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fisting by many posted:Black wire to flat end of LED, round end of LED to resistor(s), resistor(s) to red wire. Thanks. The only thing I know about the resistors are they are referred to as 1/4 watt. Is there some way I can tell from looking at it?
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Oct 2, 2015 01:58
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Feenix posted:Thanks. The only thing I know about the resistors are they are referred to as 1/4 watt. Is there some way I can tell from looking at it? The colored bands. First two are 1st and 2nd digit, third is number of zeroes.  So brown black red for instance would be 1 0 00 or 1k ohms. Pretty sure whatever they include in the kit will do. You could just hook one up, worst case is there'll be a little fizzle and one of 30 LEDs won't work anymore. As long as it's at least 150 ohms, or the resistor may start smoking (power = voltage˛/resistance, you have 6 volts as one AA is 1.5V DC, and they are rated for 1/4 watt). If it's less for some reason then hook up however many you need in series. fisting by many fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Oct 2, 2015 |
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Oct 2, 2015 02:59
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:FIrst of all, code requires a switched lighting device within a couple of feet of your attic entrance. Pull-chain porcelain base works, but connecting a corded shop light wouldn't. What you described is similar to what I was thinking - I was just too tired to explain it properly and left out the part where I planned to use a switch. Qwijib0 posted:Round-to-square-adapter: That right there is perfect, just a bit more than I wanted to spend. I know I can get a 15 amp version of that switch a lot cheaper locally (15 amp circuit anyway). With the price of the adapter I may go ahead and replace the box anyway.
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Oct 2, 2015 08:10
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some texas redneck posted:What you described is similar to what I was thinking - I was just too tired to explain it properly and left out the part where I planned to use a switch. For a little bit more, you can get an illumnated light switch and a duplex outlet that fits in a square hole; that way you can always find your attic light.
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Oct 2, 2015 11:24
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Edit: mm, figured it out
blk fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Oct 2, 2015 |
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Oct 2, 2015 20:53
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blk posted:
Yup. It might be a good idea to trace down that other pair.
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Oct 2, 2015 22:24
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Good idea or bad idea? Speaking of red heads...
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Oct 3, 2015 20:36
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kid sinister posted:Good idea or bad idea? Speaking of red heads... Well, if all the cables are rated correctly and you always let the appliances cool down and never loving ever forget to turn your hot-hair-thingy(s?) off before putting it back......yeah, this is terrible. Put a USB-charger in there for your phone or something, but common, only a soldering iron could make that drawer worse.
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Oct 3, 2015 20:51
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That stuff's not meant to bend repeatedly, and in an application like that, it's probably going to happen several times a day, so rather not great (also, storing those heating elements in a pile, plugged in, is probably not the best plan either). But it looks like they've fairly well maximized the flex radius, and it's in conduit, so it should last a fair while and will probably not fail in a disastrous manner. It would be better with stranded wire and chained off an AFCI outlet, though. I put plugmold inside a cabinet for shaver and electric toothbrush chargers and it's been great, though. Cleared a bunch of messy crap from the counters.
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Oct 3, 2015 21:04
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Zhentar posted:That stuff's not meant to bend repeatedly, and in an application like that, it's probably going to happen several times a day, so rather not great (also, storing those heating elements in a pile, plugged in, is probably not the best plan either). But it looks like they've fairly well maximized the flex radius, and it's in conduit, so it should last a fair while and will probably not fail in a disastrous manner. It would be better with stranded wire and chained off an AFCI outlet, though.  Didn't even notice that was rigid wire. If that really goes through to the drawer, that's even worse than everything.Yes, it will last "a fair" while. Then it will stop working and/or catch fire. If it's moving constantly, it has to be a flexible cable.
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Oct 3, 2015 21:13
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I don't know if a redhead will help this one.
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Oct 3, 2015 21:14
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kid sinister posted:Good idea or bad idea? Speaking of red heads... I'd want a switch on the drawer so it's unpowered while closed.
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Oct 3, 2015 21:53
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Apparently, if you want to do that safely there's actually a listed product for you: https://www.dockingdrawer.com/style-drawer.html Includes a thermal cutoff at 120F so it'll turn your iron off before it lights the cabinet on fire.
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Oct 4, 2015 02:53
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OK, so on this subject: I built a movable workbench for my shop, and I want to put an outlet on it for my miter saw that's controlled by an Illuminated-On switch as a kind of safety. Pretty straightforward, but I'm wondering what the best way to power the box on the workbench would be. I was thinking I could wire a cord of some sort into a metal box on the bench and then put a plug on the end of it to plug into a wall outlet, but I have no clue how to do this appropriately (or if it's possible to do it in an "allowed" fashion at all). I'm assuming I can't take a 12ga extension cord, cut off an end, and then run it through a NM clamp into the box, right? My other thought was going the other way and using MC cable coming out of the box, but then I had no idea what kind of plug I could put on the end, or how durable it would be. I guess Stranded wire inside FMC would work? The other option would be to put the cut-off switch/outlet on the wall and just run it to plug-mold on the workbench instead, I suppose. That's just less appealing in that it isn't as "tidy" as an all-in-one solution. ThinkFear posted:I don't know if a redhead will help this one.  It took me a minute to figure out what the hell was going on here. Hubis fucked around with this message at 16:11 on Oct 4, 2015 |
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Oct 4, 2015 16:09
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Hubis posted:OK, so on this subject: I built a movable workbench for my shop, and I want to put an outlet on it for my miter saw that's controlled by an Illuminated-On switch as a kind of safety. Pretty straightforward, but I'm wondering what the best way to power the box on the workbench would be. I was thinking I could wire a cord of some sort into a metal box on the bench and then put a plug on the end of it to plug into a wall outlet, but I have no clue how to do this appropriately (or if it's possible to do it in an "allowed" fashion at all). I like the tripp lite waber power strips for this kind of stuff. Metal casing, quality outlets, illuminated switch, built in ocpd. I have this on a tool cart. Can never have too many outlets. (They make nice 3 outlet deals, too.)
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Oct 4, 2015 16:53
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I'm planning on changing out all the outlets and light switches in my home. I've watched some youtube videos so I have an idea of what I'm doing, but I've never actually fiddled about with electrical before. Any advice goons can give me to help avoid burning the house down? The last thing I want to do is justify my in-laws' fears. My dad gave me one bit of extra advice to tape up the back of the outlets when I'm done. Yea or nay?
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Oct 7, 2015 20:34
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Dazerbeams posted:I'm planning on changing out all the outlets and light switches in my home. I've watched some youtube videos so I have an idea of what I'm doing, but I've never actually fiddled about with electrical before. Any advice goons can give me to help avoid burning the house down? The last thing I want to do is justify my in-laws' fears. Straight swaps are fairly easy... assuming the past electricians gave you enough slack to work with. If you just swap one wire at a time, it should be fairly straightforward, especially in single boxes. If you do have boxes with more than one device however, then it gets a little tricky. You may want to document those boxes as you disassemble them, maybe draw a diagram as you take them apart. Regarding outlet swaps, are your existing outlets 3 pronged? I wrote up a post linked in the OP if you need to do an upgrade. Also, do you have any oddball outlets where one is switched and the other is always on? There are other considerations too. All outlets must now be tamper resistant. Any outdoor outlets must also be weather resistant with proper covers. Certain areas also require GFCI and/or AFCI protection. The code book lists both, sections 210.8 and 210.12 I think. The most recent code book is also linked in the OP. It may be easier to swap in breakers for those two. Regarding switches, those are very easy. Just be mindful for any 3 way or 4 way switches you have. edit: the tape isn't necessary, but it is good practice. It goes on the sides of the outlets to cover the screws. That way you won't get shocked if you use your fingers to pull out a live outlet. fake edit: since you're going to the trouble of revising all your electrical devices, now would be a good time to label your breaker box if it isn't already and maybe draw up a circuit map too. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Oct 7, 2015 |
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Oct 7, 2015 21:20
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kid sinister posted:The code book lists both, sections 210.8 and 210.12 I think. The most recent code book is also linked in the OP. The link in OP is dead. I found a draft of it, but I don't know what changed between the draft and the actual 2014 NEC.
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Oct 8, 2015 04:50
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H110Hawk posted:The link in OP is dead. I found a draft of it, but I don't know what changed between the draft and the actual 2014 NEC. That's weird. The NFPA, the authority who publishes the NEC along with other building code books, has it available on their site for free. Well, you can view it but can't print it. You'll have to make an account there and verify the email: http://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/document-information-pages?mode=code&code=70 Hey babyeatingpsychopath, can you update the OP?
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Oct 8, 2015 17:27
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kid sinister posted:That's weird. The NFPA, the authority who publishes the NEC along with other building code books, has it available on their site for free. Well, you can view it but can't print it. You'll have to make an account there and verify the email: Thanks! I stalled out at making an account, I didn't believe them. I have it now. NEC 705.12(D)(1) is what I was looking at while randomly googling those seemingly against code "plug in" solar inverters: http://smile.amazon.com/iMeshbean%C2%AE-Inverter-Converter-10-8v-30v-Seller/dp/B004TVEF8Y/ . I'm sure there are other sections in there which make it against code to hook one of those things up. They appear to be made of chinesium and fire.
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Oct 8, 2015 17:55
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There are a few light switches in my house that make a buzzing noise and occasionally the lights flicker. They're in different rooms, and one of them is a dimmer switch. I don't want the dimmer in the first place (it's in the bathroom), and the other switch looks older. Would straight replacing these switches help? I did already pop out the non-dimmer switch to take a peek and it doesn't have a ground--would that be a problem? The house is pretty old, so I'm not super surprised.
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Oct 8, 2015 18:48
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beepsandboops posted:There are a few light switches in my house that make a buzzing noise and occasionally the lights flicker. They're in different rooms, and one of them is a dimmer switch. It could be a problem, depends on the type of dimmer and whether it's even working properly anymore, but probably not. If you don't even want the dimming the easiest fix would be some regular switches and there's no reason you couldn't just change it out.
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Oct 9, 2015 03:02
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have you recently put a compact fluorescent or LED bulb in the locations with the older dimmers? that would cause both issues you're having. not having a ground to your switch wouldn't cause it to do either of those things, though. you weren't required to ground the yokes on switches until...sometime in the 90s? i think? most standard switches don't really "buzz." is it an actual humming like buzz or more of an arcing type buzz? either way, switching them out would be the first step i would take to see if that solves it. if you do and the lights are still flickering chances are there is more trouble shooting involved; could be in the fixture junction box or a loose wire somewhere else. hard to say without digging into it.
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Oct 9, 2015 03:31
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crocodile posted:have you recently put a compact fluorescent or LED bulb in the locations with the older dimmers? that would cause both issues you're having. not having a ground to your switch wouldn't cause it to do either of those things, though. you weren't required to ground the yokes on switches until...sometime in the 90s? i think? most standard switches don't really "buzz." is it an actual humming like buzz or more of an arcing type buzz? either way, switching them out would be the first step i would take to see if that solves it. if you do and the lights are still flickering chances are there is more trouble shooting involved; could be in the fixture junction box or a loose wire somewhere else. hard to say without digging into it.
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Oct 9, 2015 04:15
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Arcing buzz is like a crackling sound. It's what you hear when you hold a light switch partway. Kinda like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u7bo4uQlAo fisting by many fucked around with this message at 11:29 on Oct 9, 2015 |
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Oct 9, 2015 11:26
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Are hard wired smoke detectors standard now? Ours croaked and turned out it was hard wired into the wall. That thing was old as gently caress but it was less annoying than battery powered ones that always seem to have the low battery warning go off when you're trying to sleep.
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Oct 10, 2015 21:18
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Parts Kit posted:Are hard wired smoke detectors standard now? Ours croaked and turned out it was hard wired into the wall. That thing was old as gently caress but it was less annoying than battery powered ones that always seem to have the low battery warning go off when you're trying to sleep. Kinda. You should be able to find a First Alert or Kidde (they kind you'll find at a box box store) that has all the wire adapters you'll need to make it work. These types also send/receive all of the appropriate signaling to work with whatever you happen to have now.
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Oct 10, 2015 22:29
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Parts Kit posted:Are hard wired smoke detectors standard now? Ours croaked and turned out it was hard wired into the wall. That thing was old as gently caress but it was less annoying than battery powered ones that always seem to have the low battery warning go off when you're trying to sleep. Hard wired ones still have a battery (at least, they're supposed to), so that they can function when the power is out. Most use a regular 9V battery for the backup, there's some that have a "lifetime" (10 year) lithium battery (you're supposed to change your smoke detectors every 10 years). It takes a lot longer for the battery to wear out on hardwired smoke detectors, but I still think it's good practice to swap them every year. I use a label maker to put a label on our (wall mounted, battery powered) carbon monoxide detector; I change all of the batteries in the smoke detectors and the CO detection a year after the date I print on that label. If you only had one smoke alarm (very common in smaller homes until the early 90s), or the smoke alarms aren't interconnected, you'll have an extra wire on the new smoke detector. Cap it off, and install battery powered ones in every bedroom. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Oct 12, 2015 |
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Oct 12, 2015 03:40
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The interconnection is one reason I wish I didn't have such an awful experience with Nest Protect and mass false alarms. My mom's house still has what I assume are the original alarms, which are 30+ years old, and it only has two - one at the extreme ends of the house next to (but not in) the bedrooms. I'm thinking of replacing them for her for Christmas or something. At any rate, yes, the battery in hardwired detectors does still need to be changed. And they still pop the low battery alarm at the most inopportune times.
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Oct 12, 2015 14:39
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IOwnCalculus posted:The interconnection is one reason I wish I didn't have such an awful experience with Nest Protect and mass false alarms. My mom's house still has what I assume are the original alarms, which are 30+ years old, and it only has two - one at the extreme ends of the house next to (but not in) the bedrooms. I'm thinking of replacing them for her for Christmas or something. I've actually been budgeting to pick up a couple of nest smoke alarms for my house... Do they tend to frequently false alarm? Would you say I should stick with plain smoke/cO2 units, or do you think the newer nest protect versions would be ok to purchase? Catatron Prime fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Oct 12, 2015 |
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Oct 12, 2015 18:55
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OSU_Matthew posted:I've actually been budgeting to pick up a couple of nest smoke alarms for my house... Do they tend to frequently false alarm? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpsMkLaEiOY
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Oct 12, 2015 19:38
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That was disappointing, I kept expecting them to start fighting back more directly, like shocking or burning him, but nope, just unwavering passive aggressiveness.
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Oct 12, 2015 20:30
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IOwnCalculus posted:The interconnection is one reason I wish I didn't have such an awful experience with Nest Protect and mass false alarms. My mom's house still has what I assume are the original alarms, which are 30+ years old, and it only has two - one at the extreme ends of the house next to (but not in) the bedrooms. I'm thinking of replacing them for her for Christmas or something. In addition to the bedrooms, you should install one in the kitchen and one at the top of any stairs.
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Oct 12, 2015 21:00
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One of the bedrooms is attached to the kitchen by way of the dining room - it's a bit of a stretch but it's certainly much closer. The house is laid out in one long line, really. Given the choice I would go ahead and throw replacement hardwire detectors on the two already installed, and then battery detectors in each bedroom and one actually in the kitchen. I installed five Nest protects a few weeks before heading to Hawaii for a week. Literally the day we landed one started throwing false alarms, followed by one additional each of the next two days. Two of them never did false alarm, but I don't like a 60% failure rate. The novelty of getting alerts on your phone wears off really quickly, especially because (at least in our experience) you really do mentally treat them about the same as an actual alarm. After our red-eye back, the first thing I did was rip those pieces of poo poo off the ceiling and take them back to Home Depot. I really wanted to like them, the pathlight functionality is amazing and I'd seriously like to see something like that in a not-garbage product. I think the newer revision is supposed to be less prone to false alarms but I'm not about to give that experiment another shot until the alarms I put up instead are at least five years old. Which is another thing that threw me about the Protect - most alarms have a 10-year expiration date, the Nests were all five or slightly under. IOwnCalculus fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Oct 12, 2015 |
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Oct 12, 2015 21:24
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IOwnCalculus posted:One of the bedrooms is attached to the kitchen by way of the dining room - it's a bit of a stretch but it's certainly much closer. The house is laid out in one long line, really. Given the choice I would go ahead and throw replacement hardwire detectors on the two already installed, and then battery detectors in each bedroom and one actually in the kitchen. Man, I guess I have gotten lucky, but the 3 I've got have been pretty much a dream so far.
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Oct 12, 2015 23:26
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some texas redneck posted:Hard wired ones still have a battery (at least, they're supposed to), so that they can function when the power is out. Most use a regular 9V battery for the backup, there's some that have a "lifetime" (10 year) lithium battery (you're supposed to change your smoke detectors every 10 years).
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Oct 13, 2015 01:15
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What's impressive is, this isn't your garden variety idiot. Brad Fitzpatrick wrote Livejournal.
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Oct 13, 2015 04:36
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fisting by many posted:The colored bands. First two are 1st and 2nd digit, third is number of zeroes. Hi guys. Still trying to figure this out. If I connect an LED directly to one 1.5v AA battery, it BARELY lights up. I mean, you can see the faintest glow. If I put 4 in a battery case with 2 wires coming out and connect it to an LED, nothing happens. I guess I have a bad battery case, but even still these are the faintest lights I have ever seen. You can't even tell they are on. I have tried with several LEDs as well... [ed] Still not sure I've "Solved" anything but one 9v with one resistor and one LED shines it nice and bright. I wonder how long that will power the LED for. Anyone know? Feenix fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Oct 14, 2015 |
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Oct 14, 2015 21:00
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Does your battery case have the batteries in series or parallel? What voltage are the LEDs ?
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Oct 14, 2015 21:38
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It's been quite a while since i used LEDs, but here it goes....first of all, don't connect your LEDs without a resistor to a power source! Second, be careful while experimenting, a LED can explode (experienced this on my own) if the voltage and thus the current is to high. Third, i may have made an error......wait until someone confirms my poo poo. V = Voltage; P = Wattage; I = Current; R = Resistance(OHM). First, you need the voltage of the LEDs. I think i found your LEDs on amazon, they give the following information: The forward voltage (V) is 1.9-2.0 Volt The wattage (P=V*I) is 0.05 Watt The resistors are 200Ohm The resistors are rated 0.25 Watt You are using a 4 battery case which outputs 6 Volt. A 0.05 Watt LED with 2V can handle a current of I = P / V I = 0.05 / 2 I = 0.025 A = 25mA From your 6V source, 2V are used by the LED. This means we need to "absorb" 4V with the resistor. R = V / I R = 4 / 0.025 R = 160 Ohm (This would mean the resistor is running with 0.1 Watt) If you only have one LED, this means the Resistor is to high. But let's see how they do with one LED. I = V / R I = 4 / 200 I = 20mA This means the LED will be more dim, but should still work. So, your power source (6V), one LED and one resistor should work fine. Feenix posted:If I put 4 in a battery case with 2 wires coming out and connect it to an LED, nothing happens. edit: ^ i guessed the batteries are in series, otherwise there wouldn't be a difference in using one battery or the whole battery case. RabbitWizard fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Oct 14, 2015 |
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Oct 14, 2015 21:40
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