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Oh, huh. I figured thermostats would use 12V max for most things. Shows what I know! 
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Dec 5, 2018 18:14
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Oh, huh. I figured thermostats would use 12V max for most things. Shows what I know! A lot of stuff is 24Vac, which I totally always remember and don't start off swearing at my meter in Vdc mode.
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Dec 5, 2018 18:37
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Oh, huh. I figured thermostats would use 12V max for most things. Shows what I know! To get a bit deeper into this, many baseboard heaters are 240V, and the tstat only interrupts one leg. A noncontact tester will show the whole heater as live, but it won't heat because the tstat is shot. Only testing resistance across the tstat (with the breaker off) will be useful diagnosing heaters like this.
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Dec 6, 2018 01:37
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More weird tricks to save money on your power bill! 
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Dec 7, 2018 02:00
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angryrobots posted:Fortunately we don't even have suits yet, I think we're getting face shields soon though. So FR clothing, safety glasses, hard hat, rubber gloves. HOLY poo poo PISS
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Dec 7, 2018 02:15
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I must be blind - it just looks like a meter socket with the meter removed? Edit: oh wait, I see, the two "smaller" conductors hitting the line side of the meter... wow. Special A fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Dec 7, 2018 |
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Dec 7, 2018 03:02
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What kind of light switches are these? 3 way? 3 way timer? They control outside lights in my house. One of them gets warm when I turn it on so I want to replace both of them. There is a little slider on the bottom; I have no idea what it does.  
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Dec 7, 2018 03:26
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ThirstyBuck posted:What kind of light switches are these? 3 way? 3 way timer? Is it this? https://www.smarthome.com/x10-ws467-in-wall-x10-light-switch-white.html
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Dec 7, 2018 03:30
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I'd guess they're just dimmer switches, but they automatically dim to zero if the main switch is off. Never seen that form factor before though.
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Dec 7, 2018 03:30
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Special A posted:Is it this? https://www.smarthome.com/x10-ws467-in-wall-x10-light-switch-white.html TooMuchAbstraction posted:I'd guess they're just dimmer switches, but they automatically dim to zero if the main switch is off. Never seen that form factor before though. Not a dimmer. I'll take the cover off next and see if there is any additional info on the switch itself.
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Dec 7, 2018 03:38
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ThirstyBuck posted:Not a dimmer. I'll take the cover off next and see if there is any additional info on the switch itself. Just in case you aren't already aware, some dimmer-compatible fluorescent/LED bulbs will act like they're on/off even if they're on dimmer switches (like, if you nudge the dimmer slightly it'll go from off to on and vice versa). So if you're basing the "not a dimmer" statement off of the behavior of the lights, it's still possible that that's a dimmer switch, just one with bulbs that don't act like it.
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Dec 7, 2018 03:44
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ThirstyBuck posted:What kind of light switches are these? 3 way? 3 way timer? As Special A linked, those are absolutely lovely old X10 switches (one of the first consumer "smart" home control type things). Whether you have an X10 controller or not they are likely to just do whatever the gently caress they feel like at random times and you should replace them.
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Dec 7, 2018 04:27
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X10 was simultaneously ahead of its time and total garbage. My favorite part was that the signals could only traverse one leg of the customary US 2-leg home power setup. I had a device that used a dryer outlet (230v, both legs) to bridge the signal. Somehow, this device needed to be the size of a small pineapple to accomplish this feat: https://www.smarthome-products.com/p-1698-signalinc-4816b2-plug-in-phase-coupler-for-3-wire-220v-dryers.aspx X10, once the moved into security cameras, was also one of the original scumbags of the pop-up, pop-over, pop-under internet advertising game (before browsers universally blocked this technique.) Their ads usually were unnecessarily sexually suggestive and creepy: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kuan/x10/x10-11.jpg
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Dec 7, 2018 14:57
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New thermostat did the trick for the baseboard. $18 on Amazon and I didn’t electrocute myself!
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Dec 9, 2018 04:46
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:New thermostat did the trick for the baseboard. $18 on Amazon and I didn’t electrocute myself! Another thread success!
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Dec 9, 2018 05:26
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:New thermostat did the trick for the baseboard. $18 on Amazon and I didn’t electrocute myself! Great! Motronic posted:Another thread success! Let's not be hasty, he didn't say the house hasn't burned down. Much like the NEC, this thread is here to protect the house and the wiring, personal safety is a distant sixth.
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Dec 9, 2018 05:31
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Good point. Let's give this one a few days.
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Dec 9, 2018 05:32
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Hi all. I’m new to home improvement and mistakenly bought a single pole dimer switch and the wiring in that area is a 3 way. Is it possible to attach the single pole switch to 3 way wiring or do I need to go buy a 3 way switch. Currently 2 switches control power to that area but we really only use one so I don’t care if the second switch works or not. I mostly just want to just not hook things up wrong and burn down my house. For background It used to control a fan/light combo and I’m replacing it with a single light.
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Dec 9, 2018 09:12
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Southern Vulcan posted:Hi all. I’m new to home improvement and mistakenly bought a single pole dimer switch and the wiring in that area is a 3 way. Is it possible to attach the single pole switch to 3 way wiring or do I need to go buy a 3 way switch. Currently 2 switches control power to that area but we really only use one so I don’t care if the second switch works or not. I mostly just want to just not hook things up wrong and burn down my house. Yeah, you can make it work, but it will always depend on the position of the other three way switch on if it works or not. Also if you put in that single pole dimmer, you will become that "previous owner" that everyone exasperatedly refers to. My suggestion is to just exchange it for a three way.
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Dec 9, 2018 12:07
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Piggybacking on thermostat chat, is there such a thing as a programmable and/or WiFi thermostat I can plug into this thing?
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Dec 9, 2018 19:14
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Javid posted:Piggybacking on thermostat chat, is there such a thing as a programmable and/or WiFi thermostat I can plug into this thing? Looks like you've got fairly standard thermostat connections on the "remote thermostat" terminal at the bottom there. EDIT: The manual has instructions for connecting a remote thermostat: https://www.amana-ptac.com/pdfviewer.aspx?pdfurl=docs/librariesprovider4/default-document-library/io-447b.pdf?sfvrsn=0?view=true
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Dec 9, 2018 19:34
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hemorrhage posted:Yeah, you can make it work, but it will always depend on the position of the other three way switch on if it works or not. Also if you put in that single pole dimmer, you will become that "previous owner" that everyone exasperatedly refers to. My suggestion is to just exchange it for a three way. It won't depend on the position of the other switch if you remove it and tie the wires together the right way, blank it off and install the dimmer where you want it. It would also be very nice to leave a little post it note or piece of paper in the box behind the blank explaining what you did so when that next owner or electrician comes along they don't completely hate your guts. Southern Vulcan posted:Is it possible to attach the single pole switch to 3 way wiring or do I need to go buy a 3 way switch. It's possible but the tricky part would be explaining how to do this over the internet, it's simple if you already understand it but complicated enough that "how do you wire a 3-way switch? how about a 4-way switch?" is a common interview question to see if someone is bullshitting about having experience. Still, if you have a multimeter, a camera and some patience we could walk you through it. Mimesweeper fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Dec 9, 2018 |
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Dec 9, 2018 19:41
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Southern Vulcan posted:Hi all. I’m new to home improvement and mistakenly bought a single pole dimer switch and the wiring in that area is a 3 way. Is it possible to attach the single pole switch to 3 way wiring or do I need to go buy a 3 way switch. Currently 2 switches control power to that area but we really only use one so I don’t care if the second switch works or not. I mostly just want to just not hook things up wrong and burn down my house. There is a requirement iirc for every entrance to a room to have a light switch available within x ft. Is this 3 way switch accomplishing that? If so this is time for the fabled second trip to the hardware store.
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Dec 9, 2018 19:55
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Oh poo poo, good point. I got so excited about making awful mspaints of 3way setups I forgot all about that.
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Dec 9, 2018 20:09
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B-Nasty posted:X10 was simultaneously ahead of its time and total garbage. My favorite part was that the signals could only traverse one leg of the customary US 2-leg home power setup. I had a device that used a dryer outlet (230v, both legs) to bridge the signal. Somehow, this device needed to be the size of a small pineapple to accomplish this feat: https://www.smarthome-products.com/p-1698-signalinc-4816b2-plug-in-phase-coupler-for-3-wire-220v-dryers.aspx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF8NK6eruUs
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Dec 9, 2018 20:13
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Mimesweeper posted:Oh poo poo, good point. I got so excited about making awful mspaints of 3way setups I forgot all about that. Don't let me stop you. 
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Dec 9, 2018 20:19
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H110Hawk posted:Don't let me stop you. Check this poo poo out my dude.   Clearly I missed my calling. 
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Dec 9, 2018 20:33
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Mimesweeper posted:Check this poo poo out my dude. You know I've watched a season and a half of the magicians and this not at all how I thought travelers worked.
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Dec 9, 2018 22:01
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Special A posted:Is it this? https://www.smarthome.com/x10-ws467-in-wall-x10-light-switch-white.html Motronic posted:As Special A linked, those are absolutely lovely old X10 switches (one of the first consumer "smart" home control type things). Whether you have an X10 controller or not they are likely to just do whatever the gently caress they feel like at random times and you should replace them. WINNER^^ I took the cover off. Yep. Looks like I've got some sweet sweet x10(?). The irony? I bought this house from a NASA engineer. Maybe that's not ironic to engineering people idk.    What the hell? Why are there only two wires if I have a 3 way switch? Queue my forthcoming X10 workshop.
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Dec 10, 2018 02:54
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ThirstyBuck posted:What the hell? Why are there only two wires if I have a 3 way switch? Queue my forthcoming X10 workshop. I don't know a drat thing about X10 but my guess is they communicate with some controller somewhere. Probably buried in the deepest most annoying corner of your attic.
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Dec 10, 2018 02:57
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Mimesweeper posted:I don't know a drat thing about X10 but my guess is they communicate with some controller somewhere. Probably buried in the deepest most annoying corner of your attic. x10 works by sending digital signals through the power lines. The controller can be anywhere, but can only control stuff on its leg of the panel; like only stuff attached to breakers on the right side (of some panels). To get around this, there were x10 bridges you could put in the panel that would repeat the signal from one leg to the other. I think they were just isolation transformers. If you were really high-scale, you could get an x10 controller that installed in a knockout on your panel itself and wired into both legs. Of course, that meant that your controller was next to the panel, which for many people was in the garage or outside the house or some other place not convenient. There were also adapters so you could plug a home PC into an x10 translator (via serial port, from what I remember) and thereby gain nearly unlimited programming ability. Well, as unlimited as a system with a maximum of 256 devices arranged in blocks of 16 can get. Also, x10 takes (from what I remember) about a second from a button press on a control unit until the light turns on/off/dims. In short, x10 sucks, but it is VERY CHEAP.
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Dec 10, 2018 03:53
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ThirstyBuck posted:What the hell? Why are there only two wires if I have a 3 way switch? Queue my forthcoming X10 workshop. "I want a 3 way switch here but don't have a traveler, better put in some X10". The more modern version of this is abusing zwave scene controllers as the remote switch (proper 3 way zwave switches do exist - but you still need that traveler to make them work).
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Dec 10, 2018 06:02
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Is adding an an outlet on a new, dedicated circuit, something that is reasonably homeowner level? My experience is largely in low voltage work although I've replaced outlets, light switches, light fixtures etc. The run itself is *almost* the easiest run possible, it would just come out of the top of the sub panel (my main panel is full, but the sub isn't) up to the top of the foundation wall (~2ft), along the top of that for 10 ft or so, then down into a box where it would be terminated. I have in this corner the termination point for all of the ethernet drops in my house, as well as a half rack that holds all of the networking gear, some servers, etc. I'm currently powering this by just running a heavy duty extension cord over to the GFCI outlet that is directly next to the panel (which acts as the GFCI breaker for my jetted tub upstairs) but I'd like to get an outlet closer to get rid of the extension cord. If this is something that is reasonable for me to do myself, is there any reason not to go with a 20 amp circuit and a 20amp outlet? They're backwards compatible to 15amp right?
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Dec 11, 2018 15:18
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Adding a circuit & outlet is dead simple, just make sure the wire & other equipment you get is rated for at least as much amperage as the breaker that runs it. The hardest part of what you are going to do will probably be trying to secure the boxes / conduit / etc. to the foundation. When I added new outlets to my basement about 50% of the holes I drilled either stopped short when I hit a big piece of aggregate or reamed out too much and wouldn't hold an anchor. And 20 amp is standard and will run anything you would ever want to plug in there.
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Dec 11, 2018 15:30
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Nevets posted:Adding a circuit & outlet is dead simple, just make sure the wire & other equipment you get is rated for at least as much amperage as the breaker that runs it. The hardest part of what you are going to do will probably be trying to secure the boxes / conduit / etc. to the foundation. When I added new outlets to my basement about 50% of the holes I drilled either stopped short when I hit a big piece of aggregate or reamed out too much and wouldn't hold an anchor. And 20 amp is standard and will run anything you would ever want to plug in there. Cool thanks! I guess the mention of conduit brings up the next question, should conduit be used here? There's already a big bundle of electrical wire running along the top of the foundation wall, so I assume it doesn't need any sort of protection up there, but coming down the wall what is the standard? There is one outlet on the other side of the basement that just has a 2x6 tapcon'd into the wall vertically and the wires are just stapled to that going into a surface mount box, is that alright or should I be getting conduit to come down the wall?
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Dec 11, 2018 15:37
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Mimesweeper posted:Check this poo poo out my dude. No matter how much I stare at 3-way wiring diagrams, I cannot figure it out and have generally resorted to just trying combinations of conductors until it behaves the way I want when removing one of the legs to convert to smart switches.
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Dec 11, 2018 15:43
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Comrade Gritty posted:I guess the mention of conduit brings up the next question, should conduit be used here? There's already a big bundle of electrical wire running along the top of the foundation wall, so I assume it doesn't need any sort of protection up there, but coming down the wall what is the standard? There is one outlet on the other side of the basement that just has a 2x6 tapcon'd into the wall vertically and the wires are just stapled to that going into a surface mount box, is that alright or should I be getting conduit to come down the wall? Conduit is there to protect the wire, so you use it in areas where it's exposed, in easy reach, etc. If it's inside of a wall (protected by drywall) then generally you don't need conduit. ISTR you also don't need it if you're more than some number of feet off the ground, but that might be a regional variation in the code. Consider using flex armored cable for any exposed runs even if they're elevated, IMO. It adds an extra step to cutting the wire and splitting out the conductors, and you need a different kind of cable clamp, but that's worth some peace of mind.
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Dec 11, 2018 17:24
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Conduit is there to protect the wire, so you use it in areas where it's exposed, in easy reach, etc. If it's inside of a wall (protected by drywall) then generally you don't need conduit. ISTR you also don't need it if you're more than some number of feet off the ground, but that might be a regional variation in the code. I'll look into that flex armored cable. This is not inside a wall, it's just an unfinished, but conditioned, basement and will be installed on the foundation wall.
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Dec 11, 2018 19:12
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Here's what I did in mine. I'm sure there are a few code violations where I tried to save a few bucks or hours but it's alot better than the existing stuff.  
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Dec 11, 2018 20:05
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When I spoke with electricians, the main concern with exposed cable was stuff like how likely it was to get whacked by stray tools, grabbed by people on ladders, etc. Basically you don't want a minor accident to yank a conductor out of its position (hence cable clamps) or to cut through the insulator and expose a live surface. So I'd be a little leery about those conductors running along the bottom of the joists, especially when you have an outlet (a.k.a. a reason for people to be nearby) up there too.
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Dec 11, 2018 20:09
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