite work.

Channellocks maybe?

# ¿ Jan 18, 2022 06:58

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Upgrade posted:

Welp, maybe I can get help here!

What the gently caress is going on with this switch box?

I grounded the ungrounded switch (why wasn't this connected???) but don't want to touch anything else.

That'd be a three-way switch so there should be another switch that controls the same light and they're setup in that when they're off they still feed the hot over to the other switch. It can be a little confusing.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2022 00:13

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

devicenull posted:

I used too small of wire when I put in my doorbell... can I fix this by installing a relay at the chime, so that the button is only closing the relay, instead of having to provide sufficient current for the entire doorbell?

Rerunning the cable is possible, but is going to be fairly annoying (but maybe less annoying then getting a relay to work the way I want?)

Edit: I went and actually hung it up straight instead of having it leaning against the wall and it works fine now. loving gravity

I've had 12/24v door strikes that have failed ... but they work fine if you hold them upside down due to the direction of the action. Stupid gravity.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2022 02:01

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Blistex posted:

Just figured out what was wrong with the indicator lights on my smoke detectors. I would hook them up see the indicator light turn on leave the room and shut the light off on the way out. I'd come back to it and see that the indicator light wasn't on, not realizing they turn off at night when it's dark (so as to not distract you when you're trying to fall asleep). So I'd go into a room flip on the light and see that the LED was off not realizing again that it takes upwards of a minute and a half of sunlight or artificial light to tell the LED indicator to turn on.

So all of them were hooked up perfectly but I was too impatient to stare at them for a minute and 30 seconds once the light was on. Instead I get frustrated and start taking it apart or going to check some other spot in the circuit.

You kind of got my hopes up thinking that the lightswitch was just killing power to all the smokes too.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2022 04:27

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

melon cat posted:

I have an old slag glass light fixture whose bulb is flickering and actually shocks me a bit whenever I touch the bulb socket. Pretty sure the wire is shorting due to the wiring being all twisted up for several years:

The actual dimmer for it appears to be wired correctly. So I've decided to re-wire this entire fixture before it burns my house down

I've noticed that the existing wiring has paired wires that are stuck and parallel together- what's the proper name for this wiring? And any suggestions or tips on doing re-wiring job properly?

lamp cord, I've also heard it called siamese cable

# ¿ Dec 13, 2022 01:29

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Motronic posted:

I would sleep a lot better if you cut that cord off right at the base of that thing and just used it as a tree stand going forward.

I want to see it upgraded with a 3 prong cord, GFCI outlet, and proper faceplates.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2022 22:21

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Winifred Madgers posted:

What do I need for adding some buttons to our garage door openers, just 22/2 security wire?

Should do

# ¿ Jan 24, 2023 01:14

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Foxfire_ posted:

Dehumidifier's haunted

Just the water, try dumping the reservoir down the tub instead of the toilet to appease the spirits.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2023 06:20

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 17:17

Messadiah: Jan 12, 2001

Bad Munki posted:

Stop using public restrooms as your office?

Gotta get the ones with accoustic sensors so you can fart the lights back on

# ¿ Sep 18, 2023 05:11

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!