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kastein posted:Square D Homeline is fine... Square D Homeline QO is cool too but expect $texas breaker prices. Cutler Hammer CH panels are on par with QO panels. And the proce difference between Homeline and QO or CH *FCIs are not all that huge for your average stuff (15/20A single pole). We're talking $38 vs 50 or something. For a panel that has a copper bus bar rather than aluminum. But, yeah.....Homeline is sufficient for a house or garage if you aren't a spergelord about these kinds of things (like I am, having just installed yet a larger QO panel in my barn, fully understanding that I need about $400 worth of breakers now). But if you need a ton of high amperage exotic breakers in a shop you probably want a Siemens panel anyway.
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Oct 21, 2013 20:28
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| # ? May 29, 2024 01:38 |
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2k just in labor to change out a panel, and nothing else? Dang I need to stop helping people for free.
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Oct 22, 2013 03:46
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angryrobots posted:2k just in labor to change out a panel, and nothing else? Dang I need to stop helping people for free. Called a real electrician, and got a quote for 1200 with Square D Homeline. I think my handyman just really wanted me to call someone else.
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Oct 22, 2013 05:40
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I have QO boxes in both my house and the garage, and I'm happy with them. It's really easy to find replacements for any size/job I've had, including the big breakers for my electric car charging.
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Oct 22, 2013 13:33
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You guys have any tricks for removing a stuck GU10? I want to murder whoever invented this connection system. e: Nevermind, got it. Did I cut myself while getting it? Of course. Did I have a pair of leather gloves in front of me when I cut myself, that I had specifically gotten out to keep from cutting myself? Well duh. 
Papercut fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Oct 25, 2013 |
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Oct 25, 2013 21:07
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Looking at putting some LED strips under the kitchen cabinets, but I'm torn between the normal and tri-chip; my dad thinks the tri-chip will be too bright but I'm not convinced. It's about a 10 foot run in an L-shape. Anyone seen the difference live in person have an opinion?
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Oct 26, 2013 21:03
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To power a normal household light bulb (40w-60w) with batteries, how many batteries and what size would I need? I'm building a costume as an "idea guy" with a light bulb attached above my head and a button that completes the circuit and lights up the bulb when pressed. I want enough juice to make it bright in an office setting. I'm not too worried about heat because it'll only be on for fractions of a second at a time.
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Oct 28, 2013 19:48
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Batteries are DC, a regular lightbulb is AC. Recommend crafting a fake prop light bulb with LEDs inside instead. With that (depending on brightness and how many ideas you have) a few AAs could power it plenty long enough for, say, a party.
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Oct 28, 2013 19:51
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A light bulb (assuming incandescent) doesn't give a single gently caress about whether it gets fed with AC or DC, all it wants is either 120V DC or 120Vrms AC. It's just a resistive load. Assuming 60 watts you'll need to supply half an amp at 120VDC, that's 80 1.5volt batteries in series and you should probably go with C cells if you want it to last a while. Not going to be light. So yes, you should look into LEDs, but not because of AC vs DC.
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Oct 28, 2013 20:15
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Could I use a CFL to use less power, or will it still want that 120v? How about using some 9v batteries instead? I'm looking for an easy solution, as this will probably just be trashed and the batteries used for other crap around the house after halloween.
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Oct 28, 2013 20:25
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Umm, yeah. I don't know where my head was.  But yeah, LEDs. raej posted:I'm looking for an easy solution, as this will probably just be trashed and the batteries used for other crap around the house after halloween. Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Oct 28, 2013 |
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Oct 28, 2013 20:25
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raej posted:Could I use a CFL to use less power, or will it still want that 120v? That is not a resistive load and will require AC. LEDs. You need LEDs. You could run the whole thing for 12 hours on 2 AAA batteries. Think about a book light that you can modify and put into a gutted lightbulb.
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Oct 28, 2013 20:30
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Aha, I think I could re-use a dead opaque bulb by drilling out the bottom and sticking some LEDs up there. If I were wanting some super bright light coming from there, is there a certain LED bulb to go with, or should I wire up a few of them?
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Oct 28, 2013 21:28
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GD_American posted:Looking at putting some LED strips under the kitchen cabinets, but I'm torn between the normal and tri-chip; my dad thinks the tri-chip will be too bright but I'm not convinced. It's about a 10 foot run in an L-shape. RGB vs white? I ran the 5050 RGB strips around the cove in my living room and the effect is neat, but the white is "off" because it's just 3 very specific peaks of spectrum. If it's accent lighting, it'll be neat-- the controller you use will dim anyway so don't worry about brightness. If it'll be used as task lighting, I'd just go with warm/cool white single-diode.
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Oct 28, 2013 23:18
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GD_American posted:Looking at putting some LED strips under the kitchen cabinets, but I'm torn between the normal and tri-chip; my dad thinks the tri-chip will be too bright but I'm not convinced. It's about a 10 foot run in an L-shape. Also 5-meter reels are like $11 each from aliexpress so if you don't mind burning the $11, just buy both and see what one you like the most, or heck, put both strips up and use the white for task and the colored for accent.
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Oct 28, 2013 23:20
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Qwijib0 posted:RGB vs white? Yeah I'm gonna run white down low under the cabinets connected to 3-way dimmer switches on either side. I think later I'll run some cheapie RGB up top for holiday stuff. My father's really insistent that the normal (3528) chips are plenty bright, and for some reason doesn't buy my argument that if I put a dimmer switch on, who gives a poo poo if the 5050s are a little too bright? I just wondered if anyone used them for under-cabinet/over-counter task lighting.
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Oct 29, 2013 01:42
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Motronic posted:That is not a resistive load and will require AC. CFLs start their circuit with a full-bridge diode. They can run on AC or DC. Still, 120v is required. 14x 9v batteries stuck end-to-end will give you 127v across the terminals. A 13W CFL will draw about 100 milliamps. Since a 9v battery is about 400-600mah, you can expect approximately 4-6 hours of runtime. LEDs are definitely the easiest bet, but this is how you can use CFLs.
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Oct 29, 2013 02:09
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insta posted:CFLs start their circuit with a full-bridge diode. They can run on AC or DC. Still, 120v is required. depends, I have seen ones that start with a fullwave bridge and others that start with a voltage doubling bridge to produce ~400VDC for the driver circuit to use. The former will work, the latter will not.
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Oct 29, 2013 02:24
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GD_American posted:Yeah I'm gonna run white down low under the cabinets connected to 3-way dimmer switches on either side. I think later I'll run some cheapie RGB up top for holiday stuff. My 5050s on white at full brightness are roughly equal to my floor lamp with a 72W CFL "300 watt equivalent", and I've got 21 meters of the 150-per-5-meter strip, so ~630 LEDs.
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Oct 29, 2013 03:03
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raej posted:Aha, I think I could re-use a dead opaque bulb by drilling out the bottom and sticking some LEDs up there. If I were wanting some super bright light coming from there, is there a certain LED bulb to go with, or should I wire up a few of them? You should just cannibalize one of these. They're already battery powered and look like an incandescent light bulb. You should be able to find one at your local Walmart. It will probably be dim and lovely since it's an infomercial product, but I bet that it shouldn't be terribly difficult to gut it and keep the bulb casing and base. You might be better off asking in the electronics megathread for LED advice. You will have some problems trying to get it to be as bright as a 60W bulb though. 60W-equivalent LED bulbs hit the market only within the last year, and they have specially built heat sink housings that don't really look like an incandescent at all. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 08:57 on Oct 29, 2013 |
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Oct 29, 2013 08:46
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kid sinister posted:60W-equivalent LED bulbs hit the market only within the last year, and they have specially built heat sink housings that don't really look like an incandescent at all.  http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-9-5...66#.Um-9iiTdizo
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Oct 29, 2013 14:52
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And if you don't have a Home Depot nearby, Wal Mart has a house brand, http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-GVRLAS11W27KND-Great-Value-LED-Light-Bulb-Soft-White/25524369
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Oct 29, 2013 14:59
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That looks like a CFL trying to look like an incandescent.
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Oct 29, 2013 16:00
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kid sinister posted:That looks like a CFL trying to look like an incandescent. It looks incandescent enough to serve as an "idea" prop?
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Oct 29, 2013 17:29
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Here's probably the simplest solution to the light bulb prop idea: http://www.cvs.com/shop/product-detail/InstaBulb-The-Stick-Up-Light-Bulb?skuId=890705
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Oct 29, 2013 17:38
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n0tqu1tesane posted:Here's probably the simplest solution to the light bulb prop idea: Bingo, that's why I linked to the manufacturer's page.
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Oct 31, 2013 04:22
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There's a gfci outlet next to my breaker panel. The only thing plugged into it is the gas alarm. The outlet keeps tripping, most likely cause that the outlet in question has just gone south for some reason or another? Is there some way to test its goodness? I have an outlet tester that will test gfci functionality, but that'll just tell me that it'll trip, not that it's gone soft or anything.
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Nov 1, 2013 19:00
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Bad Munki posted:There's a gfci outlet next to my breaker panel. The only thing plugged into it is the gas alarm. The outlet keeps tripping, most likely cause that the outlet in question has just gone south for some reason or another? Is there some way to test its goodness? I have an outlet tester that will test gfci functionality, but that'll just tell me that it'll trip, not that it's gone soft or anything. What else stops working when that outlet trips (if any)? There can be other outlets downstream that it is protecting and something plugged into or wrong with one of those could be causing it to trip. Ot your gas alarm could be causing it to trip. GFCI outlets are cheap enough and it's a likely enough scenario that it may just be bad that it's probably easier to swap it out (if you are comfortable doing that kind of work) and see what happens rather than trying to track down the other possibilities.
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Nov 1, 2013 19:09
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Ah HA! Thanks. I totally spaced on checking downstream. That outlet apparently provides protection for a few exterior outlets according to the panel, which I hadn't noticed. I don't keep anything plugged into them, except last week I'd been working on some stuff on the patio and had apparently left an extension cord plugged into one. Last night we had the biggest loving storm I've seen, possibly ever (trick or treaters got f'ed over HARD.) Once I realized those outlets were on the same circuit, it took me two seconds to find the problem: the end of the extension cord had some water forced into it from the wind/rain. Unplugging it has fixed the problem. So two things, I guess: 1) DERP, don't leave your poo poo plugged in during a rainstorm 2) Yay GFCI 
Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Nov 1, 2013 |
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Nov 1, 2013 19:35
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3) You probably don't want your gas alarm on a GFCI circuit.
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Nov 1, 2013 23:22
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The alarm goes off if it loses power just as if it smelled gas. But yeah, I'm not sure why they did it that way.
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Nov 1, 2013 23:58
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I'm trying to sort out a fuse issue but haven't had much luck with online searches. I have an oven with what I can only think to call an auxiliary outlet; that is, a standard 120v electrical outlet located on the oven front panel. I recently tried to run a toaster oven off it, and evidently blew a fuse as the outlet no longer provides any power. However the oven still works. What I'm trying to figure out is if there's a fuse in the oven somewhere, or if this socket is on its own circuit and has a fuse in the fuse box?
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Nov 2, 2013 02:35
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What does the oven's owner's manual say?
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Nov 2, 2013 04:15
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Don't have it - its just what came with the apartment.
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Nov 2, 2013 04:44
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Cyril Sneer posted:I'm trying to sort out a fuse issue but haven't had much luck with online searches. I have an oven with what I can only think to call an auxiliary outlet; that is, a standard 120v electrical outlet located on the oven front panel. I recently tried to run a toaster oven off it, and evidently blew a fuse as the outlet no longer provides any power. However the oven still works. It almost certainly has a fuse. Pull the oven out, unplug it. Look where the cord connects on the back panel. There should be a round knob thing with "FUSE" written on it. If not, then you probably just burned the thing up internally and you should forget about using that outlet until you move out, and let your landlord deal with the problem instead of admitting the shame of accidentally plugging something in that exceeded the rated capacity of the outlet. Or play dumb; tell the landlord "it just stopped working."
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Nov 2, 2013 12:00
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What would that outlet be for if it can't handle a standard kitchen appliance? When you find the fuse, I'd be interested to know what the rating is.Cyril Sneer posted:Don't have it - its just what came with the apartment. Find the model number, and google it.
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Nov 2, 2013 14:12
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Guy Axlerod posted:What would that outlet be for if it can't handle a standard kitchen appliance? When you find the fuse, I'd be interested to know what the rating is. While it shouldn't be the issue, a toaster oven is probably the largest draw counter top appliance in a kitchen, and something that didn't exist when this stove was made. At that time, something that draws about 1/4 of your average toaster oven was the largest draw: a toaster. My grandmother had a range like this in her kitchen. Super top of the line for an early-1950-whatever thing with a rotisserie and everything. The outlets had a 15 amp Buss screw-in type fuse. These things "wear out" (fatigue) with heat and vibration, so when they are on the back of a stove they like to blow pretty much constantly. I'm assuming we're talking about an ancient range here, as I've not seen anything with an outlet on it since glass fuses were no longer a thing. If it's something newer, the model number should be on a sticker inside the oven door and lead to an owner's manual pretty easily. If it's one of these old boat anchors, pictures would probably help.
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Nov 2, 2013 15:31
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Something to keep in mind there, is that almost certainly the neutral load on that receptacle is being carried on the bare ground wire of the 240v line that feeds the stove, unless it has been rewired recently to a 4-wire feed (I think this is code now since most modern appliances have some 120v load, with digital displays and such). Of course, the fact that it was working at one time means you have a connected ground on the stove, which many older homes do not, so that's good. However if the stove feeds from a sub panel, you have potential for a situation where the ground wire could have load and voltage on it, going back to where the neutral and ground are bonded.
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Nov 3, 2013 00:12
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I don't have enough info to google this... How do I remove this burnt-out halogen bulb? Can I just pull it out? Kind of scared to break something! Nothing happens when I try to unscrew the "housing" so I don't think there is another way to get the outer part out from the ceiling. 
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Nov 3, 2013 06:10
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Those bulbs, depending on the style, usually have a couple posts that go into the socket and lock in with a half turn or so, vaaaguely similar to one end of a fluorescent tube. CCW a quarter to half turn and then it should slide straight out. That's on the bulb, mind you, not the shroud. You might have to push in a little to loosen the grip, but a very little, be reasonably gentle.
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Nov 3, 2013 06:14
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